National Principals' Forum

Lobbying Organisation National Principals' Forum

Date published 07 Aug, 2022

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Education and Training

Period 1 May, 2022 to 31 Aug, 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 & SEN(Special Education Needs) provisions in our schools. We continue to seek a full review of EPSEN (Education of Persons with Special Education Needs)Act 2004 and ask for meaningful and timely consultation with school leaders.

Intended results A change in the POD (Pupil Online Database) system which would include a mechanism for communicating our exact SEN (Special Education Needs) school profiles to the Department of Education and the NCSE (National Council for Special Education) thereby ensuring that our schools are accurately profiled for the purposes of providing sufficient SET (Special Education Teaching)hours and SNA (Special Needs Assistant) access to our SEN (Special Education Needs) pupils. To secure a meeting with the Minister for Education to discuss these issues.

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 (2-5)

Emails were sent to practicing primary school principals to seek current information in relation to SET (Special Education Teacher) allocations. A link to an online app which assists principals in finding schools to cluster SET hours with was also shared, as was an app which allowed schools to compare 2022 SET allocations with previous years allocations. The results of this was shared on social media to raise awareness and continue to highlight the shortfalls in SEN provisions for our schools and pupils.

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)