# Rachel O'Connor on School leadership – ‘the backbone of the school’

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/education-nation-6810585/rachel-o-connor-on-school-leadership-the-backbone-of-the-school
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/education-nation-6810585/rachel-o-connor-on-school-leadership-the-backbone-of-the-school.md
Podcast: [Education Nation](https://stenobird.com/podcast/education-nation-6810585)
Published: 2026-02-25T10:00:36+00:00
Episode link: https://rss.com/podcasts/stateofthenation/2577326
Audio file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/255486/2577326/stateofthenation/2026_02_25_09_58_13_b0294434-6b2c-47d7-8004-ccc63d215c4f.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/education-nation-6810585/episodes/rachel-o-connor-on-school-leadership-the-backbone-of-the-school
Duration seconds: 1896

## Resource

On this week’s Education Nation podcast, we turned our attention to one of the pinch points of our education system, perhaps the most pressurised and least understood roles in Irish education: school leadership. More specifically, the conversation focused on the lived reality of principals and deputy principals in post-primary schools. Our guest, Rachel O’Connor, a long-standing advocate for school leaders, painted a picture of a profession that is deeply committed, increasingly complex, and now facing challenges that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. In her current role as Deputy Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputies, Rachel certainly has her finger on the pulse.

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## Transcript

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