Sustaining pastoral care in post-primary schools: organisational practices, challenges, and support needs

Care is widely recognised as an important aspect of school life, yet there is little empirical research examining how care is understood and enacted in post-primary (secondary) schools at an organisational level. This paper examines how care is organised, experienced, supported, and constrained within the Education and Training Board (ETB) post-primary sector in Ireland, where care is officially recognised as a core value. Focusing on leadership at the whole-school level, the study aims to explore the gap between care as an espoused ethos or policy aspiration and care as an enacted organisational practice. A sector wide survey was used to collect quantitative data which measured perceptions of care provision and qualitative data examining challenges in the provision of care and the supports required across the sector. Findings indicate that care is experienced through a range of organisational practices, including leadership approaches and structures for pastoral care. This study makes visible the labour through which care is sustained in practice and acknowledges that it is time-consuming, emotionally demanding and unevenly resourced. Participants identified systemic and resource-related challenges that impact the consistent enactment of care across the sector. The study contributes to understanding of care as an organisational construct and highlights implications for educational leadership.