060. Set the same insurance rates for all schools
Many people wouldn’t realise that there is only one insurance company in Ireland that covers schools. It’s called Allianz. They used to be known as Church and General. This might explain why. However, in the post church-run world of school insurance, you might be surprised to learn that schools do not all pay the same […]
070. Make primary education actually free
Primary education is supposed to be free. However, the reality is that it isn’t. In fact, it’s nowhere near free! According to Zurich Insurance who measure this sort of thing, in 2018, it cost an average of €830 per child per year to go to primary school. While some people may not believe this figure, […]
063. Remuneration for Principals for managing all positions in the school
There’s not too many jobs out there where a manager would work for free. However, that’s exactly what principals do every day. Despite a principal having to manage all the staff in the school, that’s the teachers, SNAs, caretakers, secretaries, bus escorts and anyone else, (s)he only gets paid for the teachers. There are circumstances […]
065. Replace some grants with local companies who compete to get tender
When it comes to some of the bigger grants given to schools for emergency work or summer works schemes, it’s local companies that should be considered to do the jobs. There are some good reasons for this – supporting the local economy and also taking pride in the work. When a school is granted money […]
059. Pay grants based on current Enrollment rather than the previous year
Sometimes it’s little things that produce inequalities in education. One such rule is that schools are given grants based on their enrollments from the previous year. For schools that are developing, this means they receive less than they should for their enrollments. Given that POD exists and all records are digitised, there is really no […]
031. Each enrollment to a school should come with a grant for miscellaneous items
Schools get a number of grants for the running of various things. The capitation grant is the largest of these and is supposed to cover all utility bills and all the running costs of the school. It is never enough. Rather than providing a capitation grant for utilities, the capitation grant should be given to […]
029. Principal Benchmarking Should Be Awarded
Back in 2008, a review of all public sector pay came to the conclusion that everyone was being paid fairly except for a small proportion of university technicians and all 3,200 primary school principals. The principal allowance was to be upped significantly in some cases. Below are the figures from an old INTO Eolas leaflet. […]
026. Ban Fundraising
That’s easy for you to say! Indeed it is easy simply to say ban fundraising in schools, but who is going to plug the hole that is left from the lack of money given to schools to keep going? Who is going to fund the costs of teachers’ materials. Where is the money going to […]
067. Cleaners should be contracted by the DES and paid directly by them
Cleaning Staff are paid from an ancillary grant, which is given to all schools by the Department of Education each year based on the number of pupils enrolled in the school the previous year. This grant is also supposed to cover the wage of all ancillary staff including secretaries, etc. but, in general, it doesn’t […]
040. Secretaries to be paid a standard wage directly from DES
School secretaries are paid from an ancillary grant, which is given to all schools by the Department of Education each year based on the number of pupils enrolled in the school the previous year. This grant is also supposed to cover the wage of all ancillary staff including caretakers, cleaning staff, etc. but, in general, […]