InTouch
Issue No 53 November 2003
ISSN 1393-4813
Irish National Teachers’ Organization
Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann
●
●
School
Leadership
●
INTO Principals'
Consultative
Conference
●
Data
Protection
NI News
NetD@ys 2003
Weather Watching
Story in a Box
pg 15
pg 30
pg 27
EDITORIAL
Leading Leaders
Contents
INTO News and Information
News.......................................................................................3,4
Conditions of Employment .....................................................5
Legal and Industrial Relations................................................6
Communications, Principals and Social Inclusion...............7
Education .................................................................................8
Equality .....................................................................................9
Professional Development & Trade Union Training ..........10
INTO Benefits and Discounts ...............................................11
Student Members ..................................................................12
Media Report .........................................................................13
CEC – Head Office News ........................................................14
INTO Website and Members’ Handbook CD .......................15
Northern Ireland News ...................................................16-19
INTO Principals’ Consultative Conference ...................20-22
Pressured Principals ..............................................................23
Effective Leaders Inspire .......................................................24
Why Are Some Principals Handing Back The Keys.............25
Heritage in Schools ................................................................26
Tips ...................................................................................27-30
Book Reviews ..........................................................................31
Letters.....................................................................................32
Comhar Linn ..........................................................................33
Notices ...................................................................................34
Cover pic: Pictured at the recent INTO
Principals’ Conference in Dundalk. Back l
to r: Gerard O’Donoghue, Macroom;
Hilary McBain, Blackrock, Co Dublin;
Peter Gunning, Middleton. Front l to r:
Maire Nic an Fhailghigh, Cathair na Mart
and Redmond Connolly, Belmullet.
General Editor: John Carr
Editor: Tom O’Sullivan
Editorial Assistant: Lori Kealy
Editorial Team: Cecilia Power,
Grainne Creswell
Advertising: Mary Bird Smyth,
Advertising Executive, Merrilyn
Campbell, Booking co-ordinator.
Design: David Cooke
Photography: Moya Nolan, Photodisc,
Digital Vision, Image .
Correspondence to: The Editor,
InTouch, INTO Head Office,
Vere Foster House,  Parnell Square,
Dublin 1. Telephone: .
Fax: . LoCall:   
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.into.ie
InTouch is published by the Irish
National Teachers’ Organization and
distributed to members and educational
institutions. InTouch is the most widely
2
circulated education magazine in
Ireland. Articles published in InTouch
are also available on our website
www.into.ie
The views expressed in this journal are
those of the individual authors and are
not necessarily endorsed by the INTO.
While every care has been taken to ensure
that the information contained in this
publication is up to date and correct, no
responsibility will be taken by the Irish
National Teachers’ Organization for
any error which might occur.
Except where the Irish National
Teachers’ Organization has formally
negotiated agreements as part of its
services to members, inclusion of an
advertisement does not imply any form
of recommendation. While every effort is
made to ensure the reliability of advertisers, the INTO cannot accept liability for
the quality of goods and services offered.
I
nside this edition issues of particular concern to principal and
deputy principal teachers are given prominence following the
very successful INTO Principals’ Conference in Dundalk last
month. I urge all teachers to engage with these issues because they
affect all teachers and indeed the whole education community.
The problems pertaining to special education, substandard school
buildings, school planning and the management of schools are not
only the preserve of principals. These matters affect how each and
every teacher can carry out her or his job on a daily basis. It has
always been a basic trade union principle that the concerns of one
group within the overall membership are fought for by all. Part of
the strength of the INTO is that its members have always lent their
full support to colleagues even when not directly affected by issues.
In the last two decades we have had teachers with many years’
experience supporting younger teachers in their fight for permanent jobs. In turn, younger teachers supported the early retirement
campaign even though any benefits were many years away. I urge
all teachers to engage with the issues raised by principals and
deputy principals.
There are particular concerns faced by the teaching principal. To
have to deal with the ever-increasing demands of school administration at the end of a day spent teaching full time is no longer
sustainable. Principals’ release days, while immensely valuable, are
a far from perfect solution particularly when the administrative,
leadership and managerial role of the principal is ever expanding.
The issues of substitution, a panel of supply teachers, office accommodation, secretarial backup and other issues also remain to be
addressed.
In  the INTO identified serious problems in the area of
middle management in schools. Primary schools had fewer posts
than second level and these posts were being lost to the system as
enrolments declined never to be replaced. We also reported on
teachers’ attitudes to how such promoted posts might be determined and delivered. There are models of excellent practice
throughout the length and breadth of the country. These must be
recorded, highlighted and shared. However, it is clear that there is
a difficulty when it is commonly acknowledged that the role of
principal teacher is seen as being too onerous, as having too much
responsibility attached and as making inordinate demands on
personal time. In fact, for many fine teachers with huge administrative and leadership potential, it is seen as a bridge too far.
In this regard the issue of salary must be addressed. The job of
principal of a primary school is as demanding, complex and
responsible as the job of principal of a second level school. Indeed
it is more onerous given the lower levels of support personnel in
primary schools.
We must find innovative ways of dealing with the workload of
principal teachers. Together we must design what needs to be
done, thereby igniting a collective image of better future for our
principal teachers. This will entail building a strong, powerful
team spirit where we sustain each other based on the principles of
mutual trust, mutual dependence and
mutual support.
These are issues for all INTO members. I
pledge my personal commitment to seeking
fair and equitable
resolutions.
Intouch November 2003
N ATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Advice to Schools in Relation to
Marking of Children on the Roll
R
ule  of the Rules for
National Schools provides
that where a pupil has
been absent from school,
his/her name should be
removed from the Roll Book
after  consecutive school days.
This specific aspect of Rule 
has now been superceded by
Section () of the Education
and Welfare Act .
Section () of the Welfare
Act, provides that the principal
of a recognised school shall not
remove a child’s name from the
register other than:
(a) on receipt of written notification from the principal of
another school confirming that
the child has been registered in
that other school;
or
(b) on receipt of written notification from the National
Education Welfare Board
(NEWB), that the child has been
registered by the NEWB.
Schools are therefore advised
that when a pupil continues to
be absent from school, teachers
should continue to mark the
absent sign on the Roll Book.
The name of the pupil should
not be struck of the Roll Book in
any circumstances except as
provided for in Section () of
the Education Welfare Act.
This change of practice
required by the legislation,
clearly impacts on the statistical returns which schools
submit to the DES. As a result,
there are consequential implications for staffing and capitation matters. The DES has
indicated to the INTO that it
will be requiring additional
information from schools in
order to assess the actual
number of pupils attending the
school. In this regard, the DES
proposes to issue a circular
clarifying matters further.
Discussions between the DES
and the INTO on the terms of
the proposed circular will
continue.
INTO School Modernisation Campaign
P
ressure continues to
be exerted on the
Government to ensure
that the Estimates/ Budget
for  reflect a significant
increase in the capital allocation for primary schools. Over
the past few months, an intensive political lobbying
campaign has been conducted
at both national and local level.
One of the key aims of the lobby
was to impress on TDs and
Senators, the necessity for a
substantial increase in funding
for school building.
At its October meeting, the
CEC decided to initiate a
programme of strike action in
the event that increased funding for school buildings is not
included in the estimates which
are due for publication in midNovember. A list of schools
eager to participate in industrial action has been compiled
by District Representatives and
it is intended that these schools
will be balloted for industrial
action in November.
The CEC was mandated at this
year’s Annual Congress to
intensify the School
Modernisation Campaign to
ensure that the provision of
appropriate funding becomes
an urgent national priority. In
this context, School
Modernisation Committees
were established in every
District under the direction of
their District Representative by
June of this year. A letter from
the President and General
Secretary outlining details of
the campaign and the role of
these Committees was posted
to all schools in May. These
Committees have now
completed an audit of substandard school buildings in their
Districts.
In June, the campaign
focused on schools who had
applied to the DES for temporary accommodation for the
school year / and
whose applications had been
refused. The President,
members of the CEC and INTO
Officials met with DES Officials
in June regarding this and other
accommodation issues.
New BOM
Constitution
T
he new Rules and
Constitution of Boards of
Management, agreed
between the DES, NPC,
Management and INTO, is now
available on the DES website
and will be posted to schools
shortly.
The negotiating group also
agreed to review current advertising arrangements but please
note that for the moment existing procedures still apply.
The INTO succeeded in ensuring that applicants for posts
will have the criteria for selection sent to them in advance of
interview.
The election process for new
boards is currently underway
and boards will assume office
on  December, . Circular
/ outlines the relevant
arrangements.
Attendance
Letter Drafted
The Schools Implementation
Committee, established under
the National Education Welfare
Board, is currently working on a
sample letter for the purposes
of notifying parents of their
obligations under the Education
Welfare Act.
The committee is also finalising
a standard form for use in
schools when notifying the
NEWB in relation to pupils’
absences.
DIABETES ARTICLE – CLARIFICATION
INTOUCH - SEPTEMBER ISSUE
In the October issue of InTouch (page ), the article entitled
Children with Diabetes contained an error in the first column.
The paragraph that started, “Untreated hypoglycaemia is
dangerous” goes on to say “A diet fizzy drink is a convenient
alternative in the classroom”. This is, in fact, incorrect and
should have read “A non-diet fizzy drink is a convenient alternative in the classroom".
We would like to apologise to members for problems which
were outside our control regarding delivery of the September
issue of InTouch.
This issue contained the new INTO Members’ Handbook
on CD.
If you have still not received your September issue or CD
please contact Grainne Creswell at () .
Intouch November 2003
3
N ATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Conference
Sponsors
The INTO wishes to acknowledge
with thanks the continued
sponsorship of the INTO
Principals’ Consultative
Conference by Prim Ed publishing.
Pictured at the handover of the
sponsorship cheque are (l to r)
Tom O’Sullivan, Assistant General
Secretary, Irene Fagan, Marketing
Manager, Prim Ed, Catherine
Byrne, Deputy General Secretary
and Conor Holmes, Director,
Prim Ed.
Serious
Matters
Delegates at the opening session
of the INTO Principals’
Consultative Conference.
See pages 24, 25, 26 for reports.
Leadership For Learning
T
he LDS team has forged
valuable links both
internationally and
closer to home in an attempt to
source best practice in the
training of school leaders. Part
of this has been the creation of
a mutually beneficial partnership with The Regional Training
Unit (RTU) in Northern Ireland.
Through this link a summer
school on Leadership for
Learning took place in
Newcastle, Co Down.
Over  applicants from the
Republic applied for the 
places with about  participants coming from Northern
Ireland. The summer school
took the form of lectures,
concurrent workshops and
plenary sessions arising from
the latter.
The venue enabled both facilitators and participants to
engage industriously, creatively
and in a positive and open
manner with each other.
4
Shared issues and challenges
affecting the schools in the
‘south’ and ‘north’ were focused
upon through talks by Paddy
Flood, (LDS) and Paul
McClenaghan of the RTU. Issues
such as resourcing, special
needs, assessment and the challenges/demands created by our
changing educational
landscape were discussed.
We were further treated to
words of wisdom from Professor
John-West Burnham who spoke
of some of the characteristics of
learning. The uniqueness, individuality and subjectivity of
learning were exemplified, as
were the physiological, social
and emotional influences on
the learner. He further went on
to stress that intelligence was
learnable involving success,
play and fun.
In focussing on the theme
‘Leadership For Learning’
Professor Burnham
characterised the learning
centred leader as one with a
‘personal efficiency’ as a learner
who values the individual rights
of the learner and is comfortable with change. Likewise the
learning centred school has
strong leadership, which is
constantly engaged in consultation and dialogue about learning, one where learning is
nurtured and whose members
are affirming and optimistic.
A further feature of this most
positive summer school were
the sets of concurrent
workshops. The difficulty here
was in choosing between one
on ‘ICT and Learning’, ‘Learning
Styles’ or ‘The Language
Enriched Curriculum’.
Workshops personally attended
The workshop ‘Individual
Learning Styles’ was given by
Vivien Kelly and worked
through the impact of learning
styles with research indicating
that learning will be more effi-
cient when the information is
presented in the form of one’s
own preferred learning style;
whether this be visual, auditory
or kinaesthetic.
Treasa Kirk skilfully led us
through a workshop on ‘Cooperative Learning’ which
required each member of ‘the
group’ to take personal responsibility for their task/responsibility. Groups should be of
mixed ability, cross cultural,
and co-educational.
Due recognition to the lecturers and all others involved in
this summer school can only be
seen in the sense of the participants looking forward to next
year’s summer school which, as
equal partners with our
colleagues in Northern Ireland,
we will hopefully host ‘down
south’.
Peter McCrodden St
Andrew’s NS, Newcourt
Road, Bray, Co Wicklow.
■
Intouch November 2003
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOY M E N T
New Arrangements for Part-Time and
Substitute Teachers
T
he September InTouch
announced that significant improvements had
been secured in relation to pay
and conditions for part-time
and substitute teachers. These
improvements are in
accordance with the Protection
of Employees (Part-Time Work)
Act  — and have been the
subject of ongoing negotiations
for the past  months. Having
dealt with the salary aspect of
the legislation, a number of
consequential issues are now
under discussion at the
Teachers’ Conciliation Council.
These include incremental
credit arrangements and access
to the pension scheme for part-
time and substitute teachers.
Finalisation of these
discussions has delayed the issuing of a comprehensive circular
to schools by the DES. Teachers
affected by the improvements
can be assured that once discussions are concluded that their
salaries will be adjusted to
encompass the increased rates
and that any arrears due will be
paid.
The INTO will endeavour to
have this circular issued at the
earliest date. In addition, an
information leaflet for teachers
will be prepared by the INTO to
outline the new and improved
arrangements.
In summary the new arrangements create different categories
for payment purposes:
(i) Substitute Teachers (Casual)
Substitute teachers at primary
level who are working for 
days or less in a school year will
be deemed to be working on a
casual basis. A new daily rate of
€. (from September )
will apply which is a significant
improvement on the existing
rate of €..
(ii) Substitute Teachers
(Non-Casual)
Substitute teachers working in a
school for more than  days in
the school year will be paid at an
individual rate that will reflect
experience and qualifications.
The individual rate will be that
Important Notice for Job-Sharers
T
he following detail is of relevance to
current and intending job-sharers
who avail of split week patterns and
who are paying either Class A or Class D
(Modified Rate) PRSI Contributions.
The rules governing PRSI contributions
require that an employee be rostered to
work for at least one day in a PRSI contribution week to be PRSI compliant. This will
have implications for certain job-sharing
patterns where an employee is not rostered
to work for at least one day within a contribution week in that no PRSI contribution is
made for that week.
The contribution week is each successive
period of  days starting on  January of each
year, ie Week  is the period  to  January,
Week  is the period  to  January etc. For
the  year, the contribution week shall
be as follows:
Week : Thurs,  January to Wed,  January
Week : Thurs,  January to Wed,  January
Therefore, for , job-sharers currently
on the Thursday to Wednesday pattern will
only make  PRSI contributions rather
than the full  PRSI contributions and this
can impact on their entitlement to Social
Welfare benefits.
While the main impact of this will apply
to Class A PRSI contributors, those
contributing at the Class D (modified) PRSI
rate may also be affected in regard to
pension entitlements.
5
In addition to the potential impact to a
teacher’s Social Welfare entitlements, the
rate of PRSI paid by a teacher will also be
affected in that a teacher will have the rate of
PRSI payable calculated on the basis of their
gross pay divided by the number of contribution weeks that are covered by the working
pattern. A teacher working the Thursday to
Wednesday pattern will have only one
contribution week within their pattern and
this will result in a higher rate of Employee
and Employer PRSI being paid. A teacher
working for example, the Wednesday to
Tuesday pattern, will have  contribution
weeks within their pattern and the appropriate rates applying will continue.
Job-sharers currently on the Thursday to
Wednesday pattern and those intending to
avail of this pattern during  will need
to contact the Department of Social and
Family Affairs Helpline at   to
establish the likely impact on their entitlement to Social Welfare benefits and also to
determine the effect on the rate of PRSI
payable on their pay. An explanatory booklet on Worksharing (SW ) is available
from your local Department of Social and
Family Affairs Office.
A teacher who wishes to become PRSI
compliant should firstly discuss the matter
with their job-sharing partner and then
approach the principal with a view to
changing their job-sharing pattern.
of a comparable full-time
employee divided by . This
will bring a significant gain for
many substitute teachers.
(iii) Part-Time Hours — Annual
Contract
Teachers working a specified
number of hours per week (eg
resource teacher) for the duration of the school year will be
paid on a pro-rata basis to a
comparable full-time teacher
with the same length of service
and qualifications. Payment
will also be made for the
months of July and August. This
is a significant improvement
that will replace the current flat
hourly rate.
EDUCARE
— Strategic Review
T
he extended pilot phase of EduCare, the
Employee Assistance Service for teachers
concluded as scheduled on  August last.
The Steering Committee (Unions,
Management and DES) responsible for overseeing the operation of the service has
decided that there is a need for a fundamental strategic review of the objectives and
remit of an Employee Assistance service for
teachers. This will involve the preparation
of a blueprint for the future development of
such a service which will clarify:
- the role and objectives of the service;
- the management and reporting
structures required;
- the monitoring, reporting and evaluation
requirements; and
- the funding structures and arrangements.
Accordingly, the Steering Committee
proposes that a Service Development
Officer be appointed to address the above
planning issues over the next  months.
Arrangements to ensure ongoing access
to support services for teachers in areas
covered by the scheme, during the planning
phase, are currently under discussion.
The INTO would like to record its gratitude to the EduCare Co-Ordinator and team
for their work with teachers over the past
number of years. We are also grateful to the
Director and Management Committee of
Cork Education Support Centre for their
commitment and support for the project.
Intouch November 2003
L E GAL & INDUSTRIAL REL AT I O N S
Data Protection
D
ocumentation has
recently issued in
connection with Data
Protection. The documentation
raises a number of practical
matters in relation to the keeping of school records. The Legal
and Industrial Relations section
of the INTO:
● is available to answer your
questions about any aspect of
the legislation, including
whether or not your school
should register, the schools
obligations regarding the
keeping of school records and
responding to a request for
access;
● is in discussions with
Management, the DES and
the office of the Data Protection
Commissioner, regarding the
practical implications of the
legislation for schools; and
● is at an advanced stage in
completing a Q&A guide for
schools on the keeping of
school records.
Q&A Guide
This will include factual information about the Data
Protection legislation, Freedom
of Information Acts and other
relevant legislation dealing
with records, including the
Education Act, . It will also
contain good practice guidelines in relation to the keeping
of school records which will
deal with essential matters not
specifically covered by the legislation, such as the importance
of applying good prudent judgement in the matter of keeping
records and the duration of how
long records should be kept. It
is also intended to include a
policy template for schools on
record keeping which is being
prepared in conjunction with
the School Development
Planning Services (Primary).
Summary of Key Aspects of the
Legislation
The legislation dealing with
Data Protection are the Data
Protection Act of  and the
Data Protection (Amendment)
Act of  which amends the
6
principal act. The main
purpose of the legislation is to
regulate within organizations,
both private and public, the
manner in which data is kept,
to safeguard rights of privacy,
and to provide individuals with
a right to access data or have
data which is kept about them
corrected or erased.
Definitions
There are a number of definitions used in the legislation
which are central to
understanding how the Acts
apply, such as:
● ‘data controller’ – which
means a person who, either
alone or with others, controls
the contents and use of
personal data. Accordingly, a
school would constitute a
data controller for the
purposes of the Act.
● ‘data’ and ‘manual data’ – the
term ‘data’ is used in the 
legislation and in that context
it referred solely to information kept on computer (ie in a
form that can be processed).
However, the  Act
amends the definition of data
to include both automated
and manual data, where that
manual data is part of a ‘relevant filing system’.
● ‘relevant filing system’ – this is
defined in the legislation as
any structured set of information relating to individuals.
The INTO is in ongoing
discussions with the Data
Protection Commissioner’s
[DPC] office in relation to
what this may mean at school
level. For example, we have
been advised by the DPC that
ad hoc notes in a teacher’s
class diary may not be
regarded as constituting a
‘relevant filing system’ but that
if such notes are collated or
put together in a submission
or a central record, then they
would likely be regarded as a
relevant file for the purpose
of the Act. These implemention details will be discussed
further in the Q&A Guide.
● ‘personal data’ , and ‘sensitive
personal data’ – the legislation
is primarily designed to
protect the manner in which
such data is kept. Personal
data means data relating to a
living individual who can be
identified from the data.
Sensitive personal data
means information about an
individual which, inter alia,
may relate to his/her ethnic
origin, his/her religious or
philosophical belief, physical
or mental health. This is the
type of information which
continues to be legitimately
obtained on enrolment of a
pupil and, thereafter,
retained in school records.
The legislation places parameters around obtaining and
keeping such information,
including that the individual
must consent to the information being on record in the
school and that the information is necessary for the functions of the school.
How the Acts work
The legislation confers rights
on individuals and corollary
duties on those who keep data.
An individual has the right to
submit a written request to a
school seeking to establish if
there is data on record about
him/her and if so, to be given a
description of same and the
purposes for which it is kept –
such a written request must be
responded to within  days. An
individual can also request in
writing to be provided with a
copy of the information and
such written request must be
responded to within  days.
An individual also has the right
to have inaccurate information
rectified or erased.
In terms of keeping data, the
documentation recently issued
to schools sets out the  rules of
Data Protection which are
contained in the legislation.
These include the obligation to
keep data for specific, explicit
purposes – data controllers/
schools should know the
reasons why data is kept and
data should not be used for
purposes other than those
stated, for example, pupils’
addresses should not be
disclosed for commercial
purposes. Also data should be
kept safe and secure.
There are also obligations to
keep data accurate, complete
and up-todate, relevant and not
excessive and to hold data for no
longer than is necessary. These
latter obligations relate to
computer data but also to manual
data where such is contained in
a relevant filing system created
after  July, . These specific
obligations do not yet apply to
manual files in existence prior to
the  July, , but will apply to
those files from October, .
Guidelines on how these
obligations can be met at
school level are currently
the subject of on-going discussions between the INTO,
Management and the DPC.
Registration
One of the key objectives of the
recent documentation sent to
schools is to inform school
managers of their obligations in
relation to registration. Schools
are required to register with the
Data Protection Commissioner
if the school holds sensitive
personal data on computer.
Schools in this category should
be aware that while there is no
time limit by which registration
should be completed, there are
enforcement procedures and
penalties in the Act to ensure
compliance with the
legislation. Where a school
does not hold personal sensitive data on computer or holds
all information on manual files
only, the Data Protection
Commissioner’s office has
advised the INTO, that there is
no obligation to register. It
should be noted, however, that
irrespective of whether or not a
school is registered, where the
school holds personal data in
either automated form or
manually in a relevant filing
system, the school is required to
comply with the provisions of
the Act.
Intouch November 2003
Supervision – Direct Grants
to Schools
T
he Department of
Education and Science
intends to issue a Circular
in late November/early
December in relation to supervision arrangements for the
/ school year. This
Circular will also include a form
which should be filled in by all
schools where one or more
teachers have opted out of
supervision for the school year
/. Only teachers who
have opted out of supervision
should sign the form.
The form should be returned
promptly to the DES. This will
enable the DES to issue direct
grants to boards of management
in order to enable boards to pay
external supervisors or other
school personnel (i.e. caretakers, secretaries, etc) who have
undertaken the supervision
duties of the teacher/s who have
opted out.
The DES have confirmed that
non-teaching personnel who
have undertaken supervision
duties may be paid at a gross
hourly rate of €..
It is imperative that schools
with teachers who have opted
out of supervision duties
should return the form
promptly in order to expedite
payment of direct grants to
schools.
Schools in which no teacher
has opted out should not return
the form. A claim form to
request payment for those
teachers undertaking supervision duties will issue later in
the school year.
100 Days 100 Ways
T
he ‘ Days  Ways 
Make the Difference’
Campaign is asking the
people of Ireland to consider
what they can do to ‘Make the
Difference’ to the lives of all
people with disabilities by
making one of the  pledges
and registering it on their
website www.able.ie .
●
●
●
●
In School I Will
●
●
Participate in Schools Make the
Difference Week ( - 
November).
Find ways to make my school
more accessible.
●
●
Learn about a disability that
has touched me in some way.
Spend a class creating awareness of the rights of persons
with disabilities to equal
opportunities and protection
against discrimination.
Include disability related
topics in classes.
Encourage a public exhibition
of disability-related topics,
images and material in school.
Introduce disability awareness/equality training for
staff and pupils.
Mentor or buddy with a
student with a disability.
●
●
●
●
●
●
Organise events aimed at
showing students how to
look after their mental health.
Create disability-related class
activities; quizzes, surveys,
media watch, stories, projects, drama
Run or enter a competition on
a disability-related theme.
Watch a film or read a book
on disability and discuss in
class.
Think of ways to include all
students in games and fun.
Learn from a student with a
disability about their life and
how they do things.
Guidelines
are not
Inflexible
T
he issuing of Circular /
has again raised queries in
relation to the application of
the Learning Support
Guidelines. In correspondence
between the General Secretary
and DES last year, the following
position was confirmed in relation to the application of the
Guidelines and the percentile
ranking: “The introduction to
the guidelines makes it clear
that their primary purpose is to
‘provide practical guidance to
teachers, parents and other
interested persons on the
provision of effective learning
support to pupils with low
achievement/learning
difficulties’. As guidelines, they
are therefore not intended to
be implemented rigidly and
without reference to individual
school circumstances as they
relate to pupils with learning
difficulties.
The guidelines recommend
that pupils who score at or
below the th percentile
should be given priority in the
allocation of learning support
teaching. This does not mean
that only pupils below the th
percentile should receive learning support teaching and this is
clarified on pages  and  of
the guidelines.”
Special Education News
Education for Persons with
Disabilities Bill 
As reported in the October
issue of InTouch, INTO has made
written and oral submissions to
the Joint Oireachtas Committee
on Education on the Education
for Persons with Disabilities Bill
. INTO is finalising its full
response to the Bill and this will
also incorporate the views of
members expressed at branch
meetings and at the recent
Principals’ Conference.
Members are also welcome to
Intouch November 2003
submit their views on the Bill
directly to Deirdre O'Connor at
INTO Head Office.
INTO will be arranging meetings with the Education
Spokespersons and teacher
members of the Oireachtas with
a view to progressing amendments to the Bill, particularly in
relation to:
– the definition of disability
contained in the Bill;
– the resourcing of the provisions of the Bill;
– the workload implications of
the Bill for teachers and especially principal teachers.
INTO is also planning to
arrange a meeting in the near
future with the various disability groups with a view to a
common platform in relation to
the issues outlined above.
The December issue of
InTouch will focus on special
education.
Resource Teacher Guidelines
The INTO has drawn up
comprehensive guidelines on
the role of the resource teacher.
The guidelines, which
include guidance on the role of
the resource teacher and conditions of employment, have
been drawn up to assist
resource teachers in carrying
out their role.
They may also prove useful to
school staffs who wish to adopt
a whole school approach to
planning for children with
special needs.
These guidelines are now
available on the INTO website.
7
E D U CAT I O N
The Primary School Curriculum Online
T
he Primary School
Curriculum is now available online on the
National Council for Curriculum
and Assessment (NCCA) website
in an easily searchable and
down-loadable format. The
Primary School Curriculum
Online project was developed
for the NCCA by Big River, a
digital media company,
www.bigrivertv.com/frame.html.
Primary School Curriculum CHM
documents
If you’ve found yourself accessing the Help files that are
provided with MS products, or
opening electronic books such
as the MS Press books, you may
not know that you’ve been
accessing a compiled or
INTO BURSARY
Please note that the closing
date for the INTO bursary
for education studies is 
December. Full details in
September InTouch.
compressed set of HyperText
Markup Language (HTML) files,
known as CHM files.
Advantages of using CHM files
●
●
●
Windows reader: CHM files
are compiled in a manner
that can be read by the
Windows operating system.
Therefore, the user does not
need to download a separate
reader programme in order to
access all  Primary School
Curriculum documents.
Small file size: The user can
download CHM files to a
Personal Computer (PC) at
least five times faster than
the Portable Document
Format (PDF) equivalents.
Search options: The user can
search within each curricu-
lum document by contents,
or by entering a specific
search term. For example, a
search for the word ‘language’
will yield a menu of all of the
pages where that word
appears within the document.
● Favourites option: The user
can bookmark and rename
pages for easy retrieval (and
to support curriculum planning, etc.) at a later time.
● Download option: The user
can download all of the documents to the hard drive of his/
her own PC. By downloading
the index file, the user can
navigate and search within
documents, without requiring
a connection to the Internet.
To facilitate short download
times, a minimum number of
images are provided in the
Primary School Curriculum CHM
documents. Internet Explorer
(IE) Version  (or above) is
required to view and download
the Primary School Curriculum
CHM files. If your PC uses
Windows , ME or  operating system, you already have
the required files installed.
All  Primary Curriculum
documents (with full use of
images, etc) are also available
on the NCCA website as PDFs.
The Primary School Curriculum
documents (English version)
are available on the NCCA
website in HTML format also.
You can access the Primary
School Curriculum Online files
from the NCCA homepage at
www.ncca.ie.
Consultative Conference on Education
T
he forthcoming
Consultative Conference
on Education is scheduled to take place in the Mount
Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny on
/ November . The
Education Committee will pres-
ent the findings of its research
on the English curriculum and
Gaeilge in T schools. In addition, a report of the research
carried out by the Education
Committee in relation to
special needs in mainstream
schools will be circulated to
delegates to the conference.
Speakers at the conference
will include Anita Robinson,
Verbal Arts Centre, Derry, and
Muiris Ó Laoghaire from the
Institute of Technology, Tralee.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Essential Parents’ Guide to the Primary School Years
by Brian Gilsenan
T
his book is a very clear,
easy to use guide for
every parent who wishes
to chart their child’s
educational journey through
primary school. From infants to
sixth class a parent can track
what subjects are being taught,
how these subjects are
approached and what material
may be used.
This is a simple to use illustrated handbook giving the
parent a clear overview of the
8
entire primary curriculum.
Primary school years are the
engine for a child’s education:
this book succeeds in being the
manual for this engine.
Subject integration, development of problem solving skills,
the importance of play,
concerns of children with
special needs and assessment
are, inter alia, covered by leading educationalists from St
Patrick’s and Froebal Colleges of
Education.
This is a welcome, well
produced, value free and timely
publication as we teachers,
children and parents set out on
our new curriculum journey.
Bon voyage.
Published by Primary ABC.
Email: [email protected]
Costs €.
■
Reviewed by Frank
Hayes, Scoil Iosagain,
Dolphins Barn, Dublin .
Intouch November 2003
E Q UA L I T Y
DES Publishes Equality Booklet for Schools
“To achieve quality there must be equality”
S
chools and the Equal Status
Act – Na Scoileanna agus an
tAcht um Stádas
Comhionann is the title of a new
booklet being circulated by the
Department to all schools,
primary and post-primary. This
joint publication of the DES and
the Equality Authority was
launched recently by the
Minister for Education and
Science.
In common with the INTO
Q&A Guide to Equality Legislation
published in July, this pamphlet
outlines the provisions of the
Equal Status Act. These include
prohibitions on harassment
and on discrimination in areas
such as enrolment and sanctions. The booklet also covers
the issues of reasonable accommodation of persons with a
disability, liability, exemptions
under the Act, the limited
provision for positive action
and challenges in attaining the
inclusive school.
In a number of sections, the
pamphlet refers to “issues that
have arisen” in the  Equality
Authority case files on education from last year. These
include allegations of schoolyard harassment on a number
of grounds, of refusal of access
for Traveller children and of
conditional access to certain
subjects.
Paimfléad dhá-theangach atá
i gceist anseo. Cuirtear béim ar
“an scoil uileghabhálach” mar
choincheap, scoil ina ndéantar
an t-idirdhealú a chosc agus a
throid, ina mbíonn meas ar
ilghnéitheacht thar na naoi
gcúiseanna a luaitear sna
nAchtanna Chomhionannais –
inscne, stádas pósta, stádas
clainne, treoshuíomh gnéis,
creideamh, aois, míchumas,
cine agus ballraíocht den lucht
siúil.
The Chief Executive of the
Equality Authority, Niall
Crowley, acknowledged at the
launch that schools face
complex challenges in making
their contribution to a more
equal society. Minister
Dempsey also referred to the
“many excellent models of
inclusive schools that have
Equal Opportunities Policy Template
on INTO Website
C
haracteristic Spirit,
Bullying, School Tours –
these are among the
many issues addressed in a
policy template on Equal
Opportunities in Schools now
published on the INTO website.
The policy on equality of
access and participation (equal
opportunities) was developed
in conjunction with School
Development Planning Support
(Primary). It is mainly framed as
a series of prompt questions
across a range of areas of school
life. These questions suggest
issues which might be
addressed in a school policy.
Employment equality, school
organisation and curriculum
are among issues raised by
questions such as:
● Do we have a fair and equitable procedure in relation to
job sharing, secondment,
staff development, career
breaks, study leave, carer’s
leave, maternity and paternity leave applications etc?
● Could our Parents’
Association organise inter-
Intouch November 2003
At the October training session for Equality Committee members:
(l to r) Bernie McCloskey, Leas-Cathaoirleach, Equality Cttee;
Joan Carmichael, Asst General Secretary ICTU; and Mary Culhane,
Equality Cttee Cathaoirleach.
●
●
●
cultural events/language
classes?
Are there gender issues in
relation to the wearing of the
uniform?
What are the procedures for
dealing with racist
comments/incidents?
Could we identify two specific
lessons in each curricular
area that would support and
promote respect for diversity?
To access this document,
enter the INTO website,
www.into.ie. Under ‘Republic of
Ireland Website’, go to ‘School
Administration’ (pink bar),
then to ‘Administrative Policies’
and among the nine policies
listed is that on ‘Equal
Opportunities’.
A separate policy template
specifically on gender equality
is in preparation.
embraced the principle that in
order to achieve quality there
must be equality”.
EQUALIT Y WORD
COMPETITION –
RESULTS
The INTO President, Sean
Rowley, drew the winners of the
Equality Word Competition
which was circulated with the
September InTouch. Prize
winners are: Marian
O’Callaghan, Kilcrea NS, Ovens,
(Coachford INTO Branch), and
Séamus Quirke, Whitegate
Mixed NS (Middleton Branch).
Congratulations to Marian and
to Séamus who each receive a
€ book token sponsored by
Hughes and Hughes. Thanks
also to the many members who
entered the competition.
Answers
The answers to the clues in the
crossword were:
A C RO S S











such
accost
cv
into
equal
show
opt
six
odei
chose
race
DOWN











two
who
services
act
status
illuses
ethos
usit
would
nine
of
9
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & TR ADE UNION TR A I N I N G
The Management of Special
Education in Mainstream Schools
Heritage in
Schools
Scheme
There have been over 
visits by Heritage
Specialists to schools under
the Heritage in Schools
Scheme so far this year. The
visits complement many
areas of the revised curriculum and focus on using the
environment to facilitate
learning across the curricular areas. Details on booking a visit were included in
last month’s InTouch and
are also available on the
INTO website.
See also page  where a
school visit on interactive
living history is described.
Presenters at the Limerick seminar included Joe Travers, St Patrick’s College, Gabrielle Greene, NEPS, Anna
Logan, Ladyswell NS, Dublin, and Anita Prunty, St Patrick’s College.
F
ollowing on the success of
the four seminars held in
March two further seminars on the Management of
Special Education in
Mainstream Schools were held
in Limerick and Letterkenny
during October.
Both days were a success and
participant feedback was excellent.
The collaboration and
contribution of staff from St
Patrick’s College of Education,
the Church of Ireland College
of Education and the National
Education Psychological Service
Trade Union
Training
Briefing and Training
Seminars for District,
Branch and Fora Officers
will be taking place during
November.
Details of arrangements
will be forwarded to all
involved prior to the
seminar.
10
was very much appreciated, as
was the co-operation of boards
of management in releasing
teachers to participate.
One of the discussion groups at the Special Education seminar in
Limerick.
One-Day Seminars for
Principals
Coping as a principal today:
Practical tips
The first two of the INTO oneday seminars for principals
and deputy principals took
place in Sligo and Dublin
during October and two further
seminars will take place in
Athlone and Cork during
November.
The focus of the seminars is
very much on practical strategies for principals and deputy
principals in their multifaceted roles.
The seminars were designed
and facilitated by a team of
experienced principals and
feedback from the seminars has
been very positive.
Tutor
Review
A Review Seminar for all
tutors and designers
involved in the INTO
Summer Programme 
will take place on , 
November in The
Abbeycourt Hotel, Nenagh.
The review is an important
element of INTO’s provision of quality professional
development to teachers
and allows time to review,
discuss and share practice
and to identify future needs
for Professional
Development.
Intouch November 2003
INTO BENEFIT S AND DISCO U N T S
As we already mentioned in the October InTouch we will be featuring the current benefits
available to all INTO members over the next couple of months. Below you will find more details
on some of the brilliant benefits available to members.
*Remember in order for us to sustain these benefits we need you to use them.
Get Golfing with
Save € on membership and
up to % off Green Fees. Open
Fairways Golf and Hotel
Passport which currently retails
at € is now available to all
INTO members at a fantastic
rate of €. The golfer’s passport provides excellent savings
on green fees at over  of the
finest golf courses in Ireland
and Britain. You will be entitled
to a discount of up to % off
green fees, depending on the
course. An Open Fairways
member also benefits from up
to % off the standard room
rate at  premier hotels
throughout Ireland.
● To avail of this offer and order
your passport simply call
  or log onto
www.openfairways.com and
join online. Quote ‘INTO
’ in your application.
●
●
When you join you will
receive the Open Fairways
directory which features
details of all the golf courses
and hotels participating in
the scheme. Your passport
entitles you to use every golf
course and hotel featured in
the directory twice each year.
The current Open Fairways
directory is valid up until 
March .
Clarion Hotel Limerick
INTO members can avail of a
special offer of € per person
sharing for  nights bed and
breakfast with dinner on one
evening and a complimentary
bottle of house wine at the
Clarion Hotel, Limerick. The
Clarion is a  Star deluxe hotel
which also boasts a health and
fitness club. The hotel is situated on Steamboat Quay with
fantastic views over Limerick
city and the river Shannon.
● To avail of the offer simply
quote ‘INTO’ when making
your reservation by either
phoning   or emailing [email protected].
● This special deal is available
until March,  and is valid
anytime during the week and
●
weekends subject to availability.
For more information on the
hotel check out their website
www.clarionhotellimerick.com
COMPETITIONS
■ We have a fabulous weekend
to give away for  people with
dinner on one evening in the
Talbot Hotel and Leisure Centre
in Wexford, courtesy of Select
Hotels of Ireland. To be in with
a chance to win this fantastic
prize please put your name,
address, school, teacher no and
telephone number on a postcard and send it to – The Talbot
Hotel Giveaway, Benefits
Section, INTO,  Parnell
Square, Dublin , by 
November.
Remember Select Hotels of
Ireland offer great deals to INTO
members. For further information
log onto the INTO website at
www.into.ie, select INTO, select
Benefits, select Other Benefits and
then Select Hotels.
■ We have  annual subscriptions to PC Live! magazine to
give away courtesy of PC Live!
To be in with a chance to win
one of these just send your
name, address, school, teacher
no and telephone number on a
postcard and send it to PC Live!
Benefits Section, INTO, 
Parnell Square, Dublin  by 
November.
SEPTEMBER
COMPETITION
WINNERS
Ladies Retail Fashion Store
PC Live! Ireland’s best-selling PC
and Internet Magazine
An annual subscription for PC
Live! which currently retails at
€ is available to all INTO
members for only €.
PC Live! Magazine provides all
of the latest news, reviews, tips
and advice on making the most
of your PC and the Internet.
There is a substantial education section in every issue of
the magazine and it frequently
includes feature stories on
computers in the classroom.
To subscribe and avail of this
discount: Call Catherine today
on the PC Live! subscriptions
hotline    or simply
log onto
http://www.pclive.ie/discount
Intouch November 2003
% discount available to all
INTO members at Sasha stores
nationwide. Sasha is the largest
Irish owned ladies retail fashion
chain in Ireland with  stores
throughout the country. It
offers a wide variety of up to the
minute fashions at great prices.
To avail of this discount simply
produce your INTO members
diary or your INTO Visa card at
time of purchase.
MISPRINT
Please note the Comhar Linn
Credit Union telephone
number was printed incorrectly on page  of the
October InTouch under INTO
Discounts and Benefits for
Student Members and also on
the Discount and Benefits
posters which are inserted
into members and students
packs, and which were
recently distributed with the
September Forum. Comhar
Linn’s number is  
. We wish to apologise for
any inconvenience caused.
Congratulations to Mary
McMahon, Arklow, who won
the weekend away for  in
Kilkea Castle courtesy of
Friends First.
Don’t forget Friends First offer
competitively priced finance to
members for cars, holidays and
home improvements. Call now on
  .
Congratulations to Anne
Newman of Ballymahon, Co
Longford, who won a yearly
Roadside/At Home/Recovery/
Onward travel membership
courtesy of RAC Ireland.
Don’t forget special deals are
available for Roadside Assistance
packages and driving lessons for
INTO members. For further information log onto www.into.ie, select
INTO, select Benefits, select Other
Benefits and select RAC Ireland.
11
STUDENT MEMBERS
Primary Teaching Promoted at Higher Options Events
Primary school teacher, Shane Ryan, signs autographs for (l to r) Nicola
Moynihan, Clodagh Murray, Ciara Mitchell (Scoil Mhuire, Trim) at the
Higher Options Event in the RDS where Shane partnered primary
teacher colleague and fellow Aussie Rules representative, Paddy
Christie, at the Coláiste Phádraig Stand.
STUDENT NEWS – CICE RATHMINES
“All the students in CICE would
like to congratulate all our
graduate students who did so
well in their th year. In particular we would like to say well
done to: Nikki Richardson,
Emma Stinson, Elaine
Anderson, Glenn McCullagh,
and Sarah Eager. They all
received first class honours,
and to Nikki, Emma and Sarah,
congratulations on being nominated for gold medals. You did
us all proud, and good luck with
the wonderful future that lies
ahead.”
DIARIES AND STUDENT PACKS
Student packs for first year and
graduate students have been
delivered to the colleges to
welcome approximately ,
new student members into the
INTO. In addition, each student
member will receive an INTO
Diary and this will enable them
to avail of INTO discounts and
benefits.
Dr Pauric Travers, President of St Patrick's College of Education
discusses teaching as a career with secondary students at the Higher
Options Event
Meeting between INTO and
Students’ Unions
T
he latest meeting
between INTO and the
Presidents of the
Students’ Unions took place in
INTO Head Office on October .
The meeting was attended by
representatives of the Students’
Unions in St Patrick’s College,
Drumcondra, Mary Immaculate
College, Limerick, Coláiste
Mhuire, Marino and Church of
Ireland College, Rathmines.
Items on the agenda included
issues of concern to students,
Hibernia College, communications and benefits and
discounts.
The student leaders also
highlighted the concerns of
probationary teachers who
have just joined the teaching
force. The next meeting is
planned for early in the nd
term.
Representatives from the Students’ Union of the Colleges of Education
are pictured above at a recent meeting in INTO Head Office.
12
Intouch November 2003
MEDIA REPORT
The Case for Benchmarking
T
he following is an edited
version of an opinion
piece written by INTO
President Sean Rowley in the
Irish Independent  September
.
“I am genuinely surprised and
more than a little angry that my
fellow Mayoman and former
primary teaching colleague
Enda Kenny, TD, would call for
Benchmarking not to be paid.
The sense of anger that this
cheap political trick has generated among primary teachers
and their families runs deep. I
am well aware that it is some
years since Enda Kenny earned
his living in the ‘chalkface’ but
can he be so out of touch that
he has failed to notice
enormous changes that have
taken place in our primary
schools in recent years?
Last week the OECD reported
that Irish teachers are delivering top quality education in
spite of inadequate funding,
large class sizes and not enough
support for the disadvantaged.
Ireland is getting a far better
return than other countries
from its education system.
Where does Enda Kenny think
this comes from? The answer is
that our education system is
where it is today not because of
government investment but
because of the readiness of
primary teachers to move with
the times. We don’t need
lessons in modernisation. We
can give them to him and
others when it comes to
embracing change and reform.
Primary teachers have
already delivered on most of the
agreed modernisation agenda
and will meet other agreed
commitments. There is a standardised school year and agreement on parent teacher
meetings. Primary teachers
have never been clock-watchers. In particular, we have
always been generous with time
when it comes to meeting
parents. Our involvement in
extra curricular activities is also
beyond compare.
Teachers are co-operating
with a raft of new legislation
affecting schools. An entirely
new curriculum is being rolled
out involving unprecedented
change and modernisation by
teachers. We are tackling disadvantage, accommodating
special needs children and nonnational children in our schools
and introducing a host of new
programmes in response to
changing societal needs.
Primary teachers are promoting
equality and partnership with
parents. In addition, we appear
to be the only group with an
interest in sustaining our
native language.
Many comments in relation
to Benchmarking relate to calls
for value for money in the
process. New technology has
been brought into classrooms
and there wasn’t a hint of the
flu that affected other sectors.
What’s more there is a commitment among teachers towards
ongoing change in the interests
of pupils.
This has to be recognised and
rewarded. The Benchmarking
award began life in  and is
not due for final payment until
. It is already delayed, overdue and at this stage well
earned. In spite of this, as part
of the payment approaches,
there are those who appear to
begrudge it. Teachers have
more than kept their side of the
bargain. The least they deserve
is that commitments entered
into will be met within the
agreed timeframe.
Calls not to pay teachers’
legitimate pay rises are nothing
new. During the early nineties,
government cited the poor
state of the public finances as
an excuse. We heard then that
there was a need to restore
confidence in the economy, to
restrain public expenditure and
that the economic outlook was
not as favourable as heretofore.
The following decade was the
most prosperous in Ireland’s
history and primary teachers
accepted wage restraint while
the earnings of many commentators and politicians who now
lecture us on modernisation
and productivity raced ahead.
Primary teachers entered this
deal in good faith and we expect
government to deliver on its
promises.”
In the Media
The INTO general secretary John
Carr said last night that there
were , pupils in primary
education altogether and the
fact that only  appeals had
gone to hearing showed a high
level of parental satisfaction. (on
Section  Appeals)
Irish Independent,  October
… the effects of being taught by
an unqualified person can
manifest itself in basic but very
important things like children
not learning the correct way to
form their letters in handwriting or how to sound words
when reading.
Waterford News and Star,
 October
The INTO has welcomed the
report (ESRI on Educational
Intouch November 2003
Spending and Equality) stating
that it reflects the arguments the
primary teachers’ union has
been making for the past decade.
The Irish Times,  October
Children and teachers are entitled to safe and hygienic working conditions.
John Carr, in The Irish Times,
 October
Mr Carr said that the INTO
would totally oppose any
attempt to cutback on commitments to special education.
Irish Examiner,  October
What primary school children
with special needs will be
denied access to a resource
teacher? What primary schools
can expect to raise class size?
What primary school pupils
with literacy and numeracy
difficulties are going to be
ignored?
Irish Examiner,  October
Excessive admin is driving principals off the job
Headline in Irish Independent,
 October
Teachers’ union accuses
Department of having a Pontius
Pilate attitude to problems
Headline in The Irish Times,
 October.
It shows clearly the extent of the
crisis in teacher supply at
primary level. There are simply
not enough trained teachers at
primary level at the moment
Irish Independent,  October.
Principals express anger at
‘double jobbing’ – many are
quitting their careers over
burden of administration
Headline in The Irish Times,
 October
According to John Carr, General
Secretary of the INTO, many
principal teachers are abandoning their jobs due to the excessive workloads.
Sunday Tribune,  October
Hundreds of qualified teachers
face dismissal after five years
unless they pass a demanding
Irish exam with no textbooks,
syllabus or support. Is it time to
rethink the need for teachers to
learn Irish to degree standard?
The Irish Times,  October.
13
C E N T R AL EXECUTIVE CO M M I T TEE – HE AD OFFICE NEWS
Creggs Building the Future
INTO DIARY
■
The INTO Members Diary
for  has been posted
to Staff Representatives in all
schools. Please note diaries
are for INTO members only.
Diaries for new INTO
members are being sent separately with the INTO New
Member’s Pack.
If you have a query regarding
your diary please contact INTO
Publications Section.
ORDERING INTO
PUBLICATONS?
■
Sean Rowley, President, INTO, joins An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, TD, plus Dr John Lynch, Chairman, CIE, and
Vincent Crowley, Chief Executive, Independent Newspapers, in congratulating Ger Dowd, Principal, Creggs
Central NS, Galway, on being awarded the National Winner prize in the Building for the Future programme, at
St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, recently.
Rules Review
T
he Review Committee on
INTO Rules and
Structures will meet
again on  November.
Following the meeting a full
report will be sent to the CEC.
The proposed changes to the
INTO Rules and Constitution
have been discussed at District
and Branch level in recent
months. The precise wording of
proposed rule changes will be
circulated to Branches in time
for AGMs.
MASS FOR
DECEASED
MEMBERS
Mass for deceased
members of Club na
Múinteoirí will be
held in Hall at
.pm on Mon, 
November. Cantairí
Avondale will assist
Fr Ivan Tonge.
14
When ordering INTO
publications by phone,
email or letter it would be
appreciated if you would
include your school roll
number in order to facilitate
issuing of invoices.
If you have previously
ordered publications a
Customer ID number would
have appeared on your
invoice/receipt – this number,
if available, will help to ensure
speedy processing of your
order.
Postage and packing rates are
detailed on the Publications
Order Form and are also available from INTO Publications
section.
EPILEPSY: A GUIDE FOR
TEACHERS
■
Donal O ‘Donoghue, CEC District 15, Anne McElduff, Assistant General
Secretary, Noel Ward, Senior Official, pictured at the Consultative
Conference on INTO Rules and Structures
75 YEARS ON
Cumann na mBunscol
Chairman, Edward
O’Riordan (right)
making a presentation
to Peadar MacCanna
(centre) whose father
was first secretary of
Cumann ma mBunscol
in . Current
Cumann na mBunscol
secretary, Tom
Fitzpatrick, is also
pictured.
INTO officials recently
met personnel from
Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy
Association. The group is in
the process of redesigning
their guide for teachers of children with epilepsy. They are
interested in hearing feedback
from teachers who may have
used the current guide. If you
would like to make any
comments, please contact
Deirdre O’Connor at INTO
Head Office.
TEACHERS’ GOLF
OUTING
■
In conjunction with
President’s Dinner at
Ballina Golf Club, Saturday,
November , . Contact
John Cummins   or 

Intouch November 2003
INTO WEBSITE AND MEMBERS’ CD
PC Live!
Netd@ys
N
Hiding from the Spammers
etd@ys  takes place from  to
 November. A European initiative
aimed at promoting the use of new
media in education and culture, the theme
this year is Dialogue between Cultures which
will be imaginatively and innovatively
explored. In Ireland Netd@ys is co-ordinated
by Léargas. For more information and list of
events check out www.netdaysireland.ie or
contact Léargas by tel at   o re m a i l
[email protected]
As part of Netd@ays week the Irish Film
Institute will screen some of the latest documentaries from the EBU Documentary
Exchange. On  November, th class
primary pupils will have the chance to see
short films about the real life experiences of
 year olds from other countries. On 
November the Schools Video Showcase is an
opportunity for students to see how young
filmmakers have engaged with their own
culture, translating their experiences onto
film. Admission to these events is free but
booking is essential. For info contact IFI
Education on  .
Anybody with an email
address or who surfs the web
to any extent at all is susceptible to receiving spam. However, there
are certain steps you can take to
minimise the risk of attracting too much
unwanted mail.
Don’t post your primary email address
to newsgroups, online forums, and every
page of your website. That makes it
much easier for email extractors to find
your address and add it to spam lists.
Read the small print when you sign up
to an ISP or some web service. Make sure
to check (or uncheck where appropriate)
any boxes that ask whether you want to
be put on a mailing list. That way at least,
reputable websites will not pass your
address to mail marketing companies.
If you must use a free email account
on news groups and online forums,
don’t make it obvious. If you use an
email like john@wellknownisp.ie, you
are only making it easy for dictionary
spammers to guess your address.
Treat spam for what it is. Resist the
temptation to take out a mortgage from
some previously unknown financial
institution with no postal address. If
you’re losing your hair, live with it. It
never did Sean Connery any harm.
Gaining weight? Get an exercise bike,
and if you must use Viagra, consult your
doctor. You’re only confirming your
address as a real one.
Ditto for HTML mails, especially those
advertising porn sites. These can run
Javascript, launch your browser and
send a mail confirming your address
back to the spammer.
For the same reason, don’t reply to an
obvious spam asking to be taken off
their list. It’s one way to copper fasten
your presence on the mail list.
And – don’t give your friends’ names
and addresses to websites who
innocently ask you to do so. It’s one way
to become ‘Johnny No Mates’.
■
Republished from PC Live! Ireland’s
best-selling PC & Internet magazine.
Packed with news, reviews, features and
tips. For subscriptions call Catherine Kenny
on    or log on to:
www.pclive.ie/discount
INTO Members’ Handbook CD
I
t appears from calls to Head
Office that the most
common problem
members are having with the
Members’ Handbook CD is
related to Adobe Acrobat
Reader. In previous issues we
have explained what this software is and how to download it.
It is now possible for you to
download Acrobat Reader via
the INTO website. This is the
easiest route to follow if you are
still having trouble downloading this software. If your
computer does not have
Acrobat Reader when the CD is
loaded into it your computer
may ‘freeze’ or stick on a
message saying “Downloading
INTO Handbook”.
Get Adobe Reader
Log on to the INTO website at
www.into.ie. Enter either the
Republic of Ireland or the
Northern Ireland site. Click on
the icon below which appears
at the bottom of
the page:
Intouch November 2003
This will lead you straight
into the Adobe site.
Downloading onto a PC
You will be asked to select a
language (English is the default),
the platform (PC or Mac and
which system you are using). If
you are unsure open ‘My
Computer’ from your desktop,
and right click. Choose
‘Properties’. The information will
then be displayed eg Windows
, , XP etc. You can then
select the correct platform from
the drop down list given.
You will also be asked to specify your connection (dial up or
broadband). If your computer
runs from a k or k modem
and dials a number for internet
access, you should select ‘dial up’.
Your selections will determine
the version of Acrobat Reader
that that will be downloaded.
Once selections are made a
‘download’ option appears.
Click ‘download’.
Note: If you have Windows NT
installed you will need to have or
download Service Pack
a in order to download
Acrobat Reader ..
This will download an installation file onto your desktop.
Double click on the icon. The
machine will ask you to choose
a location for the file to be
stored, you will need to navigate to a suitable location. Eg
C/Program Files/Acrobat.
The download process will
begin. This may take some
time, particularly if you have a
slower internet connection.
Downloading onto a Mac
You will be asked to select a
language (English is the
default), the platform (PC or
Mac and which system you are
using). If you are unsure which
system you have, click anywhere
on your desktop and go to the
Apple icon on the top left
corner of your screen. Select
the first option ‘About this
Computer’. The window that
opens will give you the information you need, eg Mac OS .
or Mac OS .. You can then
select the correct platform.
You will also be asked to
specify your connection (dial
up or broadband).
Note: The latest version of
Acrobat Reader is .. If your
mac is running a system lower
than Mac X, Acrobat Reader  is
not available. In this case the
most current compatible
version will download.
Click ‘Download’. This will
download a file called
‘rdrweb.sit’ onto your desktop.
Double click on the icon. The
computer will select a suitable
‘unstuffing’ programme already
present on your machine, eg
Stuffit Expander to decompress
the file (this programme can
also be downloaded for free if
not already on your computer).
The Installer icon will then
appear on your desktop.
Double click on this and
follow the instruction to install.
You will have to restart your
computer before Acrobat
Reader becomes operational.
15
NORTHERN IREL AND NEWS
Annual Earning Limit (AEL) Change affects
Teachers
T
he Department of
Education has advised
INTO that because of a
substantial number of overpayment of pensions it has decided
to review the arrangements
with respect to the Annual
Earnings Limit (AEL). The new
arrangements took effect from 
April . The aim of this
change is to simplify the
arrangements, to prevent overpayment of pensions and to
bring the AEL process in line
with that operated in England
and Wales.
The new AEL year will run
from  April to  March. A
revised TP form has been
developed which will apply to
all teachers who retire on the
grounds of Age, Redundancy,
Holiday Pay Ruling
A
n Employment Appeal
Tribunal in a recent ruling
has stated that ‘rolled up’
holiday pay is lawful, and in
certain circumstances can
fulfil obligations under the
Working Time Regulations.
An Employment Appeal
Tribunal in a recent ruling has
stated that ‘rolled up’ holiday
pay is lawful, and in certain
circumstances can fulfil obligations under the Working
Time Regulations. The judgement (Marshall’s Clay
Products Ltd V Caulfield and
Others) will have an impact
on teachers employed on a
temporary or substitute basis
and who are paid an hourly or
daily rate
Justice Burton, in delivering
the ruling, found that rolled
up pay clauses could be legal.
However, he gave guidance
and confirmed that in order to
minimise the risk of rolled up
pay not being in compliance
with the Regulations, certain
conditions must be met.
These include:
Agreeing rolled up holiday
pay in the contract and
identifying the percentage
or amount of holiday pay
clearly in the contract and
ideally on the payslip;
● Ensuring holiday pay is
genuinely in addition to
normal pay;
● Recording holidays taken;
● Taking reasonably practical
steps to require workers to
take their holidays before
the end of their holiday year.
In considering this opinion,
INTO believes that the most
practical solution would be to
pay holiday pay when a
temporary or substitute
teacher actually takes leave.
Commenting on the decision,
Mr Tony Carlin, said: “INTO
welcomes this ruling. We
hope that it will clarify the
issue of holiday pay for substitute and temporary teachers.
We will certainly be making
representations to the
Department of Education to
ensure that this ruling is
compiled with”.
●
and Efficient Discharge.
For teachers who already
have an AEL, the new
procedures will be phased in
over the course of the current
financial year. All new pensioners requesting an AEL for the
first time will be issued with an
AEL for the period from the first
date of their re-employment to
 March .
INTO has sought and received
assurances from the
Department of Education that
these changes would not be
detrimental to teachers working under these new arrangements. Individual teachers who
are unsure or who are affected
by these arrangements can seek
advice from Teachers’ Pay
Branch on  .
Complaints’ Procedures Must
Protect Teachers
INTO accepts that many
parents and carers have
concerns about aspects of their
children’s education. Most
complaints are handled and
resolved informally and with
the appropriate reassurances
given most individuals are
satisfied with the outcome.
A number of schools however
have decided to develop their
own procedures for handling
complaints. These procedures
set out the steps a parent
should take when they have a
formal complaint about an
issue concerning their child’s
education. In some cases they
may permit a parent to bypass
the normal systems in a school
and seek to raise the matter
with the Board of Governors.
INTO advises teachers to
ensure that any Complaints’
Procedures are introduced in
schools only after they have
been the subject of meaningful
consultation with the INTO.
Tony Carlin, Trade Union
Official, said; “Complaints’
Tony Carlin
Procedures must protect and
indemnify teachers from
unfounded or malicious
complaints. They must operate
in an open and transparent
manner and comply with the
principles of natural justice. We
must ensure that teachers are
able to discharge their duties
without the fear of being disciplined because a parent has
made a complaint”.
INTO Slams Sectarian Violence
I
NTO deplored the attacks on
teachers’ cars in Our Lady of
Mercy High School, North
Belfast. In recent weeks there
have been a number of sectarian
attacks on school pupils and
16
school premises. The attack
today on Our Lady of Mercy High
School is the culmination of
totally unacceptable tribal and
sectarian tit-for tat behaviour.
Frank Bunting, Northern
Secretary said: “It is essential
our community and everyone
in it learns from the past.
Attacking teachers providing a
service to the community is
reprehensible. Schools must be
sanctuaries, free from fear and
thuggish behaviour. All local
community leaders and representatives must strive to bring
this spiral of violence to a
close.”
Intouch November 2003
Small Schools
The Role of the Teaching Principal
T
he decision of the previous Education Minister,
Martin McGuinness, MP,
not to close two small rural
primary schools in the
Southern Education and Library
Board recently was a welcome
victory of pragmatic politics
over economics. Previously the
Audit Commission’s argument
was…
“If small schools are maintained where they are not justified, funds are pre-empted to
provide an expensive form of
education for a minority of
pupils who have no particular
claim on the extra resources
involved. The closure of expensive and unjustified small
schools would liberate
resources which could well be
used to enhance the quality of
education elsewhere…”
Audit Commission, 
The counter balancing argument was made by the
Northern Ireland Education
Forum;
“ …Rural schools are part of the
traditional heritage of Northern
Ireland since they play a prominent role in the educational,
cultural, religious and community aspects of their rural environments. Indeed their social
value as a focal point of the
community far outweighs their
cost effectiveness …”
In spite of growing managerialism and Stephen Ball’s assertion” …that the legal
responsibilities of the principal
place him/her in a position of
licensed authority”, the trend
today is a principal as team
leader and team player.
Another significant change –
identified by Carol Beswell – has
been the proliferation of the
‘curriculum package’ in which
the content is determined
externally. She also contends
that this has led to significant
deskilling of the teacher’s role.
The teaching principal has an
onerous teaching role.
Intouch November 2003
However, the administrative
complexity of roles has led to
teaching principals undertaking intolerable workloads.
Wallace stated that if the work
of the teaching principal is
different to colleagues in larger
schools then it is …
“possible that they may have
unique needs for development
in order to learn how to fulfil
their management tasks more
effectively …”
In spite of numerous
published studies by the
decision-making structures;
 The curriculum for pupils’
learning;
 Staff;
 Pupils;
 Material resources;
 External relations;
 The process of monitoring
and evaluating the work of
the school.
A school’s small size has consequences:
 Limited possibilities for delegating management tasks;
 Need to develop within a
■ In spite of numerous published
studies … no relief for the teaching
principal is yet in sight.
Regional Training Unit, the
South Eastern Education and
Library Board and the CCMS, no
relief for the teaching principal
is yet in sight. On the content of
the Independent Enquiry Final
Report (Part ) on teachers’
salaries and conditions of service, expectation levels of
redress for teaching principals
are considerably depressed.
Good management practice in
all schools includes the
management of:
 The overall policy of the school;
 School communication and







small staff the expertise to
provide a broad curriculum;
Major impact on pupils by
one teacher over several
years;
Limited range of people to
draw upon for professional
dialogue;
Limited facilities and material resources;
Classes with a wide age range;
Liklihood of buildings being
old;
High cost of education provision per pupil;
Limited non-contact time for
Gerry McBrien
principals to carry out
management tasks;
 Concern about falling rolls
and rationalisation.
To mitigate this, greater
school collaboration and trust
is necessary. In Wales school
clustering has been used to
plan common programmes of
INSET and develop curricular
programmes across schools.
However, in spite of
Department of Education
support for school co-operative
activities – drawing up policy
documents and schemes of
work and the joint teaching of
aspects of the curriculum clustering has not taken off. The
idea of School Federations
where one non-teaching principal has responsibility for the
other school(s) has not been a
success story either. The
Garvagh case study succeeded
due to the heroic principal and
teaching staff overcoming
totally inadequate project planning with no experience of
informal clustering, the nonteaching principal being
initially required to be a teaching principal and unscrupulous
penny pinching from the North
Eastern Education and Library
Board.
It is a sad fact that the
concern of Giltins () that
the teaching principal’s isolation in his own classroom;
“is the greatest disadvantage of
the teaching head. He cannot
visit other classrooms often
enough to give guidance and
supervision. The head teacher
of a small junior and infant
school may not know what is
being done in the infant’s class
or department …”.
The Independent Enquiry
Team has indicated this dual
role will be addressed in Part 
of the Report, yet to be
published. Let us see.
■
Gerry McBrien,
Principal, St Colman’s
Primary School, Dromore.
17
NORTHERN IREL AND NEWS
Primary Movement
I
f, as a classroom teacher,
you are ever offered the
chance to go on a Primary
Movement  day in-service
course, grasp the opportunity.
Not only is the quality of the inservice training provided
second to none, but you will
come away firmly convinced
that the movement programme
you are about to put into practice in your classroom for a few
minutes each day will be of
enormous benefit to the pupils
in your class. There have been
many movement programmes
developed over the years, each
aiming to improve the
functioning of the child.
Primary Movement is currently
operating in a large number of
schools in Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland.
Primary Movement is a nonprofit making charitable organization. It was established to
bring a specific movement
programme into the public
domain through the provision
of training courses and other
facilities for those working with
children with specific learning
difficulties. The major focus is
to promote early intervention
through movement and to
support scientific research in
the area.
Primary Movement is a skilled
and unique movement
programme which seeks to
replicate the early movements
of the foetus and to enhance the
maturation of the central nervous system. It has been shown to
have a significant impact on the
educational attainments of children with specific learning difficulties including dyslexia.
A Second Chance, a television
programme and video made by
BBC  Northern Ireland on this
groundbreaking movement
programme, is fascinating.
From scepticism to
wonderment it shows children
with difficulties, ranging from
reading to writing to communication to poor coordination
skills, who after having taken
part in the movement
programme have made significant and spectacular gains.
18
Reading gains were very significant. Some children made gains
of over  months in reading as
a result of taking part in the
movement programme.
Children’s confidence and self
esteem had also been raised
significantly.
So how is it done?
The Primary Movement
programme is based on scientific facts and data. It investigates the role of primary
reflexes in disrupting the development of reading skills.
works on eliminating them so
that the child can function
more effectively and their problems can be addressed more
speedily. In normal development the primary reflex system
is transformed in the first year
of life and a secondary reflex
system emerges. The secondary
system forms the basis for later
adult coordinated movement.
However, when primary
reflexes persist beyond their
normal time span they disrupt
subsequent development and
learning ability.
■ It has been shown to have a significant impact on the educational
attainments of children with
specific learning difficulties
Primary reflexes are movement
patterns which are present in
the foetus and in the early
months of a newborn infant.
There are about  primary
reflexes in all. Some such as
grasping and sucking are obvious – others are more hidden. A
scan of a baby in a womb will
show some of these reflexes and
a newborn baby will possess
them as well. A baby, however,
must lose its primary reflexes
after about  months in order
to make way for new secondary
and adult reflexes. However,
where primary reflexes persist
and don’t diminish, they
prevent the maturation of the
central nervous system and are
responsible for holding up
basic skills that a child should
have in later years in nursery
and primary school. Primary
Movement is a programme
devised to switch these primary
reflexes off where they are present in a child and allow a child a
second chance to develop the
basic skills that they need to
read, write, communicate and
move more effectively.
Primary Movement identifies
the primary reflexes present in
the child and by performing
movements based on the
primary reflexes themselves it
Results have shown that children who completed the experimental movement programme
which was based on primary
reflex replication, made very
significant progress in reading,
writing speed and the phonological sub-test.
Martin McPhillips and his
team, after making such ground
breaking progress in the experimental stage, have now moved
their programme to the classroom with a view to identifying
and supporting children early
on in their education.
Our task as teachers is to take
this programme into our classrooms where undoubtedly it
will be developed and where it
will help us to break the learning barrier that exists for so
many of our pupils.
Does it work?
After a year of doing the
Primary Movement programme
with my own class last year, I
found that children were
certainly more coordinated and
focused by the end of Year .
Children arriving this year from
the nursery, who have also
been doing the programme for
a year, seem more settled and
have a greater attention span.
Teachers like myself who are
doing this movement
programme in the classroom
may feel a bit mad, odd and
crazy at the beginning. Even the
pupils think we have lost the
plot. The preliminary
movements to the large movements are easy and fun and the
pupils genuinely enjoy them and
actively participate. The large
movements are different. These
have to be done very, very slowly
and with great care to do them
justice. Even for the teacher you
have to make a very conscious
effort to slow down to give them
their full potential. It’s best if
you put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on
your door if you are doing these.
Because if anyone unfamiliar
with the Primary Movement
programme happens to burst in,
you will forever be known as the
school basket case! An unfamiliar inspector would probably
have you committed. But no
matter how odd it seems at the
beginning, persistence will pay
off and our pupils will be much
better off as a result.
References
A Second Chance, BBC Northern
Ireland Home Truths – 
With special thanks to Martin
McPhillips Queens University
Belfast
www.primarymovement.org
■
Written by Mary
Cahillane, CEC
Representative, District 1.
Mary Cahillane
Intouch November 2003
NORTHERN IREL AND NEWS
Monitoring and Surveillance
F
rom CCTV to call monitoring, and from ‘mystery
shoppers’ to swipe cards,
today’s workforce is increasingly
subject to surveillance and
monitoring by employers.
Privacy in the workplace is an
issue that affects all workers. It
is not just about ‘big brother’
surveillance, it also concerns
the extent to which an employer
regularly monitors employees’
e-mail and internet use, and the
records they keep about staff.
For many workers the feeling
of being spied on or of monitoring of their behaviour in corridors or staff rooms can affect
their morale and overall health.
INTO is concerned that surveil-
lance is being introduced into
schools on the pretext of security, but is also being used to
monitor the behaviour of
teachers in the school.
Teachers must ensure that
they are aware of the monitoring systems that are in place in
schools. They must be informed
of the extent and limitation of
Teachers’ Pay Unlawful?
I
NTO has sought clarification regarding the legality of recent recommendations of the Independent Enquiry
into teachers’, principals’ and vice-principals’ pay in Northern Ireland. These
recommendations have been
implemented by the Department of
Education and the Education Employers.
Under the terms of the Equal Pay Act
and the Northern Ireland Act  the
Department of Education is required to
carry out an equality audit on any major
changes in teachers’ pay policy. INTO is
demanding that a copy of any such
equality audit – if one exists – is made
available to it.
INTO is convinced that the pay of principals and vice principals may now be in
direct contravention of Equality legislation. This leaves teachers’ unions with
no option but to fight individual teach-
■ “Section 75 of the
Northern Ireland
Act 1998 requires
the introduction
of policies
which are
demonstrably
equitable
and fair.”
Nuala O’Donnell
Senior Official
Intouch November 2003
ers’ pay cases before industrial
tribunals. INTO is also demanding that
any subsequent recommendations from
the Independent Enquiry must be equality proofed before consequent negotiations take place on them.
Nuala O’Donnell, Senior Official, said:
“Section  of the Northern Ireland
Act  requires the introduction of
policies which are demonstrably equitable and fair. The Department of
Education to our knowledge has not
carried out an equal pay audit and both
it and the education employers are in
contravention of law and good practice.
INTO is demanding a copy of any equal
pay audit which has been undertaken
and in the event that none has been
carried out immediate action is taken to
ensure that pay policies are introduced
that promote fairness and equality”.
the information that is being
held on them and the purpose
for which it is being held.
Tony Carlin said, “Teachers
have rights under the Data
Protection Act and Human
Rights Act to know what information is being held about
them and what monitoring the
employer is carrying out”.
INTO Welcomes
Proposal to End
KS3 Testing
I
NTO welcomed the proposal from
Gavin Boyd, Chief Executive CCEA to
scrap the current system of KS testing
in schools as part of new – year
Curriculum Review.
Replacing the KS tests with assessment by
teachers is sensible and professional as is
the strategic aim of introducing more flexibility into how and what pupils learn in
schools.
Frank Bunting, Northern Secretary, said:
“After years of blather on the need to
reduce teacher workload and bureaucracy,
we have in Mr Boyd’s proposal at least one
constructive suggestion as to how this
might actually be done. This has to be a
wake-up call to the Department of
Education and management of the education system in Northern Ireland. However,
it is essential that any proposed new
system of teacher assessment is teacher
friendly, fit for purpose and underpins
teaching and learning in schools.
INTO welcomes the CCEA KS initiative. This
review of the curriculum must take into
account teacher workload, class sizes and
achieve a proper balance of a skills based
versus a knowledge based curriculum.
INTO also welcomes the additional exceptional closure days for schools which has
been granted to post primary teaching
staffs to enable them to respond fully to
these exciting proposals”.
19
INTO PRINICIPALS’ CO N S U LTATIVE CO N F E R E N C E
The Concerns of Principals are Shared by All
Conference Speech by General Secretary
S
tatements about the
nature, pace, direction
and effects of change lose
their impact, particularly on
principal teachers, so great has
been the transformation of the
world in which they work.
Schools are facing ever-increasing demands for radical and farreaching change, restructuring
of schools and more demanding
consumers. But at the very same
time that they are trying to deal
professionally with this changing work scenario the paradox is
that the freedom from bureaucratic control and centralised
regulation promoted by advocates of change is being
reversed when it comes to
schools. Far from freeing
schools from constraints, our
schools are facing escalating
routine workloads, demands for
excessive and often fruitless
paper work, top-down evaluation procedures, more public
accountability measures and
increasing state control over
curriculum and organisational
reforms.
There is a seemingly relentless emphasis on paperwork so
much so that schools might be
forgiven for thinking that
Newton’s Law has been rewritten to read “For each and every
action there is an equal and
opposite box to tick”. This
excessive demand for written
policies will stunt real school
development planning, limit
professional reflection and
reduce evaluation to externally
produced checklists. Even now
many schools have to spend
longer writing task descriptions
than they spend on tasks.
There is no doubt that external pressures are emanating
from legislation affecting schools
from a range of government
departments. Health and safety,
enrolment and behaviour are
three examples of written poli-
cies now legally required. But
policies such as these are the
responsibility of boards of
management and it is past time
that those charged with the
management of schools were
funded and resourced to enable
them to meet modern requirements. For too long government
has got away with management
on the cheap.
There is a small industry
developing offering advice to
schools about how to
implement legislation. Some
schools are also getting advice
recommending practices not
demanded by legislation. Other
schools are listening to ‘advisors’ recommending the drawing up of anything between 
and  policies.
Considerable pressure is also
emanating from within the
■ It is time to call a halt to
the paper mountain that
is being generated … the
only aim of which is to
push responsibility down
the line to schools
Above: Delegates take a break during the conference
Left: Raymond King (District ) makes a point
supported by Tom Mullins (District )
Máire Roycroft
(Cork) makes
a point
during one
of the lively
discussion
groups.
Above: Valarie Monaghan, Chairperson Interim Principals’ Review Ctte
and Catherine Byrne, Deputy General Secretary, listen to the debate.
CONFER E NC E SPO NS ORED B Y
20
Intouch November 2003
INTO PRINICIPALS’ CO N S U LTATIVE CO N F E R E N C E
Inspectorate. At primary level
we have a professional inspectorate who have an understanding of primary teaching. They
should be able to evaluate
schools on the commitment,
dedication and service of teachers and not on the quantity of
policy documents or the thickness of the school plan.
It is time to call a halt to the
paper mountain that is being
generated. There is a total lack
of understanding of what it is
like to be on the receiving end
of these, the only aim of which
is to push responsibility down
the line to schools. Principal
teachers, like any other workers
are entitled to their holidays.
Pressure is also emanating
from within the existing
Curriculum Implementation
Process. In the past few years
our schools have implemented
curriculum change on a
massive scale. Yet every year
schools have also faced added
requirements to develop school
plans, action plans, development plans, review plans,
implementation plans. How
many plans do we need?
The INTO has already begun
the process of trying to control
the workload burden. We have
secured a slowdown in the
curriculum implementation
process. In addition, three and
a half days’ inservice has been
agreed with the DES. We have
developed templates to aid
school planning in conjunction
with the School Development
Planning Initiative which are
available on the INTO website.
Following discussions with the
DES it has been agreed that the
Inspectorate will not seek
curriculum policies. They will
seek evidence of on going planning on the terms agreed. We will
enter into further discussions as
other subject areas are rolled out.
In the area of special education the INTO fought for the
appointment of resource teachers, special needs assistants and
the establishment of NEPS. But
schools ran into a paper moun-
tain and a bureaucratic nightmare which left principals at
breaking point and classroom
teachers in despair.
The INTO tabled constructive,
radical and proactive solutions.
Until we did, special education
in mainstream schools was
spiralling towards crisis. We
demanded an immediate
response to applications for
new entrants, the elimination of
bureaucracy through the provision of resources to schools as of
right and flexibile deployment
of resources on the basis of what
is best for children, classroom
 remains. The insult given
by the failure to concede the
demand for parity with our
second level colleagues was
compounded by the higher rises
conceded to principals of larger
schools. A situation where principals of second level schools
are paid more than principals of
primary schools will never be
acceptable to the INTO. But we
cannot move forward by looking
only in the rear view mirror. In
the national negotiations on
Sustaining Progress we secured
a mechanism whereby this issue
can be addressed in the next
■ Our task is to create the
circumstances in which principals
can flourish, develop and prosper
teachers and principals. We now
have a potential solution for
which this organization will
work tirelessly. We need a
system that is workable and
manageable and educationally
sound. But this organization did
not enter into these discussions
to be a party to a cutback.
Salary always was, and will be,
a key concern of the INTO. The
sense of betrayal when the
Benchmarking Body altered its
barely published report in July
round.
The CEC has already begun
work on a job evaluation of the
role of the principal and deputy
principal to support our case.
We are forced to do this to counteract the flawed Benchmarking
evaluation process. We must
also counteract reports purporting to undervalue and undermine the role of deputy
principals and others.
That principal teachers
currently feel undervalued and
Voices from the INTO Principals’ Conference
“If you’re ever assembling a
firing squad to shoot the person
that gave me a flat roofed
school I’ll join it for you”.
Gary Stack, Ennis.
“This was the best organised
conference for principals. The
issues that were addressed
were relevant”.
Pat Kavanagh, Wexford.
“The one thing politicians
understand, including Enda
Kenny, is survival – their own
survival”.
Raymond King, Dublin.
“I do not have disbelief and
scepticism about my union’s
capacity to lead and to get the
rights and working conditions
of principals established …
IPPN is not a side lobby group in
our union, getting our union to
do its business… I find documents like Tacaiocht  irritating, distracting, unhelpful”.
Bryan O Reilly.
“I’d hate for people at the top
table to think that we’re all
very happy”.
Tadhg O Donoghue
CONFER E NC E SPO NS ORED B Y
Intouch November 2003
underpaid for their work should
not surprise anyone when so
many are not paid for the full
number of staff that they
manage. All staff must count
towards allowances and principals should, if they wish, be able
to relinquish their posts, retain
their allowances and, at the very
least, preserve their pension
and gratuity benefits.
We must focus our energies
on pursuing possibilities rather
than dwelling on problems.
Criticism without constructive
solution only serves to consolidate the original problem
instead of advancing a solution.
Views of the principal teacher
as chief executive must be challenged as fatally flawed. In a
modern school the analogy of
ceannaire ar fhoireann na
scoile is much more appropriate. Good leaders lift team spirit
and morale, never admit defeat
and encourage participation
and commitment. They are
optimistic about the future.
They are solution driven rather
than problem preoccupied.
Our task is to create the
circumstances in which principals can flourish, develop and
prosper. This is a challenge
from which the INTO will not be
distracted or diverted. The
concerns of principals are the
concerns of all teachers.
“This conference was very
open, informative, honest,
helpful and enjoyable”.
Goretti Newell
A worthwhile Conference –
innovative suggestions, a
vision for the future and
positive affirmation of our
work.
Maire Roycroft, Cork.
Great opportunity to get the
broader picture, to see situations from the point of view of
different types of schools.
Proinsias Ó hÓgáin.
21
INTO PRINICIPALS’ CO N S U LTATIVE CO N F E R E N C E
Conference Questions
T
he biennial INTO Principals’
Consultative Conference took place in
Dundalk on  and  October, . More
than  delegates attended the
conference and we reprint below the questions that were discussed in the various
discussion groups. We would welcome your
views on the topics discussed as the INTO
The Future Development
of In School Management
in Schools
O
ur success in  in
delivering a deal which
ensures more than half of
primary teachers have a
promoted post has spurred
discussion on the role and
structures for in school
management. Fundamental
questions arise about how
these posts are being used,
what can be done to improve
matters and to what extent
they are being properly
utilized to share workload and
responsibilities”.
 How can we strengthen the
ISMT (In School
Management Team) to meet
pastoral, curricular, administrative and staff development needs?
 How could we help ISMT to
respond speedily to changing needs within schools?
“
 If you were to draw up guidelines for an ISMT what would
you propose in relation to
membership, meeting
arrangements, communication of outcomes and interaction with the board of
management?
 If you were to design an
inservice course for ISMT
what modules would you
include and how would you
accommodate different
needs of small and large
schools?
 Apart from Circular /
what other procedures /
criteria would you see as
relevant or effective for
appointment to posts of
responsibility?
 What evaluation/accountability should be in place for
ISMT?
The Management of Special
Education in Mainstream Schools
S
pecial Education is a hot
topic and getting hotter.
Circular / is a manifestation of a new resources driven,
rather than rights driven,
agenda. It is very closely aligned
to the Education for Persons
with Disabilities Bill. We want
to hear your views on the present situation and constructive
suggestions about improving
and streamlining matters.”
 What factors would need to
be considered in developing a
new model of allocation of
resources, based on a weighting system, for children with
special needs?
 What supports do you think
will be necessary in schools
in order to implement the
Education for Persons with
Disabilities Bill?
 Given the very onerous
responsibilities and role
proposed for principal teachers under the EPD Bill, which
“
The Future of Small Schools
“
S
mall schools are coming
under increasing pressure
as the pace of change increases.
It is also clear that release time
in its present form needs to be
reviewed. We need to be open,
creative and radical in
discussing support structures
and modelsof education provision in such schools. This
really calls for thinking outside
the box.”
 Does the group agree that the
effective delivery of curriculum is not related to school
size?
 What supports are necessary
to support effective teaching
in a small school?
formulates policy documents on the topics.
Please send your views to Tom O’Sullivan,
Assistant General Secretary,  Parnell
Sqaure, Dublin .
aspects do you believe should
be done by other parties?
 A staged approach has been
recommended for certain
pupils with intellectual disabilities in a number of recent
publications. These include the
Learning Support Guidelines,
the Report of the Task Force on
Dyslexia, the NEPS model of
service, and, of course, Circular
/. What do you think the
implications will be in schools
for current models of special
education provision if this
approach is fully implemented?
 The INTO has strongly
supported the concept of a
continuum of provision for
special educational needs
which would encompass
mainstream, special class or
special school placement as
appropriate. How should we
actively promote this diversity among parents and other
interest groups?
Policies and Planning
 What changes would you
suggest in order to allow
principals use release time
more effectively?
 Release time can allow teaching principals to carry out
routine tasks, but unplanned
interruptions disrupt teaching time. How can teaching
principals manage these
interruptions?
 How would you assess the
viability of smaller schools?
 If there was a proposal to
cluster smaller schools to
utilise resources, what
would you see as the
main advantages and
disadvantages?
“
P
lanning and policy formation for schools has developed into one of our greatest
indigenous manufacturing
industries. Schools have
planned and coordinated
school activities and the teaching of the curriculum for years.
We now need a common sense
approach and a plan for planning. This is an issue we need
to solve as a profession.”
 Given the impact of legislation on schools, how do you
think the education partners should respond to the
related requirements for
policies?
 Many teachers, particularly
principals, believe that the
demand for policy development is adding significantly
to our workload. What measures would you put in place
to alleviate the situation?
 As there is a slowdown in
the implementation of the
revised curriculum, what
schedule would you like to
see for the remaining
subject areas?
4 Aside from the policy
templates already on the
INTO website what other
templates would you like to
see developed?
CON FERE NCE SPO NSOR ED BY
22
Intouch November 2003
T E ACHER TO TE A C H E R
Pressured Principals
I
attended a residential
Summer Course for principals in July. A strange
experience. The other
people on the course were
lovely but, on that first day, it
looked like a reunion of the cast
of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest. A more stressed out bunch
of people I have never seen.
It transpired that the cause of
their stress was the fact that they
had come to the course directly
from school, and when principals are like that, they can be as
cranky as a newly-neutered cat.
Ten major stressors are:
Communicating with the DES
For any institution to be administered effectively it is imperative that its management have
constant and easy access to the
body that allocates its budget
and decides on its staffing.
Ideally, management should
know the name of the person
within that body who can deal
with their specific queries.
Corresponding with the DES
whether by phone or letter, is
not what the Americans
describe as ‘fun’. You ring them
and their operator informs you
that s/he will “put you through”.
After a short delay you then get
a recorded message that
informs you that “due to pressure of work, we are only able to
take calls between pm and 
pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays…”
You ring at the ordained time
and, wonder of wonders, the
line is engaged. If you think you
know the name of the person
you are looking for, you’re in for
a surprise. “They’ve moved to
Buildings/Special Ed /Payroll”.
School buildings
A situation used to prevail in
this country whereby, if a
school could show evidence of
sustained growth, the
Department, after, what to
them, seemed like a not unreasonable delay of two or three
years, would sanction an extension. Alas, no more.
Despite the Census figures,
which, one suspects, must give
Intouch November 2003
a reasonably accurate picture of
where in the country population growth is actually happening and despite annual birth
figures which the Birth Registry
in every county must have at its
ready disposal and, bolstered by
the October Statistics which
every principal in Ireland faithfully fills in, the mandarins
seem to be in a state of perpetual bewilderment when
approached by schools with
accommodation problems.
our young friend, looked at her
notes and told her that, no, that
wasn’t how notes should be laid
out. She showed her the ‘right’
way to do them and breezed out
again, telling her that she would
be back to do the Diploma
before the year was over. She
wasn’t. But, she sent her friend,
another young Cig. All went
swimmingly except, yes, you’ve
guessed it. She showed the
teacher a much better way to lay
out her notes. Come back Basil
Fawlty. All is forgiven.
Teacher shortage
One of the biggest worries most
principals experience is the fear
that they will be unable to
recruit suitable staff for their
schools. They realise that the
quality of their staff is the lynchpin upon which the success or
failure of their school hangs.
Because of the dire teacher
shortage, we have reached the
stage when interviewees are now
interviewing the interviewers.
Was anybody ever actually
held accountable for the
closure of Carysfort? Tribunals
have been set up for less.
Ancillary staff
And on the fifth day the Lord
created resource teachers,
home liaison teachers, teachers
for Travellers, teachers for non
nationals and a myriad of
others and indeed it was good.
So, on the sixth day, he created
Special Needs Assistants…
Any prizes for guessing who’ll
train and administer the whole
caboodle?
Inconsistent Inspectors
I had a young teacher for
Diploma last year. Our Cigire
visited a couple of times and
explained in intricate detail how
she should lay out her Notaí and
Sceimeanna. She duly did, and
got her diploma. This year we
had another young teacher fresh
out of college. Our veteran of the
previous year explained to her
how the Cigire liked his notes
(shaken, not stirred). Midway
through the year we had a visit
from our new Cigire. She visited
Inactive Boards of Management
If you consult the Rules and
Constitution of Boards of
Management you will see that
the board has full responsibility
for the management and governance of your school. Some
BOMs are excellent in this
regard, but, anecdotally, it
would seem that these are very
much the exception. The day to
day management will be left to
the principal, with varying
degrees of support from the
chairperson. When problems
occur, it can come unstuck very
quickly. The principal can be
left very alone, walking a
tightrope with no net underneath. Schools need and
deserve strong BOMs with
active and committed people.
Dealing with social breakdown.
Joxer’s words were quite
prophetic: the world is in a state
of chassis. From a school’s point
of view though, support from
social services is of great importance. Many of the problems
some children experience need
specialised responses. But does
such support exist? When you
ring your health board, what are
the chances of making contact
with the particular social
worker who is dealing with your
pupil? Is it only in my area that
social workers change jobs as
often as the Irish weather?
Parental expectations
Parental expectations of schools
seem to be governed by the Law
of Inverse Proportions: the less
effort they make with their children, the greater should be the
effort of their teachers. While it
is unfair to generalise like this,
before real learning takes place
there has to be discipline. And
with whom do discipline problems usually end up?
Urgent versus Important
Yes, of course, principal teachers would like to be ‘reflective
practitioners’ whose main
concern would be the direction
and quality of educational
provision within their schools.
Reality is different. The vast
majority of principals are
‘teaching principals’. If they are
fortunate enough to be a ‘walking principal’, a ‘priomhoide ar
sodar’, the expectation of all the
school’s stakeholders upon
them will be such that their
office will resemble Hueston
Station, with regular visits, not
alone from teachers and pupils,
but also from the grocer, the
baker, the candlestick-maker …
Uncertainty re role
The job spec of a principal is
very unclear. The only document that ever attempted to
define it was DES Circular /,
and that is so broad and general
as to be virtually meaningless.
Is the principal supposed to be
a mover and shaker, the person
who makes things happen or is
s/he simply the custodian of
Department regulations?
We need clarity. We need a
Department of Education which
is supportive of principals, one
which understands the difficulties under which they labour.
We need boards of management
which actually manage. We need
a union which will unequivocally say “Stop! Principals are
overburdened and can take no
more”. And, pending all that, we
need Principals with Patience,
Understanding, Courage,
Fortitude… and, above all else, a
much needed sense of humour!
Written by Brendan Mc
Cabe, Principal of St
Colmcille’s School, Kells, Co
Meath.
■
23
T E ACHER TO TE A C H E R
Effective Leaders Inspire
W
anted: A miracle worker
who can do more with
less, pacify rival groups,
endure chronic second-guessing,
tolerate low levels of support, process
large volumes of paper and work
double shifts. He or she will have
carte blanche to innovate, but
cannot spend much money, replace
any personnel, or upset any
constituency”. (Evans, R 1995)
All organizations, including
educational organizations, now
operate in a turbulent environment of constant change with
little indication that such pressures will be reduced in the near
future. The job of the school
principal or any educational
leader has become increasingly
complex and constrained. The
constant bombardment of new
tasks and the continual interruptions keep principals off
balance. Not only are the
demands fragmented and incoherent, but even good ideas
have a short shelf life as initiatives are dropped in favour of
the latest new policy.
The Job of the Principal
The introduction of special
needs assistants, home liaison
and resource teachers, has
added to and not corrected the
confusion. The almost uncontrolled avalanche of project
work, computer work, scissors
and sellotape-oriented
classwork, portfolios, and field
trips leave many bamboozled!
The number of new programmes,
new policies, new schedules,
new schemes and in-service
days seems ‘over the top’.
Traditionally the role of the
principal was confined to
administrative tasks and the
general operation of the school.
Never before has so much been
asked of our principals. The
References
Burns, McGregor, J (); in
Managing The Effective School.
Preedy, M (Ed) () London: OUP.
Day, C, Hall,C, Gammage, P and Coles,
M (); Leadership and Curriculum
in the Primary School. London: Paul
Chapman Publishing Ltd.
Evans, L (); Teacher Morale, Job
24
successful implementation of
the revised curriculum will
depend greatly on school leadership and will make enormous
demands on the vision, energy,
dedication and leadership of
the principal teacher. Despite
the fact that approximately %
have full time teaching posts,
they are expected to handle
expertly the extra workload
while guiding and leading their
weary staff. How do they do it?
Leadership Styles
The school principalship has
been the subject of hundreds of
studies over the past  years.
The central role of the principal
has been viewed variously as
features of headteachers leadership style:
● Personality;
● Interpersonal behaviour;
● Mission – realizing a vision;
● Professionality;
● Management skills.
Characteristics of Effective
Leaders
Stogdill believes these traits
consistently belong to the
outstanding leaders:
● Sense of responsibility;
● Concern for the task
completion;
● Energy;
● Persistence;
● Risk-taking;
● Originality;
■ The key to success with people is to
believe in them
chief instigator, promoter and
guardian of the school’s vision.
Valuing People
Effective leaders, value people.
One of the central requirements
of good leadership is the capacity to inspire the people in the
group, to move them and pull
them into an activity, and to
help them get focused and operating at peak capacity.
According to Jaworski, J (),
the confidence you have in
others will, to some degree,
determine the confidence they
have in themselves. The key to
success with people is to believe
in them. Leaders are leaders
only as long as they have the
respect and loyalty of their
followers. There is no place for
coercive power, for controlling
others through fear. People
don’t just work for money. They
work for intrinsic satisfaction –
the nature of the work, the relationships at work and the sense
of contribution to something
meaningful are all satisfying in
and of themselves.
building manager, administrator, politician, facilitator and
instructional leader.
Leadership styles can vary
from the autocratic, tyrannical
approach to the democratic and
participative style. Competence
is a necessary but not sufficient
criterion condition for good
management, however, it is the
personal qualities that so often
attain or hinder the achievement of the ‘key purpose’.
Linda Evans undertook
research in the area of job satisfaction and teacher attitudes.
Her findings show clearly that
the principal is the key influence on his/her school, since
his/her leadership, whether it
be autocratic, democratic, or
laissez-faire, sets the tone of the
school’s micropolitics and
establishes the parameters
within which other sources of
influence may operate.
Evans reveals five inter-related
Self-confidence;
Capacity to handle stress;
● Capacity to influence;
● Capacity to co-ordinate the
efforts of others in the
achievement of purpose.
The leader who is preoccupied with purposes and goals in
order to transform the organization and achieve a vision for
the school is what James
McGregor Burns refers to as
Transformational Leadership.
A good vision not only has
worthy goals, but also challenges
and stretches everyone in the
school. According to Torrington
and Weightman “the effective
school has a few central ideals
about which there is a high
degree of consensus and these
ideals are supported and put
into operation by simple rules
and clear guidelines”.
The principal clearly is the
The opportunity to exercise
leadership is both the right and
responsibility of all professional
teachers. It is not something
which can be opted out of or
left to others. (Day, C et al )
So next time you find yourself
wallowing through your RSE,
SESE, or SPHE programmes and
despairing at yet more guidelines from the DES or NCCA,
think of the vision!
Written by Marie Gilmore
BEd, Dip In Educational
Management. She is currently
preparing a Thesis for a M St in
Trinity College. She teaches
fifth class in Scoil Ide, Salthill,
Galway.
Satisfaction and Motivation. London:
Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd.
Evans, R (1995); in Leadership for the
21st Century by Michael Fullan
(); Educational Leadership,
April .
Jaworski, J (); Synchronicity, The
Inner Path of Leadership. USA:
Berrett – Koehler.
Pettinger, R (); in Leadership –
An Educational Perspective.
Education Paper, .
Stogdill, R.M (); in Leadership –
An Educational Perspective.
Education Paper, .
Torrington, D and Weightman, J
(); in Managing the Effective
School. Preedy, M (Ed) London: OUP.
Weiss, C (); The Four ‘I’s’ of School
Reform: How Interests, Idealogy,
Information and Institution affect
Teachers and Principals. Harvard
Educational Review, .
Whitager, KS and Monte, M ();
The Restructuring Handbook: A
Guide to School Revitalization.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
●
●
Vision
Exercising Leadership is a
Responsibility of all Teachers
■
Intouch November 2003
T E ACHER TO TE A C H E R
Why Are Some Principals Handing
Back The Keys?
U
ntil very recently, the
majority of ambitious
employees, particularly
those who work for government
departments, start at the
‘bottom of the ladder’ and
through sheer hard work, determination and an element of
luck, aspire to eventually reach
a position of management and
seniority. In many professions
there are numerous
promotional opportunities,
which serve as ‘stepping stones’
along the way to bring the
candidate nearer and nearer to
the ultimate goal.
In primary teaching, deputy
principal, assistant principal
and special duties post are available to some, depending on size
of school, but principalship is
seen by many as the one promotional opportunity open to all
teachers. Unlike other professions quite a large number of
teachers do not intend applying
for the position of principal,
and recently six schools have
had no applicants for the position of principal, when advertised. (IPPN , p)
This is not a trend unique to
Ireland. The role of the primary
school principal has become
more demanding and less
attractive in recent years. This is
evident from numerous newspaper articles and writings
published internationally.
Examples of such are: the
United States – The Principalship:
Looking for Leaders in a Time of
Change and Principal: A Tougher
Job, Fewer Takers; Great Britain –
Headteacher Shortage ‘The Worst
in Five Years’ and Schools find it
Tough to Recruit Heads; Australia
– A Principal Shortage Looming? –
and in Ireland – Principals Seek
Urgent Talks as Vacancies Grow
and School Principal Shortage
Threat, says Survey. The workload is steadily increasing and
countless theories have been
put forward regarding the type
of leadership required of the
modern principal. Fewer candidates are applying for the position of principal. Many schools
internationally are encountering difficulty in recruiting suitable candidates to fulfil the role.
Globally, the number of teachers putting themselves forward
for principalship is declining.
Many teachers view principalship as unattractive and not
worthy of consideration.
A number of principals in
Ireland have decided to relinquish the post, ‘step down’ and
many have returned to teaching, sometimes in the same
school in which they were principal. If principalship is envisaged as the only promotional
opportunity open to all teachers why would one relinquish
such a position? Why do some
principals hand back the keys?
This question was the focus of
my study.
The approach adopted was to
firstly place the study within its
structural and policy context.
The development of the role of
the principal was briefly examined throughout the past three
decades, which outlined how
the role has expanded and
grown in complexity.
Secondly a review of the literature currently available was
conducted. Very little literature
is available which relates
directly to the issue of principals relinquishing their posts.
The approach adopted was to
review all aspects of primary
schooling that involve the principal and to discuss how the
role of the principal has
changed dramatically in recent
years. Also discussed are the
various policies, initiatives,
documents and recommendations, which form part of every
principal’s working day and
which add to the ever-increasing workload. Remuneration,
release days and working conditions are also highlighted to
give an overall picture of the
conditions of employment of
the primary school principal in
modern Ireland.
The research design of the
study was a dual approach. The
methodology adopted incorporating mixed methods that
included a questionnaire and
interviews, with willing participants. A total of seventy-seven
names of persons who had been
principals and had ‘stepped
down’ from the position, were
located. Sixty-two agreed to
complete the questionnaire.
Fifty questionnaires were
returned – thirteen administrative principals and thirty-seven
teaching principals. A total of
thirty volunteered to be interviewed after completion of the
questionnaire. All of the interviewees were Irish primary
school principals who had
relinquished the position.
Interviewees were scattered
throughout the country with
the majority – ten principals –
located in Dublin.
Most of the candidates, upon
relinquishing, returned to
teaching. Twenty-three of the
candidates returning to mainstream teaching, twelve to
resource teacher for special
needs, five to learning support,
one to special class teacher, one
to home/school/community
liaison, one to visiting teachers
for the visually impaired, and
one to rural co-ordinator. Four
candidates did not return to
teaching but secured a position
within an educational establishment.
Some candidates
relinquished within a year, or
less, while the majority, nineteen per cent, had served
between fifteen to twenty years
as principal. One, of many,
interesting outcomes was the
fact that there was one hundred
per cent agreement among all
candidates interviewed that
that workload had significantly
increased since the introduction of the revised curriculum,
in . Since the introduction
of the revised curriculum,
eighty-seven per cent of the
principals in the study relinquished the position!
The analysis of the data
collected was conducted under
the headings: (a) reasons why
principals relinquished, (b)
implications for the preparation for the role of principal, (c)
implications of on-going
personal development courses
for experienced principals and
(d) measures that could be
introduced which could assist/
encourage others to remain in
the position. Each area examined produced many interesting, and sometimes startling,
facts plus realistic views, ideas,
suggestions and recommendations. These outcomes will be
discussed in greater detail in
future issues.
Jim Ryan, Support
Teacher (Teacher
Counsellor), St Bernadette’s
SNS, Clondalkin, Dublin .
Present position: Assistant
Principal. BEd, M Ed (hon) Ed
Leadership, Dip Sp Ed.
Bibliography
Curtis, P ( Nov ) Schools find it
Tough to Recruit Heads. The
Guardian
DiGirolamo, R. ( May ) A
Principal Shortage Looming? The
Australian
Duke, D () Why Principals
Consider Quitting. Phi Delta
Kappan, V, No  December, pp
-.
Irish Primary Principals’ Network
() The Value of Leadership?,
Cork: Cork Teachers’ Centre.
Oliver, Emmet ( Feb )
Principals Seek Urgent Talks as
Vacancies Grow. The Irish Times.
Richardson, L ( June )
Principal: A Tougher Job, Fewer
Takers. Los Angeles Times, pp AA.
Roe, D ( Feb ) School Principal
Shortage Threat, says Survey. The
Irish Times.
Cassidy, S ( June ) Headteacher
Shortage ‘the Worst in Five Years’.
The Guardian
Collins Blackman, M and Fenwick,
LT ( Mar ) The
Principalship: Looking for Leaders in
a Time of Change. Education Week.
Intouch November 2003
■
25
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & TR ADE UNION TR A I N I N G
Real Living Vikings
I
scan the young faces sitting in front
of me; most are excited, some look a
bit confused, some a little uneasy,
some have their gaze fixed upon the
weapons in the corner, fingers itching. All, in their own way, have their attention fixed upon us. Sometimes you forget
that, as far as they are concerned, real life
Vikings are standing in their classroom.
And that is exactly how we want it. As far
as we are concerned, we are Thorhalla
Undsdaughter and Arri Jhaltison, Vikings
come from the past to visit with the children in their classroom. We are bringing
history to life in their school.
Thorhalla (aka Jessica de Búrca) greets
the children. As is the Viking custom, she
first offers food and refreshments to her
guests, almost always turned down with a
series of over-zealous “Urghs!” They begin
to settle as they realise that what their
imaginations had the Vikings doing to
them and reality are two different things.
Vikings politely offering them food do not
often figure too highly in most children’s
imaginations.
As Thorhalla explains about her daily
duties as a Viking housewife and hands
around various Viking foodstuffs for the
children to see, smell and touch, “but not
eat!” she says commandingly, our plan
takes shape; we are teaching the children
without them realising that they are been
taught. The interaction with a ‘real Viking’
brings history to life for them like no
history book can, and in a way that is easily
understood by all.
Thorhalla introduces her husband Arri
(aka Alan Montague). This tall, bearded
man with a sword strapped to his side who
has been sitting quietly in the corner brings
back to some those scary imaginings of
what Vikings do to small children. They
soon realise that, today at least, they are not
going to be carried off as slaves. For today,
Arri is trading, not raiding.
Over the next hour or so the children will
be told all sorts of facts about Vikings; longships, trading, raiding, their travels from
Russia to America. They will handle combs,
drinking horns, fire-strikers, coins and
jewellery. Some of them will be dressed in
Viking costume. Some will card and spin
wool. The last topic is always the weapons;
swords, spears, axes, shields and armour
always get their attention, particularly
when one lucky student is dressed in all the
arms and armour of a rich viking. The
weapons are of course blunt; otherwise
26
they would never be placed in the hands of
an overactive  year old!
That is what happens when the Vikings of
Montague Heritage Services come to visit.
Arri and Thorhalla are very popular. We get
great feedback from the schools we visit,
and occasional fan mail! There are others
from history that can also come calling to
your classroom door. Bronze Age, Celts,
Gaels, Normans and Tudors. All are brought
to life.
When a school contacts us about a visit,
we run over the choices with them; half-day
or full day, what historical topic, date and
time. We then send out information of the
structure of our visit, and the characters
that will be appearing on the day. We also
send out suggested topics of discussion and
possible project ideas. Finally, we have our
‘Quality Questionnaire’ to keep us up-todate on how we are doing and what may
need improving. We try our best to visit any
school that asks, from Cork to Donegal,
Mayo to Dublin.
We are very thankful to the scheme and
all who work on it to enable us to carry out
work that we simply love to do. Long live
the scheme!
■
Written by Alan Montague, Montague
Heritage Services, Merrion Lodge,
Gorey, Co Wexford.
Tel:   (w)/
  (h).
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.montague.ie
If you would
like to find out
more about
the Heritage
in Schools
Scheme
and/or book a visit
you may do so by going to:
➥ www.into.ie
➥ Professional
Development and
Trade Union Training
➥ Heritage in Schools
Intouch November 2003
V I S UAL ART S TIPS
Story in a Box
Curriculum Strand: Construction
T
he objective of
Diorama construction is to enable
children to explore
the possibilities of
materials in designing and
making constructions.
The best way to describe
what a Diorama is is to think of a
room in a doll’s house or of a
stage in a theatre.
Children of Lir
Suggestions for diorama work
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
nursery rhyme scenes;
scenes from fairy stories;
poems on a particular theme;
Irish Folklore and Folktales;
stories from other cultures;
a series (e.g. Oscar Wilde
stories);
scenes from a class novel/film
scene;
historical scenes;
imaginary or real places;
illustrating a piece of process
writing;
a sports event or a pop
concert.
●
●
●
●
In designing and making dioramas children have to consider:
● the background;
● the sides (flats);
● the floor area;
● the roof; and
● the outside;
and how these might be decorated.
●
will we make card figures?
if we do how will we make
these stand? or might we
hang some?
might we use clay models?
could we use fabrics?
can we use other smaller D
found objects to create internal parts for our diorama?
KEY MESSAGE
The task of the teacher is not to teach clever techniques or to
demonstrate ways of producing images and forms s/he finds
acceptable but to build on interests and strengths by drawing
the children out and making suggestions as appropriate.
Teachers’ Guidelines (Page ).
Hansel and Gretal
They must also solve problems
and choose materials in order
to people their constructions.
KEY MESSAGE
If we aim to provide a
broad and balanced visual
arts programme for the
children we teach, we must
strive for a balance
between two and three
dimensional work in our
classrooms.
Intouch November 2003
27
V I S UAL ART S TIPS
Classroom Management
Most Common Scenario:
On Thursday I asked the children to bring in lots of materials for construction on Friday.
Half brought in nothing, the
others brought in so many
cereal boxes that we were
falling over them for the rest of
the day.
A Teacher.
Cinderella
The Alternative
 Plan to do construction well
in advance – ideally as part of
exploring a theme across the
six strands.
 A few weeks before the
construction is to begin
divide the class into construction groups.
 Ask each group to decide on
what they would like to
construct and to tell you and
the class about it.
 Ask each group to design
(draw) their proposed
construction and to decide
what materials they will need
to make it.
 Ask each group to write down
a detailed list of the materials
they will need to collect to
build their construction and
allocate the task of finding
particular materials to individuals in their group.
 As a class make an inventory
of classroom materials that
will be needed – scissors,
card, staplers, masking tape,
glues, coloured papers,
paints, brushes. Order materials as necessary.
 On the day before your
construction project is to
begin, ask the children to get
back into their groups, get
out their plans and lists and
remind themselves of who
has to bring what from home.
 Have a small supply of found
materials for emergencies –
in case someone is ill.
ASSESSMENT
■ Display dioramas on
shelves, or on table tops
placed against notice
boards – secure with
thumbtacks.
■ Use a digital camera/still
camera to take photos of
completed constructions.
■ A coloured image of each
group or individual
construction might be
printed out for display
purposes.
■ Each individual or group
member could make a
photocopy of this for inclusion in an art portfolio/art
journal.
■ Each child could write
about the process they
went through in their art
journal.
Note: Always leave the option
open for children who may
prefer to work alone to do so –
or maybe to work with a
partner.
■
Compiled by members
of the Primary
Curriculum Support
Programme, Elizabeth Brady,
Gemma McGirr, Michael
O’Reilly, Mary Quealy and
Anne Marie Ryan.
Check out www.pcsp.ie for lots
of ideas on construction for
children.
Dioramas illustrating this
article are from INTO/ARK
Summer School 2003.
The Happy Prince
28
Intouch November 2003
MUSIC TIPS
Elementary
T
his month’s theme is
rain, and the stimulus is
a poem entitled Drip
Drop! Suggestions are provided
on how to use this little poem to
provide meaningful and enjoyable music experiences for children of all ages and abilities.
Drip drop!
Drip, drop!
The rain falls down.
People hurry
Home from town.
Pitter patter!
On the window pane,
Pitter patter!
Again and again.
Splishety splash!
The rain is humming.
Louder and louder
The rain is drumming.
Musical Vocabulary
Pulse the regular heartbeat of a
piece of music.
Duration how long or short a
sound is.
Tempo how fast or slow a piece is.
Dynamics how loud or soft a
piece is.
Timbre the particular sound
different instruments or voices
have.
Texture how many sounds are
happening at the same time.
Ostinato a constantly repeated
pattern.
Rain stick a percussion instrument used to make rain-like
sounds. This instrument originated in South America.
Teaching Methodology
Ask the children to think about
rain, and to suggest some sounds
that rain makes. Encourage
responses such as ‘drip, drop’;
‘pitter patter’, ‘splash’ etc.
Now teach the poem. With
younger children, or children
with SEN, you may need to
teach the poem on a few occa-
sions before using it for music
activities, or indeed limit it to
one verse. The class teacher is
the best judge of when the children are ready to move to the
next stage.
Teacher chants the poem
while tapping the pulse (regular
heartbeat of the piece). There
are  beats to each line.
Children join in while tapping a
very even pulse. To aid teachers, the first verse is underlined
in the places where the pulse is
tapped:
Drip, drop
The rain falls down,
People hurry,
Home from town.
Teacher and children walk on
the beat while chanting the
poem. This helps to reinforce a
sense of pulse in a kinaesthetic
manner. When working with
young children, or children with
SEN, there is no need to give
them the musical terminology –
what is important is that the
concept is fostered and explored
through musical activities.
When working with older children, the teacher may choose to
give them the formal terminology – the teacher is the best
judge of how soon the musical
terms will be introduced.
When children are confident
in keeping a regular pulse, show
them some percussion instruments. Ask child to choose an
instrument on which s/he will
play the pulse, while the rest of
the class chants the rhyme,
keeping it nice and even.
Ask children to choose an
instrument which makes a
sound like rain. Allow different
children to choose different
instruments, and talk about the
sound the various instruments
made. This is helping the children to develop a sense of
timbre. Shakers and maracas
can make rain like sounds. If
Exploring the Elements of
music through poetry (2)
you or a pupil has a rain stick,
demonstrate this to the class.
Talk about which instruments
have long sounds (usually metal
instruments such as Indian
bells or triangle) or short
sounds (usually the wooden
instruments). This helps to
develop a sense of duration.
The poem may also be used to
explore dynamics – how loud or
soft a piece is. The children
could chant and/or play the first
verse softly, the second a little
louder, and the third very
loudly, as the rain is getting
louder and louder. Be careful
that they don’t get faster when
they get louder.
The poem may be used to
explore the concept of ostinato.
Ostinato means a pattern which
is repeated over and over again
to accompany a piece. Ask the
children to think of word/s that
depicts rain, eg ‘drip drop’ or
‘pitter-patter’. One group of
children repeats this phrase
while keeping a regular pulse,
while the remainder of the class
chants the poem against the
ostinato accompaniment.
Development: Listening and
Responding to Music
Listen to Largo, which is the
second movement of Winter
from Four Seasons by Vivaldi. In
this piece, the composer wants
to remind us what it feels like to
be sitting by a glowing fire,
while it is raining heavily
outside. The violin plays a
lovely warm melody, while
plucked strings play the repetitive rain sounds.
Another popular piece of
water music is Aquarium from
Carnival of the Animals by SaintSaens. This piece is also very
evocative, and in it we hear
bubbly water sounds played by
rippling notes on the piano and
the xylophone. This music was
used in an advertisement for O
last year, so the children may be
familiar with it.
Development : Composing
Junior classes – invite the children to discover ways of making
rain sounds. Encourage them to
be creative, eg blowing through
a straw into a glass of water,
making homemade rainsticks
(use plastic tubing containing
dried rice etc).
Middle and Senior classes –
divide the class into groups,
with about / children in each
group. Invite each group to
make up a little piece of rain
music, which will be one
minute in length. The children
may use some percussion
instruments, or vocal and/or
body sounds to explore the
sounds of rain. Each group
should appoint a conductor,
and each piece must have a
beginning, middle and an end.
It is the conductor’s job to
signal to his/her group when to
begin and end.
Middle and Senior classes may
also enjoy composing another
verse for the poem Drip Drop!
Integration
Creative writing – Brainstorm
words that are associated with
rain. Make a list of these on the
board. Children write a descriptive paragraph on ‘Rain’, using
the core vocabulary as a stimulus.
Visual Arts – show a picture of
some scenery on a sunny day,
eg a country scene, a townscape
or a sea picture. Ask the children what would be the main
differences on a rainy day? Paint
the same scene, but this time
showing how the place would
look on a rainy day.
Geography – the story of rain.
■
Written by Mary
McAuliffe Ryng, Cork.
■ Ask the children to think about rain, and to suggest some sounds that rain makes
Intouch November 2003
29
SCIENCE TIPS
Weather Watching –
Rain, Hail or Shine
H
ere’s an all weather
project to turn your
students into young
scientists. Set up a
weather station for
daily or weekly recording. You
won’t need any fancy
equipment, just a few bits and
pieces from about the home.
Falling clouds
When you look up in the sky,
you’re looking at many millions
of water droplets. Every cloud
you see is made up of either
water droplets or tiny crystals of
ice. It’s when these tiny cloud
drops bump together they
make the rain, hail or snow that
we see falling. To make one rain
drop you will need roughly one
million cloud droplets!
We will want to record how
much precipitation, that’s hail,
rain or snow, falls every day. To
do that you will need to build a
rain gauge, in fact you may wish
to make several. Because rainfall can vary over short
distances, it may be interesting
to place gauges in several places
in the school grounds.
You will need a large glass jam
jar, a tall slim glass (a sauce
bottle or similar), a pen to mark
the glass (and won’t wash off in
the rain!) and a ruler.
Fill the large jar with exactly
cms of water – using the ruler
for accuracy. This is your rain
gauge. Now we need to calibrate
your measuring container. Pour
the water from the large jar into
the narrow one. Draw a line at
the top of the water level. Using
a ruler, measure the distance
below and mark ten equal intervals. Each of these intervals is
equal to five millimetres of rain.
Your rain gauge should now
be placed outside. The site
should be level and the jar
should be at least thirty
centimetres of the ground.
Check the jar, if possible, at the
same time daily and record the
30
amount of rain that has fallen.
Your pupils will be able to
create charts showing daily
rainfall and make and check
predictions about how much
rain will fall in a given week.
If you have an outdoor thermometer, this can be placed
with the rain gauge for further
readings of the daily temperature. To make your own thermometer you will need a bit
more equipment, a glass bottle
with stopper, a glass tube, a
beaker or larger jar, some ink,
water and ice. You will need to
drill a hole in the stopper large
enough to fit the glass tube.
Feed the tube gently through
the stopper, using a little
Vaseline if needed.
Fill the bottle to the top with
water coloured with the ink and
place the stopper in the top.
Now we need to calibrate the
tube. Place the bottle in a jar or
beaker filled with icy water.
Take the stopper out of the
bottle and top up the small gap
with cold water. Place a strip of
card against the tube and mark
the water level on the card. You
will need a real thermometer to
create an accurate gauge on the
card, however, the thermometer can be used as it is to just
record changes, that is, when
it’s warm and when it’s cold.
Thermometers work because
the fluid used inside expands and
contracts according to the
temperature. In warm weather
the water will expand and creep
up the tube, in cold weather it will
contract and move back down
the tube. The main inaccuracy
with the homemade thermometer is it can’t take into account
the water lost from the tube
from the effects of evaporation.
You can investigate the
effects of glasshouses and how
they trap sunlight to increase
the temperature inside. To do
this you will need two thermometers, preferably of the same
kind, a clear plastic bottle (an
empty plastic mineral bottle
will work), some playdough and
a watch or stopwatch. You also
will need a fairly sunny day!
Take one thermometer and
place its top end into a lump of
playdough. Slip the thermometer
inside the top off the bottle and
seal the playdough over the top
of the bottle. Make sure you can
read the thermometer inside the
bottle. Place both thermometers
outside and place them together
in a sunny spot. Record the
temperature on each
thermometer at the start, then
record the temperature every
two minutes for ten or twenty
minutes.
You should notice that the
temperature inside the plastic
bottle heats up faster than the
temperature outside the bottle.
The bottle traps the sunlight
creating a mini-greenhouse in
the heat inside.
Weather charts can be a great
way of observing the changes in
weather – and they can be very
simple. Just ask your pupils to
draw what the weather looks
like on each day they take their
readings. If it’s sunny, draw a
sun, if it’s cloudy with some
sun, a sun peaking out from
behind the clouds will do.
Written by Lisa Mooney,
a Science Teacher in
Headfort School, Kells, Co
Meath. She also runs
Interactions, providing interactive science shows nationwide.
■
Intouch November 2003
BOOK REVIEWS
Looking Under Stones
Roots, Family and a Dingle Childhood by Joe O’Toole
L
ooking Under Stones ,R o o ts, Family and a
Dingle Childhood is Joe O’Toole’s ‘Fiche
Blian ag Fás’. It is a collection of childhood and teenage memories which give an
account of the life experiences and
incidents that, according to Joe, moulded
his character.
In the early chapters Joe O’Toole traces
the ancestors of both his mother and father
and describes how “after following their
separate courses for generations the two
gene streams had finally converged” with
his birth. “One from its source at the edge
of Cill Chiaráin Bay in Eanach Mheáin
through five generations of O’Tooles in
Connemara and the other from the top of
the Cam between Glens and Mullach Mhial
through five generations of Moriarty’s in
Corca Dhuibhne.
Joe himself describes the book as a story.
It is, he says, “neither a social history, a
local history nor a family history” while it
contains elements of the three areas
mentioned above, it is more of an investigation into what he sees as “a fundamental
strategy for survival and the regeneration of
the species”. He argues that “in the context
of a well developed gene pool, which determines so much of the course of our
lives in aspects as diverse as health,
intelligence, fertility and creativity,
it is difficult not to conclude that,
far from being discrete, independent beings, we are in many ways the
creatures of our ancestors, following a well-trodden preprogrammed path through life”.
Only a brave person would publically venture through their family
history going back over
generations. When we start ‘looking under stones’, family history
can be full of unpleasant surprises
often to the delight of others who
would like to bring us down a peg.
However, in this book, Joe O’Toole
takes pre-emptive action against
the would be ‘knocker’ by exposing
his skeletons in the cupboard early
on. We are introduced to his great,
great grandfather, Daddy Tom
Moriarty, who was “too fond of the
drink and mad for the other thing,
so much so that marriage didn’t
even change his rakish ways, seven
or eight children at home and a few
more around the parish.”
Right: Joe O'Toole's confirmation
Clockwise from left: Joe, Teresa,
Myko, Mary Sabrina and Anita
Intouch November 2003
There are many passages in the book
where issues as diverse as the ceremony of
‘churching’, human behaviour or making
judgements are dealt with seriously but it is
the sense of fun and humour that comes
through so many of his childhood and
teenage encounters that makes this book
such an entertaining read. He had to deal
with many great characters while working
in his mother’s and in his uncles’ shops.
“We grew up”, he writes “under the influence of these characters , the ‘rough
diamonds’ of Séan the Grove’s description.
Every street and village had them.
Crystallised into reality by the cultural
weight of countless generations and cut
and shaped by all the facets of the daily
grind. They made us what we were”.
The book is also, in many ways, the story
of how his extended family and neighbours
dealt with hardship, tragedy, success and
change and most of all how they could still
laugh at themselves and live life to the
fullest, unlike Frank McCourt’s Angela’s
Ashes which described the horror of childhood poverty and a broken home due to
alcohol abuse in the city of Limerick back in
the s; Looking under Stones is the prod-
uct of one who
had “a very
comfortable
childhood”
and this is
reflected in
this book.
It is a book
in which
education,
fulsome
praise and encouragement coupled with
the support of extraordinary parents
combine to make everything “a lesson to be
learnt, with each day’s experience layered
on yesterday’s”. In every way it portrays an
idyllic childhood compared to many of his
contemporaries who were destined for
Camden town from an early age.
If only for the wonderful description of
Corca Dhuibhne and its people, “with no
trace of dullness of inbreeding. Only those
of us with mixed blood are true-blooded
Corca Dhuibhne. This is our defining
mark and it facilitates openness to change,
difference and novelty,” this book is worth
reading.
Joe O‘Toole and his family moved to
Dublin after doing his Leaving
Certificate, in . I am already
looking forward to Hello Dublin.
Looking under Stones is published
by O’Brien Press and costs €..
■
Reviewed by Dónal
Ó Lóingsigh, former
INTO President.
Above: Joe revisits his infant
classroom in Dingle
31
L E TT E R S
Teaching Imbalance
Dear Editor
I wish to reply to the letter by
Edward O’Sullivan in the
September issue. This letter is a
wake up call to all those interested in the future of the teaching profession. He was bitterly
disappointed having twice failed
the interview for the Graduate
Diploma in Mary Immaculate
College, Limerick. The college’s
interview process seems to be
one of the great mysteries of the
teaching world. Over the past
number of years it has rejected
many candidates who, like
Edward O’Sullivan, have years of
substitute service, excellent
academic qualifications and
fantastic teaching reference.
While good and proper standards
of entry to the profession are
essential, it is maddening to see
talented experienced people
like Edward O’Sullivan being
rejected. One can only wonder
what the critical criteria are by
which they judge the candidates.
Are any of the interviewers
teaching in primary schools or
are they all academics?
Mr O’Sullivan also raised the
issue of male/female imbalance
in the primary teaching profession. Since  the number of
males have fallen from % to a
current level of %, most of
whom are fifty or older.
The Gardaí have taken a
progressive attitude in relation
to their gender imbalance. They
have increased female membership by % over the last six years
and aim to have a female
recruitment rate of at least %.
The imbalance in teaching
seems to be unworthy of any
such attention. Will we ever see
such an enlightened attitude
towards our steeply declining
minority? At a time when many
boys are growing up without
any male role model in the home,
it seems they won’t find one in
the primary school either.
Many of these rejected candidates who include GAA players
etc could have helped provide
positive male role models especially in disadvantaged communities where there are plenty of
negative role models in the
form of drug mobsters etc.
I have to wonder if these
interview panels live in the real
world at all.
Yours sincerely
Carl O’Brien, Cork City.
Training Bias?
Dear Editor
In response to Edward
O’Sullivan’s letter (Issue No ) I
wish to extend my good wishes
to him in his decision to pursue
a career other than teaching.
I graduated from St Mary’s,
Strawberry Hill in  with a
First Class Honours Degree in
Education and English (four year
course). I subsequently passed
the Irish exams the State required
I sit in order to teach in Ireland
(despite a B in Honours Irish
Leaving Certificate) and
completed my probationary
year the following year. I graduated in October  with a
First Class Honours Masters in
Education from Mary Immaculate
College. I was employed in a
permanent capacity in Limerick
for three years. I was also
employed on a part-time basis
in Mary Immaculate College
from September to May 
whereby I co-ordinated and
lectured third year B Ed students
in Early Childhood Education.
In June of this year I decided
to move to Cork city. One might
imagine that, with four years of
teaching experience and further
qualifications, I might at least
be considered for interview.
Despite sending my CV to all
schools with teaching positions
available I could not even get an
interview (one school had five
temporary jobs advertised and I
didn’t even get an interview). I
am under no allusions as to the
fact that; a) having trained
initially in England rather than
Mary Immaculate College and
b) I am from Co Louth not Cork/
Kerry made me a less desirable
candidate.
Fortunately, one principal
finally considered my experience
and references to be worthy of
an interview, and later a teaching
position. And so, I hold a temporary job in Cork city, more than
aware that those students I
lectured last year are employed
in permanent positions in Cork
because they trained in Mary
Immaculate College, albeit by a
teacher who trained in England.
Yours sincerely
Niamh O’Brien, Cork.
Conference Congrats
Congratulations to all concerned
with the organisation of recent
Principals’ Consultative
Conference in Dundalk. The
topics dealt with were those
prioritised by members who
attended local meetings
organised before the summer
holidays. Plenty of opportunities
were offered delegates to
engage with these and other
pertinent issues both formally
and informally.
Were it to become an annual
event no doubt it would be
possible to address more issues
in the same fashion. Ar síoth a
chéile a mhoirlann na daoine
Yours sincerely
Michael McLoughlin, Athlone.
Tribute to Paddy Ball, NT
A
“ great oak has fallen in the
forest” was how a teaching colleague in Dublin
described the unexpected death
of Paddy Ball on September .
This description has struck a
chord with all who have heard it
since, for there was a loyalty, a
strength and indeed a sense of
indestructibility about Paddy.
His priorities in life would have
been his beloved family, his
chosen profession as a teacher
and his professional organization the INTO, in that order. To
all who knew him Paddy was a
solid citizen, a wise and
thoughtful man, a rock of
common sense and perhaps
above all a kind friend.
Intouch November 2003
Paddy returned to his native
West Mayo in  having spent
two years in the North Mayo
area. He spent a year in Bouris
NS and three years in Accony
NS. He was appointed Principal
of Louisburgh NS in January
 in succession to the late
John T Morahan. This was a
daunting task but Paddy
embraced the challenge with
relish and in the intervening
years he made his own solid
contribution to the educational
landscape of Louisburgh, finally
retiring in  after a distinguished career both as teacher
and school principal.
Paddy was a great and, loyal
servant to the Irish National
Teachers’ Organization. He
served as a secretary of the West
Mayo Branch for  years and as
cathaoirleach (chairperson) for
 years. He served as cathaoirleach of the Mayo/Sligo District
Committee and it was as representative on the National
Accounts Committee that Paddy
made perhaps his greatest
contribution at union level, serving on the committee for  years.
Paddy had a great interest in
fiscal affairs and in this regard
he carved a niche for himself as
secretary to the committee.
Before the concept of accountability became popular Paddy
was promoting transparency
and openness in union finan-
cial matters and he left the
organization a considerable
legacy in the whole area of
accounting practice.
32
COMHAR LINN
WINNERS OF
SEPTEMBER 2003
D RA W
Questions & Answers
Q
A
What are the typical costs associated
with buying a house?
You will have to pay a variety of fees and
charges when you purchase a house.
The amount will vary depending on the value
of the house.
A typical example of costs associated with the
purchase of a house valued at €, are:
Legal Fees €,
Survey and Search Fees €
Land Registry €
Stamp Duty €,
Mortgage Indemnity Bond €,
Total Cost €,
Tip
Car - Toyota Corolla
Frank Horan, SN Náithí Naofa,
Achadh Conaire, Ballymote,
Co Sligo.
You have no choice when it comes to paying
stamp duty as this is a percentage of the cost
price. In this example, the rate is %.
Cash – €,
Miriam O’Donoghue, New Inn
NS, Lower Glanmire, Cork.
First time buyers are exempt from stamp duty
if the value of the property is less than
€,.
Weekend for two in a Jury’s
Doyle Hotel
Carmel Knowles, SN Cillinin,
Craughwell, Co Galway.
Land registry and survey fees are also a fixed
cost. However, legal fees can vary considerably. You should shop around for the best
price and be prepared to negotiate.
Weekend for two in a Jury’s
Doyle Hotel
Roisin McGonagle. Scoil
Iosagain, Buncrana, Lifford,
Co Donegal.
The Mortgage Indemnity Bond will only apply
if you borrow more than % of the value of
the property.
Crossword No. 64
A draw for 2 x €100 will be made from all correct entries. Simply complete the
crossword and send it to InTouch, 35 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, by Friday 28th Nov. ‘03
Name :
Across
in front. (7)
5. Images of coins, possibly. (5)
1.A loud commercial is just a passing
6. Mathematical pieces of furniture? (6)
fashion. (3)
7. Breda is a communist at heart. (3)
3. Sounds like the swindler has fooled
12. The tired lament is confused and harm her, with the boa, perhaps. (11)
ful. (11)
8. Is this for birdbrained youngsters or for
13. The little sod is probably on the golf
a wise ancient? (6)
course! (5)
9. With the broth stirred, the cot pulsated.
14. With this idiot, the moon is about right.
(8)
(5)
10. Put a ring in your hooter for the hang
17. Go nowhere on the parade ground man's knot. (5)
when exam papers should be evaluated?
11. Part with money when the starting
(4,4)
prices finish. (5)
18. If a girl has depressions she could get
13. In this reverie, 500 get some paper. (5) hung up on these! (7)
15. Record of a curved bee house? (7)
19. A disorganised 21 surrounds a character
16. Rams go in two directions, following a
with scraps of bread. (6)
note concerning the science of language.
22. The message of the story of the broken
(7)
molar. (5)
23. Sounds like one blew this heraldic
20. The locomotive might prepare for the
colour! (5)
race. (5)
24. One's unhappy now that Father's turned
21. The lawyer leads a strange Rugby forma
up. (3)
tion. (5)
Solutions - In Touch No. 63
23. This joint is just over a foot high! (5)
Across
24. Somehow, this robs more of a Mexican's
1. Intake policy 7. Arc 9. Akin 10. Legion 11.
overheads! (8)
Lens 14. Crass 15.
25. Somehow stir up the perfectionist. (6)
Still 16. Cola 18. Alpha 21. Idiom 22. Sated
23. Pin-up 24. Twee 25.
26. Somehow, I'd use pearls for a negative
Aloha
26. Offal 29. Doll 33. Miller 34. Troy
reaction. (11)
36. Yam 37. Entrepreneur
27. A Cork river changes course for this
swimmer. (3)
Down
Down
1. Ink 2. Tuna 3. Kale 4. Pager 5. Lions 6.
1 How to manage funds for entertainment.
Yale 8. Cash and carry 9.
All
Saints Day 12. Divine 13. Clamp 14.
(3,3,5)
Chain 17. Option 19. Papal 20.
2. The cruel cop is Ted, perhaps. (8)
Assam 27. Flier 28. All up 30. Lame 31. Brae
3. The opposite of open? Not quite! (5)
32. Stye 35. Oar
4. Came to rest when the badger's home was
Address :
WINNERS OF CROSSWORD NO.62 WERE
SIOBHAN MAHER, THOMASTOWN GIRLS SCHOOL,
CO. KILKENNY
AND
CARMEL KING, VIRGINIA, CO. CAVAN
33
Intouch November 2003
NOTICES
COPY DATE
■
Copy you wish to have
considered for publication
in the December issue of InTouch
should arrive in Head Office by
 Nov, copy for the Jan/Feb
issue should arrive by  Jan.
S TS G
■
STSG (Separated Teachers’
Support Group) open to
widowed, divorced and single
parents. AGM: Sat,  Nov, .
Venue: Teachers’ Club, Parnell
Square, Dublin . New members
most welcome.
his year the group will
commemorate its 15th year
since its foundation and we
would especially like to invite
members from the first years of
its initial foundations.
For further information
please contact Ciaran Lankford
at   or  .
Email:
ciaranlankford@hotmail.co
T
TEACHERS’ SWIM
■
Mondays: -pm. Crumlin
Pool, Windmill Road.
Contact Eileen O’Connell at 
 or come to pool any
Monday at  pm.
Leisure swims also on Fridays
Intouch November 2003
-. New members/beginners
welcome. Phone  
WANTED
■
Set of Music Time series by
Maureen Lally (Book A-)
as well as the corresponding
tapes. Contact  
CORK POPS
ORCHESTRA
■
Evelyn Grant invites
primary school audiences
to the Cork Pops Orchestra’s
 Concert Series Stick with the
Beat, the rhythms of music and
dance. Venue: City Hall, Cork.
Primary school shows: Mon –
Thursday,  to  February, 
am and  noon. Audience
participation – songs, rhythms
and tin-whistle tunes; teachers’
notes and CD – Drumming and
multi-cultural rhythms.
Cork Pops Orchestra Schools
Concerts information. Tel 
. Web:www.corkpops.ie
Email: [email protected]
BULLYING
■
TAB (the Teachers against
Bullying Support Group
was set up to help teachers who
have been, or are being, bullied
by principals and/or colleagues
and/or inspectors and/or bom.
Contact Teresa McMahon for
details. Tel  , -pm
or email tmm@eircom.net
MASS
■
ST JOSEPH’S YOUNG PRIESTS
SOCIETY: TEACHERS’ BRANCH
Invite you to the Annual Mass
for deceased colleagues at .
pm on Monday,  November
in  Merrion Square, Dublin .
Members who are not regularly in receipt of the Society’s
Newsletter, The Sheaf, should
contact the Society at the above
address. Annual Report for
- also available. Sincere
thanks to everyone who has
continued to support the work
of the Society over the years
from Secretary, Esther G Hardy.
REUNION
■
Erin’s Hope team of 
Dublin Senior Football
Champions  year reunion
Skylon Hotel, Dublin, Saturday,
 November. Details from
Benny McArdle  .
Date: Wednesday, 19 November,
2003 at 7.30 pm. Venue:
Rathfarnham Educate Together
School, Loreto Avenue.
For information contact
[email protected] or
[email protected]
THANK YOU
■
Lorraine Duffy, Trinity
College, wishes to thank all
principals and teachers who
were generous with their time
and contributed so much to her
recent Ph.D survey on intercultural education in early childhood classrooms.
NON-NATIONAL
PRIMARY TEACHERS
■
Primary teachers who
qualified outside the
Republic of Ireland will meet on
Wednesday,  Nov,  pm, in the
Teachers’ Club, Parnell Square,
Dublin . On the agenda is the
Irish requirement for nonnational teachers. Info Andreas
Kusch,  (after  pm) or
email [email protected]
GIFTED CHILDREN
■
Irish Association for Gifted
Children. Workshop: Using
Thinking Skills in the Classroom.
34