A Day in the Life of…

Featured in January 2018 Teaching & Learning Newsletter

Patrick Sullivan currently oversees the development of curriculum and assessment at primary level in his role as Director in the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). He is a former principal of Ard Rí Community National School, which he founded in 2010. He holds a first-class masters in Educational Leadership from Maynooth University and is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership in Dublin City University. Patrick has taught in a range of contexts, from small schools in Ireland to large multi-cultural schools in the United Kingdom. He has also delivered teacher training programmes in the North-east of India as a member of the charity Global Schoolroom.

My alarm goes off…

At 6:30am, in my home in Clogherhead, Co. Louth. As a creature of routine, I jump out of bed and into the shower, get dressed, make breakfast for myself, my wife and daughter, grab everything needed for the day and catch the 7am bus to Dublin, or wherever the work takes me.

I am responsible for…

Supporting the development of the primary school curriculum as Director in the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). I lead teams on the Primary Language Curriculum/Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile, the team for Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) and Ethics, and the Goodness Me, Goodness You! curriculum for Community National Schools, as well as contributing to many other developments across the primary sector.

My typical day…

Involves a mix of internal and external meetings with lots of interesting people with differing perspectives and ideals. Internal meetings generally involve connecting in with colleagues, reviewing progress, engaging in research, consulting with experts and schools, and planning next steps in our work together. The variety of my job comes in working with a wide range of stakeholders and interest groups. Groups from the worlds of business and Information Technology, to those representing religious and minority ethnic groups, to those representing the rights and voices of children, as well as people generally interested in making a contribution to the primary curriculum.

The best part of my job…

Meeting people and groups with an interesting perspective on education. Curriculum can be understood as a set of stories we choose to tell children about our world. Often the groups I work with are driven by a moral imperative to make a positive contribution to the world our children inherit. Working with such inspiring and motivated people is a source of great energy for our team in NCCA and ensures we hold the interests of the child at the heart of what we try to achieve.

The most challenging part of my job..

Meeting people and groups with an interesting perspective on education; can also be the most challenging aspect of the job. From time to time, a perspective of education is presented that may not have the best interests of the child at their heart. Such perspectives can be driven by personal bias, political forces or other influencers of opinion. Curriculum contestation is common, and important to ensure the stories we tell our children are robustly interrogated.

I am inspired by…

Educators who are passionate about what they do. I am always taken-aback by the quality of our teaching profession and the values they hold dear.

After work…

Spending quality time with my family and friends is important to me, so much of my free time is dedicated to this. Sport has always been an important expressive outlet, so a lot of my time is taken up with the my GAA club, Naomh Martin’s, playing and coaching underage teams. I also enjoy playing squash and golf in off-season.
I’m in my final year of my Professional Doctorate in Dublin City University so any remaining time is taken up in the drafting (and re-drafting) process of my research!!!