Educate Together, the multi-denominational school patron body, is delighted to announce that former TD and Minister of Education Mary O’Rourke and Principal & Vice President of Robert Gordon University, Ferdinand Von Prondzynski, have joined its Board of Directors. As is the case of all directors of Educate Together, they will serve in a voluntary capacity.
Mary O’Rourke has been a long-standing supporter of Educate Together. Her tenure as Minister for Education from 1987 â 91 saw new Educate Together schools established in Cork, Limerick, Sligo, Kilkenny and Dublin. Professor Von Prondzynski has been at the forefront of education development and innovation in Ireland for many years â in particular during his term as President of Dublin City University.
Commenting on the new Directors, Educate Together CEO Paul Rowe stated ‘I am delighted to welcome Mary O’Rourke and Ferdinand von Prondzynski onto the Board of Directors of Educate Together and to thank them for their personal endorsement of our educational vision. I very much look forward to working with our new board members. I am sure that their wisdom and advice will be invaluable as Educate Together grows and makes multi-denominational education available to more parents in Ireland’.
Educational innovation has been a key platform for the Educate Together movement. Many of the initiatives it introduced since establishment have become common practice in the wider education system. Parents have been particularly attracted to Educate Together schools as their democratic management and administrative structures give parents great scope for involvement in their child’s education.
This spirit of innovation drives Educate Together as an organization and it is now poised to take the step of opening its first second-level schools. The addition of new Directors with strong career reputations as challengers to traditional approaches and the profile to attract people to new concepts and ideas will be of critical value to Educate Together as its role in Irish education expands.
