Galway President acknowledges low morale among teachers
The Galway woman elected to head the country’s school principals and deputy principals has acknowledged the low morale among teachers that she said was behind their recent decision to strike.
Mary Nihill – the new President of National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals – is Principal of Calasanctius College Oranmore.
And she said the strike action by teachers was a reflection of decreasing morale amongst the teaching profession.
“The drastic reduction in salary, combined with the increasing workload, as well as the failure to properly resource schools to deal with issues such as mental health, has led to a degree of frustration,” she said.
“We have excellent teachers in Ireland and some of our brightest graduates are choosing to teach. However, it is important that we do not take this for granted. One of the major factors that Finland attributes its successful education system to is the highly qualified, well- resourced and highly respected teaching force,” she added.
The Moycullen resident is the first female President from the voluntary school sector, leading an organisation which represents nearly 1,000 Principals and Deputy Principals from all second level schools in Ireland.
It’s the latest chapter in an illustrious career for Mary who started her career in education as a Science & Maths teacher.
Originally Mary Conlon from Mountbellew, she was appointed Principal in St. Paul’s Secondary School Oughterard in 1994.
In 2006 she was seconded as Assistant National Coordination to the Leadership Development for Schools and coordinated leadership support programmes for School Principals and Deputy Principals.
Mary took over as Principal of the 830 student Calasanctius College in 2010. It enjoys a high transfer to third level colleges, with recent league tables showing a rate of 95% to 100%.
“These ratings, although gratifying, only reflect a very narrow aspect of the added value that a school makes to the life of a young person. I have been very privileged to lead two schools which have staffs committed to the holistic care of students. This level of dedication is never recognised in raw league tables but is always commented on by past pupils,” Mary said.
The new NAPD President believed that the recent strike ran counter to teachers’ whole hearted commitment to the welfare of their students and she hopes that there will be a re-engagement between Minister O Sullivan and the unions.
“This dispute will only be solved by both sides engaging. I had first-hand experience of the enthusiasm of teachers to explore new ways of teaching at a joint in-service between Calasanctius College and two other local schools recently. This in-service focused on exploring how to ensure that students engage more fully in the learning process.
“What we then need to do is resource and enthuse our teachers and school leaders and give them the space to reflect on their key role of leading learning,” Mary said.
She also acknowledged the high levels of stress that school leaders are experiencing.
“The reduction in middle leadership positions due to the public service embargo has resulted in many school Principals and Deputies combining their onerous duties with that of filling the role of guidance counsellor and year head.”
Mary has a non-teaching Deputy Principal, Córa Ní Loinsigh, and five year heads but says she is aware of fellow Principals with considerably less support than that.
“Even with a full time Deputy Principal, the increasing bureaucracy and the lack of support for school leaders is inadequate. A recent survey carried out by NAPD on the work- life balance of Principals and Deputy Principals found that over 61% of Principals work on average more than 51 hours per week. This is a big factor in the lack of applications for the position of Principalship.”
After 20 years in the role of Principal, Mary regards it as a satisfying and fulfilling career.
“The possibilities to lead learning and to have the experience of working with teachers who are dedicated and creative makes the job very rewarding. However, since I first became a Principal in 1994, I have seen a very big changeover of Principalship in many schools.”
“The exodus from school leadership was never more acute that in was last June with a total of 200 new school leaders were appointed in schools. NAPD has set up mentoring groups throughout the country with recently retired and serving school leaders mentoring the newly appointed leaders.”
Mary is confident that as a result of engagement by NAPD, the Department of Education is aware of the absolute need for a dedicated service to support school leaders both newly appointed and serving.
“I am looking forward to my tenure as President of NAPD and I know I have the enthusiasm and commitment to support my fellow school leaders to lead their schools.”