National Principals' Forum

Lobbying Organisation National Principals' Forum

Date published 20 Mar, 2022

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Education and Training

Period 1 Jan, 2022 to 30 Apr, 2022

Specific Details We continued to lobby the Ministers for Education and Special Education, in addition to local representatives and Education Stakeholders in relation to Principal Workload, sub crisis & SEN provisions in our schools. We welcomed Minsiter Joesphas Madigan's annoucement that the ESPEN Act will be reviewed and sought to be included as school leaders in the consultation process. We also queried if and how our schools are being re-profiled by the NCSE for the purposes of SEN, SET and SNA allocations.

Intended results To secure greater supports for principal teachers and pupils with SEN, and to secure transparency and clarity in relation to NCSE and DoE profiling our schools.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Angela Dunne

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (100+)

We emailed principal teachers to complete brief surveys in relation to substitution and attendance in their schools, in order to provide data to the education stakeholders attesting to the need for greater and continued supports for schools in terms of cover for absences, availability of substitute teachers and snas, and also the need for banked hours to be restored in order to prevent pupils with SEN from continuing to be detrimentally impacted by the sub crisis. We highlighted the results of these surveys on social media and in emails to education stakeholders and Ministers.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Norma Foley Minister (Department of Education)

Josepha Madigan Minister of State (Department of Education)