Schools dispute delays bid to track absentees

AN industrial relations dispute is delaying efforts to keep track of children who are regularly not turning up at school.

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) requires around 300 education welfare officers (EWOs) to enforce laws which came into effect last year.

However, difficulties over the transfer of 36 former school attendance officers in Dublin, Cork and Waterford to the new posts has delayed the recruitment process.

IMPACT, the union representing the staff, said it is happy to resolve the salary and annual leave issues through conciliation talks but that the board is unwilling to appoint them as EWOs until these matters are finalised.

“In the meantime, they can’t fulfil their roles because the new law requires the work to be done by EWOs, which they have not yet been appointed,” said Impact national secretary Al Butler.

The NEWB said it is anxious that all outstanding issues be referred to the Labour Court as soon as possible.

“These staff continue to enjoy the same terms and conditions as previously and are expected to carry out the same duties as previously, in so far as these are not inconsistent with the new legislation,” said chairperson Dr Ann Louise Gilligan.

Part of the officers’ work will be to enforce the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 by working with schools and parents to ensure non-attending children return to school.

Meanwhile, a report has said extra effort is needed to get more teachers interested in becoming primary school principals.

Recent research has shown the number of applicants for each principal’s job advertised has halved in the last five years, to just three per post.

The main reason for the lack of interest in the job is a lack of clarity about the expectations and boundaries of the role, research has found.

An independent report for the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) said the situation must be tackled to renew interest in the job.

“This lack of clarity needs to be addressed as part of an integrated policy to ensure that an appropriate supply of well-qualified and motivated candidates are available as principal positions become vacant,” it said.

The report by HayGroup management consultants was published at the IPPN’s annual conference in Galway last night.

It also found that teaching principals, in small mostly rural schools, have problems fulfilling their administrative work. Around two-thirds of the country’s 3,300 primary principals also teach classes full-time.

“Their role is seen primarily as a teaching one, as they have insufficient time and energy to devote to the managerial aspects of the role while carrying a responsibility for a full class teaching load,” the report said.

It also encourages principals to provide constructive feedback to staff and challenge teacher under-performance.