Principals hear of alternatives to DEIS cut-backs

The response to controversial cutbacks to disadvantaged schools in Dunmanway has “lit the torch of hope in disadvantaged and rural communities”, according to the president of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network.

Gerry Murphy said that the uniting of the West Cork community on the “right of their children to attend the two, three and four-teacher schools that had served their communities "since before famine times” was a “watershed occasion”.

Making the comments at the IPPN three-day conference at Dublin’s Citywest Convention Centre, which was attended by over 1,100 primary school principals, Mr Murphy said DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) and smaller schools were seeking to “cherish all the children of our nation equally”.

“Over the years, special schools have witnessed an ebb and flow in the enrollment of children with special needs. Now the tide is turning again as enrollments start to climb,” he said. “This appears to be due to cutbacks in supports for these children in mainstream schools.”

Mr Murphy outlined that he would be addressing Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn on "alternatives to the approach being taken by his Department". The decline in standards of numeracy and literacy was also highlighted by IPPN director, Innishannon’s Seán Cottrell who outlined in a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment that Ireland has slipped from near the top of the rankings to below average. He stated that while curriculum overload is a contributory factor, the IPPN “must get back to basics” and re-focus on literacy and numeracy “to regain lost ground”.