Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education

In this episode, I explore the FORSA strike of school secretaries and caretakers, the glue of Irish schools. For over a century, their work has been underpaid, under-recognised, and taken for granted…

Patrick Jackson is the CEO and Founder of Picker Pals World. The story goes that Patrick was walking his dog when he came across a seagull caught around the neck in some discarded fishing line. He ma…

 I've been writing about religious control of schools for well over a decade now, and I found that people tend to throw the same arguments out to me every time I talk about it. And there's a lot and …

We often hear the argument that the Church is determined to keep its grip on education. But if the sacraments were removed from the school day and shifted to after-school parish programmes, I’d argue…

As educators, I wonder do we think much about the research that is done about education. I spoke with Paula Korsnakova and Eliane Segers from the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of …

With the new MFL curriculum coming up, I thought I'd speak to someone who knows a thing or two about teaching languages. Róisín Brady from LanguageNut joined me to explain how she thinks the curricul…

In this episode, I explore the issue of underfunding in Irish primary schools, using the example of Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden, Dublin, which announced it would operate remote…

 On this week's show, I'll be talking about solar panels and schools, but maybe not from the angle you might be expecting. As many of you might know, the government decided that every school in the c…

Rob Barnett is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Modern Classrooms Project, a really interesting project which, at its core, tries to use technology for better human interaction and relatio…

Despite my detective work, it looks like I was completely wrong about who the next Minister for Education was going to be and it's Helen McEntee who is our education minister.

Join me as I write a let…

In this podcast episode, I interview Muireann Sadlier, the Director of Cyber Smarties Ireland, discussing the importance of keeping children safe online while teaching them to use the internet positi…

In this episode I reflect on the challenges faced by the primary education system in 2024 and offer ten reasons for possible optimism in 2025. Topics include improvements in special education, the po…

 If you have been listening to the first half of this episode where I covered the education stories from January to June, you'll notice that the first half of 2024 in schools was not exactly filled w…

 If there's nothing else you can say about the Minister for Education, Norma Foley. When we look back at 2024, it's likely she will feature heavily. Whether it was her crisis opportunity during the g…

In this episode, I count down who I believe are the top ten front-runners to being the next Minister for Education. What position with Norma Foley come? Who do I tip to be the next Donagh O'Malley? F…

Don't worry, I'm not running in the General Election! You already have enough of me.

However, theoretically, if I got to write a Manifesto, there are 4 main areas I would focus on:

1. Patronage
2. Special Ed…

In this final episode of Access Undone, I try to outline the ways I would reverse the damage that has been caused in the last decade by the Department of Education and NCSE. I explore three solutions…

When I appeared on Virgin Media television's "Ireland's Education Crisis," I thought my phone would be buzzing from radio stations eager to find out why I thought the way we treat children with addit…

The AON Debacle and what it tells us

In this episode I cover the controversial Assessment of Need (AON) process which, to me, shows how the power of silence, supported by the illusion of partnership t…

Episode 3: Those with the greatest needs

The episode examines the troubling history of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and its policies, including the controversial cuts to resources…