3 Things the Media Weren’t Reporting About in Primary Education (until today)
With the new school year starting this week, the media have been covering the return in the typically slow news weeks of August. During the summer, the major news stories revolved around free schoolbooks for primary schoolchildren, schools implementing smartphone bans, and the ongoing issue of school buses. Interestingly, these three stories share a common trait: they have very little to do with education.
The provision of free schoolbooks actually contributes little to education. In fact, for the past 30 years, efforts have been made to reduce the number of school textbooks in primary schools. Generally speaking, these textbooks are generic and pedagogically limited. I once proposed a plan to a textbook publisher, but they dismissed it and mentioned that schoolbooks are aimed at “the C-grade” teacher. Although it was just one opinion, I believe it holds true. A competent teacher doesn’t rely on a textbook. With artificial intelligence (AI) now prevalent, any teacher can create a decent chapter in a textbook within 10 minutes. Thus, the free schoolbook scheme primarily serves as a story about saving money for parents, rather than an educational focus.
I have previously discussed why I don’t believe schools should lead the initiative to ban smartphones. That responsibility primarily falls on parents, so it’s not truly a matter for schools. Additionally, schools in Ireland aren’t in charge of operating school buses (otherwise, they might function more efficiently), so it’s another topic that doesn’t directly relate to schools. Interestingly, the issue of school buses has more to do with the Catholic Church than education. Surprising, isn’t it?
Recently, I received a call from Jess Carey of the Irish Examiner, inquiring about any axes I may have to grind with the Department of Education that haven’t received much media coverage. I eagerly grabbed the opportunity, and you can read the article below.
Because the original article was brief, I wanted to delve a bit deeper into all three subjects and provide a clearer explanation of my perspective.
No New Multidenominational Schools
This year marks the first time since 2009 that the government has failed to establish a multi-denominational school. This is significant because religious bodies still control 95% of schools, despite a commitment to opening 400 multidenominational schools by 2030. The government had previously prioritised Community National Schools for this purpose, but only one school has transitioned from a Catholic ethos.
While the creation of 400 multidenominational schools merely scratches the surface of reducing religious control over our education system (currently at around 82%), it’s astonishing how little media coverage this issue received. Especially when considering that the most recent census results showed that only 70% of Irish people identify as Catholic, with at least 14% claiming to have no religious affiliation.
We are also facing a teacher shortage (that, come to think of it, dominated the headlines as a fourth story!) The religious control of schools excludes a significant percentage of potential teachers from our profession. Presently, 95% of teachers identify as Christian (NUIG, 2019). Employment equality laws permit schools with a religious ethos to protect that ethos by any means, resulting in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” system for individuals who don’t subscribe to the faith. Surprisingly, no newspaper has highlighted religious control as a contributing factor to the teacher shortage.
No Technology Grant
For the first time in six years, schools did not receive their technology grant. Although social media platforms like Twitter extensively covered the topic, little attention was given to it in the traditional media. The grant, while small, is sufficient for most schools to maintain a very basic technological infrastructure. Its nonpayment means schools will either have to request donations from parents to make up the shortfall or go an entire year without technical support or repairs to the existing infrastructure.
Considering the government’s announcement that technology will become a curriculum subject, this is highly unfavorable. It appears we are reverting to relying on bake sales to fund technology in schools.
Many commentators on Twitter speculate that the money earmarked for the technology grant was redirected to the schoolbook grant, as both cost €50 million. Whether this is true or not, it is scandalous. Not to mention the potential consequences of operating obsolete equipment in a public building (recall the HSE hack?)
No More Cleaning Grant
A little-known fact about primary schools is that they don’t receive a specific grant for hiring school cleaners. The ancillary grant is intended for the employment of a secretary and caretaker, excluding a cleaner. Thus, schools must find funding from other sources for cleaning services. As you can imagine, this often resulted in schools that were not exactly sanitary.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about one positive change: schools finally received a cleaning grant. For the first time, schools were actually clean. Those in power led us to believe that this improvement would endure even after the pandemic.
However, there was no official announcement, and the grant simply never arrived.
Schools had to consider laying off staff. Some mistakenly believe that the grant may still be paid because no one has officially stated otherwise. The representative bodies have remained silent, although that is not unusual. Furthermore, the media has failed to cover this issue. To be fair, the media can only report based on the information they receive, and they typically expect it to come from reputable sources such as representative bodies, rather than an unknown person like me.
As we return to primary schools, anticipating emails from concerned parents regarding the enforcement of smartphone bans within their homes, it saddens me that they won’t be questioning why some children in their child’s class are seated at the back due to their religious background. Perhaps as long as the school bus arrives and they don’t have to pay for books, they simply don’t care. I often wonder what it will take for them to notice.
