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Peter Lydon Profile
Peter Lydon

@peter_lydon

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Teaching and Learning, Education and Technology | #gifted , #edtech #eLearning , #geography | Views on almost everything and are my own

Dublin, Ireland
Joined June 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@KaushikVaidya So the US is deliberately negligent in managing #COVID19 so more people get sick than reasonable and then the US shafts the rest of the planet.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
Request to follow....to keep the memory alive.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Just to be clear, everyone (actually everyone) agrees teaching in school is easier and better than 'remote teaching'. It's just that being in school is not safe. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
It is easy to understand teacher shortages. Remember when the nurses got 11%? Remember when the Gardai 35%? Teachers got shafted. Multiple times. Compare the *value* of teacher income now with the 1980s. Who in their right mind would consider it now.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
All of the usual commentators quick to say schools should stay open are less quick to point out teachers are almost last in line for vaccination. Speed up vaccinations and you can have your cake and eat it.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
There isn't a shortage of teachers....there is a shortage of positions, pay and conditions, and ordinary, decent respect that would make teaching attractive. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
With the possibility of extended school closure and a return to remote learning, journalists and their newspapers have a responsibility not to unintentionally stoke fear and uncertainty in the media-vigilant student cohort about what will happen with exams. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Schools are either safe or they are not safe. If they are safe, open them. If they are not, keep them closed. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Amid all the noise about schools & education, the silence of @TeachingCouncil has been deafening. Surely the self-proclaimed 'representative professional body' for teachers should have been out there championing us. Even rallying on the indemnity issue #disappointing #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
Despicably slow news day @IrishTimes be.ashamed #GutterPress
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Some days you'd wonder why anyone would even think about becoming a teacher. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
You won't see a news headline about 180 teachers turning up during school break up for voluntary CPD on how to help their students at a difficult time during their school careers. #edchatie @edcentretralee @IrishTimes @irishexaminer @Independent_ie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Friend on Twitter has an idea for schools to make an PILE OF CASH. With SD down to 15 outdoors, 6 indoors BUT does not apply to schools, schools could hold your wedding, party, football match in return for a small fee that would then go to buying PPE, prefabs, etc #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
A non-teacher with absolutely NO IDEA of the ramifications of what she is making up as she goes along.
@TonightVMTV
TonightVMTV
5 years
"It's one year, estimate the grades this year and revert to normal process next year" @ciarakellydoc on the Leaving Cert exams during #Covid19 #TonightVMTV
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
HSE saying rates are closer to 3000 per day. Paul Reid says the virus is 'rampant'. Hard to see schools opening this side of February. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
@USEmbBaghdad @StateDept Trump launching his 2020 campaign!
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
Hey kids.... book your repeat Year 5 now....if you get a H3 in your end-of-Year5 exams, you have zero chance of a H1 in your LC...in fact, you'd need 100% in Year 6 just to hit a H2. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Even a doctor would not spend a day in a crowded classroom without full PPE. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Those doing so should stop talking of returning to school 'as normal'. Tchers should stop tying themselves in knots about facial expressions etc There can be no 'normal' until we have a vaccine All we can do for now is stay safe and make-do as best we can -in that order #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
I had no idea the testing technology was so advanced we could now differentiate between a case that was contracted in a classroom from one contracted 5 minutes later at home on a playdate. #edchatie #COVID19
@rtenews
RTÉ News
4 years
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid says transmission of Covid-19 is not high in schools. However, he warned of a lot of activity outside schools: "Playdates is very clearly one of the aspects of it coming through."
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Govt has opted to continue to put teachers lives at risk by allowing schools to open. #edchatie @cooper_m
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
1. If your kids are hanging around outside your local Spar or Centra, or you don't know that they are, don't complain when school so not reopen.... #COVID19
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
#LeavingCert2020 #canceltheleavingcert Now that the LC exam is set to be cancelled, tell us about the teachers that made a positive difference to you during school. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@ #LeavingCert2021 Everything is going to be ok. Switch off from media speculation and crank radio shows. Keep studying.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
We cannot teach if we can't afford a roof over our heads. We cannot teach if we are hungry. We cannot teach if we can't afford the commute. We cannot teach if we are not safe. These must come before pupils or there will be no teachers. We should not apologise for this. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
11 months
Year 2 exam answer on Waterfalls.....the sort you make a cup of tea and put your feet up for just to have a second read just for pleasure. #geography #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Whatever it is, it is clear teachers' breaking point is 6 months worth of income in savings. The govt and media do not love teachers, and they have zero respect for them. Until teachers realise fear is their only remaining tool, they will continue to be abused by govt and media.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
We now need decisions on CBAs Project work either extensions of due dates or cancellation where relevant. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Any minute now @NewstalkFM will roll out some hack to have a go at teachers. #edchatie #covid #11thJanuary
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
It's important to collect information on *how* students are studying and revising so we can help them improve the effectiveness of their efforts. I use tests as one opportunity to do this. #edchatie @researchEDDub #education
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
It's really easy to solve the teaching crisis. Just trawl through Twitter and find anyone who has ever complained about teachers' holidays and tell them to step up. Surely, they'd want a piece of that.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Biden administration is prioritising teachers and wants them all vaccinated in March. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Can't imagine that the treatment of schools and teachers during #covid is leading to a massive surge of interest in becoming a teacher among graduates? #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
1. Jennifer O'Connell in the @IrishTimes lazily asking why there isn't a union for parents. There is. It's called the @NPCprimary and @NPCpp and it is funded by the @merrionstreet and does the govts bidding esp. when it comes to @astiunion And before she asks, rhe @issu4u is...
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Eh, hang on.. .80 people can't meet at a golf course but a 1000 can meet in a school? Have I got that right? #edchatie #golfgate
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Eh, Ronan @ronan_glynn , even if everyone else reduces their contacts TEACHERS WILL STILL HAVE MULTIPLE CONTACTS. I put that in big letters to help you understand.
@ZaraKing
Zara King
4 years
#NEW “Sometimes the question gets asked ‘I’m a teacher, I can’t reduce my contacts’. That’s true. That’s absolutely true, but the reality is we’re asking everyone else across society to reduce contacts so you can continue to teach”- @ronan_glynn @VirginMediaNews #Covid19Ireland
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 months
There's almost 1000 teaching jobs on Only 13 of them are permanent. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
Bad enough #teachers salaries have not been fully restored to pre-crash levels (so-called pension related deduction etc) but it doesn't take someone with a H1 in Critical Thinking to figure out the decline in the RELATIVE value of the salary over 30 years is THE issue #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
From @McHughJoeTD Why is the @Education_Ire keeling count of the number of classroom days missed but NOT showing the huge effort teachers have responded with via online learning? Does that not count also? Is it so we can be asked to make up those days? #Edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
It's funny how some are saying primary kids can not do online learning for three hours when plenty of them can play PlayStation for longer than that. #edchatie #StopMakingExcuses
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Schools are only safe if you massage the figures and definitions. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Well done non-mask-wearing and house-partying-people....now the #COVID19ireland R rate is above 1 again you've guaranteed yourself some extra quality time with your kids in September. #StillTimeToTurnItAround #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
2 years
It's the low hanging fruit like this that really make teachers feel respected. Rather than headlining one of the most hours teaching, the IT has gone with a dig instead. #SlowNewsDay ? #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
1. A lesson about continuous assessment.... #JCReform students have up to 10 CBAs in Year 2 and 3. That's one CBA lasting three weeks every three weeks of each year. The @NCCAie were supposed to timetable these but when they couldn't, they dumped it on schools..... #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@MaryJ1979 Teachers are made in a factory in Naas. Every week the govt places an order. Machines clank up & out pops newly minted doe-eyed teachers full of bounce. Each teacher comes with a set of colouring pencils and a red pen. The deluxe option comes with a visor. Masks not recommended.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
The smart teacher would plan their classes for September as if distance learning was still happening. They could deliver these in school but have less adjustment if schools have to close again (which most likely they will). #edchatie
@ToniTaylor546
Toni Taylor
4 years
@ZaraKing @VirginMediaNews @hpscireland There needs to be an option for distance learning. Many parents will not send their children back to school. This needs to be an option. It will free up space in classrooms for the children who have to attend in person.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 years
Fantastic! Let's ignore the fact that we have destroyed vocational education on the basis that everyone should go to college, and now let's dumb down the LC because we have no vocational Ed. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
Perhaps one of the worst things in Irlsh #education this last decade was the collapse in the value of teachers' salaries. Now the govt. finds itself scratching its head and scraping the barrel to address the shortage of teachers. #edchatie #RollOn2020 #100millionYoYosOnJCReform
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
The stand out thing for me tonight is teachers saying they are writing their wills in the event the return to school exposes them. #edchatie @carlobrien
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
I did not mind going in in September. Numbers were falling, we had a plan etc. But the current covid environment is qualitatively and quantifiably different. Vaccinate LC students and the story changes immediately. #edchatie @NormaFoleyTD1 @HSELive @DonnellyStephen #COVID19
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 years
Only if they get a full time permanent job at graduation....which nearly on one does....a graduate teacher could be waiting 10 years to get this salary. Shocking reporting. #edchatie
@Independent_ie
Irish Independent
6 years
Teachers top the pay league for new graduates but gender pay gap remains
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@NoelRock I was raised in Ballymun also and can tell you the FG never did a single thing for the place. Can you answer this...is it ok for one third of TDs, inc FG, who are landlords to make decisions that favour private landlords? 1.4 billion on HAP instead of actual housing.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Q4. Tough question. Who’s afraid of returning under the current plan? #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@DonnellyStephen @shffnn 1. Will teachers be told to turn off the covid app in school? 2. Will teachers be considered close contacts if they are close contacts in school? They're not at present. 3. Will the State compensate my family if I catch #covid in school? #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Just while the pinned poll is running, it is becoming increasingly clear that (unconsciously at least) the media glitterati (mediati) see teachers as babysitters. Not even glorified babysitters. Just babysitters, who should shut up and do as they are told. @astiunion Step up.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
All the @McHughJoeTD and @Education_Ire press releases made note of how many school days kids missed and IGNORED the efforts teachers were making. Tonight’s #edchatie chat shows clearly the heart and soul teachers put into to looking after their kids. #CreditWhereCreditsDue
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@teachergoals
TeacherGoals
4 years
This. 🙌
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 years
Great letter in @IrishTimes Geography should be returned to the core curriculum #SaveGeography #jcgeog #scgeog #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
As a parent, and a teacher, and a techy, I say this: do not give your under-16 year old an internet-enabled phone. #edchatie #Digital
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
The dual definition of close contact - one for everyone else and one of teachers - does not inspire. HSE ignores teachers if they fall into the former if they think the index case is a school case. This limbo needs to be resolved. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 years
@merrionstreet @Education_Ire Pay and conditions have deteriorated over the last 30 years; teachers are denigrated in the media; you won't be able to feed and house yourself on a teacher's salary; we are regarded with distain by the @Education_Ire don'.ireland
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
1 year
I know. Let's do a Think-Pair-Share on all the shortsighted ways to not solve the problem of teacher shortages. Then we can do a 2-stars-and-a-wish for the shortlist. We can then do a padlet reflection while we watch the entire system implode. #edchatie
@RobertChaney
Robert Chaney
1 year
PME to be cut to one year? 😂 Unlikely
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Fed up. Remember how tchers were done in in the 2000 strike. & over the #JCreform & had increments docked & punished with FEMPI & nurses weren't. & remember how we've lost all relativity to other public sector workers & teaching is now a low-paid job. Well, September is coming.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Who we should be thanking #edchatie ..is Sch kids -who kept their heads together and got on with school as best they could. There's resilience right there. The govt should give a #FairDealForKids and end school on the 18th...they deserve to have as normal a Christmas as possible
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
7 years
Given how exposed teachers are to occupational-originated illnesses (kids get all sorts of lurgies but parents send them to school anyway), shouldn't teachers have subsidised VHI healthcare? @ThomasByrneTD #edchatie #ItsNotJustFlu
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
I'd be expecting @merrionstreet to promise compensation to my family if they insist on school being open under the current circumstances/arrangements.......KNOWING *as they must* that that is a potential death sentence for some teachers. 1/2 #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Tell you what though #edchatie , if people continue to not wear masks indoors, there'll be no one going anywhere in September, never mind kids to school.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
When you look at the, albeit understandably covid-dictated, faffing around with the LC *exams* (not curriculum), you realise the extent to which third level institutions' entry prescriptions really screw up second level. And students mental health. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
It would be an interesting situation if teachers decided not to do accredited grades and just let the @Education_Ire sort out this years points. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
Anyone spitting at any one should be regarded as attempted murder. Discuss #COVID2019IRELAND
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
It should be getting better but it's getting worse. And the very people complaining about schools not being open and kids suffering don't seem to be able to add 2+2 together. | Coronavirus: Two deaths and 769 new cases confirmed in Ireland #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
The govt should give a tax credit to parents to allow them buy a basic laptop for their kid(s) for when schools (don't) open in September. Discuss. #edchatie @McHughJoeTD @carlobrien @cooper_m
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
5. And can we have an article that says "teachers are right to demand a safe workplace, with the same definition of close contact as the rest of the country, etc etc etc"
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
10 months
Geography is inescapable. Everything from cradle to grave is determined by it. THIS is why every student should be guaranteed a geographical education. THIS is why #geography should be in the core curriculum of the Junior Cycle. #edchatie #savegeography
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Number of times teachers’ health mentioned=0 If the decision was not taken lightly, why did it take so long to come up with even these weak plans. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Is that people's disgust was not that Beacon happened but that deep down we know this is just one reported instance of a quite widespread practice.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
It's looking like the virus is finding, after some initial surveying, that schools are strong breeding grounds.
@ToniTaylor546
Toni Taylor
4 years
12 cases in a school in Rathcoole and 11 in a school in Portlaoise. These children will be spending Christmas in their bedrooms 😪 I hope they will be ok.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Great for kids. What about their patents, grandparents and, eh, teacher. #edchatie
@rtenews
RTÉ News
4 years
'There is no zero risk environment' - Acting CMO Dr Ronan Glynn says there will be a proportion of children who are diagnosed with Covid-19 when school resumes, but says that the vast majority will have very mild symptoms at most | Read more:
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Peter Lydon
4 years
1/2 There's a chunk of parents whose raison d'etre is to denigrate teachers who make demands to be treated fairly and reasonably because teachers often feed the kids sent into school, wash clothes for students, listen to them when their absent parents don't and #edchatie
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Peter Lydon
3 years
It will get to the point (if not there already) that NPHET and its members will have lost all credibility. They really need to stop the nonsense chatter now. How they can say, definitively, that infections are not happening in schools defies basic common sense never mind medicine
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
7 months
We need a national survey in schools on access to digital devices in the context of the new LC 40% for project work requirement. It seems some students/schools can't provide some current courses because of the need for devices to do project work. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
5 years
Friday could be interesting #edchatie #COVID19ireland If college entry was based on a general cognitive abilities test, there might be a more fair and representative distribution of places. And fewer dropouts/switching.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
@mark_prend The Points System - the university entrance 'exam' foisted on schools - should be abolished. Universities should run their own entrance 'exam'. Let schools focus on providing an education. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@IrishTimes "One parent asks why they are being forced to parent their child, surely there are other people who can do that for me".
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@BW400CN @truemagic68 It is Ireland's hope that one day the British government will remember its history.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 years
Well...it's 12 yoyos per script *before* PAYE, PRSI, USC, the so-called Pension Related Deduction, various buried insurance levies, etc. The ONLY solution is to find better incentives...like allowing it to count towards CP hours or CPD, or just plain PAY MORE. #edchatie
@ThomasByrneTD
Thomas Byrne
6 years
Mail on Sunday @leeofthemail highlights the absolute shambles of the Leaving Cert corrector vacancies and I give my views as I did on @TG4TV
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Just in case, I think there is a way schools can reopen safely. But making stuff up and ignoring the realities of the threat is not a sound basis for the reopening of schools. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
1 year
Ray D'arcy @RadioRayRTE calling for a separate "Critical Thinking" subject and thereby demonstrating exactly why you cannot have Critical Thinking as a separate subject. #edchatie #DunningKruger
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
3 years
@colmjoconnor @IrishTimes You have to wait 5 columns worth of anger at teachers before you realise it's the same leave everyone gets. And wait 4 columns before finding out women get pregnant.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
6 months
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
Teachers and SNAs in the Minister for Health constituency were accidentally vaccinated. #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
3. If you don't know that numbers of cases are rising rapidly among 10 -19 year olds, or you don't care, don't complain when schools do not reopen. end/ #COVID19
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
So…what’s happened to de numbers 10 days after the return to school? #COVID19ireland #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
So the govt has foisted on the HSE responsibility for decisions on whether school(s) should close. This is a joke. It is playing political football with the lives of our children and our teachers. @cooper_m @RTE_PrimeTime #edchatie
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
@TonightVMTV @ciarakellydoc Is the a reason why TV3 does not have a counter balance to this heinous diatribe? I'm inclined to make a complaint to the Press Commission. It is simply not acceptable for any broadcaster to peddle such one-sided (and erroneous) bull.
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@peter_lydon
Peter Lydon
4 years
2. If you're organising playdates for your kids, or you don't know they're having them, don't complain when schools do not reopen.... #Covid
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