GodsilEducation Professional

We advise schools, boards, government and industry on educational matters. We assist school administrators in the development of strategic planning; we provide a full recruitment service for educational institutions and we provide consultancy to education-based companies.

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is central to the on-going success of any educational organisation. The rate of change in the educational environment, both at home and abroad, continues to place demands on school boards and school heads. Some of the key areas in which GodsilEducation specialises are marketing and brand development, designing appropriate senior management structures, providing targeted Continual Professional Development (CPD), advising on suitable academic programmes, and developing strategic plans for schools.

Corporate Consultancy

GodsilEducation is committed to staying abreast of educational research and developments, in Ireland and internationally. Knowing exactly how education is advancing globally allows us to maximise contributions to the educational marketplace. E-futuring – educational futuring – is the attempt to forecast trends using existing global data. GodsilEducation can provide this knowledge to companies and advisory bodies wanting to maintain a competitive advantage.

Policy development

Schools are required to formulate policy in a variety of areas. Some of these are requirements required by law. GodsilEducation provides clear and definitive advice on all policy development for schools, providing templates and consultation to ensure that schools are, in the first instance, fully compliant with all statutory requirements and secondly, are tailored to ensure that they are ideally suited for their particular schools.

Accreditation management

Schools are now required to undergo inspections or accreditation processes to ensure that all aspects of the school are operating to the best possible levels so that the delivery of the education product to the students is of the highest caliber.

IT Roll Out

Increasingly schools are confronted with the dilemma of deciding on the degree to which they need to, or are able to, imbed IT into the curriculum. Frequently, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) inspection reports recommend greater integration of IT into the curriculum. The difficulty for schools lies in deciding:

• How to go about the process taking into account the financial implications and whether the educational outcomes justify the substantial investment in infrastructure
• On the issue of staff readiness and the amount of CPD necessary
• Reaching agreement of whether to standardise students’ devices

However, the key to success in this area lies in developing a school-wide IT Strategy and Plan. Typically IT Plans are designed for 3 to 5 years with built in annual reviews detailing how yearly objectives have been met and how budgets have been controlled.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide a contemporary learning environment for each child using information technology to assist her or his access to the curriculum. All too often investment in IT has been ill-thought out and results in excessive financial outlay without the expected educational returns for the students and staff.

Teacher CPD

Change is inherent in all modern schools and the importance in investing in a comprehensive and teacher directed programme of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) cannot be overemphasized. Curricular change places on-going responsibility on teachers to ensure that they are cognizant of course requirements and the changes which from time to time are introduced. The DES provides Inservice training in this area.

http://www.pdst.ie

However, CPD encompasses the totality of the teachers’ professional development. GodsilEducation provides training and professional development across all aspects of teaching.

Board Training

The relationship between the Head of school and the board is critical to the successful management and development of the school. Clear policy manuals for board members detailing their role prior to appointment is advised. Equally, the role of the Head of school needs to be defined at the outset to avoid any conflict of responsibility. GodsilEducation provides interactive seminars to assist new boards and school Heads to manage their aspirations and responsibilities for a harmonious relationship. Template manuals are used to define the roles of management and governance.

Management Training

Administration, management and leadership are the cornerstones on which school Heads build the reputations of their schools. The greatest of these is leadership. A school Head needs to be a good administrator and a good manager, but she or he must be an excellent leader for the school to become truly successful.

The Head of school and her/his Leadership Team can benefit from interaction with other management teams. To this end GodsilEducation provides both on-site and off-site day and half-day seminars concentrating on the essentials of running a successful school. The focus is always on excellent leadership skills.

Numeracy and Literacy Programmes

GodsilEducation provides support to schools to ensure that this initiative by the DES is fully operational and effectively delivered in line with the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy Among Children and Young People 2011-2020.

Educational surveys

One aspect of the research required by accreditation agencies is the need to provide accurate data in order to inform decision making and improvement strategies in schools. GodsilEducation can organise and administer educational surveys for your school. Surveys are normally provided for students, staff, parents, boards and alumni. They are conducted online. Benchmark percentages are required for each group to ensure accuracy of compiled data.