Good morning delegates, 

We hope you enjoyed conference proceedings yesterday, and last night’s gala dinner. Check out the best pictures of the day here.

Minister McEntee’s speech to conference yesterday features in media reports this morning, on RTE, Galway Bay FM, and Midwest Radio. Andy Pike spoke to the News at One yesterday, you can listen back here.

The vote by delegates in favour of a ballot on industrial action for school secretaries and caretakers features in The Irish Times, the Connacht Tribune, and on Galway Bay FM. You can read our key takeaways from the Minister’s speech and Andy Pike’s response below.  

This morning conference resumes at 9.30am this morning and will run until 12.45pm. Minister of state Michael Moynihan will address conference at 10am. Motions on further and higher education, SNA appreciation day, and terms and conditions for members will then be brought forward. Don’t miss the Distinguished Service Awards which will take place just before conference closes. 

The conference schedule is available here and the conference hub is here. 

Watch RTE's coverage of the conference here.

Highlights from Thursday 

Highlights from yesterday included an insightful panel discussion chaired by Jen Cummins TD, at which members Fiona McGrath and Esther Luttrell spoke powerfully about the impact injury, stress and burnout have. Read more about that below.  

A new Education Divisional Executive Committee (EDEC) was elected, which will be chaired by Ursula Cox from the Higher Education branch. Catherine Quirke of the Munster SNA branch will take on the Vice Chair role. 

The lunch-time fringe event Addressing Gender-Based Violence was well attended. Fórsa’s Linda O’Sullivan chaired a challenging panel discussion with Diane Byrne, from Women of Honour, and the tireless Natasha O’Brien, where they took aim at systemic failings of the state allowing violence to perpetuate. 

Delegates were busy throughout the day debating motions on a wide range of issues. Motions passed on outsourcing in the ETB sector, increasing provision of autism classes, calling for the Department of Education circular on assault leave to be amended, the inclusion of non-teaching staff on boards of management, the SNA workforce development plan, and increasing administrative staffing in the technological university sector, amongst many other topics.  

In a show of solidarity underscoring how connected the division is, branches put forward numerous motions supporting key campaigns being led by other branches in the division, from SNAs supporting pension parity in schools to school secretaries calling for better assault leave for SNAs. 

Finally, you may have seen the therapy dogs from My Canine Companions yesterday. Did you know that it costs €8,000 to train a therapy dog? Take part in our fundraiser here and you might win a 2-night hotel stay! 

Minister commits to “doing everything she can” to advance progress for school staff

In a well-received speech to delegates new Minister for Education Helen McEntee paid tribute to the transformative work of Fórsa members in the Education division and made commitments to work towards pension parity in schools. 

The Minister’s speech was followed by a response from Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike. Andy called out the double standard at the heart of schools that sees school secretaries and caretakers left without pensions, and without access to bereavement and critical illness leave. 

He said: “We are determined to end the long-standing exclusion of our school secretaries and caretakers from the single public service pension scheme. This is a blight on our school system, a system which teaches young people the principles of equality and fairness, while the people at the very heart of every school are arbitrarily locked out of the same pension arrangements that apply to all of their colleagues, that's unfair. It's discriminatory, and it certainly is not inclusive."

Outlining her vision for her new role Minister McEntee said: “My number one goal is to support young people to achieve their full potential. Education has the potential to ignite something in all of us. It lifts people up; it helps young people to fulfil their full potential, and every single person in our school plays a role."

“We need greater equity and excellence in our schools, and these must go hand in hand, one without the other won’t work.”

"One of my key priorities is making sure that every young person with special needs has the supports they have a right to. We are working to make sure that every one of them has a school place this September.”

Speaking about the SNA workforce development plan, she said that it should be announced within the coming months and thanked SNAs who are taking part in the working groups. She said: “Without SNAs many children would not be in school. 97% of our children with special needs are in mainstream schools.  This is why the SNA workforce plan is vital. I'm pleased to say it is progressing, and we hope to present the plan in the coming months.” She also announced an SNA redeployment scheme that will be in operation by the coming school year.”

While the Minister underlined that she could not negotiate from the floor, she said “I will do everything I possibly can, as the Minister for Education and Youth, to make the progress that is needed to support the people that work in our schools, because without you, our schools would not function. Without you, our children would not get the education that they have”.

In his response to the Minister, Fórsa’s head of Education Andy Pike, said "The difficulties we've had on SNA workforce planning relate to the length of time it's taking. But the announcement of the redeployment scheme for SNAs is seismic. It will enable the school system to retain experienced SNAs, which is so important because it is not an easy job.”

In an impassioned plea for children locked out of education due to the lack of school places for children with additional needs, he said: “Without a school place children cannot thrive, they are cut adrift from their peers, left behind. The provision of school places should be the first item in the national conversation on education that the Minister has spoken about this week.”

Concluding his remarks Andy recalled the beneficial collaborative working relationship that existed during the pandemic, and said “where we can work with the Department, we will.”

‘I was sick every time I was on leave’ – Members speak out about impact of burnout, stress, assault and injuries

On Thursday afternoon delegates attended an insightful panel discussion, chaired by Jen Cummins TD, on the impact of stress, burnout, assaults and injuries in the workplace.  

The discussion was preceded by a presentation on the findings of the Education division’s recent survey on this topic, by officials Seamus Ryan and Diarmaid Mac a Bhaird. Read a summary of the findings here.

Fiona McGrath, SNA, and Esther Luttrell, school secretary, spoke about their own experiences, with Fiona outlining that, for her, burnout manifested itself through illness at every school holiday. They were joined by Orla Flynn, President of Atlantic Technological University and Patricia Murray, Organisational Psychologist. Patricia reminded the audience that stress will manifest itself physically if it goes ignored, saying “stress will bypass your intellect and impact your body.”  

She also highlighted the connection between caring about the impact of your work and the likelihood of suffering from stress and burnout. This is backed up by the survey findings in which 73% of respondents said they feel their work is making a difference and 88% reported feeling stressed at work.  

Focusing on solutions Patricia noted that being part of a team is shown to reduce stress, while good relationships and clear communication were also identified as important ways to reduce stress and burnout in the workplace. 

In the Q&A session that followed members spoke from the floor about their own experiences of injury, here they had not wanted to report the incident and take assault leave, as well as incidents when training was refused. There was clear agreement that the Department of Education circular on assault leave has to change.  

Concluding, the chair underlined the importance of being treated with dignity at work, the need for critical incident training for all school staff, and that that staff can only support children effectively if they themselves are also supported.  

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