Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for sharing her own experience, which is so relevant. Ultimately, the existing models of leadership and governance in our schools place a burden on school principals as well as boards of management and the sector as a whole. It is a very difficult balance to strike to get the appropriate level of checks and balances which are critical for both our students and the industry and to make sure we are not overburdening principals, in particular, and school leaders.

Recognising these challenges, the Department of Education and Youth is now putting an increased focus on leadership and governance at school level and across the sector nationally. Department officials, in conjunction and in consultation with education partners, are examining the current policies and practices to see what elements are serving school communities well and what elements can be improved on. The Deputy put it very well herself when she said we want teachers to be able to do what they do best, that is, to teach, which is what they are passionate about. We want to empower them to be able to do that.

The Deputy mentioned the small schools project. To give her an update on that, the feedback from the 26 small schools has been really positive. That is reflected in the interim evaluation report, which is due to be published by the Department shortly. The independent review identifies potential areas for closer collaboration and an analysis of the scalability of actions already undertaken. There will be evaluations as this continues. I reassure the Deputy that it will form a strong basis that will inform future policy as regards the direction for all small schools. That feeds into the delivery of this important programme for Government commitment we have.

As regards the new administrative supports, there are currently trial roles being actively recruited in two of the six clusters, which is really interesting. We will be able to evaluate that. It will look at things like leadership and governance, at both primary and post-primary level, and will all be about supporting school leaders and the school communities better. As the Deputy said, the small schools pilot will be really interesting for us to learn from and, hopefully, to be able to get learnings that we can roll out right throughout Ireland.

See this speech in context