Teachers urged to use ‘snow days’ for e-training

TEACHERS and other school staff are being asked to use “snow days” to do a mandatory online child protection course, to avoid closing for another day next week for training.

All schools in the country were closed yesterday and again today because of the extreme weather. Hundreds were also closed on Wednesday.

March 11 is the deadline for completing the child protection training, and while some schools will have done it, others may have chalked in a day’s closure for it this week or next.

The training, for which twohalf days, or one day, is allowed, is to update staff in primary and post-primary schools on new child protection procedures.

The Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) sent an email to its 96 member schools yesterday suggesting staff do the training during the current closure.

There are two separate courses, one from the family agency, Tusla, called the Children First eLearning Programme, and a second offered by the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST).

ACCS general secretary John Irwin said if schools had not already completed the online training, “they should consider affording school personnel the opportunity to complete this training during this period of school closure to minimise further loss of tuition time”.

He said once the online training is satisfactorily completed, online certification is issued.

The new procedures provide direction and guidance in relation to new statutory obligations under the Children First Act 2015, and in the implementation of the best practice guidance set out in Children First guidelines in 2017.