Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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111. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new school principals coached per annum since 2010. [29283/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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To date, continuing professional development support for newly appointed school principals has been provided through Department funded teacher support services as well as through representative professional bodies including the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (PD).  

The new Centre for School Leadership (CSL), involving my Department, IPPN and PD, was established in 2015 on a partnership basis for an initial three year pilot period. My Department has committed to an investment of €3m for this pilot.

The Centre's responsibilities cover the continuum of professional development for school leaders, from pre-appointment training and induction of newly appointed principals, to continuing professional development throughout leaders' careers. Priorities for the Centre include the introduction of a mentoring programme for newly appointed principals and coaching support for serving principals experiencing professional challenges.  

CSL has now trained over 200 experienced school leaders as mentors. All newly appointed post-primary principals are included in the new mentoring programme. The first phase at primary level caters for all newly appointed principals in the Leinster area and will be fully rolled out in all areas from September 2017.

In relation to coaching, a tender competition has taken place and it is expected that a framework agreement for this service will be in place before the end of this year.

Up to 400 principals per annum may access this coaching service.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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112. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of continuing professional development, CPD, units which were delivered in each year from 2010 to date in 2016. [29284/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Overall Statistics on CPD Units provided:

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost estimates for the expansion of the incredible years programme to 646 schools; the nature of the expansion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29285/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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By way of background I would inform the Deputy that the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Programme (IY TCM)focuses on strengthening those teacher classroom management strategies which have been shown to promote children’s social, emotional and academic competence and foster positive teacher-parent relationships. The IY TCM programme addresses multiple school risk factors associated with later anti-social and conduct problems. As well as developing teachers’ classroom management skills the programme also equips teachers to develop tailored responses to the needs of specific groups or individual children in their classrooms.

The programme is delivered by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) psychologists to teachers over 6 workshops, delivered one month apart. Teachers are supported between workshops in implementing new strategies and in this way the programme supports real and lasting change in teacher practice and school climate. Randomised controlled studies carried out in the US, UK and in Ireland all support the effectiveness of the programme in significantly improving child behaviour, classroom environment and teacher skills and confidence.

The proposal to expand the provision of training to teachers in the use of Incredible Years TCM takes place in the context of my Department’s recently published strategy statement “An Action Plan for Education 2016-19”. It is envisaged, subject to the provisions of the forthcoming Budget process, that an expanded NEPS service would provide a number of supports to schools in the implementation of the Wellbeing in Post-Primary school Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention (2013) and the Wellbeing in Primary School Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion (2015).

As part of this expansion it is planned to prioritise the delivery of the Incredible Years TCM programme to teachers in all primary DEIS schools in the period in the period from early 2017 to the end of 2019 offering the programme to a potential estimated 4,800 teachers in these school who have not heretofore undertaken such training. As stated previously the programme involves 6 days input by participants and is delivered by trained NEPS psychologists to groups of 20. The programme is delivered in the network of Education Centres nationally and it is estimated that the direct costs of staging the training is in the region of €3,000 per course covering venue and course materials outlay.