Robert Troy
Question:258. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address concerns outlined in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6659/19]
View answerTuesday, 12 February 2019
Questions (258)
Written answers
In Budget 2019, school leadership is again supported with an additional release day for teaching principals in primary schools and a further four additional release days for teaching principals in schools with special classes. These additional release days - 18, 24, and 30 depending on the size of the school - will be effective from 1st September 2019.
This builds on measures in previous budgets, including €0.4 million made available in Budget 2018 to fund almost 4600 additional release days for teaching principals in primary schools. This funding provided an increase in the number of release days available to teaching principals in the 2018/19 school year to 17, 23 or 29 days depending on the size of the school.
Any additional increase in the number of release days will be considered as part of the next annual budgetary process alongside the many other demands from the education sector.
The Deputy will be aware that mandatory reporting of child protection concerns by teachers and greater oversight of child protection arrangements in schools were among a range of changes that came into effect with the full commencement in December 2017 of the Children First Act 2015 and with the introduction of new Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2017.
Face-to-face training sessions were provided for school principals or Designated Liaison Persons (DLPs) for child protection in all schools in 2018 by the Professional Development Service for Teachers, and additional training sessions are being provided for newly appointed principals/DLPs in 2019.
Matching changes to inspection arrangements also began to be rolled out in 2018, and new Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections are a further step to monitor child protection in schools.
The new inspections are designed to strengthen our child protection systems in schools. They will provide another level of reassurance and they will help to guide and direct schools in relation to meeting their child protection obligations. They are also an important way of promoting improvement in the implementation of child protection procedures by schools; they are also designed to promote best practice in school leadership as it relates to child protection.
The inspections do not require any school to produce any paperwork or record that the school is not already required to have in place since December 2017. The inspectors are also flexible in carrying out the checks and in timing the meetings they have with any staff in the school, so that school life is not disrupted.
The new Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections were developed through an extensive research and consultation process with the education partners and other interested stakeholders including the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. In the context of this consultation, my Department carefully considered feedback from schools, principals, unions and management bodies, particularly in relation to their requirements on record-keeping and reporting and the supports they need in order to implement child protection procedures. In that regard:
- My Department has provided a suite of templates and supporting documents to help schools and boards to fulfil their record-keeping, reporting obligations and other obligations under the 2017 Procedures
- The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and the Inspectorate are working closely together to promote best practice among schools in relation to child protection
- The Inspectorate has provided regional seminars on the new Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspections for primary and post-primary school principals and is planning further briefings on the new inspections during May and June 2019. The Inspectorate is also presenting at conferences of a number of education partners. It is expected that more than 3,000 principals will have attended briefing sessions on the new inspections by the end of June this year.
Question No. 259 answered with Question No. 240.