School principals across Ireland are raising serious concerns about the country’s education system, warning that it is “failing to deliver for all students”
There are growing issues like student disengagement, poor attendance, and rising anxiety levels and many believe the system is no longer fit for purpose.
These concerns were being addressed on Thursday at the 2025 Symposium of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD).
The NAPD argues that the current system is simply not working and that meaningful changes need to be made.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, NAPD Director Paul Crone acknowledged that “in many ways” this is already widely recognised.
“We’ve had plenty of commentary around the issues such as poor attendance, anxiety, and disengagement among students and that commentary has been ongoing for quite a while,” he said.
The symposium is focused on finding solutions by bringing together key stakeholders, including the Department of Education, unions, and school management bodies.
“[It lets us] tease out and explore what the system can do so that we can arrive at a consensus with a view to being able to formulate effective policy going forward.”
A major concern for school leaders is that too many students are not having their needs met with the current system.
“I think we are noticing more and more students are not being catered for,” Mr Crone said.
“They’re not having their needs met and we’re at a time of change when we’re looking at senior cycle redevelopment.”
He then said that schools today are dealing with a far more diverse student population, including a significant rise in students with additional educational needs and those from international backgrounds – but the education system has been slow to adapt to these changes.
“While we’re looking at these issues – curriculum reform, assessment reform, and all of that – we need to start taking into consideration how every student can have their needs met.”
Despite ongoing discussions around education reform, Mr Crone said he believes that change has been frustratingly slow.
“Change has been incredibly slow and it is one of the major frustrations around educational change,”he said.
“Every year we delay, there’s more children that are potentially being left behind.”
He did say that there is “a genuine desire” from the Department of Education to improve the system, but the challenge is in bringing all stakeholders together to agree on the best path forward.
“It’s a matter of getting everybody on the same page, and that’s the position, I suppose, as school principals, we’re trying to develop that consensus.”
