In preparing a plan for 2001 for Waterford Teachers’ Centre it is essential to bear in mind at all times what the functions of a Teachers’ Centre are. Hereunder are listed the functions as envisaged in the Draft of the Revised Guidelines for the operation of Education Centres.

2.1 The functions of a full-time Centre and of a part-time Centre to the extent that their resources permit, will be to

(a) provide training, development and support for teachers and the wider School Community, both in terms of meeting locally researched and identified teacher and School Community needs and also through involvement in national inservice programmes
(b) be involved, as a major strategic resource within education, in a range of national and other projects, programme and initiatives as may be decided by the Minister, following consultation and in partnership with the Centres, for implementation in the education system from time to time
(c) act as far as possible as a resource and meeting place for the local school community
(d) actively promote its role in regard to all its major functions
(e) to plan for the development of expertise in key areas and to share such expertise throughout the Education Centre Network and the educational system in general; this activity to be developed in partnership and consultation with the Department of Education and Science
(f) co-operate and engage with other Education Centres, full-time and part-time, so as to ensure that an effective network of Centres is established
(g) to observe the terms of circulars which may be issued by the Department to Centres from time to time”
Evaluation of Achievement of the Main Goals of Plan 2000:

While Waterford Teachers’ Centre had another successful year in the year 2000, there were major shortfalls in several areas in terms of fully implementing Plan 2000. Much of these were due to factors outside the control of the Director, Administrative Staff and the Management Committee of the Centre. In broad terms the following were amongst the factors:

1. The Centre vacated their normal premises at Newtown Road on July 14th, 1999 while the building was being renovated as part of the provision of permanent bases for the network of 20 full-time Centres. The temporary premises located at Upstairs, 126 The Quay, are very inadequate and not suitable for the public. The times-scale for completion of the renovations was 9 months. We could reasonably expect to return to our permanent base after the Easter 2000 holidays. This did not happen and further deadlines of September 2000, October 2000 and the latest, December 2000,were not met. It is now expected that we will return in early 2001.The consequences of this situation are:

i. The Centre is not open to the public and teachers do not have the opportunity to visit us,

ii. This in turn has meant that the Centre has a lower profile and the level of active support and indeed, the activity of Support Groups, Subject Associations and other groups who use the Centre has decreased dramatically,

iii. The Centre has had to suspend all Photocopying, Laminating, Binding, and Video Library services. This has now eaten in to a second school year.

iv Most local course initiatives have been unsuccessful partly on account of this. In order to justify the much larger cost of room hire and catering facilities in local hotels, courses need to be guaranteed a larger minimum uptake by teachers.

2. The Centre Administrative capacity has been stretched to breaking point due to involvement in national inservice projects. The main project in this regard is the administration of the inservice for the revised primary curriculum. While we took on a junior secretarial assistant (£11,000), from funds generated by our involvement, to help with this work, nevertheless, the amount of work involved has meant that a considerable amount of the Director’s time and more especially that of the Main Secretary has been spent in attending to matters concerning this project.

The current level of activity with the RPC has increased even more since this inservice has commenced for the second year. For example; from January to June we administered over 40 double cluster, 2-day inservice seminars, whereas we have administered over 50 single 1-day inservice seminars between October and December. Another 70 seminars will be arranged between January and June 2001. There is practically the same amount of administrative work involved in organising a 2-day seminar for a double cluster as with organising a 1-day seminar for a single cluster.

Our Centre was also involved in organising seminars as part of the Physical Sciences Initiative in Chemistry for teachers in Waterford, South Tipperary, Wexford, Wicklow, Carlow and Kilkenny throughout 2000. This was an additional call on our ability to respond adequately to the demands placed on us.

Because we have built up some funds through our involvement with the IT 2000 initiative we have been able to employ another administrative assistant for the current year at an additional cost of £15,000 for the current year. It is difficult to see how we can afford that after Summer 2000. The demands on staff will increase even further during 2001 when we are open to the public again and renew the services that are currently suspended.

3. Unlike other Education Centres our Centre was without the services of a proper ICT Advisor until the Summer of 2000. Effectively this meant that the Director carried out the duties of this position during the school year 1999/2000. Concentration on providing the services needed by schools in this area meant that other aspects of Centre operations had to be curtailed. The Centre recruited an acting ICT Advisor in June 2000 and national interviews were held by NCTE on Nov. 27th with a view to making an appointment in Waterford from January 1st 2001.

While the funding of IT training comes via the NCTE as part of IT 2000 and not directly from ICDU, consequently it does not form part of this plan. Nevertheless, we should not forget that, for our Centre, it continues to form a major part of our local course programme. Currently we have over 200 teachers participating in computer training. If these were not doing IT 2000 Courses, then many of them would be seeking to participate in other local inservice courses. Should IT2000 cease in mid-2001, there will be a consequent demand on funds from ICDU to satisfy local IT training needs.

Assessment of our delivery of the Functions mentioned in the Introduction.

2.1 (a) We did very well in servicing national inservice projects which included the PCSP, Physical Sciences, Walk Tall and Transition Year support.

With a few notable exceptions we failed badly to respond to local inservice needs. The Centre carried out a Needs Analysis Survey of all Primary Teachers in our RPC catchment area during the year. However, due to the factors outlined above, we were only able to respond in a small measure.

The successes were an extensive Summer Course Program with courses in outreach locations such as Dungarvan, Cahir and Tramore as well as our Waterford City venues. The Annual Remedial Conference for the South-East was also a particular success. A course in Visual Arts was organised by us in the girls national school in Cahir during the Spring. This was the first time we have used this school as a course venue. We have used this venue to run a 9 week course as part of the Walk Tall Programme during the Autumn Term.

It must be remembered that in order to respond adequately to the researched needs of teachers locally the Centre must not alone have resources in terms of availability of finances and suitable tutors, but also the staff to cope with the consequent administrative work that running such courses generate.

2.1 (b) While the Centre has had a high level of involvement in hosting and managing major national inservice programs in the past, circumstances for the last 2 years have prevented us from contributing more in this area. I have no doubt but that when we are settled back in to our renovated building our contribution in this area will increase. In the meantime we can rely on the track record of our Centre’s involvement with the management of national inservice programmes such as the French/Spanish, Music and Business Inservice Projects.

2.1 (c) This has had to be curtailed due the unavailability of a suitable temporary premises for the past 18 months.

2.1 (d) This has been a very necessary function in view of the fact that we are out in temporary premises. We made a very valiant effort in promoting the Centre with 3 issues of a Newsletter during 1999/2000. This proved very popular with schools especially those in the far ends of our catchment area, such as Cahir/Cashel and Dungarvan/Lismore. Unfortunately, with the huge increase in demands placed by the PCSP since it recommenced in the Autumn, a planned Newsletter for this term was not possible.

2.1 (e) We made some progress in this area of capacity building by having 3 teachers accepted as trainers for the NRI Summer Course. Much more needs to be done in this area. If finance is put at our disposal we can make progress in this area once we move back to our normal premises.

2.1 (f) This is an important function of a Centre and the regular meetings of the full-time Directors play an important role in building up a rapport with fellow Directors through the sharing of experiences and knowledge. These meetings also are vital in promoting the sharing of good practice between Centres.

2.1 (g) We do our best to observe this function. The Centre had a visit from the Internal Audit Unit of the DES during the year and the implementation of the recommendations of their report will greatly enhance our ability to discharge this function.

Looking to the Future:
In preparing a plan for meeting the Inservice needs of the Local Education community served by Waterford Teachers’ Centre we need to consider the different groups that this inservice needs to be targeted at as well as looking at the range of resources that are required to enable the Centre to provide the appropriate inservice. Currently a survey of the professional development needs and local inservice needs of all teachers in our catchment area is being undertaken and will be complete by June 2000. However, our experience to date shows the categories of teachers who need to be catered for:

The Target Groups:

1. Management Committee.
2. Administrative Staff.
3. Director.
4. Tutor Team.
5. Whole Staffs.
6. Support Groups:
Primary Principals,
Infant Teachers,
Remedial Teachers,
Subject Associations,
School Secretaries,
Middle Management.
7. General Courses for all Teachers.
Analysis of the Resources Needed:

A. Access to Trainers and Facilitators to use within the centre.
B. Access to Courses and Conferences outside of the Centre.
C. Provision of more physical resources within the Centre.
D. Additional Administrative Personnel.
Planning necessary for each Target Group:

1. Management Committee:
Currently, no training is provided locally for the Committee. At best the Centre is able to fund one or two members to attend the A.E.T.C.I. Annual General Meeting and to attend the Education Conference. Centres have expanded in the range and scope of their activities in recent years. The Management team needs training to prepare them for this role. They need time together, other than at monthly meetings that have a packed agenda, to look at the big picture and to chart a course for the future development of their Centre. The Provision of a special grant of £2000 by ICDU during 2000 was most welcome and facilitated the attendance of the Officers of the Committee to attend the BEMAS Conference which was held in Bristol during September. Attendance at such Conferences are essential for members of the Management Committee to help broaden their views in the area of Educational Leadership and so set the seeds for future developments within the Centre.

Plan: (a) To host at least one full-day training seminar for the Management Committee on Strategic Planning.

(b) To fund more members to attend A.E.T.C.I. Conferences and meetings.

(c) To fund attendance of committee members at some outside conferences on relevant issues.

(d) To encourage and part-subsidise committee members to pursue courses that will lead to personal and professional development.

2. Administrative Staff:
We took a major step forward in the area of Staff Training this year when the Director, ICT Advisor and Administrative Staff had two full days of training in the area of Databases and Spreadsheets during the last week of October when most schools were on Holidays.

Plan: (a) To encourage our administrative staff, both whole-time and part-time to attend courses which will help them be more proficient in their daily duties.

(b) To fund and release staff to attend such courses for two one-day seminars in the year.

(c) To pay course fees for staff who volunteer to go on relevant courses in their free time.

3. Director:
Currently, the Director attends the A.E.T.C.I AGM and Education Conference as well as attending all meetings of the Full-time Directors of Education Centres, which sometimes have a training aspect to them. This year the Director attended the BEMAS Conference. If the Centre is ever to be more than just an administrative unit of the ICDU of the DES then the professional development of the Director is essential. Locally the Director is seen as a leader in the local education community and must have the confidence of that group as a person who is very much up to speed on all current educational issues and also must be seen as a person with a vision for the development of education in the area for the future. The role of the Director as the CAO of the Centre is equally important. The attendance of the Director at the 4-day course on Managing People as provided by IBEC through funding from the ICDU was a most important development during 2000. An area which should be addressed during the coming year is that of Appraisal of Staff. This is essential due to the continued expansion of each Centre as an Employer.

Plan: (a) To encourage and to fund the Director’s attendance at Seminars and Conferences that will allow him to pursue his own personal and professional development as well as taking courses that will help him develop skills needed for the day to day running of the Centre.

(b) To encourage the Director to attend seminars organised by other Education Centres and other organisations with the purpose of becoming aware of and evaluating the various courses that would be useful for organising within his own Centre.

4. Capacity Building/Tutor Team:
Currently, while we have several tutors who are experts in their own areas and whom we use regularly to provide inservice courses to meet the local needs, we have never arranged a meeting where they could meet together as a group and work on how they can help develop a shared vision of the Centre. The necessity of Capacity Building within the catchment area of each Centre was recognised during 2000 and a major initiative to further this purpose should be addressed during 2001.

Plan:(a) To take initial steps in the process of building capacity for the Centre during the coming year.

(b) To provide an opportunity for our Tutors to meet and to discuss the role of a Teachers’ Centre and to examine how they as individuals and as a group can help with our mission.

(c) To arrange a one-day workshop for our tutors in the area of Adult Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence and the implications for them in terms of design/content of inservice courses, appropriate presentation style, design of handouts etc…

5. Whole Staffs

Plan: (a) In the light of our experiences at 3 and 4 above to be able to advise them of the variety and expertise in the personnel that are available for staff-training and eventually to be able to supply our own suitably competent trainers and facilitators for them.

(b) To actively encourage whole staffs to use the Centre for their own internal staff meetings, inservice and planning days. The meeting facilities within the new Centre should make it a suitable and pleasant environment to hold such meetings.

6. Support Groups:

Primary Principals: Currently we have Primary Principal Support Groups active in three locations i.e. Clonmel, New Ross and Waterford City. With the development of the Primary Principals Network we have already begun to provide support to a number of new Principals Groups. We also have a Support Group for Learning Support Teachers based in the Teachers Centre. We provide support in the form of typing up and mailing out notices of up-coming meetings, provide meeting rooms and refreshments free of charge as well as paying fees for guest lecturers.

Plan: (a) To assist in whatever way we can in providing administrative help to all such groups as well as funding venue and speaker costs for them where necessary.

Infant Teachers: We have always tried to provide a support service for Infant Teachers who are, more so than other categories of teachers, always on the look out for new ideas for making their classes more interesting and stimulating for the very young children in their care.

Plan: To organise an Infant Education Course.

Learning Support Group: The Learning Support Group which was set up in November of 1998 has continued to meet during the year. In June 1999 it was decided to affiliate to ILSA (the national body). This will lead to receiving sum funds for the local group. The Support Group are anxious to have and to maintain a Resource Bank of Classroom materials which they can take out on loan from the Teachers’ Centre (estimated under Resource Services below.) ILSA and the local group will also contribute resources to this resource bank. The planned setting up of this Resource Bank did not happen during 2000. However, a dedicated resource Library is to be housed in the new Centre and purchases of suitable material will commence during 2001. A survey of the types of resources which teachers would welcome in this room will be undertaken in the Spring of 2001.

The conference for remedial teachers in the south east was held in November 1999 and again in 2000. This allows time for new remedial teachers to be appointed etc.. and to settle in to their new positions. It was gratifying that over 127 teachers attended this conference and was found most beneficial by all that attended. A detailed analysis of the feedback from those attending will be lodged with ICDU shortly.

Plan: (a) To fund the Annual Remedial Conference on the same basis as previously

(b) Supply Guest Lecturers to four of their monthly meetings

(c) Organise a 20 hour course on some aspect of Special Needs Education

Subject Associations: We host meetings for the many active associations who hold their meetings in our Centre. We provide them with a meeting room and refreshments during the meeting and look after their photocopying and postage expenses. A number of these groups have been reactivated and we hope to encourage them to book guest lecturers during 2000 and the Centre will fund this expense also. Unfortunately many of these groups of teachers were not as active as in previous years due to the Centre being in temporary premises for the 2nd year in a row.

Plan: To make a major effort to encourage the Subject Associations to use the new Centre commencing in Autumn 2001 to book Guest Lecturers for their meetings where appropriate.

School Secretaries: This is a group of people who are often overlooked when it comes to providing inservice courses, yet they play a very significant role in the smooth running of the school. Very often they are the public face of the school and how they deal with parents and students have a significant effect on the image of the school. We have provided training in I.T. for them in the past especially in the use of the Facility software package. We have had several recent requests to provide more training in I.T. for them both from themselves and their Principals.. When we move back into our Centre and have the facilities of an IT Training Room we hope to be able to service their needs.

In the meantime, we have recently allocated spare places where available on a small number of IT 2000 courses. This has been widely applauded by their Principals.

Plan: To provide School Secretaries with I.T. training with emphasis on e-mail and the Internet as well as further training in the use of Facility as well as offering a course on Communication Skills.

Middle Management: These include Assistant Principals and Special Duties Teachers. At Post-Primary level there are few opportunities outside of the Dublin and Cork regions where there are opportunities for training of middle management in the teaching profession. Yet they provide a vital service in the planned development of management within our schools.

Plan: To organise courses that would help teachers with their management roles within the school.

7. Courses of general application to all Teachers.
It is very difficult to be specific in December 2000 in terms of deciding/knowing what specific courses will run during all of 2001. There are many factors, such as availability of suitable venues and tutors, and emerging needs of schools and teachers, that determine the number and type of courses that will run. In addition, due to changing lifestyles, family pressures, and most importantly the ongoing inservice in the RPC and various subject areas at post-primary level, it is difficult to predict the uptake on advertised courses. This is a priority area for our Centre, but it is one in which, with the exception of the IT 2000 courses, we have not experienced the same success in latter years. Other factors that affected our local-course programme over recent years have been outlined above.

Here is a limited/sample list of the type of courses we would like to run during 2001. A lot will depend on our administrative resources and when we return to our renovated premises.

Course Topic Estimated Cost.

Circle Time £ 750
Local History at the Granary £1000
Co-operative Learning £ 750
Multiple Intelligence/Learning Styles £1250
Visual Arts £1000
Co-operative Discipline £1500
Write-A-Book Workshops £1000
Primary Science £1000
NRI Reading Difficulties £ 750
Teaching Approaches for L.C. History £ 750
Environmental Science/Ringo Project £ 750
Estimated Cost: Total £10,500

Physical Resources needing to be Purchased to support Library/Resource Room
When our New Centre opens there will be a dedicated Library/Resource Room. We envisage that it will be open to teachers each afternoon from 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. and also at night from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. Planned purchases for last year did not materialise as the new Centre was not ready. A major purchase of resources will be needed. In this room we propose to house our substantial Video Library, Special Needs Resources, NRI Resources, CD Rom Software Collection and a Book Library. We intend initially to concentrate on books concerning Educational Leadership and Management, Classroom Management and School Discipline, Counselling/Helping Skill as well as books suitable to promote the Professional and Personal Development of teachers. We need to purchase a Library Management Software Package and Computer, TV and Video Recorder for review of Videos and 3 computer workstations so that teachers can review and evaluate Software.

Library Management Software/Hardware £3000
Initial Purchase of Materials to set up a
Resource Bank for Special Needs £2000
Subscriptions to Educational Journals £ 250
Training Manuals for Teachers £1000
Initial Purchase of Software on CD-ROMs
to set up a Software Evaluation Library £2000
Books as described above £3000
3 Computer Workstations £5000
T.V. and VCR £ 650
Estimated Cost: Total £16,900