Madam, - It was with horror that I read in your edition of October 4th of proposed procedures to deal with underperforming teachers.
As a retired second-level teacher, I can comment that I had five principals during my career and found their styles so different that I often wondered about the procedures for selecting them.
I find it abhorrent to think that a principal might have the sole power to begin proceedings against a particular teacher. I think that a process to evaluate principals would be much more beneficial.
A school principal is supposedly answerable to the board of management but, having served two terms on such boards as a teacher representative, I found the whole process sadly lacking in real administrative procedures. The composition of the board itself means that people come to a sometimes lengthy meeting after a full day's work and are expected to assume responsibilities for which some of them are ill-equipped.
I suggest that it would be better to concentrate on teacher welfare and support and introduce teacher mentoring to address under-performance. - Yours, etc,
JOAN MOLAMPHY, Orwell Park Green, Templeogue, Dublin 6w.