Consultations & Negotiations

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You’d kinda have to have a bit of pity on our Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn.  He feels that the teachers of this  country don’t want to talk to him.  He thinks that we won’t actively engage with him.  He says he wants to talk with us.  He has further asked that teachers won’t go on a lunchtime protest in March as he doesn’t want to hurt students.  (That’s a bit rich coming from the man who took guidance counsellors out of schools)

The teachers aren’t willing to engage?

Hmmm.

I don’t think that I can quite agree with that point of view, Minister.  You see, you may have forgotten that we have a body in this country called the NCCA.  The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment oversees the development of curriculum from early childhood up to senior cycle.  Now.  Up until the minister did a solo run in October 2012 the NCCA had been working in conjunction with the unions and other stakeholders to revise the Junior Cert.

In November 2011 the proposals for a new Junior Cert were released.  The ASTI & the TUI released the news of the proposals, and were generally positive.  (In the ASTI pdf, look at p.16 & p.17)

So, for a while, all was rosy in the garden.  We had proposals for a new Junior Cert, agreed with the Unions, the NCCA and all under the stewardship of  our current minister.

And then, for some unknown reason, he changed his mind in 2012 and ditched the proposals.  He is according to the Irish Examiner,  unrepentant.  In fact, he looks down on teachers so much that he finds it necessary to spell out ‘negotiation’.  Basically, he doesn’t want to back down on a pet project and is upset by the fact that teachers don’t agree with a number of the tenets of his project.  He wants a consultation around implementation, not a negotiation about what’s appropriate.

The minister claims that he’s happy with “the professional advice” he has received.  From whom, may I ask?  Not the NCCA who were working with the unions.  Is he referring to his advisors? . And, if so, why should their advice rank higher than an organisation such as the NCCA which has been in existence for 30 years? Maybe it’s the fact that if he gets away with it, he can reduce the costs of the State Examinations Commission by removing them from any role of examining the JCSA.

I have serious questions about the professional advice that he took on in 2012, that is at odds with an agreed programme from 2011.  A good comparison between the two can be found here.  But a quick summary of teachers’ objections are: The new programme isn’t externally moderated, there is still a subject overload, who designs & accredits short courses?  Another issue is this; what’s to prevent a JCSA award from a posh Dublin school carrying more weight than a JCSA award from a school in a disadvantaged area?  The minister’s plan will re-enforce disadvantage in education.

And by the way, the advisors?   Well, go to The Journal.ie, for a full name list.

We’re finally debating LGBT rights openly

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There has been a lot of comment recently about the now (in)famous interview on the ‘Saturday Night Show‘ where Brendan O’Connor asked Panti Bliss (Rory O’Neill) to name homophobes, and Rory named the Iona Institute plus some other individuals.  (I’d love to give you a link to the interview, but it seems to have disappeared.  Hmmm.) [Edit, just got the link for it here]

Well, this caused a bit of a stir. In fact, the Iona Institute took such offence that they threatened legal action, and the broadcaster in question (RTE) paid out very, very quickly. They were so worried that they paid out €85,000.  You can kind of see Iona’s logic in chasing this.  They didn’t want to be branded as ‘Homophobes’, and a few quid in the kitty couldn’t hurt.  Could it?

As it turns out, legal action has had the exactly opposite effect to what Iona intended.  Rory O’Neill was invited on to the stage in the Abbey Theatre where he gave an incredibly powerful and moving speech about what it’s like to be gay in modern Ireland.  I thoroughly recommend you watch it.  Newspapers, radio and chat shows are debating homophobia, and the rights of LGBT people in Ireland.

In the Dail, two TDs who are gay spoke of their experiences of dealing with homophobia.  Gerry Buttimer was “beaten, spat at, chased, harassed and mocked”, while John Lyons had hoped he was living “in a society where this stuff isn’t acceptable anymore”.  (Click here for the Irish Times Article)

I’m certain that they didn’t intend this, but it turns out The Iona Institute turned out to be an excellent catalyst in stimulating the debate.  And for that maybe we should thank them.

On Friday (Valentine’s Day) Ellen Page came out as being Gay, in a wonderful speech at an HRCF event.  Her speech really is a must see.

So we are debating things at last.  But some of the discourse is quite disturbing.  One theme goes like this:

“Why are we still listening/reading about this?”

Amazing that after just a few weeks some people are fed up with the idea that we need a debate.  Do they have a point?

Had the same objection been listened to in the 60s in America, then would the civil rights movement had achieved any of the advances that they got?  Would we now have a President Obama?

You see, I believe the debate is needed.  As Rory O’Neill stated at the Abbey, he does feel ashamed of his ‘gayness’ sometimes.  As Ellen Page stated in her speech, she came out simply because she was tired of ‘lying by omission’.

Why should a person feel a need to be ashamed of their sexuality?  Why should any person feel judged simply they are put in a different category?  Until we can treat each other with dignity and respect those who wish to love, then we need this debate.

Shur’ Things Can’t be that bad

Well, have a look at Russia.  It is well known that President Putin has passed a number of laws that restrict the rights of gay people.

Is perspective on this is so twisted that he thought he was being gregarious when he said that gay people could come to the Sochi Olympics so long as they “leave children alone”  And there we have one of the twisted stereotypes: That being gay equates to being a paedeophile, to having a sexual perversion, to somehow being sick

What is not reported is that members of the LGBT community are in physical danger in some Russian cities.  (This article will bring you to some videos)

As it is in Ireland, for some people the term ‘Gay’ is derogatory.  That is just one of the myriad of ways in which members of the LGBT community can be put down.  Imagine.  Just the use of a word to describe you can be an insult.

It Just ain’t Christian

Ummm.  Really?  I must have missed that bit in the New Testament.  Jesus spends very little time mentioning any form of sexuality in the Gospels.   And yes, I do know that the book of Leviticus does condemn homosexuality, but , if we’re going to play games, then the Old Testament is a number card, and the Gospels are Picture Cards.  They trump what had been written beforehand.

Any reading of the person of Jesus, what he said and what he did will give you some subtle hints that he looked out for those on the edges of society.  Those who were persecuted, “beaten, spat at, chased, mocked and harassed”.

You see, Jesus didn’t have much truck with the official setup of the time.  He worked with people, not ideologies.

And, while we’re talking about Christian concerns, allowing Gay Marriage will not take away from the sanctity of marriage.  What you do with your marriage does not affect the validity or the love of mine.  Refusing to allow others to share love may, in fact, harm marriage more.

You may find this interesting.  St. Valentine lived in the Roman Empire in the 3rd Century.  He is famous for helping Christian couples to marry at a time when Christians were persecuted.  St. Valentine was executed for this.  He was willing to die so as to allow others to share their love.  He was willing to stand up for those who were persecuted.

Hold that thought.  In the not too distant future we will be asked to vote on whether we feel that gay people will be allowed to marry.  Our answer will say a lot about us as a society.

But at least we are now discussing it, and for that I say thank you Iona & Co.

I’m mad as hell!

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levdavidovic's avatarFintan O'Mahony

20140213-165059.jpg

I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated and by the look of things I’m not alone. Educational change, needed, necessary, purposeful educational change in Ireland is being rolled out in an inadequate and disingenuous way.

At this stage I think we can all agree that the Junior Cert needs reform, no-one is proposing for a minute that the system we have now is ideal. Replacing it is a reasonable thing to do after 25 years, and you’d think after that length of time a well thought out and positive reform would be forthcoming but here we are six months before a new English is to be introduced and there’s no news on assessment, there’s one day of CPD in advance and the ‘toolkit’ for designing and producing the new content isn’t online.
I’m frustrated. Over the last few years I’ve attended ASTI meetings on Junior Cycle Reform, we even added an extra day…

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New Junior Cert

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(For anyone outside Ireland, a little information about what the Junior Cert is is at the bottom of the page.)

One of the important things to know about the Junior and Leaving cert is that the exams are totally impartial.  The papers are set and corrected by the State Examinations Commission.  I have corrected papers in the Junior cert (JC), and never had any indication about the the origin of the papers I corrected.  I never know the gender, background or address of any student.  I could not bring any prejudice or favouritism to the grades that I would award.  And that, I believe, is as it should be.

This brings us to the new Junior Cert.  Our minister for Education has decreed that the JC will pretty much end in 2016.  At that point the State Examinations Commission (SEC) will have no more role in correcting those papers.  The new programme is called the Junior Cycle Student Award.  It is based around 24 statements of learning.  The awards are granted by local schools, and the courses are assessed by the teachers within those schools.  This leads me to a few problems.

Impartiality

As I said earlier, one of the great advantages of the current JC is that the examiner never knows the student.  Whatever mark a student  receives is based purely on the students work and ability.

Under the new system teachers will be responsible for continual assessment, and grading their own students.  That’s it, the end of impartiality; welcome favouritism, or vendettas.

Or maybe what might happen is that I could design my own course, and give my students great marks, because I’m just that good.  Or what happens if my whole school tries this.  Suddenly, going by our results, it’s an absolutely outstanding school, ticking all the right boxes.  But what about the school just up the road?  Don’t they have the same success stories? What about the school that doesn’t worry about ticking the boxes, and instead focuses on student welfare, and achieving basic numeracy and literacy in an area of disadvantage?

It seems to me that by taking an impartial agency (the SEC) out of the process, the whole system becomes more open to abuse and manipulation.

Certification

A Junior Cert (or a Leaving Certificate) awarded to any student, anywhere in the state, carries the same level of validity.

The new Junior Cycle Student Award is fundamentally different.  Schools will follow a set of Core Subjects that are set nationally, but mix into this short courses and Priority Learning Units (PLUs).  (PLUs are designed to be used with students who may have learning difficulties)

Workload

At the moment teachers are busy people.  A teacher on full hours will teach 33 classes per week.  Under current agreements, the same teacher will be expected to supervise 45 minutes of break-time, and cover one class for other colleagues each week.

Lets look at those 33 classes.  In that the teacher will have a number of students who are preparing for state exams.  The teacher will be preparing for each class, and they will assign homework, class tests, and then correct all of the above.  The school day is busy enough to ensure all this won’t happen in a 9 to 4 day.  So, most teachers take work home with them.

Now.  What happens under the new regime?  Teachers will still have the existing workload but in addition will also have to administer continual assessment, and volumes of paperwork.  Because, to paraphrase, education must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.  Many teachers are worried about just how much extra workload will be loaded.

 

Casualisation of the Profession

Under our current system teachers are contracted yearly to teach a certain number of hours (not everyone has full teaching hours).  Under the new programme it is possible that teachers could be contracted for just the duration of a short course.

When this is tied to recent developments you get a clear picture that life is not very rosy for Newly Qualified Teachers.  Wages have been cut, and it is virtually impossible to get a full-time job.  (I have a number of friends who have been years teaching and are still not full-time)

The New programme may be the way to go, for example, students will undertake a maximum of 10 subjects, a cut from current practice.  However, I do think a lot of negotiation needs to happen in order for it to happen properly.

 

A little note on the Junior Cert & Leaving Cert

Secondary school students in Ireland face two state exams.  One at age 15, called the Junior cert, and one at about age 18, called the leaving cert.  These exams are huge markers for students.  The grades achieved in the Leaving Cert are a huge factor in access to further education for students.

The Junior Cert is a student’s first experience of state exams.  But it is more than just a marker.  Performance in the Junior cert can indicate to a student what level he/she should take on as they advance to senior school.

Pocket Money

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When I was in college, (waay back in the 20th Century) I remember very clearly visiting a friend one day in Blarney.  Nice visit, but as I was going his dad gave me £20.  A load of money to me at the time.  I tried to refuse his generosity, but he said “take it, you can do a lot more with than than I can”.

The words have stayed with me a long time, because what he said is quite true.  As a student £20 was a lot.  It could keep me fed and on the bus for 2 days or so.  For a businessman, £20 probably wouldn’t even have filled his car with petrol.  So from his perspective, it was pocket money, yet I have never forgotten his generosity.

Fast forward to last week, and the revelation that Irish Water spent €50,000,000 on consultancy in one year.  The amount as it stands is staggering.  Then, we also hear that bonuses in the region of €7,000 are being handed out to the staff.  In the middle of the financial crisis (my pay cheque doesn’t believe we’re out of it), it’s hard to believe that there’s this amount of spare cash available.

But don’t worry about the amount.  Shur, didn’t the minister for the Environment declare that he wasn’t aware of the amounts involved because he doesn’t “micro-manage” his department.  In what world is being aware of €50,000,000 micro-managing?  In what world is the minister living?  Does Mr. Hogan not realise the arrogance of that statement?

One morning this week Ray Darcy was discussing the whole thing on the radio and he began to defend the bonuses.  His rationale is that the incentive drives the workers to achieve more.  Well, that is what are they being paid for in the first place.

You see, the thing is, depending on how much you earn, certain values can seem like pocket money.  If you are a top-level DJ or a government minister on over €100,000 then certain values can seem small.  However, for most of the rest of us, we see money being spent and we don’t see the value of it.

The problem is that those with plenty of money are divorced from the rest of us.  They live in a world apart.  If they get sick they can pay for a doctor.  If the car breaks down, they can pay to get it fixed, and not wonder what needs to be unpaid in order to cover the cost of that car. And, with time, no matter how good your intentions, you forget just what it’s like to struggle with money.

And that’s part of our problem.  The people making the decisions are all on the €100,000 salary bracket.  And they have expenses.  Not the type of expenses you and I have, but the type of expenses that put money into your pocket.

So the people making the decisions have forgotten that some of us have to live on their pocket money.  That, however, does not give them the right to treat us as children and ignore the concerns that we raise.

Resolute

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New Years Resolutions.

Last year I didn’t even do one.  I kinda didn’t see the point.  I mean, how much do people change over a year anyway?

Look at the whole phenomenon of those who join the gym (sorry if you’re one) but on average they pretty much give up after 6 weeks.  At least that’s according to the friendly guy in the gym beside our school (where I didn’t join this year.  Um.)

Anyway, I’ve started thinking that maybe New Years Resolutions don’t have to be about the hard stuff – they don’t have to be about what takes away from your enjoyment of life, they don’t have to be a drain on your resources.

There is a movement in Psychology called ‘Positive Psychology’, where the founder has put forward the idea of ‘follow your bliss’.  Find what gives you live, find what gives you energy, and chase that.  Do what something you enjoy, something you love.

So, on that basis I’m rethinking this whole Resolution business.  I mean, what do I actually like to do?

I’m focusing on three things as my resolution.  Guitar, Photography, Blog.

I love playing music, and it’s more enjoyable if I have something to aim for, and am learning some new stuff.  Hopefully this year I’ll get to play some more gigs, but the thing I like is that I’m better at guitar now than I was last year.

Photography is something that pretty much anybody can get into.  Grab a phone and away you go.  However, sometimes it’s nice to have some inspiration.  And for this I like Google Plus.  The feature whereby you can take an existing circle and just incorporate it into your feed is very, very impressive.  I have a circle of photographers that I follow, and their work is inspirational (and beautiful).  Some of them are very nice and post tips on how they get those fabulous shots.  If you’re interested, click here for that G+ circle.

And blogging.  In August I thought that I’d give this a bit of a shot, and am getting to like it more and more.  Why blog?  Well, sometimes I feel strongly about an issue, I have an opinion, and I have a forum where I can share my thoughts.  Sometimes blogging simply helps me work out what I’m thinking about something.  A post a week seems a reasonable target…

So that’s it.  Simple really.  I hope to play & sing more; I hope to take more photos (and maybe put them up here); and I hope to blog more. All of these are things that give me joy, give me energy.  Hope I can keep it up!

Donal Walsh and Suicide: What’s missing from the debate, and where do we go from here?

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Worth reading, folks.

ancailinrua's avatarAn Cailín Rua

Donal Walsh

There has been lots said and written on the subject of the late Donal Walsh over the past 48 hours. Rarely has the passing of a young man evoked so much emotion and passion among the public, but then, Donal was without a doubt an exceptional young man, who displayed remarkable courage, dignity and bravery as he faced his future knowing he was dying from cancer.

On Wednesday night, RTE 1 showed a documentary entitled “Donal Walsh: My Story”, which followed Donal and his family throughout his last few months as he came to terms with the fact that he was dying. Knowing that he had very little time left, Donal, his friends and family spoke eloquently and earnestly about his treatment, his feelings, his aspirations, and his frustration that he would never get to achieve many of his dreams and goals. The public was already familiar with Donal’s story…

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Job Done

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It has been a busy Christmas.  But not for the reasons that you might think.

Some people know that I’m involved in my local community.  Well, two jobs came up over the past few months.

The first was planned.  Put together a newsletter for the community.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Well, maybe not.  Try and get information from a load of different community organisations.  I got emails, word documents, and handwritten bits.  Printed and emailed photos.

So the task became one of editing and trying to create some consistency from all the formats that came in.  (I will, however, admit to being frustrated at trying to edit some very long articles!)  Eventually, near mid-December, I finished, and passed it onto a friend of mine, Rita Scannell for design.

At this point, it’s amazing to find out how many things you missed!  Rita chased me for the nitty-gritty, and she did a lot of legwork in tracking down names, logos, and turning my basic word document into something lovely.  And today I got 1,000 copies of the finished document, and we will be passing it out to the community over the next 2 weeks.

I’ll edit and add a link to a pdf of it later.  In the meantime, if you want to see the constituent elements, you can click here.

And that brings me nicely to the BIG task over the past few weeks.  Building a website.

Near the end of October, we lost our community website.  Gone.  Kaput.  Disappeared.  And worse, I had no backup file of the whole thing.

So, it was time for a fresh start.  I managed to get a new host for the site, and started trying to find all the source information that I just know I had 2 years ago…

Eventually, I found most of the stuff, and settled on WordPress as my site builder.  Luckily, the weather for the holidays was terrible, so I was able to spend plenty of time at the computer putting it (back) together.

Yesterday, I got the theme, and spend a few hours re-adjusting the pages.  I’m happy with the final result.  The only setback is that I need to get some more images loaded onto it.  It’s a little text-heavy.

On the bright side, we have a new site, and I think it has a very clean look.

Have a look, hope you enjoy!

killeaghinch.ie

Rocks and Hard Places

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So, here I am posting my ballot for the ASTI and our position on the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA).  This is not an easy decision to make.  We have all kinds of claims and counter-claims going on.

To set some context.  The Croke Park Agreement was due to last until 2014, and the government dumped it.  They signed an agreement, and when it didn’t suit, they binned it.  Naturally, this is a massive problem for anyone looking at the conditions of the HRA.  How long will it last, what of promises contained therein?  If the government can scrap one agreement unilaterally, what’s to stop them doing exactly the same again?  In short, I don’t trust the government to keep its word.

But, is the renegotiated HRA a good deal?  Obviously the full time members of the union think so, they wouldn’t have presented it to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) otherwise.  But that CEC have rejected it, and recommend that we, the members, vote no.

And what will happen if we vote no?

In a remarkable piece of scaremongering, the Department of Education and Skills released numbers outlining how many schools will close, and how much money teachers will stand to lose if they reject the HRA.  The Irish Times and other media have covered this.

  • An ASTI member who votes no will end up on about €660 per month less than a member of the TUI by 2020.
  • An ASTI member who joined after 2011 will have no access to the permanency panel
  • ASTI members in over-quota schools will be liable to compulsory redundancy
  • ASTI schools will have no posts of responsibility restored
  • No commitment to restore salary if the economy improves

And what if we vote ‘YES’?

  • Well, There’s a promise to reverse the cuts in 2017 and 2018
  • There’s a promise to review over-casualisation of the profession
  • There will be discussions on a fairer rostering system for Substitution & Supervision (S&S)
  • There will be discussions on how to make better use of the 33 out of school hours
  • There will be a new pay-scale for teachers who started after 2011
  • Pay increments will be awarded
  • We still get to do the extra out of school hours
  • All ASTI members will have to do S&S, but now members can opt out in return for a pay cut

None of the choices are good.  On one hand it looks like the government is trying to emasculate the unions, and even squeeze the ASTI out totally.  Also, a ‘YES’ vote brings many promises, and, based on what happened to the CPA, I don’t trust this government to keep its agreements.  By outlining the financial cost to members should they vote ‘NO’, the government has resorted to bully boy tactics.

On the other hand, the HRA goes some way towards restoring proper pay to new entrants. This was something which should have been fought earlier.  Think about it.  Just because someone became a teacher after 2011 they are entitled to a lower pay grade.

There is a huge divide among teachers on how to vote.  In her blog, Evelyn O’Connor is going for a ‘YES’ vote, and has been very eloquent in her reasoning for doing so.  Many teacher friends of mine are voting ‘NO’, and are equally eloquent in their reasoning for doing so.

Looking at what this government is capable of, I have no doubt that they will enforce the FEMPI legislation.  I believe that they will go for a full attack on teachers and are willing to close schools in order to enforce these cuts.

My instinct since the vote was announced has been to vote ‘NO’ but now that I’m at it, ‘YES’ seems to be the lesser of the two evils.  Neither vote is positive.  However, on the basis that parity of pay is closer for new entrants, and with the possibility that some elements can be examined I think that I don’t have the stomach for a fight.  I certainly don’t have the financial leeway to take the loss of pay that a strike would bring.

I’m angry, and I feel that the bullies are winning, I feel that in voting yes, I’m complicit in allowing the bullies to win.

There was a great line in Dr. Who’s “The Day of the Doctor”.

  • “We may fail, but at least we will have failed doing what we believe to be right, rather than succeed in doing what we know to be wrong”

I may not have that level of integrity.  However, I have at least made a decision and my vote will be counted.  I hope that there will be a high turnout by my ASTI colleagues, and whatever the vote, we will respect that decision, and stand together.

Art Therapy

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Earlier this year at school we started discussing the idea of getting some support for our counselling service in school.  Just to recap – in our school we have two people who do counselling – a guidance counsellor and me as chaplain.

So, in our search for more resources we came across the MA in Art Therapy as offered by the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design. This MA programme takes mature students and works with their natural ability in art with their desire to help others,

Students of this programme must maintain their own art portfolio and each week spend time in studio. Along with this they learn about different aspects of psychology and how to integrate this knowledge with art in order to work with people who could do with therapy.

Two weeks ago I had the great chance to go to the teaching area for the course.  It was a great day, and I came away very optimistic about what this programme can offer our students.

From the start of the day, things looked good.  The other people present worked with various psychiatric services, addiction services, nursing services.  They all have trainees from the programme working with them, and had come along to tune themselves better into what can be expected, and how Art Therapy actually works.

For the first part of the day we learned about the structure of the course and what was expected of the students.

Next we went to a studio to experiment for ourselves.  We were given a task of producing something that expressed how we were.  To be honest we were supposed to produce something that expressed how we felt about different aspects of a student of the programme working with us.  And me being me, I forgot most of the instruction.  Anyway, we were given 20 minutes.

Anyway, I chose clay, and made this:

IMG_0664

Interestingly, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do when I started.  I had vague ideas of doing  a head or something.  The point is, once you relax, it was possible to do things that you didn’t expect.

What’s this one about?  Moving from left to right, from tears (via a broken and repaired heart) to the rays of sunshine.  Many people who work to help others do so out of knowing what it’s like to be hurt themselves.

The last part of the day was the question and answer part.  This is where we got through the nitty gritty of how the placement system worked, and how we could adapt it to our own institution’s needs.

And so it begins.  In January we will have someone working in our school who is training on this programme.  I’m looking forward to it.  Some students may benefit very highly from something like this rather than just talking.  There is a lot of potential, and I reckon our students will stand to benefit from it.

Will there be more updates on this?  Nope.  State secrets at that point!

But, if you are interested in Art Therapy, here’s a link for you:  http://www.artincontext.eu/