83% of Post-Primary Principals say Supports and Information are not in Place to Enable Effective Delivery of Schools Books Scheme by this September
83% of respondents feel that necessary supports and information are not in place to roll out the School Book Scheme by September.
Only 36% have expressed confidence in their school’s ability to deliver the scheme effectively by the beginning of the new school year.
Principals report that they are struggling to navigate an intricate procurement process.
Growing concerns that administrative burden is taking time away from the core work of the school.
Calls for Minister for Education Norma Foley to appoint an admin officer with specialist expertise to assist schools and ease the admin burden.
The National Association of Principals and Deputies (NAPD) says many post-primary schools are at risk of not being able to roll out of the School Book Scheme in time for its launch in September.
A survey of members shows that 83% of respondents feel that the necessary supports and information are not available. NAPD acknowledge the immense effort that the Department of Education personnel are going to, to support schools to deliver the scheme yet Principals have been highlighting that a complicated procurement process is acting as a massive stumbling block and only 36% express confidence in their school’s ability to deliver the scheme effectively by September.
The NAPD fully supports the scheme which aims to deliver free books to all post-primary students and the positive affect this will have in financially supporting families and providing essential learning resources to all students irrespective of their socio-economic background. However, the success of the initiative hinges on the ability of Principal’s to navigate the procurement process which falls solely on them.
Many Principals have reported that the process entails more than just purchasing books and involves an intricate procurement process of designing tender documents, navigating the eTenders process, evaluating bids, navigating supplier relationships, managing the budget allocation and preparing for audit and compliance evaluations. The procurement process takes time and time is not on our side to be able to deliver the scheme by September.
NAPD Director Paul Crone, says that this process is placing extra pressure on Principals and taking them away from engaging with students, their parents and the wider school community:
“We have long been highlighting the growing administrative burden which is being placed on Principals. Finance, procurement, HR, health and safety and facilities management are among the many admin tasks which are taking principals away from what is actually important, engaging with their students.
“The reports we are receiving from members in relation to the extra specialist administrative work being created through the School Book Scheme procurement process and the lack of specialist expertise is very concerning.
“This is a very worthwhile initiative, and we want to see it up and running in time for September, but this is now looking in doubt for many schools.
“We are now appealing to the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, to seriously consider providing schools with expert administrative support to post-primary schools in order to ease the increasing admin pressures and provide the capacity in our system for principals to prioritise their time for their students.”
ENDS
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Niamh Kinsella| niamh.kinsella@finnparters.com | 087 921 9711
Note to Editor
A Survey of school leaders from 730 post-primary schools was carried out between 4pm on the 21/3/24 and 4pm on the 22/3/24 with 531 respondents.
