Day 1639
#ArtKicksCovid19
“Morning Sky” (1916) Georgia O'Keeffe.
@whitneymuseum
O’Keeffe used her art to record emotional and sensory experiences, especially her responses to the rhythms and forms of the natural world.
@chronicleflask
As a teacher, I notice that principal v principle is a common mistake. Teachers sending job applications and CVs addressed to the school principle. If I was that principal, I’d bin those applications on principle.
I think this is the most amazing piece of
#streetart
I’ve seen in ages. It’s by Dublin-based painter and graffiti artist ACHES and can be seen on the corner of South Terrace and Anglesea Street in
#Cork
city. I could stand and stare at it for hours. It’s stunning.
#hurling
🎨🖼
I struggled with Maths as a second level student fadó fadó but I wouldn’t have dreamed of getting an exemption(not that it was or is an option!). I just got on with it, went to Maths class and tried to do my best. My parents and I didn’t ask “Why is Maths still a core subject?”
Irish people waiting, just waiting for some ignoramus in the UK media to claim
#CillianMurphy
as British.
#Oscars2024
#Oscars
Cillian did say “I’m a proud Irishman tonight” and “go raibh míle maith agaibh” during his speech lest there be any doubt. 🇮🇪
Anyone refusing to wear a mask on buses or in shops, refusing to observe social distancing, refusing to do proper hand hygiene, refusing to obey the rules to keep others safe, refusing to believe that Covid-19 will affect them should be made watch tonight’s
#RTEInvestigates
😢
Well done to the Brazilian man yet no mention in the Irish media that a young French student intervened to disable the assailant who attacked woman & children outside school on
#parnellstreet
. President Emmanuel Macron rang to congratulate Alan for his intervention.
#DublinRiots
Everyone praising David McCullagh of RTÉ News for this interview which has since gone viral. Good job but he should be this rigorous when interviewing Irish politicians too.
It doesn’t matter that she was a
#teacher
. It doesn’t matter what nationality the alleged perpetrator is. It doesn’t matter what age she was. It doesn’t matter what she was doing, what time or where it happened. She was a human being who mattered to her family who loved her most.
“Teachers[...] far too often, are expected to shut up and get on with it and if they complain, they’re accused of being lazy[...] maybe [...] it’s possible that they’re fighting for your children and for safer, higher standards in their schools”
#edchatie
I notice that the name of the Minister for Education here in Ireland is trending on Twitter. The derogatory comments (mainly from men!) about her hair, dress sense and/or choice of accessories are unnecessary and just rude! Her male predecessor never got such comments.
#edchatie
I’ve always wondered if the Minister for Ed, herself a
#teacher
of English in my old school, Presentation Secondary Tralee, is on a career break herself while she is in politics? Or has she left the profession completely? Anybody know the answer to this?🤔
#edchatie
“Norma Foley has not addressed us, the students, at any stage. She has turned off the comments function on Instagram. I would like to see her engage with students & teachers in public rather than refer constantly to the “partners in education”.”
The Twitter insults, abuse and name calling directed at the male teachers in the school in Carlow is toxic, based on presumption and grossly unfair.
#edchatie
Where will these qualified foreign language
#teachers
come from? There currently aren’t enough French, German and Spanish teachers to be found to teach classes in secondary
#schools
, let alone for a few hours in primary. Will they be plucked out of a 🎩 by magic?
#education
LOTS of qualified
#teachers
out there BUT 1. They can’t afford to live in Dublin/other areas 2. Only jobs on offer=part time/short term sub posts not perm jobs/CIDs 3. Teachers have been vilified by media & gaslit by DES for years 4. They’ve been let down by ineffective unions.
Many teachers would be inclined to agree with the Minister on this, is this a first? ‘No smartphone’ policy for primary students could be extended to all schools, says Minister for Education – The Irish Times
When
#principals
wonder why it’s hard to recruit
#teachers
, they should read this. When journalists are asking why so many teachers in 🇮🇪 are moving abroad, they should read this. When parents ask why there aren’t teachers of some subjects for their kids, they should read this.
I love how French children eat from the main menu and they aren’t pandered to with a crappy kids menu. They often eat what the adults eat albeit in smaller portions. They also tend to behave themselves impeccably in restaurants, chatting to the adults and not an iPad in sight.
Irish teachers are going to Dubai because they’re getting better pay, better (and permanent!) contracts, better treatment & better weather. Why stay in Ireland where all they may be offered is part time or temporary teaching jobs as well the cost of living & rents being so high!?
I’m laughing at a certain cohort of Dubs giving out about prices of houses/hotels this summer on South/West coast of Ireland. Us culchies coming up for matches & concerts have been ripped off for YEARS with hotel prices in Dublin. Supply & demand, now you know what it feels like!
Again, no mention in this article of the fact that most of the 147 2nd level
#teaching
posts currently advertised for Dublin are substitute, fixed term, specific purpose & not all are full hours. 20 are RPT, 1 is Pro-Rata & only 1 is permanent!
#teachers
By all means criticise/call out Minister for
#Education
for her policies, performance & handling of issues relating to her job but disparaging comments re her clothes, hair style & querying if she has children should not come into the discussion. Shame on this guy and his ilk.
Why no secondary
#teachers
?🤔Pay inequality, lack of perm full hour contracts, crazy cost of living (not just Dublin!), exorbitant cost of 2 year PME, abuse from media, public & some parents, opaque recruitment process, indifferent DES & Minister for Ed.🤷♀️
Apart from the wonderful Andrew Scott and the stunning cinematography, other highlights of “Ripley” for me were Lucio the cat, Maurizio Lombardi as Inspector Pietro Ravini, the various works by Caravaggio (one of my favourite artists) and those endless flights of stairs.
#Ripley
Bravo to Alan, Caio & others who didn’t stand by.
#Dublinattack
#DublinRiots
« Le président français, Emmanuel Macron, lui a téléphoné « pour le féliciter et le remercier pour cet acte de bravoure qui a permis de sauver des vies et qui nous rend tous fiers », selon l’Elysée. »
Après leur victoire à Bordeaux face à la Roumanie, les joueurs de l'équipe d'Irlande de rugby sont revenus à Tours et sont allés à la rencontre d'enfants malades.
Un moment inoubliable pour les enfants de l'hôpital Clocheville du
@CHRU_Tours
.
Thank you
@IrishRugby
☘️
#RWC2023
Well said, Gemma Maher, primary school principal, speaking on the radio a couple of days ago about the real issues facing Irish schools today and it’s not smartphones. Her interview on The Hard Shoulder is worth a listen.
#education
#teachers
#edchatie
Maybe it’s just me, but is it only teachers/school staff who are constantly being told what they should/should not be doing/saying /opining? It appears EVERYBODY is an expert in education nowadays. I’d never tell parents, journalists or anybody else how to do their job.
#edchatie
Sinéad O’Connor, David Bowie, Dolores O’Riordan, George Michael, Prince, Freddie Mercury, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, the owners of those wonderful voices that provided the soundtrack to my teens, twenties and beyond have gone but are forever immortalised in their songs. 🎶
Just heard clip from
#Liveline
@rteliveline
First time, current
#LeavingCert
examiner Orla talked to Joe about marking this year’s LC
#English
exam. 😳 ALL examiners have duty of confidentiality when signing up to work for SEC. Orla shouldn’t be allowed examine again.🤨
#edchatie
So to all those keyboard warriors, parenting “experts” and newspaper columnists who think
#teaching
is a handy number with great holidays, let’s be having you then!
#edchatie
More than 600 extra primary school teacher training places announced
The joys of seeking a teaching job in 🇮🇪, most 2nd level teacher posts are substitute, fixed purpose, fixed term (don’t always lead to CID). Few are permanent, CID or RPT. Teachers often messed about in opaque recruitment process by principals and ETBs.
It is interesting to note that former rugby player Tommy Bowe does a far better job asking the tough questions of Minister Foley than any of his journalist colleagues in RTÉ, The Irish Times, Newstalk, The Irish Independent, Today FM or indeed, Virgin Media.
"Where the hell are you going to get them from?"
Tommy asks Fianna Fáil Minister of Education Norma Foley about the additional teacher and SNA posts announced in
#Budget2024
Also in today’s Sunday Times a rather insightful article by Aoife Moore which also refers to the current
#teacher
shortage
#schools
#edchatie
#teaching
Can’t bank on ministers to do right by key workers
Funny how so many
#schools
in or around the Minister for Education’s North
#Kerry
base were successful in getting the
#STEM
grant. It seems to have helped if the school happens to be located in or close to Tralee.
#edchatie
🤔
“[..] Principal Tiernan O’Neill is furious at how, in his opinion, schools and their staff have been portrayed by ministers and others. “The support I have gotten from our community has been amazing. Where I lack support is from Government””
#edchatie
👏🏻
Imagine an article on the health system without including views from doctors & nurses?
Imagine an article on the legal system without including views from lawyers & solicitors?
Yet here’s an article on the education system with no views from a practicing teacher or SNA.
#edchatie
I’m sure
#teachers
would be happy to avail of a four day work week but then…. the two Jens at The Irish Times would be apoplectic with rage if this was to be even suggested as no doubt would Brenda in the Sunday Times and the Shock Jock Doc at the Sindo/Newstalk.
#education
Sound familiar? "There were JC in-services where the facilitators could not answer basic questions about what the reform involved, or patronised
#teachers
who asked for sample papers by saying that this reflected old-fashioned thinking and that sample papers were irrelevant." ⬇️
I didn’t enjoy Maths at secondary school, it was my least favourite subject but it was compulsory so I sat in all my Maths classes & got on with it. This perennial moaning about
#Gaeilge
#Irish
as a compulsory subject (inflamed by the media gan dabht!) is an-tuirsiúil ar fad!
“Why should I be forced to sit in an Irish class I don’t enjoy?”
The
#RTEUpfront
audience have their say on whether Irish should be compulsory in schools.
I rarely agree with most of Jennifer Horgan’s takes on Irish education but what she says about teachers here is spot on. These paragraphs in particular will resonate with many teachers. Interesting to note that Jennifer is taking a career break this year.
Almost all primary schools in Ireland 🇮🇪 don’t allow mobile phones, the Minister and the Department of Education know this. This is just PR spin to avoid tackling the more serious issues in
#education
like the major lack of teachers, funding for schools & SEN supports.
#edchatie
"Today I hosted a Social Media Summit with the major social media platforms as well as mobile operators.
I raised the importance of age verification online as well as keeping mobile phones out of primary school.
I want to ensure our children are safe online."
@NormaFoleyTD1
It doesn’t happen often in Irish media but here’s a well-written article that doesn’t bash
#teachers
.
Thanks again to Paul Giamatti for his Golden Globes speech.
#edchatie
Sarah Harte: Entitled parents need to stop badgering teachers out of hours
This 👇!
The lack of Distinctions awarded in many subjects with Common Level papers for new
#JuniorCycle
is crazy. It smacks of mean-spiritedness and is also influencing students when it comes to their Leaving Cert subject choices. It also highlights the huge gap between JC & LC.
It doesn’t seem right to me when it’s easier to get a H1 in a Leaving Cert HL subject than a Distinction in a common level Junior Cycle subject. Or is it just me?
A recent survey shows
#teachers
are the most trusted profession with
#doctors
coming second. This fact doesn’t seem to be highlighted in the Irish media today. Mind you, if there was a poll about the most vilified profession in 🇮🇪, teachers would probably top that too.
#edchatie
Well said, Alan O’Connor! 👏🏻
#edchatie
#JuniorCycle
“The reform has failed. Utterly. We tried to warn you. But as is so often the case, we, at the coalface, were ignored.”
Junior Cycle “reforms” not helping students
This brings back memories of childhood summers at home in Kerry. Decisions, decisions....will it be an Iceberger or a Brunch or a Maxi Twist or a Wibbly Wobbly Wonder??? 🍦
#icecream
#uachtarreoite
The principal of a secondary
#school
in Wexford quoted in this article says she is struggling to recruit
#teachers
. A look at the ads on shows that all of the ten
#teaching
jobs on offer are of a temporary nature and won’t lead to permanency or a CID. 🤷🏻♀️
You would assume that it is down to parents and guardians to teach their children empathy, rather than making it a subject and shoving it into an already overburdened timetable at a time when there’s a severe lack of teachers, but yerra, sure, I’m only a teacher, what do I know?!
You would assume that the proposal to give 15- to 16-year-olds lessons in empathy as part of a revised transition year syllabus would be uncontroversial, writes John McManus
State Examinations Commission have asked (begged) Paul to become a
#LeavingCert
#Gaeilge
Oral Examiner. But on hearing that he’ll have to work during the Easter holidays, Paul said “An bhfuil sibh serious? Níl seans ar bith ann go mbeidh mé ag obair le linn na laethanta saoire!”
Why is nobody mentioning that ALL
#teaching
jobs on offer are substitute, temporary or part time jobs. None are permanent/lead to CID. Why should
#teachers
put up with that?
#edchatie
Unfilled teaching posts in half of second-level schools, survey finds
“One of the top three items raised with me every time when I visit schools is the question of smartphones and children.” My speech to the education panel at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis is available here.
#edchatie
“Suspicions about the dysfunctionality at the heart of the [DES] have swept throughout government for many years [.] A caustic joke swirling around government circles goes: “If Education was in charge of handling the pandemic, we’d all be dead.”
This a petition signed by people who have no idea as to how schools function in reality. Many have no kitchen facilities. There’s a shortage of Home Ec. teachers. Timetabling issues. All of this costs MONEY. Petitions won’t solve this. Why are schools expected to do everything?
I’ve always reckoned that of all the members of the British Royal Family, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was the one who for years has been underestimated & under appreciated. IMO she has played a blinder the past few days. This is a classy statement from her.
#PrincessAnne
Ahead of
#LeavingCert
results tomorrow,
#teachers
in Ireland await the usual articles/reports about school holidays being too long, how cooking/driving should be taught at school, the cruel Leaving Cert, a congratulatory NF & “celebs” saying “I got a poor LC but look at me now!”
🤔
Has Oliver ever taught in an Irish secondary school? Has he spoken to teachers at coal face about new Junior Cycle? Has he spoken to students about the “beneficial impact”? Are only certain teachers & students surveyed? 🤔
#edchatie
#JuniorCycle
Teachers/schools also get loads of comments, from people outside the education system, namely celebrity chefs/food bloggers, demanding that primary schools teach kids how to cook.
They conveniently ignore the fact that most primary schools in 🇮🇪 don’t have cooking facilities!
We get a lot of comments, mostly from people outside the Ed system, about schools not doing enough PE.
I've worked in 5 different schools in Ireland. Not one of them had a halla.
🤷
My mother was a
#RoseOfTralee
contestant fadó, fadó. She didn’t win but her name is forever immortalised on the glass Rose Wall in
#Tralee
Town Park. It is a series of glass panels with the name of every Rose who has participated in the Festival since its foundation in 1959. 🌹
The
#GAA
boys always land on their feet when it comes to the
#teaching
jobs in Ireland, funnily enough. Not for them the years of soul destroying subbing and going from school to school on bitty, temporary contracts.
#teachers
#LeavingCert2023
#MathsPaper1
Good on this principal speaking out but are the Minister, the DES and the SEC listening?
#edchatie
Westmeath school principal tells exam board chiefs ‘shame on you’ over Leaving Cert maths paper that left pupils ‘crying’
A professor, OECD Secretary General, an academic, NAPD head, two writers, two entrepreneurs, INTO head, AsIam CEO, Educate Together CEO, an education campaigner asked for their views of Irish education but not one teacher was asked, not one. 🤔
#edchatie
Of all my flower boxes, this is the one I’m most proud of. It came from one petunia plant bought in Aldi and it has bloomed! It took over the box and smothered the two dianthus planted at either side.
#homegardener
Funny how politicians never mention the fact that most of the 147 2nd level
#teaching
posts currently advertised for Dublin are substitute, fixed term, specific purpose & not all are full hours. 20 are RPT, 1 is Pro-Rata & only 1 is permanent!
#teachers
Feeling I'm getting from principals is that teacher supply problem is being understated.
There is estimate of 150 primary vacancies in one South Dublin postcode alone.
If you are a principal & want to talk to me about the genuine picture, please get in touch. Email in bio.
Oh please!?! Teacher sharing isn’t feasible for many second level subjects, is a complete nightmare for schools to timetable and let’s face it, that isn’t going to make much of a difference when it comes to the shortage of
#teachers
.
#edchatie
#education