Annual Report 2007
Drumcondra
Education
Centre
Annual General Report 2007
(This report is a synopsis of the full report published March 2007 - For a complete copy please contact the Centre directly)TABLE OF CONTENTS
Management Committee & Staff 1
Chairperson’s Address – Tim Hurley 4
Director’s Report – Eileen O’Connor ………………….. ……….. 5
Treasurer’s Report – Brendan Culligan ...... 13
APPENDICES:
Reports from Centre based National Programmes
a. Project Development Officer Report …………………… 15
b. School Development Planning Support …………. 16
c. Relationships & Sexuality Education Programme 17
d. ICT ………………….. 18
e. European Studies Programme ………………………….. 46
Charts and Lists
a. PCSP In-service ………………………………..……….. 51
b. Post Primary In-Service ……………………………….. 56
c. Local Course Provision ……………………………….. .. 58
d. Centre Opening ……………………………………… 119
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AND STAFF
Director - Eileen O’Connor
Management Committee
Tim Hurley Chairperson St Vincent’s CBS, Glasnevin
Anne O'Reilly Vice Chairperson Killester College, Dublin 5.
Brendan Culligan Treasurer Froebel College of Education
Cora O'Farrell Assistant Treasurer Mother of Divine Grace, Dublin 11.
David Martin Mount Temple Comp, Dublin 3
Denis McCarthy St. Malachy’s BNS, Dublin 5
Marian Hackett Holy Spirit GNS, Dublin 11
Joe Whoriskey St. Mary’s Sec. Sch, Dublin 13
Evelyn O’Brien St Brigid’s GNS, Dublin 11
Mary Friel Margaret Aylward College Dublin 9
Gerry Clerkin St. Patrick’s Sen BNS. Drumcondra
Ms. Eithne Deeney ACCS
Mr. Tony Healy CPSMA
Administration Staff
Dee Coogan Administrator
Jocelyn Kelly PCSP/Website/Interactive Database/Centre
Grainne Haughney RSE/Post-Primary In-service/Centre
Valerie Norris Part-time ICT
Bridget Quigley Receptionist/ Course & Room Bookings
Christine Halloran Part-time Centre/ SMEI
Carmel Curran Part-time Centre/ESAI
Information and Communication Technology
David Kearney ICT Advisor
Professional Development Officer
Angela McGarvey PDO
School Development Planning Initiative
Eileen Flynn National Co-ordinator
Linda Gorman Secretary
Relationships & Sexuality Education Programme
Frances Shearer National Co-ordinator
Accounts
Jennifer Norton Book-keeper
Michael Lyng Accountant
Housekeepers
Angela Donnelly Senior Housekeeper
Carmel Donnelly Assistant Housekeeper
Caretaker
Brendan Richardson Caretaker
Chairperson’s Report 2007
On behalf of the Management Committee of Drumcondra Education Centre, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to our Annual General Meeting.
Over the past year the Administrative Staff of the Centre, the Management Committee and our Director, Eileen O’Connor have all worked as a team, a visionary and energetic team to further our services to the development and progress of Irish Education. It has been both a privilege and a pleasure for me to work with all of the team.
From our Director’s Report you will get a flavour of the many initiatives and achievements of the Centre Team during 2007. I trust I will be permitted to highlight just three of these which have in common our efforts to improve our service to teachers in a way that is accessible, innovative and challenging.
The work of Angela McGarvey has brought a new impetus and direction to our delivery of appropriate and relevant services to teachers, which builds on and expands the in-school delivery of I.T. access and use by David Kearney. We appreciate that teachers are very busy people who rarely have the opportunity to access professional development programmes at their leisure, which makes the focused delivery provided from and through the centre all the more valuable.
The ongoing development of the Centre’s Interactive Database has not been without its difficulties and challenges in the past year. I would like to thank the Centre staff for their dedicated and positive approach to these challenges. The service provided by this Database to teachers and their personal professional development will prove significant.
The Interactive WhiteBoard Programme has proven a significant success. The review of the programme by Dr. Miriam Judge has proven what those involved in the programme already strongly suspected-that the use of Interactive WhiteBoard Technology in the classroom can spur a giant leap forward in the effective use of I.T. in schools. It can, and does involve students and teachers in a joint, innovative pursuit of knowledge and learning, involving students in taking the lead and responsibility for their own learning in a way far less frequently experienced in other classrooms.
There are many other achievements of the Centre Team I could highlight. This sample is, however, sufficient to celebrate the many varied and dedicated talents we are blessed with in our centre.
I would also like to record our appreciation of the positive and supportive interest of the Teacher Education Section of the Department of Education and Science in our efforts.
It can at times be a challenge for Management Committee to keep up with the flow of new angles and ideas from our inspirational Director, who constantly strives to enthuse and energise all in the Centre, and I must record my gratitude to each member of Management Committee who give so generously of their time and experience, and who I have again found it both a privilege and pleasure to work with.
It has been an honour and privilege to serve you as Chairman for the past year, and I would like to conclude by thanking our Director and each and every member of staff and Management Committee for their dedicated, co-operative work on behalf of the centre and our service to education throughout the past year.
Tim Hurley
Chairman
27.02.08
Director’s Report
1. Introduction
I am delighted to welcome you all to the Centre’s 2007 Annual General Meeting. The significance of this annual event is sometimes overshadowed and indeed almost eclipsed by the busyness involved in the preparation of the various reports and the organisation of the evening itself!. However, I think it is essential for us as a Centre Community to take this time out to reflect on what has been achieved, to celebrate successes, to learn from mistakes and to look to the future with confidence and purpose.
As Director, I am deeply grateful for the work of all those associated with the Centre and for their contribution to the wide range of events, projects and programmes that made up its day-to-day business during 2007. The complex and varied work successfully undertaken by the organisation - educational, administrative and financial - is due in no small way to the professionalism and the commitment to excellence of all the Centre Community – Management Committee, Staff, Course Tutors and the many colleagues in outside agencies with whom we collaborate.
2007 presented many challenges for the Centre. The gradual decline in the work of the PCSP particularly in the Autumn term had implications for the Centre in terms of room hire and administration income. The post-Summer climate of national fiscal rectitude and the consequent lack of discretionary funding in the TES militated against the proposed roll-out of the Centre Interactive Database to other interested Education Centres. Furthermore, we have had little progress in getting a financial commitment to the proposed Centre building extension.
However, not withstanding these issues, 2007 was a productive and successful year for the Centre. Apart from the everyday work, a selection of just some of the events during the year listed below - all of them ‘firsts’ for the Centre - illustrates the wide range of initiatives and the areas of development and interest in which the Centre is involved:
· The appointment of Angela McGarvey as Centre Professional Development Officer, on a 3-year pilot, in January 2007
· The official launch of the Centre’s interactive Database by An Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, on February 26th
· The hosting of a 2-day visit of 50 Swedish Principals to local schools in March
· The Seminar for teachers on ‘Becoming a Reflective Practitioner’ by Professor Bruce Barnett, University of Texas, San Antonio on May 31st
· The launch, in the Autumn term, of the Leadership Development for Schools (LDS) Pilot Project on Whole-School Leadership. This involved Senior and Middle Management Teams from 15 local post-primary schools working together on whole-school issues.
· A Centre-based symposium and launch, on December 3rd, of the first-ever Irish based Research Report highlighting the positive use of Whiteboards as a teaching and learning tool in local schools
· The hosting of a Dutch/Irish Bi-lateral conference in collaboration with the Society for Management in Education (SMEI), November 29th- December 1st
· The initiation of the training for school Boards of Management: Primary and Post-primary
· The piloting of the Centre Interactive Database in Region 1 Centres, Monaghan and Navan, in the Autumn term.
These and the remainder of this report demonstrate the vision and ‘cutting edge’ of the work of the Centre in attempting to meet the needs of its ever expanding and changing education community.
2. Centre Management
2.1 Management Committee
The success of the Centre over the past year is a testimony to the vision, work and commitment of its Management Committee, under the able chairmanship of Tim Hurley. I am indebted to Committee members for their wisdom and their generosity of time in attending meetings and in particular to Tim for his experience, his personal support and his ability to see the positive side of all challenges! I am also deeply grateful to Ann O’Reilly, deputy chairperson, for her assistance with note-taking at the Committee meeting each month. Siobhan O’Sullivan, Malahide Community School, retired from Committee during the year. On behalf of the Centre, I want to thank Siobhan for her commitment and work and wish her well in the future.
The work of the Financial and Legal Subcommittee, who meet every month prior to the main Management Committee meeting, is invaluable in terms of ongoing advice and support. I particularly want to mention the work of the Centre treasurer, Brendan Culligan and the assistant treasurer, Cora O’Farrell. Keeping track of the finances for this busy Centre is an onerous task and I want to thank Brendan and Cora for their painstaking attention to detail, their generosity with regard to time and especially their patience in signing cheques! However, the recent introduction of online payment of regular accounts both for the Centre and the SDPS account has assisted in reducing the time devoted to this onerous task. As part of overall Centre governance, Management Committee regularly review Centre policies. The Centre policy on handling cash was recently reviewed in line with Centre insurance guidelines.
Management Committee are encouraged and assisted in their professional development through attendance at national and international conferences relevant to the vision and work of the Centre. This is essential in assisting in capacity building within the management team, in keeping the Centre abreast of current thinking in relation to education issues and in building important links and in the sharing of ideas both nationally and internationally. 2007 was no exception. The 2-day think-tank focussing on Centre future planning facilitated by Dr. David Tuohy, in the Nuremore Hotel, Carrickmacross in February was important in highlighting issues for the future and also in building a rapport between new and more experienced Committee members.
A group of Committee members attended the European Network for International Research and Development in Educational Leadership and Management (ENIRDELM) Conference in Uppsala, Sweden in September.
2.2 Centre Administration
As Director, I am indebted to the ‘can-do’, positive and caring approach of the administrative staff and to the overall spirit of collaboration and teamwork that infuses all aspects of their work. I know that I speak for all associated with the Centre when I thank Dee Coogan, Centre Administrator, and the Centre team: Angela Donnelly, Jocelyn Kelly, Grainne Haughney, Bridget Quigley, Valerie Norris, Carmel Donnelly, Jennifer Norton, Christine Halloran, Brendan Richardson and Linda Gorman for their commitment to excellence and the high standard of courtesy and service they afford to all who visit the Centre.
During the past year, staff have ensured the successful introduction and implementation of a range of initiatives. I am indebted to them for their readiness to take on board new developments in particular the development and the use of the Centre Database as central to overall administration during the past year. The scheduling of regular staff meetings has ensured that they are kept up to date on Centre developments and also allows for critical feedback and discussion on ongoing plans and initiatives. Staff professional development is of critical importance to the ongoing competitiveness and future development of the Centre and is an area of priority for Centre management. In 2007 there has been staff up-skilling in areas such as finances, website/database development, staff management issues and health & safety.
A sincere thank you to Michael Lyng, our accountant, who with Jennifer Norton, the Centre bookkeeper, looks after the increasingly complex financial business of the Centre. We are also indebted to our auditor Brian Coveney for his ongoing advice and support particularly in the weeks prior to the AGM.
I also wish to acknowledge the work of Carmel Curran who works with us on a part-time basis and the students from St. Patrick’s College, who help out during evening openings.
The work of the Centre in 2007 in terms of local provision has greatly benefitted from the appointment of Angela McGarvey (Professional Development Officer) in January, 2007. In her short time with us, Angela has worked really well with all members of the Centre community. She has succeeded in developing and cementing the Centre’s links and relationship with local schools and national agencies. Angela has been assessing local needs and has initiated a wide range of new programmes for teachers, parents and school support staff (Appendix 1a). Her presence has greatly enhanced the core work of the Centre in facilitating teacher development. I am indebted to Angela for her professional support and endeavour during the past year.
I pay tribute also to the work of David Kearney, Centre ICT advisor, Eileen Flynn (National Co-ordinator, SDP (Primary), Frances Shearer (National Co-ordinator, RSE), Aoife Ruane (European Studies co-ordinator (ROI)). They bring great credit to the Centre by their professionalism and their commitment to high standards and their willingness to be of support and assistance at all times both to me and Centre staff. The evidence of strong teamwork between all members of the staff, both professional and administrative is a testimony to the positive and harmonious culture of mutual respect and professional support which we foster and of which we are very proud.