Not if you are educated in Ireland.
This week’s session considered the historic place of the churches in education in Ireland and provided an interesting and challenging interaction with the group that comes over the border to Magee! “education in Ireland has been determined more by clerics than by educationalists”-Murray 1985.
Both N.I and RoI education systems are still heavily embedded in the past. The Republic’s system and structure rests heavily on legislation passed in the late 19th century.(O’Reilly) The North’s structure is still essentially that which Lord Londonderry introduced in 1925 following on from his attempt to introduce a non denominational system in the embryonic state.
The terms Controlled, Maintained and Transferor resonate from the past. In both jurisdictions the teaching of R.E was a divisive issue. The churches, of course, owned many of the early schools-the primary schools. They continue to exert their influence in both primary and post primary sectors, through their rights as owners of the land in the case of Catholic church as trustees) and as Transferors in the case of the Protestant churches and to be on Boards of Governors. The group discussed the situation today and whether the system should be church/religion/faith based.
Accountable to everyone. UU PGDH continues part 2
The most alarming part of session 5 was the clear difference in how the jurisdictions have responded to today’s accountability agenda with the teachers in N.I feeling and being so much more accountable and how this translated into their everyday work-policy- driven,paperwork,data,results,reports,rights,tribunals,demands,litigation,vexacious challenges, social media etc.
The teachers from N.I clearly felt the weight of the number of external bodies looking over their shoulders-the challenging nature of many parents, solicitors, the Children's Commissioner, the Ombudsman, Appeals tribunals, the Eti. There was a very clear feeling that this has gone too far-“the fun has gone out of it”
The question was also asked whether a state and a service so clearly short of money can afford this-the tribunals sit most days of the year with perhaps 10 professionals every day-actually it can’t. Is this accountability in the best interests of the children.? All believed, rightly, that teachers also teach values -yet these cannot be marked out of ten and seem to form a very small part of school inspections. Who said “not all that can be counted counts and not all that counts can be counted” ?
System, what system? Structure, what structure? : Culture and Structure.
You have looked in the mirror (who are you?), you have re-managed Chelsea or should I say Man Utd (you in the team), now we look at you in the system. No matter where you teach or work, your school or workplace is part of a culture and a structure. The ethos of your school depends on its geography, whether it is selective or non selective or all ability, or Irish Language or Integrated or Catholic or Controlled. So how you can lead or are led depends on the existing mores of the school.
The school is also a part of a structure-have you ever tried explaining the structure of N.I education system to an outsider?-it is as if all the pieces were thrown up in the air and just left where they fell. How did we get there? How did we get to a position where we are judged on just exams---do you not teach other things, such as values, right and wrong, morality, helping others, sport, music, inclusion---or is it just the mark your child got in maths that matters? Does the system meet the needs of the children?