The Programme for Government 2011-2016 contains a commitment to changing certain decision-making responsibilities in relation to the delivery of aspects of education at both primary and post-primary levels. My Department has already begun to progress this commitment, mindful that changes in school autonomy need to be carefully planned and supported if they are to achieve improved educational outcomes for our children.
The skills levels of school leaders and teachers are critical factors in enabling schools to benefit from both existing and any increased levels of school autonomy with regard to school governance, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. The Department has made considerable investment to build the professional competence of school leaders through its support services and through the work of the education partners including the IPPN and NAPD. Developing the leadership skills of principals and deputy principals will be an essential requirement of any plans to increase school autonomy. Equally, the strong focus in current policy development on increasing the skills levels of Irish teachers and driving the professionalism of teaching, evident in the work of the Teaching Council, is important.
We are already moving towards greater autonomy in the area of curriculum and assessment. Work is underway on revised curricula at primary level (the first elements will be introduced in schools in 2015/2016) which will offer opportunities to provide greater curriculum flexibility to schools. Significant developments have been announced at Junior Cycle that will, over time, increase substantially the autonomy of post-primary schools over curriculum and assessment. Recently introduced changes to teacher education have seen the lengthening of initial teacher education courses and a shift in course content to place a greater emphasis on skills in pedagogy and assessment. Both of these developments are designed to enhance teachers' capacity to adapt curricula and assessment practices in schools to better suit the needs of students. The proposals of the NCSE regarding the creation of a single pot of SEN-related teaching posts in schools may offer further opportunities for school autonomy. These would provide schools with the greater freedom to allocate and manage staff with required flexibility which is envisaged in the Programme for Government.
The introduction of school self-evaluation in 2012 enables schools themselves to arrive at school-specific information on how well they are doing, which they are expected to use in their planning for improvement. This encourages schools to use their autonomy to prioritise particular learning targets and to make the necessary pedagogical changes to achieve those targets within a broad curriculum and pedagogical framework.
We know that putting appropriate supports in place is a critical step to realising in a fresh way the curriculum, pedagogical, and assessment autonomy that schools currently have and may be given in the future and that is why this work is already underway.
