Ei-iE

Skibbereen Cathedral stands on a hill on the left-hand side of the road as you enter the town. This slight elevation means that you have to walk up two flights of steps to get to the entrance, it also means that, no matter how nice the weather, there’s always a breeze, always a slight chill.

During the summer just gone I found myself standing amongst staff and students of my secondary school, standing as a guard of honour for a student that had sadly passed away. We stood there, under the heat of the sun listening to a mother’s grief carried on the cold breeze. The Cathedral had been packed, the guard of honour consisting of members of the school community and members of various local organisations, lined the walkway to the hearse and all the way down the main road.

Hundreds of people but only one sound.

As I stood there watching students that I teach, that I have taught, following the coffin of their friend, it occurred to me that, for some, this was their third funeral, the third funeral of a student attending their school.

As educators we are often blinkered in our thinking and approach. Because school is a place of work for us we often treat it as such for our students. This isn’t the case. Our students are living their lives now, we should remember that and try to help them feel fulfilled now and not just at some vague point in the future.

Teaching has so many moving parts; the intellectual development of the student, giving the student a solid base in the knowledge associated with each of our subjects, developing their sense of self and the tools for self-expression. But we should also be conscious of creating an environment where they can laugh, where they can fail, where they can feel frustrated, where they can be confused. A place where they will be challenged but also a place where they feel comfortable, feel safe. A place where they can enjoy the life they are living now.

The question then is, are we in a position to create such an environment?

Increasingly the answer to that, within the Irish context, is no.

Why?

Irish second level education has been hampered by an overwhelming number of new initiatives and rapid curriculum redevelopment. Added to this is the failure of previous curriculum change that has not only stymied the depth of education students deserve, but has created an environment of “subject first, student second” in our classrooms.

Second level education in Ireland is split into two sections, Junior Cycle (from 13 years old to 15) and Senior Cycle (from 16 to 18 years old). Students sit an exam at the end of the Junior Cycle (called the Junior Cycle exams) and again at the end of Senior Cycle (called the Leaving Cert). The college course that students pursue after second level is dependent on the grades they get in their Leaving Cert.

The Junior Cycle has gone through major reform, one that has yet to be reviewed. The main issue here is that, although a course may aim for students to “gain enjoyment and continuing personal growth” the reality is that the exams at the end of the Junior Cycle have piled on more and more content to be covered. Such a laudable aim is now not only impossible but, seemingly, undesirable

Despite the need to reappraise the Junior Cycle the previous Minister for Education and Youth, Norma Foley, decided to speed up the redevelopment of all Senior Cycle (Leaving Cert exam) subjects. After imposing a number of blanket assessment models she also decided that the redeveloped subjects would be rolled out without any test-run to fix unseen issues.

Teachers are now in the frustrating position of teaching a botched Junior Cycle and anticipating a similarly flawed Senior Cycle.

Drama, Film and Theatre is a new Senior Cycle subject starting in September 2025, a subject where students will find the space to develop their creativity in a way never before seen in Irish second level education. We’ve never had a Drama course, nor a Film studies course.

This feels like a subject where I will be able to create the environment as described above, one where students can laugh and fail in safety. One where students can express themselves and live in the moment.

In order to facilitate this the Department of Education and Youth promised an abundance of necessary equipment; computers with editing software, cameras, sound equipment, lighting, etc. We were to get these from February 2025 so that teachers can have the classroom set-up and familiarise themselves with technology many of us have never used before.

We didn’t get any.

I will be going into a class, teaching a new, untested, subject, without fully understanding how to use equipment that may or may not be there. This is not conducive to creating a suitable environment for students and is raising stress levels amongst myself and my colleagues.

And then there is the abundance of new initiatives.

Teachers have been bombarded with initiatives and policy changes. Updated Child Safeguarding Policy, updated Dignity in the Workplace policy, Bí Cineálta (new anti-bullying policy), Well-being initiatives, and many more have been presented to us over the last couple of years.

All of these initiatives, taken by themselves, are important, but when they arrive one after another, they become overwhelming. This is not only confusing for teachers, it devalues the initiatives themselves as we struggle to get our heads around exactly what they mean.

But, above all, they distract us from our core responsibility - teaching students.

Teachers worried about the volume of subject content, the rushed curriculum changes, studying an ever-increasing number of policy changes, are teachers that are stressed, vulnerable, lack agency, and become less confident in their pedagogy and classroom management.

I’m looking forward to going back to my students. I’m looking forward to teaching them for their future but, more importantly, to creating an environment where they feel that life is continuing, not pausing until they get home.

I just wish the Department for Education and Youth would help me and not hinder me.