As we emerge from COVID restrictions, we are delighted to inform you that our annual conference will return this November to the beautiful Mount Wolseley Hotel in Tullow, Co Carlow. It takes place from the evening of the 9th of November until Friday the 11th of November. Our conference promises to be an exciting and informative event with excellent speakers on topics relevant to you as a school leader. You cannot possibly go away without picking up many useful nuggets to help you in your work.
As a CPD event, our conference is open to all Principals and Deputy Principals, irrespective of membership, so we would love to see you there. As such, we also have a long-standing agreement that attendees are entitled to claim travel and subsistence from your ETB as well as payment of conference fees. You may need to seek prior approval from your ETB in respect of such expenses.
The conference also offers you the opportunity to network with other school leaders in a relaxed and comfortable environment where there is always a rich sharing of ideas and, most importantly, a chance to unwind and gather your thoughts for a couple of days. As school leaders, we spend most of our time taking care of others, often at our own expense, and this conference is an opportunity to give yourself a little space and practice some self-care.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you well in the very difficult job you have and urge you to register for the conference and book your room as soon as possible. We would love to meet you there and I promise that you will not go away disappointed.
Yours sincerely
Adrian Power
President PDA

Not to be missed – on Thursday 14th at PDA Conference Joan Russell, ETBI Director of Schools, will facilitate a panel discussion with a focus on “Leadership for Creativity and Inclusion” – joining her will be Dr. Anne Looney, Dr. Joe O’Connell and Barry Slattery (NCCA – Review of Senior Cycle).

Joan Russell Director of Schools Support Services (ETBI) Joan was a Principal of a Vocational School for three years before being appointed as Education Officer to Co. Cork VEC in 2005. She was appointed as CEO (Acting) of Co. Cork VEC in 2010 and fulfilled that role up to the amalgamation of Co. Cork and City of Cork VECs in July 2013. She was then seconded from CETB to work as Project Officer for Instructional Practices and has been recently appointed as Director for School Support Services Post-Primary (ETBI). Joan was a member of the Teaching Council 2012 – 2016 and a member of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), 2010 – 2015. Joan has a keen interest in professional development. She qualified as a Home Economics teacher, has a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership as well as Higher Diploma in Educational Administration and a Higher Diploma in Professional Studies (School Planning).

DES Inspectorate on Child Protection and Safeguarding model of Inspection will be discussed on Friday at 10am (Conference Schedule). Brian is a divisional inspector with the Department of Education and Skills. He is based in Athlone and currently assigned to the Office of the Chief Inspector and to the Evaluation Support and Research Unit of the Inspectorate. In this role he provides support to the Chief Inspector and the Senior Management Group of the Inspectorate. He is working on a number of projects including developing the Child Protection and Safeguarding Inspection (CPSI) model and realigning the evaluation of provision for learners with special educational needs in post-primary schools to take account of recent developments in special education. Before joining the inspectorate, he was a primary teacher and principal.

Ger is Senior Inspector with the Department of Education and Skills. He is currently assigned to the Inspectorate’s Evaluation, Support and Research Unit (ESRU) with responsibilities in the areas of • Inspection planning • inspection model development • STEM Prior to appointment as an inspector in 2007, Ger taught Technical Graphics and Engineering in CBS Tramore County Waterford for almost ten years

Dr Joe O’ Connell is a native of Limerick city and was educated in CBS Sexton Street, NUIG, and the University of Manchester. Meet him at PDA’s Conference .   on Thursday 14th where he will address Leadership Challenges in Managing Change. Joe has served as a post-primary school principal, was founding director of St. Senan’s Education office supporting the Boards of Management of the Catholic Dioceses of Limerick, Kerry and Killaloe and also served as director of Limerick Education Centre. He currently supports organisations such as the Centre for School Leadership (CSL) the IPPN (The Irish Primary Principals Network), NAPD (National Association of Principals and Deputies), the JMB (Joint Managerial Body) and the ETBI (Education and Training Boards of Ireland) in addressing issues such as leading learning and teaching, organisational development, managing and building the relationships across the school community, dealing with challenging situations and promoting collaborative leadership and team development. He teaches Education Legislation and Governance on the MA programme in Christian Leadership in Education in Mary Immaculate College Limerick. CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Dr. Jennifer McMahon is a psychologist and educator. She will explore means of supporting students social emotional learning in schools on Friday 15th (click here for full Conference schedule). Jennifer joined UL in February 2013 and is Lecturer in Psychology and Inclusion in the School of Education. She has worked in the area of autism and mental health since 2006. Prior to joining UL she worked for Jigsaw – the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, firstly as a researcher in evaluating Jigsaw mental health services at a national level and then as a project manager to establish a Jigsaw in Limerick. As part of this work Jennifer was instrumental in conducting a large scale needs and resource analysis of youth mental health needs across Limerick. Jennifer’s research largely focuses on building capacity in teachers to promote students social and emotional well-being and support student mental health issues as they arise. She has been funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention and the Teaching Council for her work.

Meet Dr. Johanna Fitzgerald at PDA Annual Conference where she will discuss the critical role of the senior leadership team in building school wide capacity to meet diverse needs of learners.

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Fiona O’Brien will address delegates at PDA Conference. Fiona is a Team Leader for School Leadership at Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT), a Department of Education and Skills schools’ support service. Fiona has been seconded to JCT since 2016 and prior to this she was Principal of Killarney Community College between 2007 and 2016, and Deputy Principal at Deansrath Community College, Dublin between 1999 and 2007. A qualified Home Economics teacher, Fiona has over 16 years’ experience in school leadership and led her school teams to implement significant educational change. A key aspect of Fiona’s responsibility within JCT is to support school leaders nationally in deepening their understanding of the Framework for Junior Cycle (2015). The full implementation of the new Framework has significant implications for how each school makes their key decisions, as well as how it embarks on its strategic planning. The JCT leadership team supports schools in successfully making these changes. They help make connections between the school self-evaluation process, junior cycle reform and the quality framework as schools embark on the journey of embedding these changes into their culture of teaching, assessment, learning and reporting. See full list of speakers here.

Anne is the Executive Dean of Dublin City University’s new Institute of Education. From 2001 until 2016 she was the CEO of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the agency responsible for curriculum and assessment for early years, primary and post-primary education in Ireland. She also held the position of Interim CEO at the Higher Education Authority until March 2017.

 A former teacher, she completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Education in University College London. In 2014/2015 she was Professorial Research Fellow at the Learning Science Institute Australia, based at Australian Catholic University in Brisbane.

Her current research interests include assessment policy and practice, curriculum, teacher identity and professional standards for teachers and teaching. She has also published on religious, moral and civic education, and education policy. She has conducted reviews for the OECD on school quality and assessment systems.

She is a member of the boards of Early Childhood Ireland, and the Ark Cultural Centre for Children. She tweets at @annelooney

Annual Conference Schedule 2019

John Doran will address delegates at PDA Conference on Wednesday 13th Nov at 8:30pm. John speaks to Management Bodies, Businesses, Education Trusts, Teachers, Parents and Students on the topics of Resilience, EQ, Well-being in the workplace, Stress Management, and maximizing performance, both nationally and internationally. He has just returned from a speaking tour of schools in Sydney, Australia. John is a TED speaker and a media contributor, and is the author of ‘Ways to Well-Being’, which is designed to help 15-18 year olds explore how to maintain their own sense of well-being, leading to improved academic outcomes in school and a sense of accomplishment in life. Currently taught in over 150 schools both here and in mainland Europe, and an international edition is about to be  released  in the UAE.