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PODCAST

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education

How many times have you said to yourself, "If I were the Minister for Education…?" Well I do! Rather than grumble to myself, I decided to podcast my thoughts on ways I"d change the primary education system in Ireland. Every episode I"ll take on a different theme, give some background and hopefully come to some conclusions by the end. simonmlewis.substack.com

education courses

All Episodes

33:00

Unsanitised: Blended Learning and Back to School...

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/08/12

I remember my classroom when I was in primary school - rows of seats, talking wasn’t really allowed, a lot of sitting down in the same place doing bookwork, everyone facing the blackboard. What will the new pandemic classroom look like and how will we have to teach the curriculum? In this part, I examine every subject and how we're going to have to teach it. Will technology save the day?

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23:07

Unsanitised Poetry Reading - Circular 49/2020

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/08/10

Last Friday evening there was so much thrown at us that you might have missed a very important circular sent to schools, possibly because it was Friday evening. I was one such person so I decided I'd have a look through it and respond to it live in this special episode. It's all about special leave for staff working in schools during COVID19 and it's super important.

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27:04

Unsanitised: Blended Learning and Back to School...

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/08/07

One thing we can guarantee is that schools will be very different places when we go back to them in a couple of weeks. In this week's episode, I'm going to examine what a pandemic-style classroom is going to have to look like with some tips for teachers for laying out their classrooms. Don't worry, I won't be making you buy single desks.

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30:09

Unsanitised: Blended Learning and Back to School...

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/08/03

The government released their plan for returning to school, which could have been summed up with one emoji - the fingers crossed one. Looking at all the variables, while we're all going to go back to school, I can't see us staying there for that long. With that in mind, I'm looking at what teachers and school leaders might consider when we return to school. In this first part, I'm going to look at: why I don't think we'll be in school for too longwhat blended learning actually iswhat apps schools

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52:42

Unsanitised: A review of the Roadmap for the full...

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/07/28

And all it took was a global pandemic for teaching principals to get a day a week of Admin leave; what will need to happen before the posts of responsibility are restored?In this special episode, I review the several documents as quickly as I can to let you know what's happening for primary schools in the next few weeks. I give my own take on the highs and lows and look forward to a world Post Pandemic where we all have Aides and LWRs, whatever that means.

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56:37

South Dublin and Special Schools

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/07/22

About a year ago, the Department of Education wrote to a load of schools in Dublin 15 to compel them to open Special Classes for Children with Autism. This was because the planning section of the NCSE hadn’t managed to organise the opening of special classes where there was the most need. Somehow, deals were done and Special Classes were opened. Lessons were to be learned and nothing like this could ever happen again. And here we are.

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26:05

Episode 037: Bus Escorts to be employed by Bus Eireann

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/07/15

Ah, the Irish Education System! Overly complex, mired in historical precedence and no one really knowing who is responsible for who. And what better symbol for all the madness than the bus system in schools - known as the school transport scheme. In this episode, I’ll be trying to figure out school buses and if I were the Minister for Education, I would change the system so that bus escorts were employees of Bus Eireann, rather than school Boards of Management.

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01:07:15

episode-special-covid19

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2020/07/10

There’s a line in Lou Reed’s Perfect Day towards the end, “You’re going to reap just what you sow” which is repeated until the song fades out and it couldn’t be truer for the Department of Education and their handling of the Coronavirus. In this special episode of If I were the Minister for Education, I’m going to see what I would do to reopen schools.

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41:26

Episode 036: Replace Boards of Management

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/12/03

For those of you unfamiliar with primary schools, you might be surprised to know that the Department of Education is not responsible for what happens in any of their schools. You may be further surprised to note that patron bodies also have no responsibility either. Every single primary school in the country is its own private entity and all the responsibility lies with 8 individuals called the Board of Management.

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47:45

Special Episode: We need to talk about the Full...

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/11/26

The NCSE Annual Research Conference took place last week, which basically asked the question, is a fully inclusive school system right for Ireland? They brought over a number of people, including one Jody R Carr, the former Minister for Education of New Brunswick in Canada to talk about a full inclusion model, where all children, whatever their needs, attend their local school in the same classrooms as their peers. In this episode, I’m going to explore this Total Inclusion Model and if I were the

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45:06

Episode 035: Why are we not using technology?

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/11/20

The Irish Times had a headline a couple of weeks ago “Sharp drop in primary pupils using computers in school” which caught my eye. For those of you listening in the future, this headline was written in November 2019 - a time when technology use is ubiquitous in the world and usage in homes is increasing by the day with fibre being finally rolled out to almost every home.In any case, it was a headline that really grabbed by attention. Given my background in technology, this might not come as a

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43:00

Episode 034: Change Infants structure

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/11/13

Junior Infant classes can be a bit of a mix with children ranging from very young 4 year olds to very old 5 year olds and the difference between them is easy to spot, in general. There’s also a very odd leap between pre-school and primary school in loads of ways – never mind the fact that pre-schools are not under the remit of the Department of Education at the moment. I think we need to follow the lead of Europe and not start formal schooling until children reach the year of their 7th birthday –

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37:57

Episode 033: Reassess Posts of Responsibility

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/11/06

Posts of Responsibility are promoted posts in Irish schools. During the recession, a moratorium was imposed on these posts. When they were to return, we were promised they would be revolutionised and made more relevant to 21st century leadership. Instead, nothing changed except for new labelling. In this episode, I’ll be exploring how we missed out on a decent chance to examine the value of posts of responsibility and if I were the MfE how I would reassess these posts

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01:02:26

SPECIAL: The Inclusion Illusion

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/10/30

The National Principals' Forum was set up in 2018 to try and work with Department of Education to reduce principal workload. They have been trying their best to get the stakeholders that are supposed to be representing principals to represent principals. The group surveyed over 900 principals around the area of Special Education Provision. In this episode, I examine the survey results and wonder how all the representative bodies would choose to ignore the results despite huge media interest. Do they

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41:34

Episode 032: Keep CAMHS and Carry On

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/10/23

If you’ve worked in a primary school for at least a decade, and you were asked what was the number one change in pupils since you began your career, it wouldn’t be a surprise if children’s mental health was top of the list. However, accessing services for mental health is almost impossible, leading to a deterioration of behaviours and putting the health, safety and well-being of all children at risk. This week, I’ll be arguing that if I were the MfE, I would provide proper mental health services for

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32:22

Episode 031: Reimagination of Capitation

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/10/16

Back in the recession, the capitation grant paid to primary schools was cut a low level of €170 per pupil per day, not even enough to cover their school books, insurance, swimming lessons and whatever else their parents have to dip into their pockets to fund their education, which, of course is supposed to be free. In this episode, I’ll be arguing that if I were the Minister for Education, I would be reimagining the capitation grant and how it would be used.

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49:52

Episode 030: No More Teaching Principals

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/10/09

The job of the Teaching Principal is impossible yet over 1,800 people do it every day. However, how do we have a situation where all Teaching Principals became Admin? Is it even possible?

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30:10

Episode 029: Award Principal Benchmarking

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/10/02

Picture the scene. Ireland at the beginning of 2008. It was the height of the Celtic Tiger. The Fianna Fáil tent was dripping in champagne and helicopter fuel. The Builders were driving Mercs and laughing at teachers. And the following adorned the front pages of the newspapers: "The principals of about 1,700 primary schools are to get a 31.5% increase in their allowances, but are the only large group to gain from benchmarking in the education sector." And then all of a sudden the bubble burst.

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33:52

Episode 028: Does Class Size Matter?

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/09/25

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

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46:01

Episode 027: No Tolerance for Violence

Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education ·

2019/09/18

This episode is partially inspired by two news stories: one where a child hospitalised two members of staff and his expulsion was overturned through an appeal; and one where a study basically lambasted schools for shortening children's school days. In this episode I wonder how has it suddenly become acceptable in any way to be violent towards each other?

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