Lessons to Learn from the AON Debacle
AON F-up Eile
I first came across the AON debacle when two people, a school inspector and a NEPS psychologist came into my school to help me fill in an AON form. It was to be done as quickly as possible due to an impending legal case. This was June 9th 2022. Nobody mentioned I was part of a pilot. The only thing I knew was this had to be done. I thought nothing of it until October 20th 2022.
The following is a timeline, mainly in X posts, charting the story of the AON debacle.
Within a couple of days, the ever-fantastic Trina Golden tries to see if the union would challenge it.
Within a couple of days a number of groups were speaking out, but there was nothing from the official partners/stakeholders.
Finally on 27th October, the INTO release a statement making up that it was a pilot all along.
The trouble is, they knew about it since June. Oops.
I tried to explain the story and warned of what might happen.
Meanwhile the Trina was sharing responses she received on November 9th.
By January 2023, it was basically a done deal.
Undeterred, I tried to survey all the so-called pilot schools
The INTO and CPSMA seemed happy to allow it go ahead.
My survey work was completed by the end of March.
However, by May, with nothing changing, it was clear there was nowhere to go and I had to give up.
By the new school year, the NCSE had produced exemplars and videos to show principals and schools how to fill out the AON forms.
I spent months trying to convince the union, some of the other official partners, and many of my principal colleagues to take a stance against AON. In the background, a couple of parents, helped by a solicitor firm, started to mount a case against it. On Friday, January 12th 2024, official word came that the courts rule the whole thing is illegal.
Seeing that tweet/post was a bittersweet feeling. Yes, it was the correct result, and, yes, it was obvious from the very start that the whole think stank. However all I could feel was angry relief because it should never have had to go down a legal route. While, in the end, the right result came along, the biggest winners were the legal profession.
However, there’s more to it than that. The NCSE have consitently been identified as one of the worst organisations by people working in the education sector. Over the years, they have discounted the views of schools who beg for resources with ever-changing goalposts and needless reams of paperwork in order to get the smallest amount of support for children with additional needs. For the AON process, the NCSE were suddenly interested in schools’ views about their children and were happy for them to be written into a report for services.
The saddest thing, for me, is that most principals shrugged their shoulders and let it happen. When I put the call out to schools to take less than one minute to email me, only fourteen did. Once the whole thing was over the line, as far as the NCSE were concerned, they contacted more and more schools to fill out the forms. Only then did a few more principals get in touch.
The AON debacle, for me, ended up being a story of how the entire education system came together to let children down. Everyone from schools to stakeholders to the Department of Education collaborated to pull the wool over the eyes of families. When some of us called it out, we were told we were wrong; we were told that nobody else was complaining; we were told everyone was happy. Sadly, I don’t think any lessons will be learned from this.
