Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education

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 NCS…

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 …

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 …

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 surpr…

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…

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 …

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 …

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…

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…

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 hea…

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 whateve…

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?

Picture the scene. Ireland at the beginning of 2008. It was the height of the Celtic Tiger. The Fianna Fáil tent was dripping in champagne and helicopter fuel. The Builders were driving Mercs and lau…

Class Size seems to be a subject that has a universal agreement in terms of an answer - smaller class sizes are better - but is this true and are we even asking the right question?

This episode is partially inspired by two news stories: one where a child hospitalised two members of staff and his expulsion was overturned through an appeal; and one where a study basically lambast…

To celebrate 6 months since I started this podcast, If I were the Minister for Education investigates the scandal in the public sector where firemen have to make reindeer food to pay the heating bill…

In Ireland, about 12% of schools receive a grant to provide a school lunch for its pupils in a scheme that has changed little since 1914. Recently the government started a pilot to provide hot meals …

In this special episode, I do a live analysis of the new exemption from Irish circular that came out on 28th August 2019. I go through the changes, the effect of yet another offloading of responsibil…

Of all the most baffling aspects of church involvement in education, the one that bugs me most is when a secular institution actively supports it. Not only did DCU agree to allowing Protestants a dif…

Why has the government or any of its agencies created so few resources to help us teach the curriculum, and if they did, what should they do?

Episode 23 of If I were the Minister for Education explor…