A free online webinar organised by MIC Thurles will celebrate the crucial role that school leaders and school personnel have played and continue to play during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically organised for the third Monday in January, traditionally dubbed ‘Blue Monday’, the celebratory discussion will be chaired by Head of School at MIC Thurles, Dr Finn Ó Murchú. Joining him will be well known and respected names from the Educational field: Chief Inspector Harold Hislop; Principal and President of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), Rachel O’Connor; CEO of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), Arlene Forster, Principal of St Michael’s Infant School in Limerick, Tracie Tobin and Director with the Joint Managerial Board (JMB), Michael Redmond.
The discussion will shine a light on the innovative work that has been undertaken since the pandemic started and will explore what the future may hold for schools and for school leadership.
Speaking in advance of the free webinar, Dr Ó Murchú said: “The challenges facing schools over the past twenty-two months have been immense and their response continues to be heroic. Our conversation will explore what have we learned about ourselves, about leadership and how best we can support teachers and learners at this time.”
“At MIC Thurles we promote leadership at undergraduate level and with our postgraduate programme we specifically provide our Master’s Degree Programme in Middle Leadership and Mentoring and bespoke PhD pathways in school leadership. We hope these and related matters will form the basis for reflection and discussion on what we mean by school leadership and indeed what we mean by the concept of school and learning. I am really looking forward to our expert panel’s views on these and related matters. It promises to be a celebratory but insightful evening and I hope will put a pep in people’s step at this time”.
The online event is free to the public but registration in advance is required. You can register for free by following this link.
MIC’s postgraduate programmes in Middle Leadership and Mentoring provide an academic qualification for teachers in professional studies and is offered by and located at MIC’s Thurles campus. Endorsed by the Centre for School Leadership and designed to suit teachers’ professional lives, the programme will act as both a challenge and a support to those interested in middle leadership in our schools. Find out more about the programme here.
