Episode 4
Access Undone: The Collapse of Special Education [Episode 4]
The AON Debacle and what it tells us
In this episode I cover the controversial Assessment of Need (AON) process which, to me, shows how the power of silence, supported by the illusion of partnership that representative bodies find themselves, brought us to a place where schools were forced to get the NCSE and the State out of a legal pickle.
This episode gives a single point in the scandal, which gives an example of how the State, supported by the corroboration of representative bodies and stakeholders, and with the silence of those in the service, ensures that services to children with additional needs continues to decline
Shownotes and Links:
01:45 The Assessment of Need Debacle
05:03 Schools' Struggles and NCSE's Response
10:21 Union Involvement and Teacher Reactions
12:39 Media Coverage and Public Outcry
21:07 The Aftermath and Lessons Learned
Dara Calleary Speech: https://twitter.com/Donnchadhol/status/1585234176412114945?t=8Fy3OyCIO9BCES035H7ygQ&s=19
https://anseo.net/subscribe - Subscribe to my newsletter
Transcript
Welcome to access on done the
collapse of special education.
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:A special podcast from.
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:Unsharp dark.
4
:Nash.
5
:This is Simon Lewis, a teacher
and principal for over 20 years.
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:In this series, I look back over the
short history of how children with
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:additional needs have slowly but surely
been cast aside by the education system.
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:I argue that much like the crimes
of the Catholic church on children,
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:where the scandal of the 20th century.
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:That how the state is treating
children with additional needs
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:will be the scandal of the 21st.
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:So far in this series, I've touched
on a number of things from the Savage
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:cuts to resources for children with
additional needs, to all sorts of
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:question marks over the NC SES.
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:Policies.
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:That's the national Tansel
for special education.
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:Which have seen a decrease
in support for children.
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:But sometimes it takes one
moment to open up a can of worms.
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:And this is where we go today.
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:Unfortunately, like so many scandals of
our time, the N C S E were rescued by the
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:support of their friends and the silence
of those that could have done something.
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:And chose not to.
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:And like many scandals.
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:It all started off with the legal case.
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:If the start of this
episode sounds familiar.
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:It's.
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:It's a shortened.
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:Version of my.
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:My full invested.
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:into.
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:Into the assessment of
need debacle, the AOM.
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:Debacle that I aired
two years ago in:
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:On a one to start by setting
the scene in exactly the same
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:way I set the scene back then.
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:I've already mentioned one
famous Carlo Vion in this series.
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:That's Catherine Thomas.
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:And this time.
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:And I apologize in advance.
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:It's another of Carlos famous exports.
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:The singer.
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:And comedian Richie Carvana.
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:Now I never thought someone
like Richie cabinet would ever
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:feature in a podcast made by me.
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:He isn't exactly my cup of tea.
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:Anyway.
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:However, I couldn't resist
using his best known song as
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:inspiration for that episode.
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:But the assessment of need debacle and
the reaction to it from the NCSE might
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:have had me singing one of the lyrics
from his song, a and vocal Allah, and
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:the word N a O N as my little pony.
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:And I guess the rest of the words,
maybe I'm slightly more vulgar,
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:both the lyrics that I think.
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:Could have been sung after the NCSE
is decisions that I might have song
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:would have been I'd sit down there in
me, chair being treated like a fool.
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:As they basically try to
direct schools to do the job.
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:A high court decision had placed on them.
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:Let's first traveled back
a year or so before that.
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:I'm going to high court ruling in 2021
stated that there was a legal requirement
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:on the education system to provide an
assessment of education needs as part
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:of the assessment of need process.
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:This was in the what's known as the
Epson act, which was made in:
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:it was never, ever fully implemented.
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:And to be honest, I thought
the assessment of need process
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:was completely HSE led one.
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:However, when it came to a child's
educational needs, it was actually
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:the responsibility of the national
council for special education.
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:The end seat S E.
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:This meant that when it came to providing
the assessment of need data for education,
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:the NCSE was supposed to provide at.data.
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:I that is the needs of
the child in question.
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:Up until 2017.
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:That would have been possible.
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:They would have been able to do it
because the NCSE's job before then
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:was to give children the resources
they required based on the data,
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:provided them by the schools, which
were essentially psychological reports.
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:And as you probably know, by now,
since:
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:any data about children from schools.
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:On effectively by 2021, they simply
didn't have any data on suedes of children
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:despite having the legal responsibility
to do so for the purposes of the
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:assessment of need under the apps and act.
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:No.
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:If that sounds like a bit of a quandary
for the NCSE, it was because where were
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:they going to get the data now, after
spending so long, getting rid of it.
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:Since 2017 schools have been
complaining that the resources have
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:been given to the schools didn't
match the needs of the children.
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:And the NCSE had responded by saying
the schools were fully resourced, even
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:going as far as saying they were, that
schools were putting in soft barriers
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:to stop children with additional
needs to come to their schools.
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:They turned on schools year after year.
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:They put in more and more
barriers, which downgraded the.
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:Number of supports available to
children with additional needs.
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:And if schools wanted extra supports
or resources, they had to go
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:through a process that was almost
deliberately designed to fail.
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:This only about 8% of
applications were successful.
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:8%.
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:All of the appeal systems were
almost deliberately designed.
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:to also fail.
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:As one couldn't appeal on certain grounds.
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:In fact, the NCSE.
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:Did it basically put in as systems
where they decided what schools could
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:I could appeal on, and if it didn't
fit on their definition of appeals,
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:then schools couldn't appeal them.
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:Even if those grants were perfectly
justified, the NCSE downgraded the
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:role of the S at the CNO who no
longer could make any decisions.
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:And most decisions were being
made by people that never had
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:set foot in a school building.
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:And.
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:In the majority of cases, schools felt
they were not to be trusted in applying
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:for the resources that children required.
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:And that seemed to be the
sort of narrative that.
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:Schools felt you can't be trusted
to tell us what resources you need.
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:In fact, someone in an office
somewhere, we'll be doing that for you.
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:The trouble now was the NCSE
needed the information from
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:schools to support the AOM process.
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:And.
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:They needed schools to write.
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:A report on children explaining
their educational needs, what they
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:required on this was going to be used
at to support an Aon application.
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:So in some ways, and in fact, not in some
ways, what does absolutely clear was this
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:information was going to be trusted by the
NCSE as factual information on a child.
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:How were they going to figure out
a way where they could on one hand,
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:not trust teachers, professional
opinion for the purposes.
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:Of getting resources.
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:For children with additional.
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:Needs.
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:And on the other hand, completely
trust their professional opinion on the
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:educational needs of the same children for
the purposes of the assessment of need.
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:They just didn't bother.
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:I was one of the first schools
that got a call to say that there
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:was a legal case and they needed
me to provide the NCSE with some
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:information on a particular child.
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:If it does.
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:It was it was on the 9th
of June 20, 22 to be exact.
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:And I was told that someone from the
department of education and someone
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:from the NCSE will be down to me the
next day to help me fill out the form.
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:And it was to.
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:Fulfill this legal obligation.
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:I didn't think much of it, to
be honest, because they didn't
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:actually explain the legal case.
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:They simply said the mother
had given her consent.
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:So I just thought it was
part of the Aon process now.
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:And anyway, Dan, they came and the
form was filled out and I never
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:heard anything about it again.
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:Few months later.
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:By this stage, I realized that same form.
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:I filled out was due to this particular
legal case where the, from the app's
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:ANOC the NCSE and the high course.
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:And despite the fact I wasn't told,
apparently I was part of a pilot.
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:I wasn't told once that
I was part of a pilot.
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:Bush.
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:I think what I'll do is our lash.
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:The TD Dara, Colleary explain.
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:Dara: This process involves
schools, advocacy groups,
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:management bodies and unions.
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:The department and the NCSC worked with
a small number of schools on a draft
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:of the documents required as part of
the HSE's assessment of need process.
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:The schools provided valuable feedback
on the form and guidance documents which
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:was then used to inform the documents
which had been issued to schools.
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:The department and the NCSE have
put in place a suite of supports
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:to assist schools in completing the
educational component of the process.
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:Simon: There are a couple of
interesting things in this clip.
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:The first one that should strike you.
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:Is that.
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:Clear.
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:Cleary says.
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:Unions.
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:We're involved.
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:in.
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:The negotiations.
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:The second bit is a small number
of schools that gave feedback.
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:As one of those pilots, I was
only asked about the form.
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:On how user-friendly it
was nothing more than that.
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:However, it's the first thing I just
mentioned there that matters more than
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:whether the NCSE were pretending to
bother, to listen to the likes of me.
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:It's the bit where ministered clearly
says that they also involve the union.
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:More importantly, why didn't
the union stop this from
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:happening in the first place?
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:It seemed like such an obvious lead.
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:Wrong thing for it to allow
their members to take part in.
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:What followed.
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:I was a bit of a juggernaut of a week
within a day or so of this memo being
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:released by the department of education,
saying that schools would be responsible
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:for the education part of the Aon.
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:Teachers around the country came to
piece the pieces together of this
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:bizarre and frankly, arrogant demand
that schools are now expected to not only
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:do the work, but to use a completely
inappropriate document to do so.
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:not only that there was no information
of how this information was going to be
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:used and whether schools would be liable
for the information that they wrote.
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:There was no acknowledgement of
the extra workload it would bring.
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:And certainly no assurances that
there would be resources given to
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:schools to support the children.
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:We were actually writing the document for.
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:Whatever we wrote didn't
mean that the child was going
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:to get any extra resources.
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:And one of the things we can't forget
is that the situation arose because
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:children with additional educational
needs were not getting the service.
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:They were entitled to.
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:Why would any school want to help the
very agency that was starving them
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:and the children in their care of the
supports that they desperately needed.
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:I made a comparison in a way that
I think I feel was a good one.
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:I compared it to a restaurant, where
if you had a restaurant with a hundred
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:seats, but the chef had only cooked 40
meals and basically forced the waiting
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:staff to feed everyone properly.
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:That's the reality of schools.
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:A school might have a hundred pupils with
additional educational needs, but they
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:might get enough support for 40 of them.
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:And the expectation is that you
would basically give the children
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:what they needed from the fraction
of the resources they needed.
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:And despite many teachers being
missionaries for the Catholic church by,
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:in their daily jobs, as I often argue,
they are not Jesus and they can't perform
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:the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
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:A number of well-known teachers, such as
Trina golden and Vicky Barron came out
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:with their own experience of this debacle,
as well as parent bodies in particular,
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:Rachel Martin from F U S and within a day
or two, some decent media were covering
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:the story, the national principal's forum,
a lobby group, which I often talk about.
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:And I'm part of, we're also
adage of the trops very quickly
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:urgent principles to speak out on
offered solutions for this mess.
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:The Irish examiner, Ron, his story and
their paper with the headline NCSE, trying
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:to bounce legal obligations to children
with disabilities on two principles.
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:And one interesting point about
the article is the journalist got
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:a comment from the department of
education rather than the NCSE.
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:This was the response from some
own named department spokesperson.
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:The departments under.
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:NCSE have put in place a suite
of supports to assist schools
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:in completing the educational
components of the HSEs Aon process.
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:These include detailed guidance, a
short video for use by schools setting
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:out how to comply with the process,
email support, dedicated support line.
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:This line will be staffed by education
professionals who will assist
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:schools and completing the process.
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:Many people chuckled when they sold
the phrase suite of measures, as it
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:reminded them of the days of COVID-19
when the minister for education,
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:Norma Foley used the phrase all the
time to describe what they did for
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:schools, which essentially imagined to
cracking open a window and providing
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:a helpline that nobody seemed to man.
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:It seemed like things were
actually going to happen though.
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:For the very first time we had teachers,
we had parents and we'd media all on the
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:same page, all speaking out about it.
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:It was as straightforward
a case as I'd ever seen.
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:And finally, we had people speaking.
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:We had voices, we didn't have silence.
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:You might wonder what the union was
saying at this point, a few days into
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:this given a couple of days at past.
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:But the answer.
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:Nothing.
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:Not a single word.
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:By the end of the weekend.
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:There was still nothing.
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:And ultimately it took the stakeholders
over a week to respond to the growing
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:discontent, which now included education
spokespeople from political parties,
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:like the social Democrats and shin Fein.
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:The IPPF finally came out with a statement
on Wednesday, which kind of reminded
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:me of the Simpsons episode, where they
played back a video of Richard Nixon,
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:claiming to have a fondness for the
particular brand of beer in order to
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:try and gain a bit of credibility.
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:They were too late to the party.
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:And finally, after labor
came to the party very late.
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:There's always a bandwagon
to jump on the I N T O.
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:A week after being asked again and
again, by their members as to what they
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:were going to do about the situation.
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:They came out with a statement
saying the following.
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:The IMCO has been aware of
this issue since June on the
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:stakeholders are briefed by the NCSE.
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:Very recently, I N T O intend to raise
the issue of the workload associated
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:with this new requirements, a
teacher's consultation council meeting.
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:And it went on without
saying very much else.
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:It turned out.
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:Yes.
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:That the, I N T O had known about
this since the June, before.
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:And they also didn't criticize
the NCSE's move to force.
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:Teachers on principles to fill out a form
that the NCSE should have filled out.
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:I guess I should probably mention.
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:One agency, most of you haven't heard
of, which is NABSME and abs M E.
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:They are the body that represents
boards of management of special schools
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:and schools with special classes.
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:And naturally you'd think they'd
have something to say, especially
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:in light of the fact that their
members were to be most affected
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:.
Yes.
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:That's the sound of tumbleweed.
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:They said absolutely nothing.
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:You might think with all the
pressure of people speaking out.
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:That's something might change.
282
:We had advocacy groups, teachers,
principals, even legal people,
283
:all saying the same thing.
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:Schools should not be responsible for
completing the assessment of need form.
285
:And in some ways, It almost did, but
there was just one missing ingredient.
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:And to me that missing ingredients.
287
:Where the schools in that pilot.
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:The ones that the department of education
had tried to say, we're happy enough
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:to fill out the form because while
people like me and Trina golden and
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:Vicky Barron, And a couple of others
were coming out publicly saying,
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:this is not on, this is not okay.
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:The department of education
on the I N T O as well.
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:We're trying to say.
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:There is a very small number of teachers.
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:Showing discontent.
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:Most people were quite happy to fill
out the assessment of need for them.
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:So I thought the best idea
would be to ask the schools and
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:luckily I have access to them.
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:So I decided to write to every primary
school in the country to feed back
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:their thoughts on the AOM process.
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:And according to the ISO, I might've been
one of 17 pilot schools, despite never
302
:being told I was in a Polish, but there
were another 66 schools in this pilot.
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:Surely.
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:These schools would come back
to me if I wrote to them.
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:And I spent over two months
trying to get schools to come
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:on board and discuss the issue.
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:And of those.
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:15.
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:Dead.
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:And of those 15 schools.
311
:This is what they told me.
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:The Aon process had not been a
positive experience for any of
313
:the schools that spoke to me.
314
:The forum took considerably longer than
20 minutes to fill in as the department
315
:on the IMCO was saying on average, it
was taking two to three hours per child.
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:Every school that filled in the
form was contacted by the NCSE.
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:So alter what the school
had entered into the form.
318
:Most schools told me that after the NCSE
had intervened in their form, the contents
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:no longer represented the child's needs.
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:All agreed that this form
was a paper exercise and did
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:nothing to benefit children.
322
:They agreed that we were doing the
work to get the HSC and the NCSE off
323
:the hook from the responsibilities.
324
:Most schools reported that when issues
were raised to the iron toe, I N T
325
:O they were downplayed and CEC reps
informed the complainants that they were
326
:very much in the minority and feedback
had been overwhelmingly positive.
327
:With that level of feedback, you would
think it would have made a difference.
328
:But the trouble for me is only
15 schools came back to me.
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:None.
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:We're willing to go on the record.
331
:Most importantly, over 70 of those pilots.
332
:Didn't reply.
333
:I remember my introduction
to this podcast.
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:The effect of silence.
335
:In the end, the IMCO had to cover for
its tracks in my view, anyway, that there
336
:their job was to cover their tracks,
given that it was now common knowledge
337
:that they had agreed to allow their
members to take part in the Aon process.
338
:The department of education were only
too happy to take part in some pretend
339
:protest where the ICO could say they
demanded 20 changes to the Avon process.
340
:And varied.
341
:Of those changes, very
little had any impact.
342
:The thing basically was pushed
through with the IMCO claiming they
343
:fought hard for their members when
they didn't really do anything.
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:Effectively, instead of fighting for
their members, they fought against them.
345
:And then when they realized they
were all wrong, they went off
346
:and claimed they were fighting on
behalf of their members all along.
347
:And in the end, the Aon process
came through and all schools now
348
:have to take part and nobody can do
anything about it because when it
349
:counted enough, people stayed silent.
350
:Apart from how silence
allows bad things to happen.
351
:The Aon debacle also taught us
a few other lessons about how
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:special education in Ireland works.
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:On a positive.
354
:We learned that there are certain
newspapers and certain politicians
355
:that believe school staff and parents
when they present them with an
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:issue and often they work quickly.
357
:We learned that some media outlets.
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:Despite all this evidence.
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:I prefer to stay silent and often will.
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:Put out the, I suppose the department
of education's official press
361
:releases or, and so on and ignore
the protests of parents and schools.
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:We also learned that some politicians.
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:Also work quickly, but we learned
that some politicians only jump on the
364
:bandwagon when something becomes sexy
enough, but don't do anything until then.
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:And then.
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:we learned that certain politicians that
actually have the power and most often do
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:have the power often say nothing at all.
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:We learned that representative
bodies often don't understand what's
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:going on the ground and aren't
particularly interested in finding out.
370
:And then they miss the point when, and we
learned that lobby groups and grassroots
371
:groups do understand what's going on.
372
:And that annoys the representative
bodies and incentive talking
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:to the grassroots groups.
374
:They completely ignore their existence
and continue to fail to understand
375
:what's actually happening on.
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:the ground.
377
:And we saw that in spades
with the Aon debacle.
378
:We also learned that when you've
been caught out doing something
379
:wrong, Simply call what you
were doing, a pilot or a trial.
380
:And that's certainly what I
consider happens with my case.
381
:One of 17 schools that.
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:We're, very quickly and desperately
tried to get us to do this legal
383
:thing because they thought they
were going to be brought to court.
384
:And when it turned out.
385
:Wasn't they just called it a trial.
386
:And we've also learned anyway,
that although it takes very little
387
:effort for an agency to introduce an
initiative or an extra layer of work
388
:into the system, it takes massive
efforts for the people affected to
389
:try and not only put a stop to it, but
to convince those that are supposed
390
:to be protecting them to intervene.
391
:And in some ways that's the most
disappointing part of this whole story.
392
:So perhaps I've learned something by going
through this very specific scandal, within
393
:a much larger scandal of how children
with additional needs are being treated.
394
:Silence.
395
:Is actually only part of the problem.
396
:And perhaps there's a much bigger problem.
397
:And it's the relationship that.
398
:That the department of education seem
to have built with the people that.
399
:are supposed to represent schools.
400
:This debacle was worn in a long
series of situations over the last
401
:decade where the teacher's union
has fought against its own members.
402
:Some of, you might remember dread.
403
:Probably being the most
fractious and infamous one.
404
:And I have to say, I must revisit
dat for a podcast series soon.
405
:Although I did do a bit of
an investigation into it.
406
:If you want to look back.
407
:The Aon debacle for me, ended up being a
story of how the entire education system
408
:came together to let children down.
409
:Everyone from schools to stakeholders,
to the department of education,
410
:collaborated and corroborated to pull
the wool over the eyes of families.
411
:When some of us called it out.
412
:We were told we were in the
minority and we were wrong.
413
:Nobody else was complaining.
414
:Everyone was happy.
415
:The saddest thing for me is that
most principals shrugged their
416
:shoulders and let it happen.
417
:When I put the call out to
schools to take less than one
418
:minute to email me only 15 dead.
419
:Once the whole thing was over the line.
420
:As far as the NCSE were concerned,
they could now contact whatever school
421
:they needed to fill out those forms.
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:And only when it, when this affected
a few more principals or went to
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:schools that hadn't gotten touch.
424
:All of a sudden when it
landed on their door.
425
:That's when some principals
got in touch with me.
426
:It was way too late by then.
427
:I have to admit difficult for me to take.
428
:For my own sake, despite
spending months on this.
429
:I had to give up.
430
:I know it could easily have been stopped.
431
:However, there was one agency
that is barely hard mentioned.
432
:In a way.
433
:And when I say, I mentioned, I've
mentioned them several times in
434
:this episode, but didn't, basically.
435
:Have much to say on this,
and it's probably the most
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:important cog in the wheel.
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:And it's the NCSE themselves.
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:The agency that according to the high
court case was responsible for gathering
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:the educational data for the AOM process.
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:And I've gone through quite a
number of people and organizations
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:that spoke out and bottled.
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:So it's probably only fair that I give
the last word to the NCSE themselves.
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:You won't be surprised to hear.
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:This is what they said.
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:they said.
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:absolutely nothing.
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:At all
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:the onshore podcast is written
and produced by me, Simon Lewis.
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:If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts
on primary education in Ireland, you
450
:should subscribe to my mailing list
on Shaw dot Nash slash subscribe.
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:And if you've enjoyed this podcast so
far, please consider reviewing it on
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:your favorite podcasting player as well.
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:Help other people find it more easily.
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:Until next time.
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:Thanks so much for listening.
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:Goodbye.