Leaders at national level have let us down

Would you send your child to a school with Bertie Ahern as Principal, Seánie Fitzpatrick as the Treasurer of the Board of Management, Roddy Molloy as Chairperson and Desmond Connell as Patron of the school?  This is the scenario that the Director of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN), Mr Seán Cottrell, presents to 1,100 Principals and invited guests as IPPN’s annual conference in Citywest today, Friday 29th January. Thankfully this leadership vacuum is not replicated in the 3,500 plus schools throughout the country where the polar opposite exists.

The IPPN Director states ‘If it were Principals leading our banks, churches and state agencies, we would not be in this mess’ and goes on to assert that Principals are caught between the long-standing cartel of church, state and trade unions who collaborate to protect their vested interests. However, all are happy to devolve responsibility back to schools when problems arise.

School Principals are a committed cohort, ‘who model hope rather than despair, nurture the weakest and challenge the strongest, display positivity rather than cynicism and continue to manage change despite reverting to 2003 levels of resourcing and salary’. Mr Cottrell praises innovative and inspiring Principals who ‘sacrifice private and family time in the belief that children have the right to the best possible learning opportunities’.

Excerpt from Seán Cottrell speech
Leadership

I’d like to speak to you this morning about leadership and vision and the extraordinary contrast between what we are witnessing at national level and what we see in primary schools across the country.  Even to the casual observer, it is clear that there is an extraordinary absence of leadership at national level. Politicians, bishops, bankers, developers, trade unions and state agencies can all take their share of the blame for subverting their mandate to lead while neglecting the interests of those they were supposed to serve.

The concept of ‘servant leadership’ has been replaced by ‘self-serving leadership’, where vested interests take priority over the common good and where self-preservation comes before everything else. This is all the more galling in a country which defines itself as a republic. Those who have abused their position of leadership are causing immense hardship for much of the population. In all cases, the victims and survivors could not and did not contribute to the crisis.

Those who have let us down and took advantage of our trust brazenly defend their positions claiming it wasn’t their fault, they didn’t know about it or it was the culture of the day. There is a palpable anger amongst ordinary people whose incomes are cut, whose savings have disappeared or whose jobs are lost. As if this wasn’t enough, the evidence of horrific and systemic child abuse has shocked our nation.

Listening to the stories of survivors has turned our stomachs and unleashed an anger not seen before. Common to all these scandals is the refusal to accept responsibility, the determination to cover up and the likelihood that nothing will really change.The public has been appalled on discovering the reckless and outrageous behaviour of those who paraded themselves as role models and icons of success in their respective fields.

As they have still not been held accountable, it’s easy to see how you as a Principal could become frustrated, demoralised or even cynical. But you haven’t and that is the difference between real and bogus leaders. If we have learned anything in the last two years, it is that a leader who is without integrity is absolutely nothing.

Three years ago, there was an air of confidence and ambition which gave educators a sense of real hope. Hope that real investment in education was finally happening and that our education system would reach the standards and potential that we knew were possible. It is simply unbelievable that we are here in 2010 at a conference for school leaders in shock, anger and disbelief trying to come to grips with a return to the resources and salaries of a bygone era. Regrettably, the rising tide did not lift all boats.

The number of children that continue to be taught in prefabs, the dependence on parents to pay for basic operating costs of schools, the embarrassing state of ICT in schools and just now the doubling in the cost of water overnight suggests that unlike Mary’s little lamb, the Celtic Tiger never went to school. Add to that the ruthless culling of Special Needs Assistants and English Language Teachers and school secretaries and caretakers working for a minimum wage….begs the question, how on earth could this have happened? But this didn’t just happen.

People were in charge. Why are they not accountable now? My fear is that there is no willingness to hold those leaders to account. In stark contrast, you have led by example, managing vast amounts of change in education with which you are all familiar. The quality of leadership evident in primary schools has been truly remarkable.If it were Primary Principals who were leading our banks, churches and state agencies, somehow I doubt we would be in the mess that we are in now. What if it were the other way around? … Imagine the cross between Celebrity Bainisteoir and Fantasy Football.

Think of a primary school with Bertie Ahern as Principal, Desmond Connell as the School Patron, Roddy Molloy chairing the Board and Seán Fitzpatrick as Treasurer? Then you could have Liam Carroll building the school extension – money would be no problem as Seán Fitzpatrick could get a 120% loan from Michael Fingleton – and it wouldn’t even show up in the books! Minister, would you like your grandchildren to be enrolled in that school?Staff morale has taken a hammering due to savage cuts in school budgets followed by the severe blow to teachers’ and principals’ personal finances.

Low teacher morale is detrimental to children. Perhaps the greatest challenge for school leaders in 2010 will be to provide positive leadership to your teachers and staff and to inspire them to be the best that they can be for every single child in your school. Imagine for a moment that you are not the Principal in your school. Consider the difference it would make to you as a teacher having a Principal who models hope rather than despair, positivity rather than cynicism. As school leaders, our attitude to this education crisis will have a deep and long-lasting impact on teachers and children in our schools. Sometimes we underestimate the degree of influence we have over our teaching colleagues.

A single, credible, positive voice can outweigh a dozen whingers. To make that difference, it is critical that you focus all of your time and energy on things that you can influence or control. And it is even more vital that you smother the forces of negativity by depriving them of your attention. Understandably, there are times when you will grow tired of the relentless conveyor belt of problems that teachers, parents and children bring to you on a daily basis. However, in the words of former US General Colin Powell ‘the day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you are no longer their leader’.

By any analysis, the role of Primary Principal is a complex and highly challenging role. Yet, there are few roles with such a high concentration of committed, caring and passionate professionals. You show entrepreneurship, innovation and ingenuity in the way you have achieved so much progress in schools that are so under-funded and under-resourced. Your leadership has inspired others. You have sacrificed your private and family time. All because you believe that the children in your school have the right to the best possible learning you can give them and too often if you don’t go the extra mile, no-one else will.

Acknowledging the many newly-appointed Principals here today, I am eager to make sure that your enthusiasm is encouraged. You will be heartened to know that in a recent international study of Principals in twenty countries, it emerged that when asked how they felt about their job, in spite of all the challenges, two out of three stated that they either liked or loved their job.