Episode 46

My Election Manifesto

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

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

  1. Patronage
  2. Special Education
  3. Funding
  4. Teacher Shortage

You might be surprised by the first one... listen on your favourite podcast platform

Transcript
Simon:

Hello?

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Hello.

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You're welcome to if I were the

minister for education from anseo.net.

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A regular podcast where I look at the

world of primary education in Ireland

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and let you know, what I would do if

I were the minister for education.

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On this week's show my election manifesto

for the general election of:

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Hello, this is Simon Lewis from

anseo.net with an other episode of if

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I were the minister for education, and

this is a general election special.

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Now, before you start

worrying, please do not worry.

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I have not put my name forward for

the general election on November 29th.

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I'm sure you'll all agree.

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You already put up with enough of me.

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I absolutely have to say I admire

anyone that puts themselves forward

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to the people of this country.

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On whether or not, I

agree with their policies.

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It's definitely a brave

and vulnerable thing to do.

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I'm absolutely not brave

enough to do that right now.

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I'm even struggling on social

media, nevermind politics, where I

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I'm thinking about leaving X, like

everybody else seems to have a,

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the reason I haven't left already.

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I'm not thinking of leaving acts

because of any political reasons.

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You know, the Elon Musk, Donald Trump, a

lot of people are leaving because of that.

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For me, it's simply because I just don't

think you can have a discussion anymore.

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On.

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Twitter or ax.

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Without it descending very

quickly into mud slinging.

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I don't use that platform

for that or any platform.

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For that I like to have.

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Engagement with people.

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I'd like to have robust discussions when

people don't agree with me or do agree

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with me and we can solve problems and

get different points of view across.

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And I had this.

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Funny experience.

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I was playing around with

different social medias, like

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LinkedIn and Instagram and threads

and blue sky and things like that.

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I'm not quite sure where, what I'm

going to do, but I basically have to

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feel, I have to start all over again.

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I think when my biggest problems

is my ego, maybe, you know, there's

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18,000 people that I've built up

as let's say followers, but it

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just it's, that's just my ego.

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I need to, if I have to start again.

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I have to start again, but anyway, back

to this story I was on and the difference

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between let's say what Twitter became has

become, and on my experience on LinkedIn,

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I put up one of my posts on Twitter and

needless to say, I received you know, this

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particular users who just think it's okay

to tell me To go back to my own country

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or comment on my Jewish background and

tell me that I'm not properly Irish,

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all that kind of nonsense is not.

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I don't know.

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A few years ago when that happened

for the first time, like the.

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The president of the INTO rang

me to wish me solidarity along

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with loads of other people.

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Whereas now it's just a weekly

occurrence and you know, no one

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says a word about, I was just, but

I posted the same thing on LinkedIn.

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It was around religion in schools.

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And this guy.

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Replied to us and she was, you

know, he put in an argument ad

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against me and I responded to that.

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And he then responded thing.

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That's thanks Simon.

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That clarifies things really well.

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Thank you.

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I don't think we agree on everything,

but that's look forward to chatting

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to you about this at some other time.

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And I was like, wait, are you not going

to call me worse than Hitler or something?

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It's just, I don't know.

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Maybe I've just got used to the way.

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Twitter has become a,

maybe it's probably time.

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Like most people that I know.

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To say goodbye.

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Anyway, that's why I'm not going

to get into the world of political.

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So I can't even handle a few pot shots

from anonymous people on Twitter.

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I don't think I'd survive a single

day in the world of politics and

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probably for a whole host of reasons.

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And I may be the world of

politics and the world's Twitter.

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Aren't too different from what I'm seeing.

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I think some of the personal

attacks and some of the personal

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commentary on politicians.

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I just think it's.

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There's just, it's just.

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Terrible really.

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And, maybe that's maybe.

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That's why I'm not going to do it.

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I don't know.

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Maybe in the future.

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We'll see.

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So unfortunately now that I'm not

going to be going for the Dáil,

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it means I'm not going to be the

minister for education for sometime.

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Probably.

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And probably never.

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So I'm going to do a podcast.

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Of theoretical policies.

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I would propose if I was able

to lead the education portfolio.

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If there is somehow some weird parallel

universe that I didn't have to be elected

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to being the minister for education.

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But anyhow.

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Let's just do it.

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And we'll see what you think as always,

I'm only going to focus on primary level.

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So if you're actually interested in

second level for education, there's some

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really good people still around on ax.

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I'm sure they've moved to blue sky by now.

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Just the way things are going, but I

can just name three secondary school

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teachers who talk about education at

this sort of level in terms of analysis

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and what the issues are at second level.

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Humphrey Jones and Judy and

girdle, and also Connor Murphy.

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Who I believe are talking a

lot of sense at the moment.

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And there are others at Kara.

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Quill as well as another dash.

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I just would recommend to the ITO.

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I'm also going to mention,

because they have gone with 30.

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Election manifesto items, 30 items.

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But I'm going to go to focus on

three areas for my manifesto.

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Because 30 is a lot.

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Three is possibly manageable and

they are, and you won't be surprised

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to hear any of these because I

talk about them all the time.

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Patronage special education and funding.

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I was going to go with fourth.

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Which seems to be a principal's number one

concern at the moment ads, teacher supply.

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But the area I believe is quite complex.

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I believe it's going to be, it's

rooted in lots of different areas.

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Including the three areas,

I'll be talking about it.

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And I may even mentioned teacher

shortages in all of those areas.

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And if you are interested, I

have written about the teacher

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shortage crisis on my medium blog.

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And in fact, the show notes

for this podcast are on medium

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and you can read this alarm.

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It might be shorter than this podcast

episode, but the article you'd

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be looking for is where are all

the primary school teachers where

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I give and maybe an alternative

theory to why we have a teacher.

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Teacher shortage.

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Onto my manifesto.

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I am worse than a politician.

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I haven't said a word Yashin.

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How many minutes have gone by.

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Anyway, we'll start off with number one.

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Our, my manifesto and that is patronage.

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I don't think anyone would

be surprised to hear that.

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If I could make one change

to the education system, it

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would be to scrap patronage.

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I talk about it.

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So incessantly to the point that I'm

sure people avoid me in the street.

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However, I genuinely believe that if there

is a single root of every single problem

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in the education system, despite it being

a very complex system, removing patrons

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completely from the education system.

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I believe would unravel a large

percentage of the issues we have.

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I've often compared to the

education system at primary level

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to Christmas decorations and the

edge closer to Christmas seasons.

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I can use this analogy.

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And it's where I believe you

get your Christmas decorations.

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You put them up the first time you have

an education system, and then you throw

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the the decorations up in the attic.

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And when you bring them down,

they're all covered in nuts.

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And then you try it on tangle or not.

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And that creates another notch

and that creates another notch.

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And after a while you just

go ask, do you know what?

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I'll just.

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Throw it over the tree

and hope for the best.

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I think that's what our education

system of primary never looks like Bush.

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If you were to have removed the biggest

nut I would say patronage position.

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And I think when people hear

me speak about it, They tend to

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think I'm focusing on religion.

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Only.

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And I think.

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This is, and I think I don't

blame people because most of my

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ire is with religious bodies.

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What they do and how they

control the education system.

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And it's not surprising

because 96% of patron bodies

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are religious in their nature.

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But.

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For the purposes of this, I'm not

entirely focusing on religion because

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I do think it's absolutely crazy in

a modern 21st century Republic that

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religion plays so much of a parcel in the

education system when it plays no part

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in the daily lives of the vast majority

of people's jobs or lives anywhere.

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The fact that a primary school teacher,

most degree to effectively become

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a missionary in most denominational

schools by leading prayer, preparing

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children for right to passages like

sacraments and providing own objective.

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Faith forming lessons.

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To meet is nothing short of bizarre.

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And I think it is unique

in most parts of the world.

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And it may even be unique in the world.

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It's certainly unique in

Europe, as far as I know.

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And I was listening to a really

good podcast, a friend of mine

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Eva Cassidy was on Louise.

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McSherry his podcasts, Louise McSherry

see, I think, I don't know her very well,

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but I think she was raised in America.

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Or she went to school in America.

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And she was as speaking to

And it was just interesting.

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To me anyway, listening to her as a

pseudo sort of almost outsider to Ireland,

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although she's in Ireland for a long time

by the air, by the signs of things, how.

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She, how bizarre she finds

the education system.

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So much, so she avoided sending her own.

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Child or children to a denominational

schools because she just finds

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it bizarre that we would you

know, the word is indoctrinated.

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I know that word indoctrination is being

used for other political purposes, but

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certainly faith forming a faith that

she does not have to her children.

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It just seems very odd to

her and to me and to Eva.

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However, I want to look beyond

religion here because when I say

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would like to remove patronage from

the education system, all patrons.

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Not just the religious ones and

not just the ones I don't like

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There are a handful of non-religious patrons in Ireland are most of

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you will know of educate together.

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And many of you will know about the ETBs

under community national school model.

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However, there are others one of the

biggest, bigger ones is on first Patrina.

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Which is not actually a religious

patron body, although many of their

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schools are religious in nature.

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There is saplings, which is this

type of special skills skill Sinead,

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which is I think they have one

school and then there are others.

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For those of you don't know what

a patron does, their main job.

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And perhaps their only job is to

create something that is known as the

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characteristic spirit of the school.

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So it's the ethos of the school

and whether that's a religious

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leaning of the school, the language.

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Of the school or other types

of characteristics that make

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us the type of school it is.

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So on first Patrina.

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Their focus is on language and that is the

Irish language and that is their ethos.

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However to me.

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Patron buddy act more as a buffer.

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Ah it might have its ethos

or its characteristics bears.

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I see it as more of a buffer and

it simply aids the state in dodging

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its responsibilities are providing a

properly functioning education system.

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Because if we look at the education

system, we look at the constitution.

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At the moment it states that the

government provides for education.

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It doesn't provide education.

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It provides for education.

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That tiny three letter word is

why we have a patronage model.

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The state is responsible for

providing money to patron bodies,

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to run their network of schools.

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And that includes paying for all their

buildings, which is why the department

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of education effectively gift something

like 5 billion Euro a year to the Catholic

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church and gifted to them for free.

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But the patrons body is to oversee

this network of boards of management,

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which is essentially a group of eight.

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Meaning.

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Volunteers who all manage, who are off.

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Forced to voluntarily manage all aspects

of one school, each these eight people.

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And because of this model, every

school is a private entity, or I

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like to call them little fiefdoms.

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And to me, this is where the

root of everything bad in

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the education system lies.

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Schools in many ways are no different

from businesses despite being

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about 95%, the same as each other.

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So if you look at close shots, for

example, as a business, most clothes

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shops are pretty much the same.

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But they are all competing

with each other for survival.

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Schools, income, unlike clothing shops,

their income is dependent on the number

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of children that attend their schools.

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So depending on how many children

attend your school, It depends.

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On the amount of income you guys

and the number of staff you have

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also depends on the number of

children that attend the school.

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And this creates a system where if

there are more, if there's more than

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one school in a particular area or a

catchment area, They are all vying for

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those same children in order to survive.

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If you have no children,

you have no teachers and you

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have no money and you close.

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But anything above zero means you survive.

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Whether or not the schools have the

same patron body over them or not.

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In most cases, they are still

competing with each other.

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So even Catholic schools will

compete with other Catholic schools.

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However, when you add that ingredient

of patronage into the mix, it does add

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another layer of competitiveness because

two Catholic schools, in some ways there's

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very little in their differences at all.

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And you could say there is a

choice between those two schools

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because they offer the same thing.

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Catholic schools, for example, which are

the vast majority of schools try their

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best to be everything to everybody.

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In my view I don't think

most conflict schools are.

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You know, Very Catholic anymore.

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I think most people, I don't think

that's the in fact it's probably

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the least controversial thing

I've said about Catholic schools.

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And in some ways I feel they do

a really good job of pleasing.

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The majority of people, essentially,

most Catholic schools right now run a

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gauntlet of being a nut to Catholic.

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And being Catholic enough to please

both their patron arms, their clients.

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And when I say clients, I tend to

mean parents rather than children,

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because it's the parents who decide

what school their child enrolls.

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The vast majority of clients

are, what can kindly be called?

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Cultural Catholics.

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I think it is, I think it's

fair to say the vast majority of

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Catholics in Ireland do not believe

in the tenants of Catholicism.

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But they do like the rites of passage.

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And I think I've heard it known.

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As the hutches matches

and dispatches, so birth.

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So the christenings, the matches,

the weddings and the dispatchers,

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the funerals as many call them.

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But they can effectively outsource to

other rights passages to the school,

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namely the communion and confirmation,

which don't rhyme with hatch match or

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dispatch without having to take any

responsibility for preparing their

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own children for those sacraments.

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So if you are a parent and you do

the baptism, you ag and outsource,

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and the religious rites of passage,

the communion and the confirmation

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to a school without having to attend.

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At the church very often.

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For those clients, these parents that

they want children to speak Irish.

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Again, they can outsource this

to the school as many do, without

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having to take any responsibility

for learning the language themselves.

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It strikes me as very interesting, the

number of parents that enrolled their

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children to Escalona but then send it

to English, medium secondary schools.

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I wonder why that is a lot of the

time and I have my own theories.

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But I think it's a failure on someone

that children, if you go to a Gwalia.

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School go to an English

medium primary school.

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And I don't know if it's the guayle.

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It's that, that has, that

is is the failure there.

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I think there's some thing else going on.

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And while I may be accused of in Ferring,

gamification of the patron and system.

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By those two examples where

parents use the system to gain a

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perceived advantage for themselves.

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Parents that don't have choices,

which is generally anyone that doesn't

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subscribe to Catholicism wherever they

are on the spectrum of devoutness the

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patronage model is just, ah, lottery.

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For a Muslim family that wants

a Muslim school for third child,

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unless they live in Dublin or

are willing to travel to Dublin.

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The patronage model is no use to them.

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They have no choice.

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For a family that needed to send

their child to a non-religious school.

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For example, they have to hope

that they live in an area where

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there might be such a school.

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And in Ireland in 2024, there are

currently three counties where there isn't

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a single non-religious primary school.

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Almost half the counties in

Ireland have fewer than two.

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So as you can see,

choice is not something.

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That is in everybody's blessing.

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For example, I live in Carta.

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There is only one primary school in Carla

that has a multi-denominational school.

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I don't think I could consider myself

having a choice because I don't,

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I cannot send my child or I cannot

work in any other school in Carlo

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because I do not, I will not be able

to uphold the ethos and those risks

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myself of being fired for that.

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I do not want my child.

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Being given messages in a religion,

I don't, I do not subscribe to and

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have no interest in subscribing him

to, and I have no interest in him

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sitting hint in the back of a classroom

for half an hour, a day on 13 for

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more during the sacrament season.

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And I don't like him being a guest

or a visitor in his own classroom.

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Anyway, do you know this all ready?

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However, religion aside,

the patronage model has an

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effect on all sorts of things.

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And let's forget the religion for a

minute, because these are other things

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that are affected by the patronage model.

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Both transport insurance,

special education.

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And more, for example, on bus transport,

my child doesn't attend his two

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most local primary schools because

they're both have a religious ethos.

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And because the nearest school

that matches our conscience is

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over six kilometers from our house.

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We are entitled to bus

transport to the school.

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I think it's a shocking waste of money.

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I don't use the bus, but I could

particularly if I was working from home

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and has no other job, I could shove

them on a bus in the morning, rather

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than walking to his nearest school.

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Anyway, school insurance is another model.

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One schools are grouped by

insurance companies by their

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patron buddy or diocese.

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This means that if you happen to go to a

school in one diocese, your school could

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be paying for paying more insurance.

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Premium.

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That a school that is part

of on first Patreon, Okta.

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Or vice versa.

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It's baffling to me that this

happens to different schools,

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have different insurance premiums.

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And I wouldn't blame you if you didn't

believe me, but it is absolutely true.

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And I actually did a full podcast episode.

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On that.

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A couple of, a number of years ago

actually wrote to audience who are there.

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You have the monopoly on

insurance in Ireland for schools.

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And they refuse to divulge that

information, which effectively

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told me that I was right.

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Because if everyone was paying the same

level of insurance, they would have

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just told me, anyhow, I don't know.

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I could go on.

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I know.

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Anon.

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And by now, I imagine you can

see why I obsess over patronage.

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I can talk about it endlessly.

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To me, patronage causes more

problems than solutions.

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And if we scrapped patronage, children

would simply go to their nearest

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primary school and it would allow the

department of education to plan education

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properly because they would know

exactly which children will be going to,

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which primary school well in advance.

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And as you can imagine, this would make

things much easier when it comes to

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planning for special education and so on.

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Speaking of which.

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Special education.

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I think if you asked all 3200 primary

school principals, what their top five

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concerns were in the education sector.

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I would be shocked if 1%

of them said patronage.

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On the other hand, if 100% of

them didn't say special education

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somewhere, I wouldn't believe you.

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I don't think there is a single primary

school in Ireland that hasn't been

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affected by the collapse of supports

for children with additional needs

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over the last two decades in Ireland.

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I dedicated a six part podcast episode

to the subject where I try to figure

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out where it all went wrong and

then try to suggest some solutions.

392

:

Essentially, there's a huge mess

that needs to be fixed very quickly.

393

:

As we've already condemned a generation

of children who didn't get the resources

394

:

on how they needed to manage the education

system and beyond the education system.

395

:

For me, every classroom needs

to have a teaching assistant.

396

:

And this is the main thrust of my

manifesto for special education.

397

:

As I said in the podcast, if.

398

:

If I was to tell you my top

two things, I would change.

399

:

If I were the minister for education,

the first is, you know, would be

400

:

patronage, but the second would

be that every classroom needs

401

:

to have a teaching assistant.

402

:

And I want to tell you a

little bit more about that.

403

:

Because to me, a teaching

assistant reminds me of an iPod.

404

:

Because before I-pads existed.

405

:

We didn't really know.

406

:

We really needed them.

407

:

We had laptops and we had

phones and I think everybody

408

:

was happy enough with those.

409

:

And then in 2000, and I can't remember the

, but it was somewhere in the:

410

:

If I remember correctly or 20 10, 20 11.

411

:

And some point in the middle of that,

Steve jobs came onto the stage and

412

:

introduce the world's, the iPad.

413

:

And we didn't know we needed, I

would see the teaching assistants

414

:

as the same thing, the space between

the teacher on the SNA and the set.

415

:

This is the second adult in the classroom

that helps the teacher that assist

416

:

the teacher for lots and for anything

more or less a data add any, adapt,

417

:

the set or SNA aren't going to do and

would save us a lot of time and money.

418

:

It's the smaller jobs.

419

:

It's the ones where they're helping.

420

:

The group of children, it's bringing the

child who, who needs to be, who needs.

421

:

Who's a dysregulated out of the

classroom for a minute to, to

422

:

calm down or to have a chat.

423

:

It is the person who will

do your displays for you.

424

:

It is the person who will

do a movement break with.

425

:

With a child sit with the child, help the

child access the work in the classroom.

426

:

They can do, they can assist the teacher.

427

:

And anyway they can, and every

classroom should have one.

428

:

And funnily enough, Every classroom in

many countries in the, in Europe have one.

429

:

And it's about time.

430

:

We caught up.

431

:

Because every classroom needs to have

a teaching assistant as well as the

432

:

teacher, because low level needs have

to be managed in a classroom and it

433

:

can't be done by one person anymore.

434

:

And low-level needs today are not

the same as the low level needs.

435

:

They once were.

436

:

Low-level needs are not really low on

a teaching assistant is really needed.

437

:

Anyway, after that every school needs

to have onsite access to a nurse,

438

:

a psychologist, or a counselor,

or maybe both and a social worker.

439

:

Big schools would probably need more

than one psychologist or counselor.

440

:

And I'd also suggest that every

school would have access to therapies

441

:

such as occupational therapy,

speech and language therapy,

442

:

dieticians play therapies, and so on.

443

:

I don't believe it's realistic to

expect one for every single school.

444

:

So I would expand the role of the

special needs assistant to include

445

:

basic therapeutic interventions, like

occupational therapy and speech and

446

:

language therapy, which could be which

could be, it could be, you could get

447

:

one of those senior people to advise.

448

:

And SNA on the basics on every so

often the occupational therapists

449

:

and speech and language therapists

will come into the school to update.

450

:

The various interventions and so on.

451

:

So I really think these wraparound

services like nurses, psychologists,

452

:

counselors, social workers, speech, and

language therapists, all the rest of them.

453

:

These are.

454

:

I would say.

455

:

More.

456

:

Really important because if you can

catch children before they fall off

457

:

the cliff, because that is the only

way they're supported these days.

458

:

I think in the long run you would

save a huge amount of money.

459

:

And to me, the above alone

would fix a huge number of

460

:

issues with special education.

461

:

I also think of my manifesto.

462

:

That we would have to have a bit of a look

at special classes and whether they're

463

:

actually a positive solution in schools.

464

:

We've simply just opened them up without

thought research on special passes,

465

:

suggest they may not be the right tool.

466

:

What about the role of special

schools and what do we need to do

467

:

to ensure their support or property?

468

:

I'd have to have a look at that.

469

:

In my manifesto.

470

:

I think it says something that

again is poorly supported.

471

:

We need to give special schools

what they need instead of

472

:

offering little breadcrumbs.

473

:

I know the IPP and are very proud

of giving the administrative

474

:

status to deputy principals.

475

:

And I'm sure it's welcome.

476

:

But that is not the solution.

477

:

To special schools.

478

:

It is not, the solution is not

even close to the solution.

479

:

It's breadcrumbs.

480

:

I would also, I think we should look

at the full inclusion model, but it

481

:

would also need to be properly resourced

because if it isn't, it will fail.

482

:

In my podcast, I said special

education will be the scandal

483

:

of the 21st century in Ireland.

484

:

And we will talk about it in the

same breath as we do the sexual abuse

485

:

and physical abuse crimes of the

Catholic church in the 20th century.

486

:

We need to fix special education now,

and it's going to take a lot of thought.

487

:

And a lot of money.

488

:

Look at that segue into

my third manifesto piece.

489

:

And that is.

490

:

Funding.

491

:

One of the most curious pieces of

funding every budget day in Ireland

492

:

is the grant that is given to

horse racing and Greyhound racing.

493

:

And this year it was 99.1 million Euro.

494

:

The justification for this is that

without that almost 100 million Euro

495

:

grant, the Greyhound industry would

collapse and it needs to be propped up.

496

:

Now, whatever your opinion on Greyhound

drives racing is my point is that when

497

:

it comes to other sectors in Ireland,

The funding that is given is supposed

498

:

to ensure that the sector can function.

499

:

And when it comes to education,

it seems to be an exception.

500

:

Because we don't prop it up at all.

501

:

And while one might argue they haven't

heard of a school going bankrupt.

502

:

This is generally because of the

Goodwill of parents propping up the

503

:

system through fees, fundraising,

volunteering, and donations.

504

:

There are very few, if any primary schools

in Ireland that are properly financially

505

:

resourced, most primary schools have to

make choices between hiring a keener on a

506

:

caretaker because they can't afford both.

507

:

And whatever one they choose,

most schools can only afford

508

:

one on a very part-time basis.

509

:

Even very big schools, smaller schools.

510

:

Haven't got a hope.

511

:

Most primary schools have to hope that

the weather remains warm enough, so they

512

:

don't have to switch on the heating and

even if they do, and even when they do,

513

:

they often can only heat the building

for a very short time and asked the

514

:

children and staff to wear extra layers.

515

:

I don't know too many other public

services that require that most primary

516

:

schools have to wait until their essential

services such as boilers and alarms

517

:

fully break down because they don't get.

518

:

N a funding to keep them maintained.

519

:

And when they fully break down, they

can apply for emergency funding, but

520

:

there's no guarantee of that until they

have to threaten to close the school.

521

:

And many schools ring the department

of education so much that it's

522

:

really hard to find the phone number.

523

:

Now, I think you actually have to

email them or use some online form.

524

:

And three days later, while

you have a broken alarm, you

525

:

have to send children home.

526

:

And I don't know, it's mad.

527

:

There's a famous saying that teaching

is the only profession in the world

528

:

where you steal from your home in

order to be able to do your work.

529

:

Most teachers are working from

laptops that they're either their

530

:

own, or are several years out of date.

531

:

Teachers have to buy basic resources

like whiteboard, markers, crayons,

532

:

and everything else because schools

don't have the budget to pay for them.

533

:

I've actually heard of some teachers

that buy food and clothes for children

534

:

in their class, from their own pockets,

because teachers are good people in.

535

:

General, but they do not have the money

to help the children in their class.

536

:

So they end up doing it, but paying for

stuff like that from their own pockets.

537

:

To me, the funding model is

primarily linked to the patronage

538

:

model where the department of

education provides for education.

539

:

And if we took that word for,

we could see a system where the

540

:

state would be responsible for

funding, everything a school needed.

541

:

Whether that's the utility bills,

transport for swimming, insurance,

542

:

school lunches, caretakers, and so on.

543

:

Interestingly, there are nine

primary schools in Ireland that

544

:

have this actual model where the

state pays for all this stuff.

545

:

And they are called muddle schools.

546

:

And I would suggest if you

don't know what model schools

547

:

are, is that you look them up.

548

:

They have a very

interesting model, indeed.

549

:

And in fact, such an interesting

model, I think it's worth exploring.

550

:

I may do a podcast on the model

schools, their history, and

551

:

how they work and function.

552

:

Their patron is the minister for education

and they are a very good model to show how

553

:

the system could work in terms of funding.

554

:

But possibly little owls.

555

:

However for now, if we're going

to have to get funding from

556

:

the department of education.

557

:

Essentially, it's pretty simple.

558

:

You should treat us like Ray hounds.

559

:

So that are my three.

560

:

Malachi and manifesto pieces.

561

:

I wonder what you think of them.

562

:

I didn't actually talk about

teacher shortages, so maybe I

563

:

should add that is my fourth one.

564

:

I would say that it isn't just

about paying teachers more,

565

:

although that would help.

566

:

We are competing with teachers who

are going out for better conditions,

567

:

but we're also need to be looking at

other reasons why we have a shortage of

568

:

teachers because we are training enough

teachers to keep the system going.

569

:

It's just, teachers

are leaving the system.

570

:

I think some people think they're all

abroad making something themselves

571

:

in Saudi Arabia and told third Dubai.

572

:

Anyway, I don't think

they're in Saudi Arabia.

573

:

They're in Dubai and all

sorts of other countries.

574

:

But a lot of them are leaving

and doing other things.

575

:

I was at the IPP N this year and the

amount of teachers, former registered

576

:

teachers who are now working in private.

577

:

Businesses.

578

:

It was quite surprising to me.

579

:

They keep their teaching council number.

580

:

In case they want to go back.

581

:

But a lot of them are not working in

the private sector and doing very well.

582

:

And I think that's great for them.

583

:

The thing is most, most people, of

my generation started in teaching and

584

:

probably will end in teaching most people

of this generation that are outworking now

585

:

have several jobs throughout their career.

586

:

And far Paige them.

587

:

I think it's one of the

reasons why we have a shortage.

588

:

We are competing with other

jobs now people would find

589

:

working from home much more.

590

:

Attractive.

591

:

Than that say the holidays that we

got because fact I was chatting to

592

:

somebody who was working in Spain was

basically in Spain for the winter.

593

:

And was working from other holiday

home and going to the swimming pool and

594

:

having a lovely time doing their job.

595

:

And they flew over every month or

so to Ireland, to the office, to.

596

:

Tell everyone they realize,

I think, I don't know, but.

597

:

We are competing with much more

interesting work conditions.

598

:

Working from home allows people

to mind their children, if they're

599

:

sick and all the rest of it.

600

:

I think the teacher shortage

isn't as easy as money.

601

:

I think there's a lot going on patronage.

602

:

Falls into it.

603

:

Special education falls into a two.

604

:

Because again, There are reasons

why people don't go into teaching.

605

:

And not because of the children

particularly, but because of the systems

606

:

that make it so difficult to teach in

primary schools now, So there you, how

607

:

much my election manifesto with a bonus?

608

:

One on the teacher shortage.

609

:

I hope you've enjoyed

my election manifesto.

610

:

Vote for me.

611

:

No, I'm only joking.

612

:

I'm not going for action.

613

:

Don't worry.

614

:

I really.

615

:

I hope you've enjoyed this.

616

:

And if I do become the minister for

education at some point, and now, you

617

:

know what I'll be doing, so now you

now if I do go, then you can vote for

618

:

me and hopefully I'll get all those

things over the line just for you.

619

:

Thanks so much for listening.

620

:

The chat to you again soon.

621

:

All the very best.

622

:

Bye-bye.

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Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education
An Irish Primary Education Podcast

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Simon Lewis