Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education

Last week, I focused on the people that made lockdown and the reopening of schools a more tolerable experience. This week I'm focusing on the bad, and despite a very long list of candidates, only 1 organisation could really fit the bill. Find out which organisation who somehow managed to use the lockdown to make further cuts by stealth and left the education system in a worse place than it was bef...

In this episode, I’m going to try and celebrate the first week back to school and the almost unanimous sigh of relief that all the weeks of line painting, partition-building, hot water pumping, traffic planning, sign making, risk assessing, policy writing, health and safety checking, LWR begging, classroom laying, garda vetting, cleaner hunting, Friday evening circular reading, and all the times w...

The last part of my live Q&A session about blended learning where I tell you what blended learning is not, how self-isolating teachers might teach, and the must-have settings on Zoom. All in less than 13 minutes. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe

Do you know at the end of a talk when the presenter asks does anyone have any questions, and the room goes silent? Well, I asked Facebook and Twitter that very question about blended learning and here's the result - the 3rd of 4 mini-episodes on blended learning. Think of them like the Appendix at the end of a Friday night DES circular. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with...

Do you know at the end of a talk when the presenter asks does anyone have any questions, and the room goes silent? Well, I asked Facebook and Twitter that very question about blended learning and here's the result - the 2nd of 4 mini-episodes on blended learning. Think of them like the Appendix at the end of a Friday night DES circular. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with...

Do you know at the end of a talk when the presenter asks does anyone have any questions, and the room goes silent? Well, I asked Facebook and Twitter that very question about blended learning and here's the result - the first of 4 mini-episodes on blended learning. Think of them like the Appendix at the end of a Friday night DES circular. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wit...

It's Day 1 of the school year. It's all a bit weird and scary as the squeeze 30 children into your unventilated classroom, all of them breathing in your direction with only the mask you grabbed in Dealz the day before protecting you from potential COVID19. What better way to start the year by teaching them how to use a device for remote learning and blended learning? This is a public episode. If y...

Cases are rising, counties are in almost lockdown, there’s more cases growing daily than there was when schools originally closed in March, it seems like the virus is one that’s airborne, all the experts are becoming very wary of a 2nd wave. It sounds like a perfect time to fully reopen schools! In this 4th part, I'll be looking at what to do to prepare for blended learning before the children sit...

I remember my classroom when I was in primary school - rows of seats, talking wasn’t really allowed, a lot of sitting down in the same place doing bookwork, everyone facing the blackboard. What will the new pandemic classroom look like and how will we have to teach the curriculum? In this part, I examine every subject and how we're going to have to teach it. Will technology save the day?  This is...

Last Friday evening there was so much thrown at us that you might have missed a very important circular sent to schools, possibly because it was Friday evening. I was one such person so I decided I'd have a look through it and respond to it live in this special episode. It's all about special leave for staff working in schools during COVID19 and it's super important. This is a public episode. If y...

One thing we can guarantee is that schools will be very different places when we go back to them in a couple of weeks. In this week's episode, I'm going to examine what a pandemic-style classroom is going to have to look like with some tips for teachers for laying out their classrooms. Don't worry, I won't be making you buy single desks. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with...

The government released their plan for returning to school, which could have been summed up with one emoji - the fingers crossed one. Looking at all the variables, while we're all going to go back to school, I can't see us staying there for that long. With that in mind, I'm looking at what teachers and school leaders might consider when we return to school. In this first part, I'm going to look at...

And all it took was a global pandemic for teaching principals to get a day a week of Admin leave; what will need to happen before the posts of responsibility are restored?  In this special episode, I review the several documents as quickly as I can to let you know what's happening for primary schools in the next few weeks. I give my own take on the highs and lows and look forward to a world Post P...

About a year ago, the Department of Education wrote to a load of schools in Dublin 15 to compel them to open Special Classes for Children with Autism. This was because the planning section of the NCSE hadn’t managed to organise the opening of special classes where there was the most need. Somehow, deals were done and Special Classes were opened. Lessons were to be learned and nothing like this cou...

Ah, the Irish Education System! Overly complex, mired in historical precedence and no one really knowing who is responsible for who. And what better symbol for all the madness than the bus system in schools - known as the school transport scheme. In this episode, I’ll be trying to figure out school buses and if I were the Minister for Education, I would change the system so that bus escorts were e...

There’s a line in Lou Reed’s Perfect Day towards the end, “You’re going to reap just what you sow” which is repeated until the song fades out and it couldn’t be truer for the Department of Education and their handling of the Coronavirus. In this special episode of If I were the Minister for Education, I’m going to see what I would do to reopen schools. This is a public episode. If you'd like to di...

For those of you unfamiliar with primary schools, you might be surprised to know that the Department of Education is not responsible for what happens in any of their schools. You may be further surprised to note that patron bodies also have no responsibility either. Every single primary school in the country is its own private entity and all the responsibility lies with 8 individuals called the Bo...

The NCSE Annual Research Conference took place last week, which basically asked the question, is a fully inclusive school system right for Ireland? They brought over a number of people, including one Jody R Carr, the former Minister for Education of New Brunswick in Canada to talk about a full inclusion model, where all children, whatever their needs, attend their local school in the same classroo...

The Irish Times had a headline a couple of weeks ago “Sharp drop in primary pupils using computers in school” which caught my eye. For those of you listening in the future, this headline was written in November 2019 - a time when technology use is ubiquitous in the world and usage in homes is increasing by the day with fibre being finally rolled out to almost every home. In any case, it was a head...

Junior Infant classes can be a bit of a mix with children ranging from very young 4 year olds to very old 5 year olds and the difference between them is easy to spot, in general. There’s also a very odd leap between pre-school and primary school in loads of ways – never mind the fact that pre-schools are not under the remit of the Department of Education at the moment.  I think we need to follow t...

Posts of Responsibility are promoted posts in Irish schools. During the recession, a moratorium was imposed on these posts. When they were to return, we were promised they would be revolutionised and made more relevant to 21st century leadership. Instead, nothing changed except for new labelling. In this episode, I’ll be exploring how we missed out on a decent chance to examine the value of posts...

The National Principals' Forum was set up in 2018 to try and work with Department of Education to reduce principal workload. They have been trying their best to get the stakeholders that are supposed to be representing principals to represent principals. The group surveyed over 900 principals around the area of Special Education Provision. In this episode, I examine the survey results and wonder h...

If you’ve worked in a primary school for at least a decade, and you were asked what was the number one change in pupils since you began your career, it wouldn’t be a surprise if children’s mental health was top of the list. However, accessing services for mental health is almost impossible, leading to a deterioration of behaviours and putting the health, safety and well-being of all children at ri...

Back in the recession, the capitation grant paid to primary schools was cut a low level of €170 per pupil per day, not even enough to cover their school books, insurance, swimming lessons and whatever else their parents have to dip into their pockets to fund their education, which, of course is supposed to be free. In this episode, I’ll be arguing that if I were the Minister for Education, I would...

The job of the Teaching Principal is impossible yet over 1,800 people do it every day. However, how do we have a situation where all Teaching Principals became Admin? Is it even possible? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe