January 3, 2025 • 46 mins
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 potential of artificial intelligence in classrooms, the evolving role of patronage in schools, the impact of new educational technology, and the hope for a competent new Minister for Education. I also discuss the significance of the new primary maths curriculum, the extension of the primary language curriculum to include foreign languages, and the importance of embracing teacher diversity. I conclude with a call to return the focus of education to pedagogy rather than reducing schools to childminding services.
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:33 Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead
01:48 Special Education: Challenges and Hopes
07:06 The Exciting Future of Technology in Education
13:04 The Patronage System in Schools
18:11 Hopes for a New Minister of Education
20:36 The Shift from Twitter to Instagram for Educators
25:03 Social Media Exodus: From Twitter to Instagram
26:13 New Primary Maths Curriculum: Hopeful Changes
28:48 School Meals Program: Pros and Cons
34:49 Primary Language Curriculum: Modern Foreign Languages
36:19 Teacher Diversity and the Baptism Barrier
43:10 Looking Forward to 2025: A Call to Action
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello?
Hello.
You're very welcome to if I were theminister for education from anseo.net.
A regular podcast where I delveinto the world of primary education
and let you know what I would do.
If I were the minister foreducation, this is Simon Lewis.
If you enjoy this podcast, pleasefeel free to subscribe on your
(00:21):
favorite podcasting platform.
And if you'd like to leave a review.
It will be very much appreciatedas it helps other people to
find the podcast more easily.
Happy new year to you all.
It's 2025.
Boy, am I glad to see 20, 24 gone?
(00:43):
If you listen to my review of 2024.
You won't be surprised to hear that.
I felt it was a quite a downbeat year.
Where the primary education system.
I really was it after in terribleneglect and the world seemed to be
descending into war, a moral panic.
(01:03):
But I decided what I would dofor my first podcast of 2025.
Was to find some reasons to be cheerfuland I did my very best to find 10
reasons to be slightly optimisticabout 20, 25 about this year.
And.
Look, I don't know ifyou'll agree with me.
(01:24):
I am clutching at straws,to be honest with you.
A lot of the time, but sure.
Look.
If you can't be positive on the start ofthe year, when can you be positive at all?
I'm sure I will look back on thisepisode after a hundred a year.
I'm wondering what was I thinking?
I had, I really enjoyed my.
Winter break far too much,but look, let's get into it.
(01:46):
And I got to go with my very first one.
And my very first reason to bepotentially hopeful rather than
cheerful is towards the end of the year.
I was recording a podcast.
It was called access on Dawnand essentially it was charging.
The collapse of specialeducation in Ireland.
(02:06):
Effectively.
Since COVID any SNAaccess had been frozen.
Like unofficially, but officially as well.
Essentially the.
Really the way it waswhatever snaz you had in 2019.
That was all you were going to have.
And with the rise of, and the significantrise of children with additional needs
(02:29):
in classrooms, all over the country,Aptar cane, developing skills, but in
all schools, Having the same level of SNAsupport really wasn't going to cautious.
And as I was charging the demise and thecollapse of special education and saying
that it was probably going, we would lookback on this in 50 years time in much
the way that we look back at corporalpunishment in schools, in the 20th century
(02:51):
and the sexual abuse case of the Catholicchurch, that the way we treat children
with additional needs in this countrywould be the Scandal of the 21st century.
And then all of a sudden, outof the blue I went to a, a
local town principal's meeting.
And people were telling me, principals aretelling me that they had applied for SNA
(03:14):
reviews and they were succeeding for thefirst time people were saying, yeah, I got
an extra SNA or I got an extra three SNS.
And I was thinking, this is very unusual.
And I spoke to my colleagues andthey said, yeah, this is a good
time probably to apply for S anda access if you're short of it.
(03:35):
So.
Lo and behold I did, and I appliedfor an extra S and a, in our special
class and we were successful.
And.
I'm about to apply for an SNA reviewand have done all the paperwork for it.
And it's again.
Much less.
Than I would have been usedto even this time last year.
(03:58):
And I've been speaking to our.
To, I've gone to these subtle workshops,or I don't know what they're called
radio, but they're not webinars becauseyou actually go to them physically,
but you go to a presentation.
I believe they're called and.
You're being told.
Yeah, we have S and A's that we'regoing to be, we be, be giving we're
going to be reviewing every schoolat least once every two years to
(04:19):
make sure that they have enough.
Special needs assistance and thisgood, or if they have too many and.
When I was doing my sort of review.
Of special education, how it's collapsed.
Part of.
The review of it.
And when I was looking into, as itwas, there were a lot of schools.
Who were holding onto what they had,even if their numbers were reducing.
(04:42):
And, I think some of those may findthemselves not so hopeful about 20,
25, but for schools that have grown.
In the last five years and for schoolsthat have grown in terms of the number
of children with significant care needs.
I think 20, 25 could be aninteresting gear because schools
are going to be reevaluated forSMA access once every two years.
(05:06):
And his possible.
Because of this, that up to50% of schools will have had.
There.
SNA allocation reviewed.
And it may.
B.
At a level.
Not seen.
For over half a decade, maybe for, evenover a decade because schools have been
too nervous to try and apply for supports.
(05:30):
And so it gives me some hope.
Special education at the moment.
Obviously.
There's a loss.
To be seen.
And over the next year or two asto how that's going to pan out.
We're playing a huge amount of catch up.
Schools are not getting thelevel of support that they need.
(05:50):
Before Christmas, there was a generalelection and I think any bad news.
Would have been risky and atthe general election is over
and we voted in the same people.
Will there be a bit of complacency andthey'll just say, give nothing anymore.
So.
I'm saying I'm hopeful.
Rather than being.
Optimistic.
But there definitely has been a change.
(06:14):
And I can't say it's anythingto do with anything I've done.
I was on the television therein August talking about the
collapse of special education.
I did my special education.
A podcast.
Lots of principals around thecountry and P I, Percy groups, having
talking about special education.
Maybe.
Maybe things are changing for the better.
(06:36):
It gives me a little bit of hope.
It's in fact, if I was to say.
My biggest hope for 2025.
It would be potential improvement andthey're starting from a very low base.
In special education.
I think it remains to be seen.
Who's going to be the ministerfor special education.
Will there be a ministerfor special education?
We'll just be again, trying toput bums on seats or are they
(06:59):
actually going to properly resource?
So that is my number one.
Hope for 2025.
My second hope for 2025.
Is.
More.
More optimistic.
Let's say the special education,because it's happening.
It's definitely happening.
And.
It's basically the technology isstarting to be exciting again.
(07:22):
It feels like 2008.
Do you remember when the interactivewhiteboards came along and everyone
was getting really excited aboutthese magic boards and what they could
do, and everyone was, trying to get.
Everyone's saving a bolder life, save theschool's life savings to buy these boards.
And it was very exciting.
I remember at the time I was giving a lotof training to teachers and as I remember.
(07:43):
A couple of weeks over,I think by three years.
What I did was I got every well, everycompany that was selling interactive
whiteboards to lend me their interactivewhiteboard for summer courses that
it's for by four or five years.
And got teachers and just trythem out and practice each one
and decide which ones they liked.
And find out information about whythey liked them and so on and so forth.
And it was a really exciting time.
(08:04):
And.
Really since then.
Things became slightly dull.
I am.
I wasn't.
I haven't really been thatexcited about technology.
Until now, and the reason I'mexcited about technology now.
Is because of artificial intelligence.
I think artificial intelligence.
(08:25):
And I don't think I'm alone in saying thisis as revolutionary as when the internet.
Came out.
I love how people are havingthe same reaction to AI as they
did with the, when the internetstarted coming into the schools.
When there were saying that.
Children won't have tolearn anything ever again.
That a, there.
(08:45):
It's going to destroy the educationsystem and so on and so forth.
And in some ways, there's alots and lots of knots to be, be
careful of when it comes to AI.
But overall, I feel that AIcould be the next revolution.
And education.
If we use it properly now.
History will have taught us that.
(09:06):
When it comes to technology, we tend tobe fairly conservative when it, when we
got to the interactive whiteboard worlds.
We never really embraced what itcould really do and to be fair.
And I think I'm not being too harsh here.
Most people.
Don't really use the interactivityon their interactive whiteboard.
(09:26):
As.
Best they could.
In some ways it's a large TV screen.
Where teachers show YouTube videos.
Most of the time.
I'd say if we're being honest totheirselves, I think we miss a trick
when it comes to direct whiteboards.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
I found myself from 2008, until2012, trying to in twos teachers
(09:48):
to use them in meaningful ways.
And I suppose by 20 12, 20 13, It justbecame another piece of furniture.
I dunno, I, I suppose I comparedit to do, the magic door in Bosco.
Where, people could bring theirchildren's somewhere on a screen.
And watch what was going onrather than interact with us.
(10:10):
I think AI has the risk of the same,you're going to have the magic best,
everyone's going to be really excited.
Like in the interactive whiteboardboard days, it was like, oh
my God, look what it can do.
Look what this magic pen can do.
And the teacher basically beingin charge of what I could do.
I think with AI, we run the same riskwhere teachers may just say, Chachi
PT, would he make me a lesson planto teach X, Y, and Zed or Chuck or
(10:32):
using these apps like differs andothers, which are all very good and
all very nice and all very early.
And I'm doing a lot of work in AI.
Over the last couple of years.
And I've been playing around with it.
And the more, a more I'm using it,the less impressed I am about to
generate of artificial intelligence.
So that's the stuff where AI makesthings for you, makes pictures
or makes lesson plans and so on.
(10:54):
Once you get over the magic of whatthey do become very samey and when I'm.
What I find artificial intelligencevery good for is working
with large amounts of data.
And analyzing it and usingit and being inspired by it.
And I'm doing a few addlittle things with that.
I like how it's do you knowwhat I find the power of it is?
It's like a good assistant,which is what I'm using it for.
(11:14):
I'm just a little bit ofa plug for the new year.
I'm designed a sad littleapp called sclera are skirt.
Sorry, skirt.
I don't even know the name, myown app, which is Irish for swipe.
And what I've done is I'veused artificial intelligence.
To help me.
Get it.
Get a table of information.
And display it nicely in an app.
(11:36):
Now I haven't coded properlysince I was in college.
So what I'm using artificial intelligencewith, is this a code assistant?
So I have the bare bones, butwhat I did need to do was help me.
With swiping, for example,I don't know how to do it.
There was no such thing asswiping when I was in college.
So I asked Chachi PT to help mewrite a program which allowed me to.
Swipe.
(11:57):
So I've got like this.
This app called skirt as C O I R R.
You can find a mashed up plusslash skirt and you could restore.
And you can have a look at that.
And what it does isthere's over a thousand.
Ideas for playful mats ideas for infants.
And I'm going to add to that as I goon I think it's a, a nice, simple way
to use AI, but also I think this iswhat teachers could use AI for as an
(12:21):
assistant to ask questions, to help.
With what they're doing already.
Ah, rather than generating stuff.
For them.
So I think there's a lot to say about AI.
I might do an entireepisode on AI this year.
And I do.
Every couple of weeks, I send anewsletter out, which you can subscribe
to on Shaw dot Nash slash a newsletter.
(12:43):
Or subscribe.
I can't remember.
I think it is on shotdot Nash slash subscribe.
And you can have a look at some AItips that I give every couple of weeks,
but I might do a podcast on AI, maybetalk to somebody who's been using
AI in primary level as well, whichI think might be interesting too.
Let's move on to reasons to be hopeful.
Number three.
(13:04):
I think time is finally running outto ignore the big elephant in the
room that I harp on and on aboutevery time I put the microphone in
front of me and that is patronage.
I think if anything happened.
In 2024.
The excuses were starting to run outfor our patron led education system.
(13:29):
There are so many children now optedout of religious faith formation in
religious run schools that it is becoming.
Almost impossible to justify.
Having the amount of religiousrun schools in the country at 96%.
(13:49):
It shouldn't even be, to behonest with you, it should be 0%.
We shouldn't have schools.
I run along any form of patronage.
And one of the things that I waspontificating as the year was going on.
Is I think when I talk aboutpatronage, I tend to talk about
religion and why we need to get ridof religion in schools and so on.
But then, as the year is going on,I'm thinking, okay, that I know
(14:12):
how that might sound to somebodyworking in a religious school.
I get the, I got that whole automaticdefensiveness that if somebody gives out
about something, even if you, even, ifyou know what the person is saying is
right, the defensiveness that is natural.
Like I was having a chat tosomeone, a friend of mine.
And this is the best way I can explain it.
(14:33):
You know when I'm listeningto the rhetoric around Israel
and Palestine, even though.
I am absolutely.
Opposed to the revisionistZionists system in Israel.
And I'm a poured by the murdering ofinnocent people by the Israeli government.
I'm absolutely appalledby the whole thing.
Whenever I see people, sayingthings like Jesus was a Palestinian,
(14:56):
it really, I got that arch.
Because, I am a logical buyer to me.
It's going, I get whypeople are saying this.
And in some ways, I got I got the logicbehind it and why there may be right.
And what they're saying in some ways,even if they're not particularly
right, But I think it's that.
Movement in that.
Defensives because it does a slightkind of denial or an erasure of Jesus's
(15:22):
Jewishness that say in a way I'm becauseeven though I don't practice at all my.
With the might the faith I wasbrought up and I can see, I still
have that slight defensiveness.
If Judaism is attacked in a way,even though I don't really have.
Too much link to it.
Apart from my own heritage.
And I was talking to anAmerican friend of mine.
(15:42):
And there were saying, wheneverpeople come out about Donald Trump,
Even though they would be a Democrat,like through it, there would be
anti-Trump through and through.
It's just this idea of oh, Americans areso stupid and they get this sort of every
time people give out about Donald Trump,even though it makes no sense to do so.
And I think if I'm giving outa bite, when I'm giving eyes by
Catholic schools, people who work inCatholics, We were raised Catholic.
(16:06):
I can imagine not same feelingthat defensiveness that is natural.
So I saw, I've been ponderingon this quite a bit.
And again, I'll, I am going to do apodcast of this later as well in the year.
Both.
It's around it.
I have to get away from the idea of.
Fighting this.
On a religious ground, even thoughthat's how schools are more or less.
(16:28):
Set up to be divided along religiouspatrons, but really even if they were
divided on a different type of thing,dif different divisions that say, not
religions, let's say on race, or let'ssay on gender, or let's say on whatever.
Class or something like that.
And I know.
Some somebody might argue that theysometimes, you could argue some
(16:49):
of these things are happening inparticular gender, for example.
Both.
You know what I'm saying isit doesn't really matter how
they're divided the problem.
Isn't the religion.
It's actually the patronage model itself.
The fact that every school is a privateschool is bizarre and shocking and it's,
you can see how the weaknesses, the flaws.
(17:09):
Have it happen?
And I suppose what I'm trying to sayreally is what I'm hopeful for is those
reasons are starting to come to a head.
Now, whether it's gender, we can'thave single gender schools at anymore.
It's just, it makes no sense.
We can't have schools wherehalf the children are opted
out of a large part of the day.
We can't have schools that aredivided on any kind of thing.
(17:33):
You just need to go to your localprimary school or your, or any school
that you choose to go to shouldgive you the same opportunities.
school.
School elsewhere, this whole ideaof parentage choice, or even the
fact that the schools are beingrun for parents, we need to start
questioning those sorts of things.
And I see that happening in 2025,I think we might start to have
(17:55):
those conversations of what isschool for what is patronage for.
So.
It's a possibility for ourdiscussions, so anyway that's
my third reason to be hopeful.
We may stop.
We may have to stop ignoringthe idea of patronage.
Let's move on to number four.
Probably the mostobvious one is we should.
We should have a newminister for education.
(18:17):
It's no guarantee.
Norma photo might be.
I put back in the seat if she wants to.
I don't know if she does.
I think she burned enough bridgesat this stage where another stint.
For another few years would be a disaster,not only for her, but also for all us.
I feel that I'm not, it's not, I knowyou have to blame the minister for
education, for the object and neglect.
(18:38):
Of the education system overthe last five or six years.
But I think she's beenjust really badly advised.
Bye.
Ah, the people working in thedepartment of education where they've
effectively reduced, or they beensystematically reducing the primary
education sector to this child-mindingservice, where you give goodies to
parents, free school books, free buses,free lunches, this kind of thing,
(19:01):
instead of focusing on pedagogy and.
What we're going to see.
If we don't change things is.
We're going to fall downthose those rankings.
In the, whether they'repeas or whatever they are.
And my fear is, people will takeadvantage of this slip because
the slip is going to happen.
For sure.
And people are going to put the blameit on the most vulnerable people.
(19:23):
So they're going to blamechildren from migrant backgrounds.
They're going to blame minoritized people.
They're going to blame kids withadditional needs are going to blame
people rather than actually really that.
The object neglect.
Of of what's been going onin the education system.
It's been really horrendous in my view.
So I'm hopeful.
We might get a goodadminister of education.
(19:45):
Now I shortlisted 10 people who I believe.
Are going to be the next minutes ofeducation and there's any one of them.
That I think.
Could be interesting.
Now.
That gives this makes this avery long shot in terms of hope.
But if we get the right person,who's brave enough to tackle
the neglect of the system.
(20:07):
It could be the end.
I think of a very stagnant era.
Which we've had for about a decade.
It's not all one minister we've had.
I think we, it there's beenstagnation really since.
Just after Richard Bruton.
I think Richard Britton was the lastinteresting minister for education.
So we need a bit of life.
We need someone who's on the opp and Ithink that's my hope really for 2025, that
(20:28):
we have a good minister for education.
It's a long shot though.
I will admit.
Number five.
We saw the collapse.
Of ax or Twitter overthe last couple of years.
And I think most people agree.
It's not a good place anymorefor good pedagogical discussion.
(20:51):
It used to be.
I remember not that long ago, 5, 6,7 years ago, where every Monday night
we a lot of teachers would sit aroundtheir laptops with the hashtag ed chat.
E on a topic and you'd be discussing.
And really interesting thingsabout the education system and.
It was brilliant.
(21:11):
I loved it.
I'd nearly, if I was given an offer todo something else on the Monday night,
I'd I wouldn't take it so I could sit infront of my laptop for an hour discussing.
Education with other educators andit was brilliant, but Twitter and ax
is just it's fallen the Sunder and.
Since, there's been a, kind of anExodus from a lot of peoples in last
(21:32):
few months, I've been looking aroundthe place for a potential new home.
Should I finish with Twitter?
I don't think Georgia's completely digest.
I think it will.
I think it's going.
I think.
A lot of people who've jumped, shipped.
Who've jumped ship may come back to it.
But it isn't in a healthy place.
It's in a very unhealthyplace at the moment.
And from looking at the variousoptions that are out there for
(21:53):
me, Instagram is where the mostinteresting pedagogy is happening.
It's there's a kind of a.
I dunno, they're not either,they're not a new generation
is, old and young their books.
Again, a younger space of teacherinfluencers who sometimes get ridiculed,
but I think they're wonderful peopleI've I, I see them in action on websites.
(22:16):
I run my mashed.
IE.
Where a lot of these teachers are active.
And they've great ideas.
And what they're doingis they're finding joy.
In the space where education canhappen, which is in their classrooms.
And it's quite simple, really.
They ignore the systematic structuralthings and possibly because they
can, because they're part of thatstructure and part of that system.
(22:37):
But having said that.
They are in the main, sharing.
They're joy and it's like what.
People like me.
And others were doing back in theearly part of the noughties where
we were desperately trying to find.
Teachers to share people werereally reluctant to share.
(22:58):
People had lots of stuff on theirlaptops and they weren't sharing.
And I set up on shot on Nash.
Interestingly enough, as a place wherepeople could share their resources.
I also set up mash then a few years laterto, for people to share the resources.
For no reward whatsoever.
And it was just, they flopped completely.
Whereas now people are freelysharing the resources and it's
(23:19):
actually quite a lovely space.
In many ways there's gooddebate that goes on now.
It's not all lovely nicey kind of thing.
Although there is a lotof lovely nicey things.
Yeah, you need to have a littlebit more confidence that putting
your face in front of a camera.
And there's a lot of teachers doingthat and some of them are brilliant.
It's great to see that kind of stuff.
And then we also have.
(23:39):
Some interesting teachers.
Coming to the forefront.
I just noticed once day I didn'tcatch their name, but we're getting
a bit more diversity, which isinteresting because there is zero.
Pretty much.
There's very, almost zero diversity inthe education sphere, Irish education
sphere on Twitter, for example.
But I've already bumped intoa couple of teachers who are
(24:01):
Muslim or black and Irish.
And And it's interestingthat they're not using their.
That's not the intention,but their ethnicity.
Is there a unique selling point let'ssay, and they're using it for good.
And they're trying to help.
Irish teachers see.
(24:22):
They're see their work and how it canbe complimentary to the classroom.
And I'm not saying thatin a patronizing way.
I loved.
The one I found today.
It's the tagline that I loved.
She's an Irish.
A teacher.
But you said I am the teacher.
You and I never had, I toldhim that was a great tagline.
And she's spreading.
(24:43):
An immense amount of useful.
An excellent information for how to teach.
Diversity to teach about diversity.
Be a diverse.
Sort of person within a veryown diverse, if that's a word.
System.
I just think to be honestwith you, I think Instagram.
Is where things are asked.
(25:03):
I presume Facebook is where things areout a little bit as well, but Instagram
and Facebook are the same thing.
I left Facebook a while ago in a way.
I'm laughing.
No, you can never leave any of theseplaces, but I believe there's some
stuff going on in there in groups.
That's what I hear young people are doing.
They're going to groups,but what I'm seeing really.
Is that it's, if we're going to,if Twitter has gone into a blaze
(25:23):
of flaming tires, I'm afraid youngteachers were coming over to join you.
I'm sorry to read.
I remember when I when I wason Facebook, I don't remember.
My dad joined Facebook andI thought it's all over now.
Ready?
Ah, I imagined this is the equivalentfor all these young teachers.
They're gonna have to find a newspace where they can avoid us old.
I'm older, I'm not old, older narky,cynical people, but I'm going to try and
(25:50):
be joyful and try and give some positive.
As Stefan Instagram, as wellas my usual rant as well.
I've started there.
If you want to have a lookit's on shot dot Nash is my
tag or whatever you call it.
It's not even a tag.
It's an account.
Anyway, so well done to Instagram.
I think you're going to be.
The benefactor.
(26:11):
Of the Exodus from Twitter.
Number six.
The new primary mathscurriculum for me is.
Potentially a reason to be hopeful.
And when it was introduced, I thinkthe size of our leaf could be heard.
Across the nation across the land,because it wasn't actually all that bad.
(26:32):
And to be honest with you, and this isonly my view because the people who are.
I suppose who have written,this would argue against me.
I'd say very strongly.
I don't see it as any differentfrom the previous curriculum.
I don't see a different at all, whatever,what they was trying to do in the 1999
curriculum is very much the same as whatthey're doing in the 2025 curriculum.
(26:55):
And.
The thing is what happened.
I was in the 1999 curriculum.
They managed to make Matta little bit more active.
They call it active learning.
That was the buzzword in 1999 in 2025.
They've just essentially.
Change the word active learningto playful learning, but
everything else remains the same.
They were trying to move awayfrom book reliance in 1999.
(27:18):
I think they failed.
And in 2025, they'retrying to do the same.
I can see what they're trying to do.
It feels like a bit of a, rather thana new curriculum, it feels like a bit
of a kick, the RS kind of curriculum.
Basically.
You didn't do it in 1999.
Odds.
You got to do it now.
Are they going to learn from.
I don't know, there was a kindof a gently approach in 1999.
(27:40):
There's still teachers out thereteaching the 12 times tables.
For example, there's stillteachers doing borrow and pay back.
For a subtraction.
There's still teachers who areonly teaching nominal to patient
long division board way, ratherthan using different methodologies.
Are we going to see.
A little bit of meat.
To the primary maths curriculumwhere those kinds of practices that.
(28:05):
I should have been in the history booksfrom, well before the 99 curriculum.
Are they going to be a bitstronger now and insisting.
That we teach the math curriculum.
In the way it should be.
And the way it shouldhave been since 1999.
I'm going to S I'm going tosay yes, I think they will.
I hope they do.
Maps.
Was one of my favorite subjects to teach.
(28:26):
In fact, that's how I gotstarted in teacher training.
I was a math tutor.
For the PCSP, was that what it wascalled or whatever it is called now?
I also worked FiberNet college as thelead maths person for a good few years.
I love the subject.
I love to see a top.
Wow.
Boss.
And I think this is a good opportunity.
For it to be taughtwell, so I hope it will.
(28:48):
Number seven.
I'm
I'm reluctant to say it's it's I, it, thisis a positive in a way because it, okay.
Let's get the positive out of the way.
For want of a.
For, for want of abetter way of putting us.
Every school child in Ireland isgoing to be fed hot lunch every day.
And I don't think.
(29:10):
That's a negative thing.
I think it's really good.
That we're now in an educationsystem where every single child,
no matter where they come from.
Who they are.
What their background is his day canhave a hot school meal every day.
(29:30):
Now for the negative.
My problem with the school meals program.
Is the same problem I have with patronage.
We have nearly.
Three and a half thousand schools allindividually doing their own thing.
When it comes to launchesand having to individually.
Decide which company is going toprovide their lunches and so on.
(29:51):
And this means it's acomplete logistical disaster.
And.
I just.
I don't know if there'sany way back from it.
But it would have made so much more sense.
To me.
Instead of every school out in their own.
That.
Different areas.
(30:12):
Would well, and this wouldn'tbe the schools during it.
It's maybe the education centers, maybethe V E T B is maybe, I don't know
what it would be, but some sectionwould put out a tender to companies.
At basically a, you hearas a chunk of 100 schools.
You are responsible for thecatering of school meals program.
If for these a hundred.
(30:33):
Schools or whatever they might be.
And.
It doesn't take a genius to seehow that would work much better.
I think as well as that.
We still have the silliness wherewe give children 10 minutes to
Gorge to end their food, because wedon't have enough time for breaks.
I understand that's going to be,that's a difficult thing we would have
to possibly extend the school day.
(30:54):
My thing would be let's get rid ofthe patrons program and you've got
an instant half an hour every day.
Where you don't have to do that.
I, and again, this ispart of the whole, no.
The unnecessary nurse.
Of having patrons.
And I think that might be a way wherewe could basically, as if we got rid
of all patrons, we could actually feedchildren in a more systematic way.
(31:17):
But then, again, you have more problems.
He see I'm unraveling this kind of,I always talk about the nuts and the
school system that you have to unravel.
When we're doing it, when we're talkingabout anything, we have so many schools
that don't have the facilities to provideschool lunches in a centralized place.
We should, every school shouldhave a canteen where children
come in and eat their lunches.
Of course we don't have that.
(31:38):
So.
There's all this kind of stuff.
And I just put it at the same time.
I just feel.
We have structured.
This is.
Is really dreadful.
And if you were a principal,And you went to the IPP Ana.
Expo.
This year, the conference this year.
Who had the biggest standsthroughout the expo who had, who
(32:00):
was giving away so much stuff?
It was the lunch companies.
It was a school meals company.
There is money.
I like a huge money being made.
From the scheme.
And.
I don't begrudge any of thosecompanies making that money.
But It's the waste.
It's the waste of money.
This could have been amuch cheaper program.
It could have been rolledout much more sensibly.
(32:22):
And so on.
And you also would have better qualitycontrol, all that sort of stuff.
I just get the feeling that we'regoing to go down the same road as
Britain did, where, kids are goingto be having the Irish equivalent of
Turkey Twizzlers on menus because.
You can't manage three and a halfdays in schools, individual choices.
And you can already see, do you know.
(32:44):
The guidelines that are out there.
Are there?
Not that it's not that they're bad.
Put their guidelines, they're, andthere's guidelines are guidelines
and then the food, the moneythat's given towards each meal.
Look it's S.
The system and the structures for us.
Could have been a lot better.
But then.
(33:05):
Coming right back to the first timeI said, You have to also see that.
Every child is getting a hot school meal.
The other thing I'll say aboutthis is do we make a compulsory.
Like they do in Finlandand Sweden, actually.
I don't know if it's.
It's a Finland it's sweetened.
Definitely that's compulsoryDevin school meal.
They reduce heart ratea heart problems by 50%.
(33:27):
Within 20 years of theschool meals program.
I don't know for, because we don't domake it compulsory because children
have enough time to eat and because thequality of the food just, I don't think.
Is.
CA.
Can be a good enough becausehow are you going to manage.
3000, 200 different private organizations.
For the and the demands of each child forIf you were to roll this out properly.
(33:51):
And let's say, There would bethe companies would come in.
There would be a canteen in the school.
It will be like a buffet service.
Like it is in civilizedcountries like in Scandinavia.
And there wouldn't be like 20things on a menu to choose from.
It.
Wouldn't all be justprepare pre-made cheap food.
It will be good, freshcooked me a loads of it.
(34:12):
And children were going eat what they.
Eat the bits that they want.
So there could be a solid bar.
There would be like a meat, there'll bea vegetarian option to be vegetables.
It'd be rice to be costcause this kind of thing.
Or whatever.
I'm not saying these are healthy foods.
I'm not a dietician.
But it just could have been a lot better.
And it annoys me that it just fit into this patronage system that we have.
(34:34):
And I don't know if we canever pull it back from it.
But every child is being fed of hot lunch,or at least as the ability to be fed.
A hot lunch.
Let's move on to number eight.
As we move into over half an hour here.
Oh, I think the primarylanguage curriculum, this.
The extension to us where we have modernforeign languages as they're known.
(34:55):
And I think.
I think this is a positive thing.
I'm not sold exactly inhow it's going to work.
In fact, I don't knowhow it's going to work.
But I'm more positive about itthan I was after going on a course.
On teaching languages.
I feel there's a bit of excuse makingsaying, oh, you don't need to speak a,
another language to be able to teach theother languages and all the rest of us.
(35:17):
But I'm not a hundred percent convinced.
Of all that.
But.
I do think it's.
I do think it's a positive thing.
We have to be teaching.
More than English and Irish.
Again, ideally.
We would have a system.
Where we would have lots of schoolsthat have access to different
teachers who would come alongto different schools and so on.
(35:39):
I probably be bunk Irish into, inwith modern foreign languages as well.
I know that's unpopular book.
I think realistically, if we'regoing to rescue the Irish language,
we either all have to come grouse.
Or we Richie's growl got to the equivalentof every other language that's out there.
I have a, I'm more positive thanI am negative about the languages
program that might be coming in.
(36:00):
I just hope we do it properly.
History will teach usthat it will be done.
Thrift glee and it won't work, but.
At the same time, maybe it will.
And I have to be hopeful.
This is about things I'm excited about.
This is that I'm hopeful about itdoesn't necessarily mean I'm hope
I'm, I believe it's going to happen,but I do hope it's going to happen.
That's move on to number nine andpray on it's about teachers this time.
(36:24):
And I think, and I, it comesback to the two teachers.
I would talk with my badge on Instagram.
They're.
The idea of embracing teacherdiversity, I think would I think.
We're going there a little bit.
I've seen teachers from differentbackgrounds as starting to
speak in the media a little bit.
I'm seeing.
That some of them have a voice and someof them are saying very sensible things.
(36:47):
There's a little bit of innocence there.
There aren't enough of them.
There's a risk of tokenism from schoolswhere they got one teacher from my
diverse background and all of a suddenthey become like the I dunno, the boss.
Have a diverse teachers,they become tokenistic.
They're the teacher, who the, thechildren from diverse backgrounds
go to as a representative.
There's all those risksthat are happening.
(37:09):
But at the central at all, wehave the baptism barrier still
firmly in place for teachers.
So what I mean by that is if you're ateacher in 90% of primary schools in
the country, You are supposed to have acertificate in sick fact, it's expected
that you will have a certificate.
And Catholic religious teaching.
For, even though these.
(37:29):
I find them.
Ah, I find that I find themtiresome really nowadays.
I as I said, I liked someof them on a personal level.
But when you hear that, the likes ofthese people who worked for Catholic
organizations saying, did you don'tneed to be Catholic to have the
Catholic certificate and religious andeducation's professional qualification.
That's baloney.
Absolute baloney.
(37:50):
As judge Judy would say.
The reason for the certificate andCatholic religious education is to
pass on the word of God on to children.
It is a missionary.
Qualification, it qualifies youto pass on the faith formation
to children and who is.
(38:12):
Worst.
At providing faithformation in a religion.
I answered the question.
It's a person who doesn'tshare that religion.
I find it bizarre.
Th there's a lot of peoplewho will say, oh, let's show
you don't have to believe in.
Just to pass it on, but can you imagine.
And maybe, look actually wantto say, I don't believe it.
I can't believe it because it's not whatparents are doing almost all the time.
(38:34):
Do you know?
They're like, They send theirkids to Catholic schools.
And the only thing they careabout is making the commute.
In fact, I've had people coming up tome saying I would've sent my kid to your
school because I believe in equality.
I believe in diversity.
I believe in all this.
But, you don't do the, you don'tdo sacramental preparation.
I don't even believe in God, myself.
And you're like, you.
Invested.
Your child's education because youwanted to have a party in second class.
(38:57):
I have said this to them and they'relike, yeah when you put it that way,
And then the Dendera pissed off of me,obviously, because, anyway it's it.
I can, so I can see exactly whythese people are saying it because
everyone's bought into the lie ofyou don't have to be religious.
To teach religion.
But this is really great guy.
I know he's a very strict.
(39:20):
he's a lovely, easy is actually agood person because he believes in his
faith and he does take it seriously.
Really seriously.
Robert Nugent is his name.
Look him up on YouTube.
He's Really into religion.
So much so that it puts the, what'scalled the bouncy castle Catholics
off because, oh no, he's too.
Or that just, but he's very sensible.
And he turned to you.
I coined this phrase and I don't know ifhe even knows he coined the phrase, but I
(39:42):
always quoted is a faith is not a subject.
Like it's so different.
To pass on a fate pass on a poor.
Belief in a existential thing,like a God of some sort.
And to do that, you.
Deposits are passing on a flame.
That's what's more like.
It's not like it's it, you cannotpass on a flame without a flame.
(40:05):
It's you have to believewhat you're doing.
And as I said, It really annoys methat the people who are in charge
of Catholic education are basically.
Saying you don't do that.
What kind of Catholicsare they themselves?
I ask that's a question I'masking really, but thankfully.
We have excellent advocates,education, equality, who I am.
(40:25):
Very much proud to I'm very proud tobe part of their of their lobby group.
Constantly putting out storiesabout how the faith formation in
schools is affecting our teachers.
And the stories that come out everyday from being passed over from, for
promotion, from being pretty much toldto shut up and put up or put up and
(40:46):
shut up whatever order that comes in.
For teachers who don't believe in.
In God has been affected by theCatholic church in a very bad way.
Being forced.
To have a priest rub ashes ontheir forehead on Ashwin like
all these things that are just.
To me or shocking.
But probably aren't shocking to you.
And you're probably going back tothat point of the defensiveness.
(41:07):
That I talked about earlierin the, in, in the show.
And, but just, if you think aboutit, If you let's take yourself into
a different situation, let's say thatall schools were Muslim, for example,
because everyone picked some Muslims.
So why not?
Me and you were a teacher ina Muslim school and you were
expected as a female teacher to.
(41:27):
Cover your head with a hijabor perhaps with a burka.
Like.
How would you feel?
How would you feel everyday going into work?
That part of Europe, your identity.
Your identity.
Was you were, was.
Was not.
Being held in the same esteem.
As the identity of that school,I don't think it's a good
(41:50):
feeling and to have that.
And that is how people feelworking in your, in the schools
that you seem to have this.
Cognitive dissonance for that.
Catholic enough, but not too Catholic.
If it's too caught.
I remember one of my favorite kindof things that happens in education
was the Bishop of Waterford.
The the cried yoga.
(42:11):
In primary schools.
And, half the country we'reteaching yoga in Catholic schools.
And they all ridiculed.
At the Bishop ratherthan actually going no.
He's absolutely right.
It is not a cash practice,that it is a Buddhist practice.
And if you were purporting to besomeone who is on a mission to be a
Catholic teacher, you should be doingCatholic practice on the equivalent.
(42:34):
Of yoga in a Catholic school is prayer.
But they don't want tohear that kind of stuff.
And but.
Are the excuses running out.
Are they running Ash?
I'm hopeful.
They are.
I think in averagely, we havemore diversity in teaching.
Now, whether it's people who don't believein anything at all, to newer, to some of
the teachers that are propping it cominginto the system who have other faiths.
(42:56):
And in some ways it'steachers of other faiths.
The can't pretend.
They just can't pretend because faithis not a subject, it's your identity.
And I think it's reallyimportant at keep that in mind.
When we're being hopeful.
Finally.
I couldn't really think of a 10th example,particularly, but this is my number 10.
It just can't be any, can't bemuch worse than 2024 for me.
(43:20):
20 to 24 was just one of the mostdepressing years of my career.
I have to say, I love teaching.
I love education.
But 20, 24 made it reallyhard to have that enthusiasm.
The world's falling apart.
More on the education system is what'sgoing beyond the point of neglect.
So 2025.
Just has to be better.
(43:42):
And I think we need.
20 to 25 to be better.
As I'm recording, this doesa promise of snow storm.
And it depresses me.
That's the beginning of the narrativefrom the media on our education
system, that it isn't about learning.
It's about with our kids, be ableto go into school to be minded
(44:02):
because that's the narrative.
But I have faith.
That we might be able to take 20,25 by the horns and drag it into
a pedagogical place, particularlyI think the new math curriculum,
I think the new foreign foreignlanguages, modern foreign languages.
(44:22):
I think maybe.
Technology as well.
That does these three kind ofprongs that are quite exciting
and might get a bit of traction.
I think maybe the diversity that'scoming into our schools might make us.
Think about the ways we teach,think about the ways we learn.
These are all these different things thatmight, give some enthusiasm, some kind of.
(44:45):
Drive into pedagogy, perhaps a newminister for education might do
something revolutionary, just theseare the things we have to hope for.
And.
In some ways.
That's what I'm going to hope for.
I'm going to spend this year.
Embracing and re-embracing mylove for technology and education.
I'm going to try and create somethinginteresting regularly in education.
(45:09):
Maybe the sess score.
App, maybe I've done.
A couple of things of codingthat I'm interested in.
I'm I may go back to running courses.
I don't know.
I'm not really sure.
But I do feel that this is the yearthat we grabbed education back from it,
turning into a child-minding service.
And we need to do, if we do nothing else,maybe this year, forget about all this.
(45:30):
I forgot about everything else.
Can we get etiquette?
Can we got pedagogy?
Can we get education back fromthe people who are trying to
reduce it to childminding?
That's my call to action for youfor 2025, let's get education back.
Into the classroom.
It seems like a verybasic thing to ask for.
But yeah, it's been slippingaway for quite some time.
(45:53):
I think I'd sit for me for this week.
I hope you've enjoyed this Rouse for 2025.
I've gone on for aboutthree quarters of an hour.
I think that's more thanenough horizon for me.
And I hope you enjoyed my 10 reasons tobe hopeful, maybe rather than cheerful
until I see you the next time, pleaseask, subscribe to my newsletter.
(46:13):
If you'd like to hear morefrom me on shaw.net/subscribe.
And we'll chat to you next time.
All the very best.
Bye-bye.
Hello?
Hello.
You're very welcome to if I were theminister for education from anseo.net.
A regular podcast where I delveinto the world of primary education
and let you know what I would do.
If I were the minister foreducation, this is Simon Lewis.
If you enjoy this podcast, pleasefeel free to subscribe on your
(00:21):
favorite podcasting platform.
And if you'd like to leave a review.
It will be very much appreciatedas it helps other people to
find the podcast more easily.
Happy new year to you all.
It's 2025.
Boy, am I glad to see 20, 24 gone?
(00:43):
If you listen to my review of 2024.
You won't be surprised to hear that.
I felt it was a quite a downbeat year.
Where the primary education system.
I really was it after in terribleneglect and the world seemed to be
descending into war, a moral panic.
(01:03):
But I decided what I would dofor my first podcast of 2025.
Was to find some reasons to be cheerfuland I did my very best to find 10
reasons to be slightly optimisticabout 20, 25 about this year.
And.
Look, I don't know ifyou'll agree with me.
(01:24):
I am clutching at straws,to be honest with you.
A lot of the time, but sure.
Look.
If you can't be positive on the start ofthe year, when can you be positive at all?
I'm sure I will look back on thisepisode after a hundred a year.
I'm wondering what was I thinking?
I had, I really enjoyed my.
Winter break far too much,but look, let's get into it.
(01:46):
And I got to go with my very first one.
And my very first reason to bepotentially hopeful rather than
cheerful is towards the end of the year.
I was recording a podcast.
It was called access on Dawnand essentially it was charging.
The collapse of specialeducation in Ireland.
(02:06):
Effectively.
Since COVID any SNAaccess had been frozen.
Like unofficially, but officially as well.
Essentially the.
Really the way it waswhatever snaz you had in 2019.
That was all you were going to have.
And with the rise of, and the significantrise of children with additional needs
(02:29):
in classrooms, all over the country,Aptar cane, developing skills, but in
all schools, Having the same level of SNAsupport really wasn't going to cautious.
And as I was charging the demise and thecollapse of special education and saying
that it was probably going, we would lookback on this in 50 years time in much
the way that we look back at corporalpunishment in schools, in the 20th century
(02:51):
and the sexual abuse case of the Catholicchurch, that the way we treat children
with additional needs in this countrywould be the Scandal of the 21st century.
And then all of a sudden, outof the blue I went to a, a
local town principal's meeting.
And people were telling me, principals aretelling me that they had applied for SNA
(03:14):
reviews and they were succeeding for thefirst time people were saying, yeah, I got
an extra SNA or I got an extra three SNS.
And I was thinking, this is very unusual.
And I spoke to my colleagues andthey said, yeah, this is a good
time probably to apply for S anda access if you're short of it.
(03:35):
So.
Lo and behold I did, and I appliedfor an extra S and a, in our special
class and we were successful.
And.
I'm about to apply for an SNA reviewand have done all the paperwork for it.
And it's again.
Much less.
Than I would have been usedto even this time last year.
(03:58):
And I've been speaking to our.
To, I've gone to these subtle workshops,or I don't know what they're called
radio, but they're not webinars becauseyou actually go to them physically,
but you go to a presentation.
I believe they're called and.
You're being told.
Yeah, we have S and A's that we'regoing to be, we be, be giving we're
going to be reviewing every schoolat least once every two years to
(04:19):
make sure that they have enough.
Special needs assistance and thisgood, or if they have too many and.
When I was doing my sort of review.
Of special education, how it's collapsed.
Part of.
The review of it.
And when I was looking into, as itwas, there were a lot of schools.
Who were holding onto what they had,even if their numbers were reducing.
(04:42):
And, I think some of those may findthemselves not so hopeful about 20,
25, but for schools that have grown.
In the last five years and for schoolsthat have grown in terms of the number
of children with significant care needs.
I think 20, 25 could be aninteresting gear because schools
are going to be reevaluated forSMA access once every two years.
(05:06):
And his possible.
Because of this, that up to50% of schools will have had.
There.
SNA allocation reviewed.
And it may.
B.
At a level.
Not seen.
For over half a decade, maybe for, evenover a decade because schools have been
too nervous to try and apply for supports.
(05:30):
And so it gives me some hope.
Special education at the moment.
Obviously.
There's a loss.
To be seen.
And over the next year or two asto how that's going to pan out.
We're playing a huge amount of catch up.
Schools are not getting thelevel of support that they need.
(05:50):
Before Christmas, there was a generalelection and I think any bad news.
Would have been risky and atthe general election is over
and we voted in the same people.
Will there be a bit of complacency andthey'll just say, give nothing anymore.
So.
I'm saying I'm hopeful.
Rather than being.
Optimistic.
But there definitely has been a change.
(06:14):
And I can't say it's anythingto do with anything I've done.
I was on the television therein August talking about the
collapse of special education.
I did my special education.
A podcast.
Lots of principals around thecountry and P I, Percy groups, having
talking about special education.
Maybe.
Maybe things are changing for the better.
(06:36):
It gives me a little bit of hope.
It's in fact, if I was to say.
My biggest hope for 2025.
It would be potential improvement andthey're starting from a very low base.
In special education.
I think it remains to be seen.
Who's going to be the ministerfor special education.
Will there be a ministerfor special education?
We'll just be again, trying toput bums on seats or are they
(06:59):
actually going to properly resource?
So that is my number one.
Hope for 2025.
My second hope for 2025.
Is.
More.
More optimistic.
Let's say the special education,because it's happening.
It's definitely happening.
And.
It's basically the technology isstarting to be exciting again.
(07:22):
It feels like 2008.
Do you remember when the interactivewhiteboards came along and everyone
was getting really excited aboutthese magic boards and what they could
do, and everyone was, trying to get.
Everyone's saving a bolder life, save theschool's life savings to buy these boards.
And it was very exciting.
I remember at the time I was giving a lotof training to teachers and as I remember.
(07:43):
A couple of weeks over,I think by three years.
What I did was I got every well, everycompany that was selling interactive
whiteboards to lend me their interactivewhiteboard for summer courses that
it's for by four or five years.
And got teachers and just trythem out and practice each one
and decide which ones they liked.
And find out information about whythey liked them and so on and so forth.
And it was a really exciting time.
(08:04):
And.
Really since then.
Things became slightly dull.
I am.
I wasn't.
I haven't really been thatexcited about technology.
Until now, and the reason I'mexcited about technology now.
Is because of artificial intelligence.
I think artificial intelligence.
(08:25):
And I don't think I'm alone in saying thisis as revolutionary as when the internet.
Came out.
I love how people are havingthe same reaction to AI as they
did with the, when the internetstarted coming into the schools.
When there were saying that.
Children won't have tolearn anything ever again.
That a, there.
(08:45):
It's going to destroy the educationsystem and so on and so forth.
And in some ways, there's alots and lots of knots to be, be
careful of when it comes to AI.
But overall, I feel that AIcould be the next revolution.
And education.
If we use it properly now.
History will have taught us that.
(09:06):
When it comes to technology, we tend tobe fairly conservative when it, when we
got to the interactive whiteboard worlds.
We never really embraced what itcould really do and to be fair.
And I think I'm not being too harsh here.
Most people.
Don't really use the interactivityon their interactive whiteboard.
(09:26):
As.
Best they could.
In some ways it's a large TV screen.
Where teachers show YouTube videos.
Most of the time.
I'd say if we're being honest totheirselves, I think we miss a trick
when it comes to direct whiteboards.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
I found myself from 2008, until2012, trying to in twos teachers
(09:48):
to use them in meaningful ways.
And I suppose by 20 12, 20 13, It justbecame another piece of furniture.
I dunno, I, I suppose I comparedit to do, the magic door in Bosco.
Where, people could bring theirchildren's somewhere on a screen.
And watch what was going onrather than interact with us.
(10:10):
I think AI has the risk of the same,you're going to have the magic best,
everyone's going to be really excited.
Like in the interactive whiteboardboard days, it was like, oh
my God, look what it can do.
Look what this magic pen can do.
And the teacher basically beingin charge of what I could do.
I think with AI, we run the same riskwhere teachers may just say, Chachi
PT, would he make me a lesson planto teach X, Y, and Zed or Chuck or
(10:32):
using these apps like differs andothers, which are all very good and
all very nice and all very early.
And I'm doing a lot of work in AI.
Over the last couple of years.
And I've been playing around with it.
And the more, a more I'm using it,the less impressed I am about to
generate of artificial intelligence.
So that's the stuff where AI makesthings for you, makes pictures
or makes lesson plans and so on.
(10:54):
Once you get over the magic of whatthey do become very samey and when I'm.
What I find artificial intelligencevery good for is working
with large amounts of data.
And analyzing it and usingit and being inspired by it.
And I'm doing a few addlittle things with that.
I like how it's do you knowwhat I find the power of it is?
It's like a good assistant,which is what I'm using it for.
(11:14):
I'm just a little bit ofa plug for the new year.
I'm designed a sad littleapp called sclera are skirt.
Sorry, skirt.
I don't even know the name, myown app, which is Irish for swipe.
And what I've done is I'veused artificial intelligence.
To help me.
Get it.
Get a table of information.
And display it nicely in an app.
(11:36):
Now I haven't coded properlysince I was in college.
So what I'm using artificial intelligencewith, is this a code assistant?
So I have the bare bones, butwhat I did need to do was help me.
With swiping, for example,I don't know how to do it.
There was no such thing asswiping when I was in college.
So I asked Chachi PT to help mewrite a program which allowed me to.
Swipe.
(11:57):
So I've got like this.
This app called skirt as C O I R R.
You can find a mashed up plusslash skirt and you could restore.
And you can have a look at that.
And what it does isthere's over a thousand.
Ideas for playful mats ideas for infants.
And I'm going to add to that as I goon I think it's a, a nice, simple way
to use AI, but also I think this iswhat teachers could use AI for as an
(12:21):
assistant to ask questions, to help.
With what they're doing already.
Ah, rather than generating stuff.
For them.
So I think there's a lot to say about AI.
I might do an entireepisode on AI this year.
And I do.
Every couple of weeks, I send anewsletter out, which you can subscribe
to on Shaw dot Nash slash a newsletter.
(12:43):
Or subscribe.
I can't remember.
I think it is on shotdot Nash slash subscribe.
And you can have a look at some AItips that I give every couple of weeks,
but I might do a podcast on AI, maybetalk to somebody who's been using
AI in primary level as well, whichI think might be interesting too.
Let's move on to reasons to be hopeful.
Number three.
(13:04):
I think time is finally running outto ignore the big elephant in the
room that I harp on and on aboutevery time I put the microphone in
front of me and that is patronage.
I think if anything happened.
In 2024.
The excuses were starting to run outfor our patron led education system.
(13:29):
There are so many children now optedout of religious faith formation in
religious run schools that it is becoming.
Almost impossible to justify.
Having the amount of religiousrun schools in the country at 96%.
(13:49):
It shouldn't even be, to behonest with you, it should be 0%.
We shouldn't have schools.
I run along any form of patronage.
And one of the things that I waspontificating as the year was going on.
Is I think when I talk aboutpatronage, I tend to talk about
religion and why we need to get ridof religion in schools and so on.
But then, as the year is going on,I'm thinking, okay, that I know
(14:12):
how that might sound to somebodyworking in a religious school.
I get the, I got that whole automaticdefensiveness that if somebody gives out
about something, even if you, even, ifyou know what the person is saying is
right, the defensiveness that is natural.
Like I was having a chat tosomeone, a friend of mine.
And this is the best way I can explain it.
(14:33):
You know when I'm listeningto the rhetoric around Israel
and Palestine, even though.
I am absolutely.
Opposed to the revisionistZionists system in Israel.
And I'm a poured by the murdering ofinnocent people by the Israeli government.
I'm absolutely appalledby the whole thing.
Whenever I see people, sayingthings like Jesus was a Palestinian,
(14:56):
it really, I got that arch.
Because, I am a logical buyer to me.
It's going, I get whypeople are saying this.
And in some ways, I got I got the logicbehind it and why there may be right.
And what they're saying in some ways,even if they're not particularly
right, But I think it's that.
Movement in that.
Defensives because it does a slightkind of denial or an erasure of Jesus's
(15:22):
Jewishness that say in a way I'm becauseeven though I don't practice at all my.
With the might the faith I wasbrought up and I can see, I still
have that slight defensiveness.
If Judaism is attacked in a way,even though I don't really have.
Too much link to it.
Apart from my own heritage.
And I was talking to anAmerican friend of mine.
(15:42):
And there were saying, wheneverpeople come out about Donald Trump,
Even though they would be a Democrat,like through it, there would be
anti-Trump through and through.
It's just this idea of oh, Americans areso stupid and they get this sort of every
time people give out about Donald Trump,even though it makes no sense to do so.
And I think if I'm giving outa bite, when I'm giving eyes by
Catholic schools, people who work inCatholics, We were raised Catholic.
(16:06):
I can imagine not same feelingthat defensiveness that is natural.
So I saw, I've been ponderingon this quite a bit.
And again, I'll, I am going to do apodcast of this later as well in the year.
Both.
It's around it.
I have to get away from the idea of.
Fighting this.
On a religious ground, even thoughthat's how schools are more or less.
(16:28):
Set up to be divided along religiouspatrons, but really even if they were
divided on a different type of thing,dif different divisions that say, not
religions, let's say on race, or let'ssay on gender, or let's say on whatever.
Class or something like that.
And I know.
Some somebody might argue that theysometimes, you could argue some
(16:49):
of these things are happening inparticular gender, for example.
Both.
You know what I'm saying isit doesn't really matter how
they're divided the problem.
Isn't the religion.
It's actually the patronage model itself.
The fact that every school is a privateschool is bizarre and shocking and it's,
you can see how the weaknesses, the flaws.
(17:09):
Have it happen?
And I suppose what I'm trying to sayreally is what I'm hopeful for is those
reasons are starting to come to a head.
Now, whether it's gender, we can'thave single gender schools at anymore.
It's just, it makes no sense.
We can't have schools wherehalf the children are opted
out of a large part of the day.
We can't have schools that aredivided on any kind of thing.
(17:33):
You just need to go to your localprimary school or your, or any school
that you choose to go to shouldgive you the same opportunities.
school.
School elsewhere, this whole ideaof parentage choice, or even the
fact that the schools are beingrun for parents, we need to start
questioning those sorts of things.
And I see that happening in 2025,I think we might start to have
(17:55):
those conversations of what isschool for what is patronage for.
So.
It's a possibility for ourdiscussions, so anyway that's
my third reason to be hopeful.
We may stop.
We may have to stop ignoringthe idea of patronage.
Let's move on to number four.
Probably the mostobvious one is we should.
We should have a newminister for education.
(18:17):
It's no guarantee.
Norma photo might be.
I put back in the seat if she wants to.
I don't know if she does.
I think she burned enough bridgesat this stage where another stint.
For another few years would be a disaster,not only for her, but also for all us.
I feel that I'm not, it's not, I knowyou have to blame the minister for
education, for the object and neglect.
(18:38):
Of the education system overthe last five or six years.
But I think she's beenjust really badly advised.
Bye.
Ah, the people working in thedepartment of education where they've
effectively reduced, or they beensystematically reducing the primary
education sector to this child-mindingservice, where you give goodies to
parents, free school books, free buses,free lunches, this kind of thing,
(19:01):
instead of focusing on pedagogy and.
What we're going to see.
If we don't change things is.
We're going to fall downthose those rankings.
In the, whether they'repeas or whatever they are.
And my fear is, people will takeadvantage of this slip because
the slip is going to happen.
For sure.
And people are going to put the blameit on the most vulnerable people.
(19:23):
So they're going to blamechildren from migrant backgrounds.
They're going to blame minoritized people.
They're going to blame kids withadditional needs are going to blame
people rather than actually really that.
The object neglect.
Of of what's been going onin the education system.
It's been really horrendous in my view.
So I'm hopeful.
We might get a goodadminister of education.
(19:45):
Now I shortlisted 10 people who I believe.
Are going to be the next minutes ofeducation and there's any one of them.
That I think.
Could be interesting.
Now.
That gives this makes this avery long shot in terms of hope.
But if we get the right person,who's brave enough to tackle
the neglect of the system.
(20:07):
It could be the end.
I think of a very stagnant era.
Which we've had for about a decade.
It's not all one minister we've had.
I think we, it there's beenstagnation really since.
Just after Richard Bruton.
I think Richard Britton was the lastinteresting minister for education.
So we need a bit of life.
We need someone who's on the opp and Ithink that's my hope really for 2025, that
(20:28):
we have a good minister for education.
It's a long shot though.
I will admit.
Number five.
We saw the collapse.
Of ax or Twitter overthe last couple of years.
And I think most people agree.
It's not a good place anymorefor good pedagogical discussion.
(20:51):
It used to be.
I remember not that long ago, 5, 6,7 years ago, where every Monday night
we a lot of teachers would sit aroundtheir laptops with the hashtag ed chat.
E on a topic and you'd be discussing.
And really interesting thingsabout the education system and.
It was brilliant.
(21:11):
I loved it.
I'd nearly, if I was given an offer todo something else on the Monday night,
I'd I wouldn't take it so I could sit infront of my laptop for an hour discussing.
Education with other educators andit was brilliant, but Twitter and ax
is just it's fallen the Sunder and.
Since, there's been a, kind of anExodus from a lot of peoples in last
(21:32):
few months, I've been looking aroundthe place for a potential new home.
Should I finish with Twitter?
I don't think Georgia's completely digest.
I think it will.
I think it's going.
I think.
A lot of people who've jumped, shipped.
Who've jumped ship may come back to it.
But it isn't in a healthy place.
It's in a very unhealthyplace at the moment.
And from looking at the variousoptions that are out there for
(21:53):
me, Instagram is where the mostinteresting pedagogy is happening.
It's there's a kind of a.
I dunno, they're not either,they're not a new generation
is, old and young their books.
Again, a younger space of teacherinfluencers who sometimes get ridiculed,
but I think they're wonderful peopleI've I, I see them in action on websites.
(22:16):
I run my mashed.
IE.
Where a lot of these teachers are active.
And they've great ideas.
And what they're doingis they're finding joy.
In the space where education canhappen, which is in their classrooms.
And it's quite simple, really.
They ignore the systematic structuralthings and possibly because they
can, because they're part of thatstructure and part of that system.
(22:37):
But having said that.
They are in the main, sharing.
They're joy and it's like what.
People like me.
And others were doing back in theearly part of the noughties where
we were desperately trying to find.
Teachers to share people werereally reluctant to share.
(22:58):
People had lots of stuff on theirlaptops and they weren't sharing.
And I set up on shot on Nash.
Interestingly enough, as a place wherepeople could share their resources.
I also set up mash then a few years laterto, for people to share the resources.
For no reward whatsoever.
And it was just, they flopped completely.
Whereas now people are freelysharing the resources and it's
(23:19):
actually quite a lovely space.
In many ways there's gooddebate that goes on now.
It's not all lovely nicey kind of thing.
Although there is a lotof lovely nicey things.
Yeah, you need to have a littlebit more confidence that putting
your face in front of a camera.
And there's a lot of teachers doingthat and some of them are brilliant.
It's great to see that kind of stuff.
And then we also have.
(23:39):
Some interesting teachers.
Coming to the forefront.
I just noticed once day I didn'tcatch their name, but we're getting
a bit more diversity, which isinteresting because there is zero.
Pretty much.
There's very, almost zero diversity inthe education sphere, Irish education
sphere on Twitter, for example.
But I've already bumped intoa couple of teachers who are
(24:01):
Muslim or black and Irish.
And And it's interestingthat they're not using their.
That's not the intention,but their ethnicity.
Is there a unique selling point let'ssay, and they're using it for good.
And they're trying to help.
Irish teachers see.
(24:22):
They're see their work and how it canbe complimentary to the classroom.
And I'm not saying thatin a patronizing way.
I loved.
The one I found today.
It's the tagline that I loved.
She's an Irish.
A teacher.
But you said I am the teacher.
You and I never had, I toldhim that was a great tagline.
And she's spreading.
(24:43):
An immense amount of useful.
An excellent information for how to teach.
Diversity to teach about diversity.
Be a diverse.
Sort of person within a veryown diverse, if that's a word.
System.
I just think to be honestwith you, I think Instagram.
Is where things are asked.
(25:03):
I presume Facebook is where things areout a little bit as well, but Instagram
and Facebook are the same thing.
I left Facebook a while ago in a way.
I'm laughing.
No, you can never leave any of theseplaces, but I believe there's some
stuff going on in there in groups.
That's what I hear young people are doing.
They're going to groups,but what I'm seeing really.
Is that it's, if we're going to,if Twitter has gone into a blaze
(25:23):
of flaming tires, I'm afraid youngteachers were coming over to join you.
I'm sorry to read.
I remember when I when I wason Facebook, I don't remember.
My dad joined Facebook andI thought it's all over now.
Ready?
Ah, I imagined this is the equivalentfor all these young teachers.
They're gonna have to find a newspace where they can avoid us old.
I'm older, I'm not old, older narky,cynical people, but I'm going to try and
(25:50):
be joyful and try and give some positive.
As Stefan Instagram, as wellas my usual rant as well.
I've started there.
If you want to have a lookit's on shot dot Nash is my
tag or whatever you call it.
It's not even a tag.
It's an account.
Anyway, so well done to Instagram.
I think you're going to be.
The benefactor.
(26:11):
Of the Exodus from Twitter.
Number six.
The new primary mathscurriculum for me is.
Potentially a reason to be hopeful.
And when it was introduced, I thinkthe size of our leaf could be heard.
Across the nation across the land,because it wasn't actually all that bad.
(26:32):
And to be honest with you, and this isonly my view because the people who are.
I suppose who have written,this would argue against me.
I'd say very strongly.
I don't see it as any differentfrom the previous curriculum.
I don't see a different at all, whatever,what they was trying to do in the 1999
curriculum is very much the same as whatthey're doing in the 2025 curriculum.
(26:55):
And.
The thing is what happened.
I was in the 1999 curriculum.
They managed to make Matta little bit more active.
They call it active learning.
That was the buzzword in 1999 in 2025.
They've just essentially.
Change the word active learningto playful learning, but
everything else remains the same.
They were trying to move awayfrom book reliance in 1999.
(27:18):
I think they failed.
And in 2025, they'retrying to do the same.
I can see what they're trying to do.
It feels like a bit of a, rather thana new curriculum, it feels like a bit
of a kick, the RS kind of curriculum.
Basically.
You didn't do it in 1999.
Odds.
You got to do it now.
Are they going to learn from.
I don't know, there was a kindof a gently approach in 1999.
(27:40):
There's still teachers out thereteaching the 12 times tables.
For example, there's stillteachers doing borrow and pay back.
For a subtraction.
There's still teachers who areonly teaching nominal to patient
long division board way, ratherthan using different methodologies.
Are we going to see.
A little bit of meat.
To the primary maths curriculumwhere those kinds of practices that.
(28:05):
I should have been in the history booksfrom, well before the 99 curriculum.
Are they going to be a bitstronger now and insisting.
That we teach the math curriculum.
In the way it should be.
And the way it shouldhave been since 1999.
I'm going to S I'm going tosay yes, I think they will.
I hope they do.
Maps.
Was one of my favorite subjects to teach.
(28:26):
In fact, that's how I gotstarted in teacher training.
I was a math tutor.
For the PCSP, was that what it wascalled or whatever it is called now?
I also worked FiberNet college as thelead maths person for a good few years.
I love the subject.
I love to see a top.
Wow.
Boss.
And I think this is a good opportunity.
For it to be taughtwell, so I hope it will.
(28:48):
Number seven.
I'm
I'm reluctant to say it's it's I, it, thisis a positive in a way because it, okay.
Let's get the positive out of the way.
For want of a.
For, for want of abetter way of putting us.
Every school child in Ireland isgoing to be fed hot lunch every day.
And I don't think.
(29:10):
That's a negative thing.
I think it's really good.
That we're now in an educationsystem where every single child,
no matter where they come from.
Who they are.
What their background is his day canhave a hot school meal every day.
(29:30):
Now for the negative.
My problem with the school meals program.
Is the same problem I have with patronage.
We have nearly.
Three and a half thousand schools allindividually doing their own thing.
When it comes to launchesand having to individually.
Decide which company is going toprovide their lunches and so on.
(29:51):
And this means it's acomplete logistical disaster.
And.
I just.
I don't know if there'sany way back from it.
But it would have made so much more sense.
To me.
Instead of every school out in their own.
That.
Different areas.
(30:12):
Would well, and this wouldn'tbe the schools during it.
It's maybe the education centers, maybethe V E T B is maybe, I don't know
what it would be, but some sectionwould put out a tender to companies.
At basically a, you hearas a chunk of 100 schools.
You are responsible for thecatering of school meals program.
If for these a hundred.
(30:33):
Schools or whatever they might be.
And.
It doesn't take a genius to seehow that would work much better.
I think as well as that.
We still have the silliness wherewe give children 10 minutes to
Gorge to end their food, because wedon't have enough time for breaks.
I understand that's going to be,that's a difficult thing we would have
to possibly extend the school day.
(30:54):
My thing would be let's get rid ofthe patrons program and you've got
an instant half an hour every day.
Where you don't have to do that.
I, and again, this ispart of the whole, no.
The unnecessary nurse.
Of having patrons.
And I think that might be a way wherewe could basically, as if we got rid
of all patrons, we could actually feedchildren in a more systematic way.
(31:17):
But then, again, you have more problems.
He see I'm unraveling this kind of,I always talk about the nuts and the
school system that you have to unravel.
When we're doing it, when we're talkingabout anything, we have so many schools
that don't have the facilities to provideschool lunches in a centralized place.
We should, every school shouldhave a canteen where children
come in and eat their lunches.
Of course we don't have that.
(31:38):
So.
There's all this kind of stuff.
And I just put it at the same time.
I just feel.
We have structured.
This is.
Is really dreadful.
And if you were a principal,And you went to the IPP Ana.
Expo.
This year, the conference this year.
Who had the biggest standsthroughout the expo who had, who
(32:00):
was giving away so much stuff?
It was the lunch companies.
It was a school meals company.
There is money.
I like a huge money being made.
From the scheme.
And.
I don't begrudge any of thosecompanies making that money.
But It's the waste.
It's the waste of money.
This could have been amuch cheaper program.
It could have been rolledout much more sensibly.
(32:22):
And so on.
And you also would have better qualitycontrol, all that sort of stuff.
I just get the feeling that we'regoing to go down the same road as
Britain did, where, kids are goingto be having the Irish equivalent of
Turkey Twizzlers on menus because.
You can't manage three and a halfdays in schools, individual choices.
And you can already see, do you know.
(32:44):
The guidelines that are out there.
Are there?
Not that it's not that they're bad.
Put their guidelines, they're, andthere's guidelines are guidelines
and then the food, the moneythat's given towards each meal.
Look it's S.
The system and the structures for us.
Could have been a lot better.
But then.
(33:05):
Coming right back to the first timeI said, You have to also see that.
Every child is getting a hot school meal.
The other thing I'll say aboutthis is do we make a compulsory.
Like they do in Finlandand Sweden, actually.
I don't know if it's.
It's a Finland it's sweetened.
Definitely that's compulsoryDevin school meal.
They reduce heart ratea heart problems by 50%.
(33:27):
Within 20 years of theschool meals program.
I don't know for, because we don't domake it compulsory because children
have enough time to eat and because thequality of the food just, I don't think.
Is.
CA.
Can be a good enough becausehow are you going to manage.
3000, 200 different private organizations.
For the and the demands of each child forIf you were to roll this out properly.
(33:51):
And let's say, There would bethe companies would come in.
There would be a canteen in the school.
It will be like a buffet service.
Like it is in civilizedcountries like in Scandinavia.
And there wouldn't be like 20things on a menu to choose from.
It.
Wouldn't all be justprepare pre-made cheap food.
It will be good, freshcooked me a loads of it.
(34:12):
And children were going eat what they.
Eat the bits that they want.
So there could be a solid bar.
There would be like a meat, there'll bea vegetarian option to be vegetables.
It'd be rice to be costcause this kind of thing.
Or whatever.
I'm not saying these are healthy foods.
I'm not a dietician.
But it just could have been a lot better.
And it annoys me that it just fit into this patronage system that we have.
(34:34):
And I don't know if we canever pull it back from it.
But every child is being fed of hot lunch,or at least as the ability to be fed.
A hot lunch.
Let's move on to number eight.
As we move into over half an hour here.
Oh, I think the primarylanguage curriculum, this.
The extension to us where we have modernforeign languages as they're known.
(34:55):
And I think.
I think this is a positive thing.
I'm not sold exactly inhow it's going to work.
In fact, I don't knowhow it's going to work.
But I'm more positive about itthan I was after going on a course.
On teaching languages.
I feel there's a bit of excuse makingsaying, oh, you don't need to speak a,
another language to be able to teach theother languages and all the rest of us.
(35:17):
But I'm not a hundred percent convinced.
Of all that.
But.
I do think it's.
I do think it's a positive thing.
We have to be teaching.
More than English and Irish.
Again, ideally.
We would have a system.
Where we would have lots of schoolsthat have access to different
teachers who would come alongto different schools and so on.
(35:39):
I probably be bunk Irish into, inwith modern foreign languages as well.
I know that's unpopular book.
I think realistically, if we'regoing to rescue the Irish language,
we either all have to come grouse.
Or we Richie's growl got to the equivalentof every other language that's out there.
I have a, I'm more positive thanI am negative about the languages
program that might be coming in.
(36:00):
I just hope we do it properly.
History will teach usthat it will be done.
Thrift glee and it won't work, but.
At the same time, maybe it will.
And I have to be hopeful.
This is about things I'm excited about.
This is that I'm hopeful about itdoesn't necessarily mean I'm hope
I'm, I believe it's going to happen,but I do hope it's going to happen.
That's move on to number nine andpray on it's about teachers this time.
(36:24):
And I think, and I, it comesback to the two teachers.
I would talk with my badge on Instagram.
They're.
The idea of embracing teacherdiversity, I think would I think.
We're going there a little bit.
I've seen teachers from differentbackgrounds as starting to
speak in the media a little bit.
I'm seeing.
That some of them have a voice and someof them are saying very sensible things.
(36:47):
There's a little bit of innocence there.
There aren't enough of them.
There's a risk of tokenism from schoolswhere they got one teacher from my
diverse background and all of a suddenthey become like the I dunno, the boss.
Have a diverse teachers,they become tokenistic.
They're the teacher, who the, thechildren from diverse backgrounds
go to as a representative.
There's all those risksthat are happening.
(37:09):
But at the central at all, wehave the baptism barrier still
firmly in place for teachers.
So what I mean by that is if you're ateacher in 90% of primary schools in
the country, You are supposed to have acertificate in sick fact, it's expected
that you will have a certificate.
And Catholic religious teaching.
For, even though these.
(37:29):
I find them.
Ah, I find that I find themtiresome really nowadays.
I as I said, I liked someof them on a personal level.
But when you hear that, the likes ofthese people who worked for Catholic
organizations saying, did you don'tneed to be Catholic to have the
Catholic certificate and religious andeducation's professional qualification.
That's baloney.
Absolute baloney.
(37:50):
As judge Judy would say.
The reason for the certificate andCatholic religious education is to
pass on the word of God on to children.
It is a missionary.
Qualification, it qualifies youto pass on the faith formation
to children and who is.
(38:12):
Worst.
At providing faithformation in a religion.
I answered the question.
It's a person who doesn'tshare that religion.
I find it bizarre.
Th there's a lot of peoplewho will say, oh, let's show
you don't have to believe in.
Just to pass it on, but can you imagine.
And maybe, look actually wantto say, I don't believe it.
I can't believe it because it's not whatparents are doing almost all the time.
(38:34):
Do you know?
They're like, They send theirkids to Catholic schools.
And the only thing they careabout is making the commute.
In fact, I've had people coming up tome saying I would've sent my kid to your
school because I believe in equality.
I believe in diversity.
I believe in all this.
But, you don't do the, you don'tdo sacramental preparation.
I don't even believe in God, myself.
And you're like, you.
Invested.
Your child's education because youwanted to have a party in second class.
(38:57):
I have said this to them and they'relike, yeah when you put it that way,
And then the Dendera pissed off of me,obviously, because, anyway it's it.
I can, so I can see exactly whythese people are saying it because
everyone's bought into the lie ofyou don't have to be religious.
To teach religion.
But this is really great guy.
I know he's a very strict.
(39:20):
he's a lovely, easy is actually agood person because he believes in his
faith and he does take it seriously.
Really seriously.
Robert Nugent is his name.
Look him up on YouTube.
He's Really into religion.
So much so that it puts the, what'scalled the bouncy castle Catholics
off because, oh no, he's too.
Or that just, but he's very sensible.
And he turned to you.
I coined this phrase and I don't know ifhe even knows he coined the phrase, but I
(39:42):
always quoted is a faith is not a subject.
Like it's so different.
To pass on a fate pass on a poor.
Belief in a existential thing,like a God of some sort.
And to do that, you.
Deposits are passing on a flame.
That's what's more like.
It's not like it's it, you cannotpass on a flame without a flame.
(40:05):
It's you have to believewhat you're doing.
And as I said, It really annoys methat the people who are in charge
of Catholic education are basically.
Saying you don't do that.
What kind of Catholicsare they themselves?
I ask that's a question I'masking really, but thankfully.
We have excellent advocates,education, equality, who I am.
(40:25):
Very much proud to I'm very proud tobe part of their of their lobby group.
Constantly putting out storiesabout how the faith formation in
schools is affecting our teachers.
And the stories that come out everyday from being passed over from, for
promotion, from being pretty much toldto shut up and put up or put up and
(40:46):
shut up whatever order that comes in.
For teachers who don't believe in.
In God has been affected by theCatholic church in a very bad way.
Being forced.
To have a priest rub ashes ontheir forehead on Ashwin like
all these things that are just.
To me or shocking.
But probably aren't shocking to you.
And you're probably going back tothat point of the defensiveness.
(41:07):
That I talked about earlierin the, in, in the show.
And, but just, if you think aboutit, If you let's take yourself into
a different situation, let's say thatall schools were Muslim, for example,
because everyone picked some Muslims.
So why not?
Me and you were a teacher ina Muslim school and you were
expected as a female teacher to.
(41:27):
Cover your head with a hijabor perhaps with a burka.
Like.
How would you feel?
How would you feel everyday going into work?
That part of Europe, your identity.
Your identity.
Was you were, was.
Was not.
Being held in the same esteem.
As the identity of that school,I don't think it's a good
(41:50):
feeling and to have that.
And that is how people feelworking in your, in the schools
that you seem to have this.
Cognitive dissonance for that.
Catholic enough, but not too Catholic.
If it's too caught.
I remember one of my favorite kindof things that happens in education
was the Bishop of Waterford.
The the cried yoga.
(42:11):
In primary schools.
And, half the country we'reteaching yoga in Catholic schools.
And they all ridiculed.
At the Bishop ratherthan actually going no.
He's absolutely right.
It is not a cash practice,that it is a Buddhist practice.
And if you were purporting to besomeone who is on a mission to be a
Catholic teacher, you should be doingCatholic practice on the equivalent.
(42:34):
Of yoga in a Catholic school is prayer.
But they don't want tohear that kind of stuff.
And but.
Are the excuses running out.
Are they running Ash?
I'm hopeful.
They are.
I think in averagely, we havemore diversity in teaching.
Now, whether it's people who don't believein anything at all, to newer, to some of
the teachers that are propping it cominginto the system who have other faiths.
(42:56):
And in some ways it'steachers of other faiths.
The can't pretend.
They just can't pretend because faithis not a subject, it's your identity.
And I think it's reallyimportant at keep that in mind.
When we're being hopeful.
Finally.
I couldn't really think of a 10th example,particularly, but this is my number 10.
It just can't be any, can't bemuch worse than 2024 for me.
(43:20):
20 to 24 was just one of the mostdepressing years of my career.
I have to say, I love teaching.
I love education.
But 20, 24 made it reallyhard to have that enthusiasm.
The world's falling apart.
More on the education system is what'sgoing beyond the point of neglect.
So 2025.
Just has to be better.
(43:42):
And I think we need.
20 to 25 to be better.
As I'm recording, this doesa promise of snow storm.
And it depresses me.
That's the beginning of the narrativefrom the media on our education
system, that it isn't about learning.
It's about with our kids, be ableto go into school to be minded
(44:02):
because that's the narrative.
But I have faith.
That we might be able to take 20,25 by the horns and drag it into
a pedagogical place, particularlyI think the new math curriculum,
I think the new foreign foreignlanguages, modern foreign languages.
(44:22):
I think maybe.
Technology as well.
That does these three kind ofprongs that are quite exciting
and might get a bit of traction.
I think maybe the diversity that'scoming into our schools might make us.
Think about the ways we teach,think about the ways we learn.
These are all these different things thatmight, give some enthusiasm, some kind of.
(44:45):
Drive into pedagogy, perhaps a newminister for education might do
something revolutionary, just theseare the things we have to hope for.
And.
In some ways.
That's what I'm going to hope for.
I'm going to spend this year.
Embracing and re-embracing mylove for technology and education.
I'm going to try and create somethinginteresting regularly in education.
(45:09):
Maybe the sess score.
App, maybe I've done.
A couple of things of codingthat I'm interested in.
I'm I may go back to running courses.
I don't know.
I'm not really sure.
But I do feel that this is the yearthat we grabbed education back from it,
turning into a child-minding service.
And we need to do, if we do nothing else,maybe this year, forget about all this.
(45:30):
I forgot about everything else.
Can we get etiquette?
Can we got pedagogy?
Can we get education back fromthe people who are trying to
reduce it to childminding?
That's my call to action for youfor 2025, let's get education back.
Into the classroom.
It seems like a verybasic thing to ask for.
But yeah, it's been slippingaway for quite some time.
(45:53):
I think I'd sit for me for this week.
I hope you've enjoyed this Rouse for 2025.
I've gone on for aboutthree quarters of an hour.
I think that's more thanenough horizon for me.
And I hope you enjoyed my 10 reasons tobe hopeful, maybe rather than cheerful
until I see you the next time, pleaseask, subscribe to my newsletter.
(46:13):
If you'd like to hear morefrom me on shaw.net/subscribe.
And we'll chat to you next time.
All the very best.
Bye-bye.
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