The education system is “failing to deliver for all students”, school principals across Ireland have warned.

The 2025 Symposium of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals takes place today, asking the question - does the education system deliver for all young people?

The NAPD is claiming the current system does not work and there needs to be changes made.

On Newstalk Breakfast, NAPD Director Paul Crone said in “many ways” we all know the system isn’t working.

“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 really about exploring solutions, putting stakeholders in the room with the Department of Education and with the statutory bodies and all of the relevant parties - unions, management bodies and all of that.

“[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.”

Students in a classroom taking a test, Alamy

Mr Crone said that within the current system there are “challenges for everybody”.

“I think we are noticing more and more students are not being catered for,” he said.

“They're not having their needs met and we're at a time of change when we're looking at senior cycle redevelopment.

“We have a huge increase in the number of students with additional educational needs [and] students of international origin - and the makeup of our schools are changing.

“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.”

"Major frustrations"

Mr Crone said educational change has been “incredibly 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.

“So we have to believe that there is a genuine desire, and I know from my engagement with the Department of Education, there is a genuine desire to do the right things in the right way for the right people.

“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.”

Primary school girls are taught during a lesson by a male teacher. Image: Alamy

Mr Crone said the change starts with “conversations around the dinner table”.

“Absolutely it is complex, but if we don't believe we can do it well, then we're at nothing with our education system,” he said.

“But it starts with the conversations around the dinner table, the attitudes of the parents, of the students, of the employers.

“It's a whole societal attitude but it must start from within the education system, is my belief.

“But I do believe that we're all working towards the same thing - there are small things we can do, but there are large structural changes that will take time.”

Mr Crone said he believes a lot of the issue is “attitudinal”.

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Main image: Stressed child sits alone in a hall, 21/04/2022 Alamy