The National Principals’ Forum (NPF) today met with the Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton TD, marking a significant milestone for the group and its longstanding work on behalf of Irish primary school principals and the children in their care.
This engagement represents an important acknowledgement of the Forum’s role and contribution to educational leadership over many years.
The meeting with Minister Naughton and her senior advisors provided an opportunity for the NPF to highlight (or ‘to make the Minister aware of”) the increasing demands on school principals and the need to ensure that leadership roles are sustainable in the context of a rapidly evolving education system.
The Forum raised three priority areas:
- The need to clarify and support the role of the primary school principal, in particular the urgent need for greater release time for teaching principals.
- Strengthening structures for inclusion and special education, including providing a mechanism on POD (Pupil Online Database) for principals to impart their current special needs data to the Dept and NCSE, so as to ensure that SEN supports are responsive, timely and adequate, and that SET and SNA allocations meet the level of need in schools.
- Ensuring funding models and pupil–teacher ratios reflect the complexity of today’s classrooms
NPF representatives emphasised to Minister Naughton and her team of senior advisors, that while principals remain fully committed to delivering high-quality education, inclusion, and wellbeing outcomes, current structures must evolve to better align responsibility, authority, and resources.
Speaking after the meeting, Angela Dunne, a spokesperson for the NPF said:
“Principals are proud to lead teaching and learning in their schools, but the role has expanded significantly. Our focus is on ensuring that school leadership supports, SEN supports and school funding are fit for purpose and sustainable so that principals and schools can continue to deliver for children, staff, and communities.”
The Forum welcomed the opportunity for constructive engagement with the Minister and looks forward to follow up dialogue on practical measures to support primary school leadership and strengthen the education system.