Standing up to the Pesky Unions

Posted on April 9, 2015 by johnkilleagh

Well done to our Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan.

She has had the guts to face down the Secondary School Teachers Unions and is pushing ahead with the pet project of her predecessor Ruairi Quinn. (Junior Cert Reform, with teacher assessment)

So, she has faced down our strikes, and is holding fast. So she has courage – well done, Minister, take a bow. Her stand is all the more impressive as she is adamant that all this for the good of the students.

Let’s ignore for a moment the implicit bit that suggests that teachers are not interested in students.

Instead let’s celebrate that we have a minister who is willing to stand up to vested interests. A minister who is willing to risk popularity in order to do the right thing for students.

Therefore…

Minister, I look forward to the day when you will do the following to support our students:

Reduce class sizes. This is an incredibly simple measure, but one that has a huge impact on the dynamics of any classroom. I wrote before about how my daughter was for a time in a class of 34. This is a ridiculous situation and one that should never be allowed to happen. This does have the downside of costing money, but the minister has assured us that the evaluation farce was not about money, so maybe there’s room for maneuver. Call me cynical, but I won’t hold my breath.

Restore Guidance Counsellors. This is another incredibly simple measure, and again has a huge impact on students. Our guidance counsellors do incredible work with students. Apart from the obvious help in subject and college choice, guidance counsellors sit with students in times of crisis. Again, this one would happen to cost money, but I’m sure that the minister will stand up for what’s right, yes? Actually no.

Restore School Budgets. Again, a simple thing to do. Schools get a budget to operate, and this budget is based on the number of students enrolled. For the past few years this budget has been cut, with a further 1% cut due in September. Another simple thing to reverse. But again this isn’t about the money, is it?

Restore resources for Students with Special Educational Needs. Another simple thing. Really, isn’t this not only simple but ethical? Are those with special needs already at enough of a disadvantage in educational terms?

Have an effective budget for book rental schemes, and IT in the classroom. OK. This is more complicated, and requires some real thinking and procedures to go into place. Some real work required here. But it is so necessary. Books are incredibly expensive, and each new school year brings stress to many families trying to dig out extra money for books and uniforms.

As regards IT – there is no cohesive policy, and what you get from school to school can vary radically. So our students do not have a level playing field when we talk about ICT in the classroom, and technology in education generally.

So, so much is just about money, and we have a minister who is willing to stand up to others. So surely she’ll stand up for these principles?

Surely, now that the Minister has shown her mettle in standing up to the unions she will show equal courage standing up to the bean counters? She will stand up to those who have a view that education can be budgeted down to the minimum possible, and then blame the teachers for failing?

But let’s be honest – the minister is showing little enough care for the reality of life for so many students from disadvantaged areas. It is about the money, and there’s no point in pretending anything different. The Minister is failing us, is failing our students – and trying to shift the blame.

Voting Yes

Posted on March 25, 2015 by johnkilleagh

On May 22nd in Ireland we will be asked to vote on whether to add to the Constitution that “marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex”

And this is causing something of a fuss. A lot of groups are having a say in this, with some coming out (sorry) in favour of a ‘yes’ vote, and some promoting a ‘no’ vote.

The ‘No’ camp have a number of arguments that they feel are compelling:

Every Child Is Entitled To A Mother And A Father

On the face of it, this can look lovely. An idyllic world where we all have a mum and dad.

Of course it does tend to gloss over a few uncomfortable facts of life. Men and women can be cruel, spiteful people. Some are incompetent, and some should never have become parents. Sometimes children are better off without said mother (or father).

So, while they may cry that somebody should ‘think of the children’, a bit more thinking could change their point of view.

This Will Undermine Marriage

As I see it, I married for love. Pretty sure my wife is of the same opinion. Marriage is a bond between two people who love each other. Two people who love each other. Simple as that.

The argument sounds familiar. Could this be because we heard the same thing when divorce was leglaised in 1996? And yet, marriage still seems to be a choice for a lot of adults. Not undermined yet.

This Will Promote a Homosexual Lifestyle

Oh we could have so much fun with stereotypes here. Will Irish men be forced to become better groomed?

Really, this argument displays an incredible ignorance of the nature of sexuality. Some people are hetero, some are gay. Most of us would agree with the concept that sexuality is not based on choice. If I spend time talking to a gay friend, then I don’t think that time spent will end up in my going… “hmmm, I wonder if…”

If the referendum passes, I don’t think that we’re going to be faced with gay peoples canvassing straight couples (or singles) trying to get them to shift camp (sorry again)

Marriage Is About Having Children

For many people this is true. Lots of people get married and want to go on to have children. Relatively few decide to go through life without ever having children. And yet this happens. Not having children is an incredible burden on those who would love to be parents. Again, the ideal world does not match the reality of the world in which we live.

Denying marriage to a couple simply because they will not conceive together is unjust.

On that. Gay couples are recognised by Tusla (the child protection agency) as being potentially good foster parents.

It Offends God

The bible is a pretty big book. And, if you read it, there is a lot to be learned and valued there. Lots of stuff about loving neighbours, looking after people on the edges of society, forgiveness.

Not so much stuff in there about the evils of homosexuality.

It’s Against My Faith

Ok. That I can go with. Many of us have our own religious beliefs. Many of us try to live our lives by a moral code that has been informed by our faith.

But, I need to recognise that many Irish people are not Catholic, or Christian for that matter. Should I be forcing my beliefs upon them?

Doublespeak

Posted on February 2, 2015 by johnkilleagh

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ scared me. Yes for the references to Big Brother, and yes, for all the totalitarian references and the image of a world at war.

But 1984 also scared me for the concept of ‘Doublethink’. Orwell nailed it when he had his politicians twist words so as to make their constituents think whatever it was they were supposed to think.

One who had displeased the party became a ‘nonperson’ and all reference to them was wiped out; the Ministry of Peace tested hand grenades on prisoners; and newstalk was used to indoctrinate the population.

The book is listed as fiction, but seems to have been taken as an instruction manual in the political life of ‘The Best Small County In The World To Do Business’.

Take our successive Education Ministers. To listen to them, life is only getting better for our students, and they think that we should be happy to swallow their bitter pill. I think they are hoping for a version of the last line of 1984 where the protagonist, Winston, ‘loved big brother’

Why am I even talking like this? Lets take a few examples.

Guidance Counsellors.

Guidance Counsellors, for decades, were an important part of Irish schools. Guidance Counsellors have helped hundreds of thousands of students in subject choice, college choice, and ultimately, career choice. But that is only part of the work they do.

For years now Guidance counsellors have also done a huge amount of counselling work. They have helped students who have suffered abuse, bullying, depression, suicidal thoughts, rape. They have supported, they have referred and they have grieved.

And just like that the government got rid of them. 2 years ago in the budget. Hidden in the nitty gritty, with the stroke of a pen.

And now that we are told the recession is over, Minister O’Sullivan has no plans to reinstate guidance. And she calls this good news. She believes “that it is desirable to give schools some discretion on how to use these increased resources” . She conveniently forgets to mention that to put in guidance, schools need to lose a teacher in another area. But that’s ok, because the schools have discretion.

It’s pure Doublethink. Change the story, and repeat it so much that you believe it yourself. Minister O’Sullivan also referred to the 2015 budget as being the first budget increase in Education in many years. More Doublethink.

Why?

Here’s the spin. Yes, there is an increase in funding, but it’s in the capital spend. There has been a raft of new building measures proposed (because we love property). This extra capital is only to ensure school buildings meet increased population demands. This extra spend does nothing to improve pupil/teacher ratios. It does nothing to reverse cuts to those who have special needs.

The downside of the budget is that it was published in a year that schools have their capitation budgets cut, and have been promised, wait for it, another cut next September.

So the Minister talks about an increase in the Education Budget and hopes that we all forget the ongoing cuts and buy the party line.

Sadly, in our media driven society, those who can keep their message going loudest and longest will be the ones remembered. Successive Ministers for Education seem to have taken this lesson to heart.

Striking Again?

Posted on January 15, 2015 by johnkilleagh

I reckon Minister Jan O’Sullivan is beginning to think that us teachers are an ungrateful lot. She’s in the job less than a year, and we’re heading towards our second strike. Why?

Well that’s the core question. Why should we go on strike again? Why not just accept what the minister referred to yesterday as her ‘fair and reasonable compromise’?

Let’s take the question a step further. Why go on strike when so many schools already had a day off yesterday? At least that’s what this tweet suggests:

So there you have it. The strike is about having a day off.

Seriously?

There is one core principle at stake in this strike. That of assessment. In Ireland the final assessment of a student’s grade is absolutely impartial. It is a core value of our system. And our government wants to squander this in a money saving exercise. (more on that later)

Our state examination system is one of the few things in this country that we can truly say is impartial. Money can’t buy grades or favours in the system. When an examiner starts reading scripts, the only identification he or she will get is the exam centre number, and the candidate number. Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Wealth, Sexuality or even Behaviour are not factors when it comes to having your exam corrected.

The same could not be said of a teacher correcting his or her own students’ work. All of us teachers are human. Any of us can end up liking one student over another for the simplest or stupidest of reasons. And this could affect that student’s grade.

Let’s talk about the money.

At our first strike I was asked if this was about pay. Would teachers accept the change if more pay was offered? It was a fair question, and I probably didn’t give the best answer at the time. But I’ve had time to think about it.

The strike isn’t about pay – but resources are part of the picture.

Schools, have suffered a brutal regime of cutbacks in the past six years, and our most recent budget had even more cutbacks in store.

Remove Guidance Counsellors from secondary schools
Increase the pupil/teacher ratio
Cut capitation grants to schools
Again, cut capitation grants to schools (and again for next year)
Reduce supports for students with Special Educational Needs

Supports for students are constantly being cut. Resources are being cut. Student welfare is being cut. And in the middle of all this the minister is trying to sell us a flawed product. And she is trying to sell us something when our resources are being decimated.

The new Junior Cycle Programme is flawed.

One of the sad things about this situation is that the unions and the National Council for Curricular Awards (NCCA) had agreed a new Junior Cert in 2011. All this trouble could have been avoided.

However, even if the Minister accepts our principle that teachers should not correct their own students’ work, and proceeds ahead with a productive vision of a new Junior Cycle, then she would then need to provide the proper resources to implement it.

The Junior Cert is flawed. It does need to be revised, rebuilt. But it needs to be done properly. The current programme is not the way forward.

And that is why we teachers will again go on strike next week.

Next week I will stand proudly with my colleagues and we will make our opposition to the minister’s plans known.

I don’t want to go on strike. I need to go on strike.

Posted on November 17, 2014 by johnkilleagh

Some of our students are very clued in. On Friday one of my leaving certs approached me with his phone and gave me the news of the upcoming strike. Good for him. He’s interested in what’s going on in the world.

And yet he represents one of the many students who I will walk out on, come December 2nd. He’s a great guy, his classmates are great, and I’m sure this is replicated across the country, and yet here we are. We, the members of the two secondary school unions have voted for strike. Here’s the joint statement from the unions.

So. Why are we going on strike?

There is one core issue. Assessment.

You see, up until now the Junior Cert has been assessed externally. This is important because it means that little Johnny from Mayfield is on the same playing field as Alistair from D4. It’s an incredible logistic feat, but when a student sits a state exam, their paper goes to a different part of the country, and the examiner knows nothing – nothing about that student. This is a vital part of the integrity of the system.

In his time as Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn wanted to do away with this and replace the Junior Cert with the JCSA and have it assessed in-house. This was a sea change and, if accepted, open to abuse. A JCSA certificate from my community school would not carry the same prestige as one from an up-market fee-paying school.

Our new Minister, Jan O’Sullivan has tried to reach a compromise in this. She has offered 40% internal assessment, with an oversight element. This is still not good enough. For a number of reasons:

We have still broken from the principle of external assessment for the exams. This would still mean teachers marking their own students work. Who is to say that this isn’t open to abuse or manipulation? What pressures will be brought to bear on some teachers to bring up the marks of their students?
The syllabus is due to change. And where are the resources to implement a new syllabus? Syllabus change and development is necessary. I think that all teachers accept that we need a revision of the Junior Cert. In fact, we had agreed to this in 2011, and had a plan in place. But any change of this magnitude needs proper resources. Teachers need training, updating in their skills.
Building a project for assessment. Have you ever tried to get 25 students to complete a project? It can be… interesting. There is a balance to be struck between driving the students and spoon-feeding them all the answers.
Time. When is the marking of this 40% due to happen? A teacher with 33 class periods in a week is already struggling with time pressures. If that teacher has students sitting the state exam, then he/she ends up having to correct the work for the state in an unpaid manner.
Where is the educational merit of the decision? Why does the minister not want to move on the 40% number? Money. The less work that is corrected by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), the better. It saves money. In it’s original form, the JCSA appeared to be a precursor to phasing out the SEC.

Look at some of what’s been done (in the name of educational reform)

Remove Guidance Counsellors from secondary schools
Increase the pupil/teacher ratio
Cut capitation grants to schools
Again, cut capitation grants to schools (and again for next year)
Reduce supports for students with Special Educational Needs

I’m being a bit long-winded, so back the core issue. Why are we going on strike? Because teachers should not assess their own students for a state exam. Add to that, (speaking for myself) I don’t trust the motivations behind these measures.

So. It’s time to act. It’s time to let the Minister and her government know that enough is enough. Education has been attacked long enough. I don’t want to go on strike, but I need to.

Just what are schools for?

Posted on November 10, 2014 by johnkilleagh

It’s the kind of question that can get you thinking.

Depending on who’s standing on a soapbox, you could be led to think that schools are responsible for any number of different, and possibly contradictory, functions.

Schools should prepare students for science
Schools should prepare students for business
Schools should prepare students for the world of work
Schools should prepare students for the arts

and so on.

In the midst of all of this there is the juggernaut of assessment. The cycle of PISA brings panic and hysteria to departments and newsrooms as whole countries try to reassess how they are doing in competition with their neighbours.

I have previously stated my reservations around the Narrow Focus on Assessment, but for a better reply to PISA than I could ever write, have a look at this piece written in the Guardian.

But schools are, I believe, more than just about turning out utilitarian units destined to be productive members of the business community or of industry.

I think that the piece of Irish Legislation dealing with the running of schools (The Education Act, 1998) actually gives a good idea of what schools can be. In Section 9, (d) the Act states that schools shall “promote the moral, spiritual, social and personal development of students, and provide health education for them”

That really opens it up.

The children we take into schools will one day leave as adults ready to take their place in the world.

Yes, some will go on to be business leaders, and yes, some will go on to be innovators, entrepreneurs, productive employees.

But not all of them.

There will also students who will not find a job, there will be the students who may be too ill, or have too great a disability to work.

The students who leave our schools will go on to become parents, friends and neighbours. They will be members of communities and clubs, they will be a part of society. And how do our schools serve them?

Schools are not something that are separate, where students are trained. Schools are a part of society. They are places that children grow and develop. They are messy complicated places full of little (and large) dramas. Schools have got ranges of students of differing abilities, and differing personalities. Schools are full of students fighting their own battles and still trying to do their best.

We already know this. But in the face of the constant pressure of assessment, we sometimes forget it.

There is a great line in Terry Pratchett’s ‘Small Gods’. In a scene where a library is burning, some characters argue over which books to save. As one fights for scrolls on maths and engineering, another fights for literature and philosophy “these teach us how to be human!” he cries.

I like that.

Schools are places full of humanity, and places where we learn to be human.

Maybe, ultimately, this is what schools are for. Places where we learn to become human.

Now You See It…

Posted on October 15, 2014 by johnkilleagh

If you’re anything like me, you love Derren Brown. He’s a bit of a genius, illusionist, mentalist, clever and challenging.

He’s also a bit of a trickster.

He has one particular move I like, he gets the unsuspecting victim to willingly hand over his wallet. Just like this:

Which brings me to this RTE headline yesterday. On the face of it, things look great. 1,700 new teachers and SNAs (Special Needs Assistants) to be employed in Irish Schools. All good, yes?

Well, as always, it’s a little more complicated. While the headline does grab your attention, the details of the article take a lot of the shine away:

10,000 new students entering primary level each year
4,000 new students entering second level each year
The cost of college registration to increase. Again.
The budget for new schools (needed for the extra numbers) is to be cut by €10,000,000
Funding for second level schools (Capitation, the grant per student in school) is being reduced again. This time by 1%
Funding for third level colleges also to be reduced by 1%

That’s the new cuts.

There’s still no reverse on the reprehensible decision to remove guidance counsellors from secondary schools. No decision to restore middle management in schools.

For years now the budget for education has been cut. The new posts in the headline don’t do anything to change the pupil/teacher ratio – it only maintains the current crazy level. Schools have been forced to cut subjects, options, programmes and supports for students.

These are not cuts in education. They are attacks on education.

Minister Joan Burton was on Matt Cooper’s show a few weeks ago and said something like ‘Austerity is over’.

Austerity is not over. Certainly not if you’re in education. And just like Derren Brown, the government has managed to dip into the pocket of the education sector once more.

Lets discuss the Teaching Council

Posted on October 13, 2014 by johnkilleagh

I’m conflicted.

The Teaching Council is the body that is charged with overseeing the profession of teaching in Ireland. So, you would imagine that I would be all in favour of this. After all, I’m a School Chaplain. I spend my working days in schools and I witness the professionalism of my colleagues on a daily basis. I see their hard work, dedication, inspiration. I should be glad of anything that promotes that professionalism and recognises the hard work of so many teachers.

The Teaching Council is tasked with protecting the integrity of teaching. It regulates “the teaching profession and promotes professional standards in teaching”. Why then are so many of us angry with it?

My first taste of disillusionment with the Teaching Council came a few years ago, when the attacks on education (AKA the austerity budgets) were slashing resources and pay across the sector. Many teachers wrote to the council asking them to speak up on their behalf. In response we got the response that the council was all for protecting standards, yes. But had no role in budget discussions. I never kept a copy of the letter, but I’d love to be able to show it to you.

As the past few years have advanced, the Teaching Council has flexed its muscles more and more.

First, teachers who didn’t pay the €65 per annum registration would not be paid by the Department of Education & Skills. This became an open threat with this press release stating that over 1,000 teachers could lose their pay.

Then we hear that the council has the power to investigate teachers. Have our registration fees added up to become a war chest? On what basis would teachers be investigated?

Most recently, the idea was proposed that teachers would have to engage in CPD in order to maintain their registration. Admittedly CPD is very, very important. But when technology changes so fast, and there are so many different ways in which to learn, who decides what is valid CPD, and who certifies it? My interaction on Monday evenings #edchatie over on the tweet machine is something that is incredibly valuable. I have learnt a lot by looking at what so, so many other teachers do.

My fears are not new, and they are not unique to me. Have a look here and here to see others’ concerns regarding the Teaching Council.

One problem is that many teachers have no faith in the Teaching Council, or see it as irrelevant. If you do a twitter search for #teaching council you get one screen of results. One screen for a body that has been in existence since March 2006.

So what is to be done?

Be more flexible in recognising qualifications. Engineers are good, very good, at maths. People who qualified as teachers in other countries are teachers. Don’t make it impossible for them to register here.
Look at the registration fee. Currently the Teaching Council is running a surplus of millions of Euro. Use it or don’t charge it.
Provide more courses that people want to engage in (or need to engage in, or would benefit from engaging in)
Talk to the DES about getting course days and subject association days covered for substitution.
Trust teachers. Allow teachers to work together to create their own CPD. Online interactions are very fruitful, but difficult to quantify for certification purposes.
Do more to engage with teachers and see what we want for the development of our profession. There is little engagement at the moment.

Embed from Getty Images

Through The Cracks

Posted on September 24, 2014 by johnkilleagh

There has been a lot of talk in the media over the past few days about the crisis in the health system in Ireland. Things are pretty grim.

According to the Irish Examiner, waiting lists have soared 968%. In other words, if you are on a waiting list, you wait almost 10 times as long now to be seen.

And this is scary. But it is not the full picture.

As a culture we are still hesitant to discuss mental health. As a result, we don’t get the full picture of the difficulties faced by so many people in crisis.

According to Aware, up to 10% of young people suffer from depression at any one time (my emphasis)

According to this document from the CSO, in 2005/2006 there were 335,134 students in second level education (see p.115)

If we put these numbers together, you have approximately 35,000 second level students suffering from depression at any given time. I find this a very upsetting statistic. Not just for the fact of the depression that the students are battling, but for the fact that we have so few resources to help the students in need.

Schools themselves have limited resources. In an incredibly callous display of disregard for students, our former minister, Rurai Quinn removed guidance counsellors from schools. (It remains to be seen whether our new minister, Jan O’Sullivan will reverse this decision)

I don’t want to give the impression that schools should be the place to fix these issues. A school’s function is to educate students. Schools are not places to treat issues around mental health, just as schools are not places to treat broken bones or other physical ailments. Schools can run programmes to promote mental health, but if you’re sick – then you need a doctor.

However, just as schools can provide support for students with broken bones and other physical ailments, they are also places that can provide support for those in pain.

Or at least they could if they had the resources in place. With all the staff cutbacks (especially that to guidance counsellors) schools are hard pressed to do all that is expected of them.

No.

More is needed in supporting our teenagers in trouble.

We do have some excellent groups in Ireland, for example:

Aware is working to help those suffering from depression.
Pieta House works to help those who are suffering from suicidal thoughts or deliberate self harm
Console helps those suffering, either because they are thinking of suicide, or because someone close to them has died by suicide.

But our health system is not able to cope. We don’t have enough psychiatric beds to help those in serious pain. Our social workers are understaffed and overworked. Counselling via the health service has a huge waiting list.

In short, our mental health services are not serving our teenagers effectively.

It’s not just the teenagers who are left fall through the cracks.

In this article the Irish Times highlights that 554 people in Ireland died from suicide in 2011. We all know families who have been devastated by the loss of someone they love.

As a society we need to do a lot more to look out for those around us. We need to do a lot more to look out for those who fall through the cracks.

Sleight of Hand

Posted on August 30, 2014 by johnkilleagh

We all know the trick. The magician gets you to look at his hand, the coin disappears only to reappear later somewhere you least expect it.

For days we agonised over the contents of the ‘humanitarian’ convey about to enter the Ukraine. All our eyes were on it, guns or food? Guns or food? And then the master craftsman, the genius of deception, moves (or didn’t) his forces into the very south of the Ukraine, opening another front in this ever more volatile war.

Putin is a bit of a genius. One has to admire his ability to deceive, to distract, and now to deploy. For months he has peppered special forces into the Ukraine, and the west has been pretty silent. Initially it was a big gamble, Putin calculated that the West, especially America, would be pretty silent.

Why would he think this? Well, president Bashar-al-assad managed to get away with murder (literally) this time last year. Despite talks of ‘a line in the sand’, nothing of consequence really happened. Bashar-al-Assad is still in power, no-one has ever stood trial for the chemical attack outside Damascus last year.

For months now Putin has been behind a steady stream of Russian troops and equipment into the Ukraine. A friend of mine is originally from one of the areas currently in the middle of the fighting. His mother still lives there, and provides some very interesting information.

They live about 30 KM from the Russian border, and at about 4 AM many mornings the tanks and equipment begin to pass. Local people do not know any of the pro-Russian fighters. Recently, a trolleybus was run over by a tank. Another day she saw a bus swerve into a bush so as to avoid an armoured column. And the tanks in that column were all freshly painted.

At this stage it’s hard to guess what Putin’s end game is. But it is certain that he’s not going to back down. Hard to believe, but for the first time in a long time, a Russian/Soviet leader has uttered the threat of nuclear weapons.

God help us all.

In the meantime the master-illusionist has his home audience dazzled and eating out of his hand. One of the big newspapers in Russia is Pravda. Look at it’s homepage and you will see articles such as ‘Ukraine prepares to steal Russian Gas Legally’, ‘USA or United Totalitarian Police States‘, or (cruelly) ‘James Foley Execution Video Hoax?’

And what will the West do to oppose him? Against a fast-moving army, our politicians spend days talking about sanctions. More needs to be done, lest more people die as pawns in his game.

<Note: Pravda accessed online 30/08/2014>

John Hurley

A few rambling thoughts

Category Archives: Politics