Back in 2011, the Irish Times published a list, which they deemed to be the 50 most influential people in education. I’ve been profiling them and now it’s the turn of numbers 21 to 30.

21. Brian Mooney

I have been doing some work with Brian for the last couple of years with the Education Matters Yearbook but back in 2011, he was being hailed by the Irish Times (who he has been writing for) as “hugely knowledgable about all aspects of the education system.” Brian is a guidance councillor but also a regular contributor to the media. From working with him, I know what the Irish Times says is true. However, the article seemed to imply he was being touted for an advisory role similar to the one John Walshe had in 2011. Looking at his LinkedIn page, it seems that this didn’t happen.

Would he make the list now?

It’s a tricky question to answer because, in a quiet way, I think he would. The Education Matters Yearbook may not be a book that every teacher in the country knows about but it is, by far, the definitive guide to the topics that all teachers need to be aware of. As the editor of that journal, he certainly has his finger on the pulse.

22. The Standing Committee/Executive of the ASTI

If you are just seeing this now, you’d probably wonder what the heck this bunch of people are doing on the list. This group is one of the two second level equivalents of the CEC Reps you’d be used to as a primary school teacher. The ASTI are one of three teacher unions and they are the ones that the media portray as being “up for a fight” and aren’t we lucky to have them in this new world where all the unions have come together under the umbrella of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which essentially advertises itself as giving workers a stronger voice, but in reality weakens individual union’s influence.

We saw this especially after the huge cuts during the recession and the teaching union’s inability to step up and fight more strongly for teachers’ rights. Even when we vote down something, if the other unions vote in favour, often our vote means nothing. Of all the teaching unions, the ASTI drag their heels against the conservatism of politically minded ICTU leaders, and are often branded as pariahs, until eventually they fall into line when the risk of members jumping over to the other second level union becomes too great.

The ASTI are the closest we have to a functioning trade union in education. We could take a few leaves out of their book.

Would they make the list now?

At primary level, their main function is to show us what we could be if we had less apathy. When it’s come to any collective bargaining or any campaigning, they have always been the strongest in terms of getting their voice into the media, whether or not I agree with them 100% of the time. They have passion. Whether that’s enough to make a list in 2023 over the INTO CEC Reps is improbable and the only reason to put them here instead of the INTO would be to demonstrate how insignificant the latter is. I don’t think either would make the list in 2023.

23. Seán Rowland

The Irish Times asked if Rowland was the future of Irish education in 2011. In this very short profile piece, they laud him for creating a private teacher training college. Their main praise is that it costs the tax payer no money. Fast forward another decade or so and Hibernia College was sold to a textbook publishing company. Its €9,000 tuition fee has doubled and it’s still making profit. Because, that’s all that seems to matter to the paper.

From my own point of view, I can’t say much. I recorded an episode of the podcast about private teacher training colleges and I’ve never been more careful in my life about what I had to say about them. That should be enough to tell you what you need to know.

Would he make the list now?

Once he sold Hibernia College, his impact at primary education was no more. However, if this were a history of the education system and the people that shaped it, he would certainly be up there as one of the most influential.

24. Paul Rowe

I often refer to Paul Rowe as my second dad because I owe much of my life to him. To me, Paul took on the foundations set by Áine Hyland and the other founders of Educate Together, and built one of the most important education systems in the country. He managed to infiltrate the education system, as an outsider, with a simple core belief in equality. Whatever small amount of diversity we have in the education system, I believe we owe it to him.

He demonstrated that despite fierce opposition from the status quo, slowly but surely, you can win them over, with a little bit of luck added in for good measure. In 2011, Educate Together was in the ascent. We finally had a Minister for Education who saw the benefits of equality-based education and we had an acknowledgement from the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, that things needed to change.

Unfortunately once Ruairi Quinn left the position of education and his party moved away from its centre-left position, Paul found himself leading Educate Together in a new reality where the economy became more important than equality. The Castlebar divestment was a turning point.

Paul switched his attention to expanding Educate Together into the UK to ensure the organisation remained sustainable. There are currently four Educate Together schools in the south west of England.

On a personal level, I adore Paul like a second dad. From the minute we first spoke when I helped to organise a public meeting with a view to opening an Educate Together school in Carlow, he has been one of the most important figures in my career.

Would he make the list today?

Similarly to Sean Rowland, when the history of the education system is written, Paul Rowe will be near the top of the list. Even after retirement, he was hoping to harness the power of technology to spread the mission of equality in education internationally. Despite all the resistance from the status quo, he hasn’t lost faith.

25. The Finnish Model

Back in 2011, the Finnish miracle was all the rage, thanks to good government policy of actually funding education properly and a charismatic thought-leader, Dr. Pasi Sahlberg. To be fair, it is his name that should be the header, not the Finnish Model. Sahlberg addressed many conferences, including the best IPPN conference in memory, as we all aspired to learn lessons from the most successful education system in the world.

Over a decade later, while the Finns are no longer the best in the world, we never did learn from what they did well. In fact, the same year of this list, we potentially put the first nail in the coffin for the system with the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy which forces schools to publish their standardised test result to the Department of Education. The minister at the time insisted that these results would not be used for anything other than statistical purposes but in 2017 they began to be used to allocate resources to schools. It is only a matter of time before they are used for league tables. Rather than learning from the Finns, we completely ignored them and we are seeing the results of that particularly for children with additional needs.

Would they make the list today?

I think we still have a lot to learn from the Finnish Education system. In fact, I wrote a podcast about it last year.

I would probably have Pasi Sahlberg as the person on the list rather than the system.

26. Professor Des Fitzgerald

The Irish Times made a point of saying he was the highest paid academic in Ireland in 2011 and according to my Internet searching, he was in the news for financial-related reasons in more recent times. He had no role at all in primary education/

Would he make the list now?

As with many of the university-based people on the list, he wouldn’t have then and wouldn’t do now.

27. Tom Collins

I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of this man but his write up in the article was glowing — considered to be one of the most popular people in education. At the time of writing he was moving to Bahrain but has since returned and is now Chair of the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) for the last 11 years.

Would he make the list now?

Similarly to above, he wouldn’t have then and wouldn’t do now.

28. Peter Mullan

I must admit I was surprised to see Peter’s name on the list, but in another way I wasn’t. To me Peter represented the last real trade unionist in the INTO. He was never too busy to talk to any member of the union, no matter where they were in the country. He edited the INTO’s Intouch magazine, arguably the last time it was relevant. He was a brilliant spokesperson for the union and you always knew you could rely on him to speak up for teachers. Surprisingly there is very little on the Internet about Mullan and I believe he has now retired.

Would he make the list now?

Unfortunately, while I’m sure Peter was replaced by another Assistant General Secretary, I couldn’t name them. For me, that sums the union up since Mullan’s retirement. The union moved away from having a number of well-known and charismatic leaders to a more theocratic model, much like the rest of the representative bodies. Sadly, for the union, and for teachers, there would only be one union officer on the list these days.

29. Ferdinand von Prondzynski

Mentioned earlier in the list under Brian MacGraith, von Prondzynski had already moved on to other pastures by 2011.

Would he make the list now?

His influence in Ireland disappeared fairly quickly once he left. He wouldn’t make the list today. I’m not sure he deserved his place back then as he had already moved on.

30. Fr Michael Drumm

In 2011, the Irish Times believed that Fr Michael Drumm was “poised to become one of the most recognisable spokesmen for the church.” Drumm was the first head of the Catholic Education Partnership in 2010. However, it seems the Irish Times’ prediction was a little overstated. A search for Drumm contains very few results. In terms of the Pluralism and Patronage Forum, he showed up in all searches as being in opposition to divestment. An example here:

In 2016, seemingly out of nowhere, he went to Nigeria, and that is the last record I can find on the Internet of his whereabouts or influence in any way.

Would he make the list now?

I don’t think Drumm lived up to the Irish Times’ prediction but he did seem to be a barrier to the divestment process while he was in power, which I guess gave him his place on the list back then. The current head of the Catholic Education Partnership is not a priest. Alan Hynes holds the role now and, while it’s early days, I think he will have more influence. He is a good communicator and comes across reasonable in debate. (We have sparred on the radio on a couple of occasions.)

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So there is the 3rd batch of the top 50 influential people in education. Interestingly there wasn’t a single female in the list. If you’d like to see the top 20, here are the links to them:

The podcast of this article can be found on Anseo.net

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Simon Lewis
Simon Lewis

Written by Simon Lewis

Primary school principal, podcaster and poet. 👨🏼‍🏫 Writes about the Irish primary education system. Tweets from @simonmlewis

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