Press release
Minister Bruton announces extra places on Leadership Course for Teachers
Published on
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Published on
Last updated on
Speaking at the IPPN Deputy Principals conference in Citywest today, Minister Bruton announced that he would be increasing the number of places on the Professional Diploma in School Leadership, the programme for aspiring school leaders.
This government has set the ambition to make Ireland’s education and training service the best in Europe by 2026. Minister Bruton has stated numerous times that school leadership is vital to delivering on this ambition. Today’s announcement marks another significant investment by the government in supporting and encouraging leadership in our schools.
In response to a huge demand, the Minister has added almost 50 extra places on to the programme, bringing this year’s intake to 300. The Diploma is designed to prepare aspiring leaders with the knowledge, skills, and confidence for senior leadership positions in schools.
Speaking at the IPPN Deputy Principals conference in Citywest today, Minister Bruton said:
“The biggest influence on a child in a school is the quality of their teachers and the leadership within the school. We are lucky in Ireland to have excellent leaders in our schools. If we want to be the best in Europe, we need to support these leaders and encourage and empower others to show leadership. I am committed to doing this during my time as Minister."
“Today’s announcement, in addition to our previous actions such as increasing the number of promotional opportunities for teachers, will make a real difference in schools all around the country. One in three (34.5%) of teachers are in promoted positions in our schools and I want to make sure we are supporting our school leaders as best we can.”
ENDS
The Professional Diploma in School Leadership (PDSL) is an innovative jointly accredited postgraduate diploma in school leadership and is delivered in partnership by the Schools of Education in the University of Limerick (UL), University College Dublin (UCD) and the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) with Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).
This unique partnership means that students on the programme have unique access to leading academics in school leadership across several universities nationally as well as from tutors with extensive experience in the area of educational leadership.
The programme, which is NQF level 9 is delivered on a part time basis in a blended learning format (online and face to face) over 18 months.
It is offered across a broad geographical spread, currently in eight centres nationally. The increased student intake will add an additional centre and serve to meet the high demand by teachers for leadership professional development. This year there were over 450 applicants and based on the programme success thus far, the intake was increased to 300 this year. During their studies, participants engage with leadership theory and practice specific to Leading Learning and Teaching in the Irish context; Professional Growth and Development; Leading School Transformation; Mentoring and Coaching; Leading School Development: Continuity, Change and Capacity Building; Building Culture, Capacity and Teams. In addition, they engage with senior leaders in business and industry as well as within the education sector in order to gain comprehensive engagement with the breadth and diversity of leadership in practice. Therefore this programme is important for aspiring school principals as it serves to enhance school leadership capacity and quality nationally.
For further information please see www.ul.ie/cpe/pdsl.