Post Graduate Diploma in School Leadership

The application process remains open for the CSL/DES Post Graduate Diploma in School Leadership (PDSL), in association with IPPN and NAPD, and facilitated by UL, NUIG and UCD. The centres are Blackrock (Dublin South), Cork, Galway, Donegal, Waterford and Carrick on Shannon, and the Irish strand, the Sraith Gaeilge in NUIG. However, remaining places are limited, so if you are interested, please submit your application now.

Eligible applicants choosing the over-subscribed Dublin North, UCD or Limerick centres will be placed on a reserve list and may be offered a place should one become available.

For further information or to apply, please visit the PDSL website http://www.ul.ie/pdsl

The Post Graduate Diploma in School Leadership (PDSL) for Aspiring School Leaders commenced in September 2017. The 247 Cohort One participants completed the course in December 2018 while the 275 Cohort Two participants commenced in September 2018.    

The programme is jointly awarded by the University of Limerick (UL), the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and University College Dublin (UCD). Additional academic support for the programme is being provided by the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) with delivery support from the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and the Association of Teachers' Education Centres in Ireland (ATECI)

The programme is a part-time (18 months) blended learning professional diploma, delivered locally in ten centres throughout the country. There are three centres in Dublin-Blanchardstown, UCD and Blackrock, and centres in CIT, WIT, UL, NUIG, Donegal Education Centre and Carrick-on-Shannon Education Centre. There is an extra centre in NUIG with specific provision for teachers in Irish-medium schools.  

The content is based on the four domains of the Quality Framework for Leadership and Management from the Department of Education and Skills (2016) publication, Looking at our School. Leadership visits are an integral part of the course with participants visiting a school other than their own and a leadership and management setting outside of the education field.

There are six taught modules delivered in 12-week semester-long blocks. There are three semesters in total for each cohort, Sept.-Dec. Jan.-May and Sept.-Dec.

Fees support for this programme is provided by the DES, the cost to participants is €2,000. The course will be open to approximately 300 participants annually.

This course is open to all teachers with five years’ experience in teaching who are registered with the Teaching Council. Participants must be working in a primary or post-primary school for the duration of the course. 

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."

 John Quincy Adams