I couldn’t think of a better guest than Rozz Lewis for this podcast interview about the new ERB subject in the curriculum, mainly because we talk about it endlessly in our house. Rozz is not only my wife, but she is one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to this new subject and she is not afraid to hold back about her concerns as to how she thinks it could be more harm than good. I know I’m biased but I think you’ll be blown away by her thoughts on this less talked about new subject in the new curriculum. Rozz has also shared some links and resources, which you can find here:

* The little guide to teachers of ethical education https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/bs/teach/teaching-materials/little-guide-teachers-ethical-education

* Primary Religious Education-a new approach (Conceptual enquiry in Primary RE) by Clive Erricker( book)

* Teaching Religious Education by Julian Stern (book)

* Mastering Primary Religious Education by Maria James and Julian Stern (book)

* Educate Together’s Summer EPV course on Conceptual Enquiry based approach in Ethical Education

In this episode, I explore the FORSA strike of school secretaries and caretakers, the glue of Irish schools. For over a century, their work has been underpaid, under-recognised, and taken for granted. Now, as they fight for pensions and parity, schools are left in vulnerable positions: keep schools open and potentially undermine the strike, or close them and face being the front page headline in the national media.

From the long, neglected history of these roles, to the government’s last-minute panic, to INTO’s vague advice and the silence of management bodies, this strike exposes how fragile schools really are. And the truth is uncomfortable: by keeping things running, many may have already become SCABS.

Patrick Jackson is the CEO and Founder of Picker Pals World. The story goes that Patrick was walking his dog when he came across a seagull caught around the neck in some discarded fishing line. He managed to free the distressed bird. The very next day, in the same place, he found a litter picker-upper. Patrick started litter picking. Every day.

Join me as I chat to Patrick about Picker Pals, the environment and how you can get involved in Picker Pals for your school. It’s not only one of the best and easiest things you could do, it might be one of the most important.

 I've been writing about religious control of schools for well over a decade now, and I found that people tend to throw the same arguments out to me every time I talk about it. And there's a lot and lots of different arguments out there. The most common of which I think. And I could be wrong on this one, but the one that I'm hearing most of all these days is the argument that parents want Catholic schools, to which I'm always wondering what parents are they talking about because I'm a parent and I know lots of parents who don't want their children being being formed in a faith that isn't theirs.

But that is not what I'm going to be talking about in this podcast, because another argument that I've heard and it gets thrown around, is Catholic schools internationally. And they often say that Catholic schools in England are well very sought after so we shouldn’t lose Catholic schools in Ireland.

We often hear the argument that the Church is determined to keep its grip on education. But if the sacraments were removed from the school day and shifted to after-school parish programmes, I’d argue the Catholic Church wouldn’t be the ones who’d lose out the most.

There are, after all, a lot of people with a vested interest in keeping things just as they are.

In this episode I explore who the real losers might be during Communion Season and then shift into another theory as to why divestment and reconfiguration can’t work

As educators, I wonder do we think much about the research that is done about education. I spoke with Paula Korsnakova and Eliane Segers from the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) to talk about educational research, with a focus on reading from digital devices.

The following links may be useful if you'd like to learn more:

• https://www.iea.nl/publications/teacher-resources/teaching-reading-comprehension-digital-world : Link to the new volume of Research for Educators on digital reading
• https://www.iea.nl/publications/iea-teachers-snippet/digital-reading-comp : Link to the new Teacher Snippet connected to the new book
• And if you think these would be handy for listeners too:
• https://www.iea.nl/publications/iea-teacher-snippets : General Teacher Snippets page
• https://www.iea.nl/publications/iea-teachers-snippets/iea-research-educators-more-book-series : General Research for Educators book series page
• 
  

With the new MFL curriculum coming up, I thought I'd speak to someone who knows a thing or two about teaching languages. Róisín Brady from LanguageNut joined me to explain how she thinks the curriculum is going to work out.

Find more: http://languagenut.com/

In this episode, I explore the issue of underfunding in Irish primary schools, using the example of Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden, Dublin, which announced it would operate remotely due to financial constraints. I delve into the history and structure of funding for primary schools, highlighting how the Department of Education's capitation grants have not kept pace with rising costs, such as electricity, gas, and wages. As usual I critique the patronage system and propose that the Department of Education should be directly responsible for the financial management of schools to address these ongoing challenges.

All shownotes and data available on: https://simonmlewis.medium.com/a-school-may-have-to-close-due-to-lack-of-funding-how-has-it-come-to-this-9392b568977b

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• 00:43 Case Study: Sacred Heart Junior National School
• 03:01 Funding Challenges in Irish Primary Schools
• 03:48 Detailed Analysis of School Funding
• 06:31 Impact of Rising Costs on Schools
• 09:29 Historical Context and Comparisons
• 27:51 Proposed Solutions and Conclusion