Secret Teacher: Let 2021 be the year we binned the Leaving Cert

"I’d still like to point out before the festive season is truly over that our Department of Education has been a Bad Santa this year."

Photo: Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

I don’t want a lot for Christmas. Sincerely, there’s just one thing I need. Department of Education make my wish come true – bin the Leaving and stop making hasty decisions for my school.

The next Irish chart-topper? I think not. Nonetheless, I’d like to register a few complaints before this festive season is officially over. Yes, this is me having a strop in my Christmas pyjamas, full of turkey sandwiches and smelly cheese.

Our Department of Education has been a Bad Santa this year. Why? Because Santa is famous for listening to every child, but our department treats all situations like they’re the same. We all receive the same decrees from Dublin, about how to conduct ourselves and make decisions for our community.

Bad Santa – one size does not fit all, and you need to start loosening your hold on us from afar. The case in Claremorris this December was a truly shocking example of your inability to care for every school on an individual basis. You forced that school to re-open despite a dozen cases, overturning a sound decision made by their board on health and safety grounds. That school knew you were wrong. Their community and the rest of the country knew you were wrong. You’ll always fall short when you deal with every school from a cool distance.

Now we find ourselves being told that we will all return to school on January 11 despite a new strain that is, in our Taoiseach’s words ‘spreading at a rate that has surpassed the most pessimistic models available to us.’ Our Taoiseach tells us there has been a 61% increase on the previous week. The truth is, we don’t know what’s going to happen. Department of Education, this situation is serious, and we have the highest numbers ever experienced. So why have you allowed a fixed date to be communicated to all schools?

Sadly, it’s just more of the same. Too often this year, schools gained their information from the media before it was communicated via the Department. Schools were left hanging during lockdown with no real guidance on distance learning. Teachers bore the brunt of the blame. Then they were left hanging over the summer, leaving principals in a state of unknowing until as late as August about what September should look like. Now, we are being called back to work into a situation we don’t know enough about to control. You assure us that the extra days before the return date will provide protection. Why are we in such a hurry?

I only hope you have the guts and the commitment to your schools to speak up before that return date if things continue to deteriorate. I really wish I had that confidence in you, but I’ve been disappointed one time to many. This is a new strain. I don’t feel safe going to work until I see robust evidence that you can’t possibly provide yet. It doesn’t help that you have previously forced affected schools to open despite their concerns.

I would feel much more comfortable if you could give some autonomy to school communities, handing control over to counties as is done in numerous successful systems of education in Europe. The coronavirus has shown us that your system doesn’t work – due to your lack of flexibility and imagination – two magic ingredients when it comes to education.

And while I’m at it, and still have my stretchy pants on, I don’t understand why we couldn’t finish school on the Friday before Christmas, despite surging numbers. I had no interest in an early finish before numbers started to escalate. But the day after flights from the UK were halted, and treasured Christmas plans were cancelled for many of my loved ones, we all went to school. Why on earth did we all turn up after the final weekend of term, possibly putting people’s lives at risk? Is education a babysitting job? Would you admit, in retrospect, that it was a bad idea? You open and close bars, shops, and restaurants like tins of biscuits but not schools. You tell us they are safe. How do you know that those final days of school didn’t result in unnecessary sickness and death? Can you prove they were safe?

Are you worried about the Leaving Cert exam? Is that it? Is that why you want all students back in school so quickly? Is it worth that level of protection? At what cost? Bad Santa, we were forced to do things differently for the Leaving last year. We survived it. Can we please do things differently from now on? But better. Can we wait and see how the numbers go and ensure the people of Ireland that they’ll return to schools when it is safe to do so and not beforehand? Can we also use this difficult time to create a real Leaving Cert that doesn’t result in such anxiety? Can we provide each school with real support? Can you stop treating schools like they’re on your naughty list? Can you trust principals to know what is needed and what is best for their students and their wider community? Can you allow schools to close if they feel they need to do so? Can you please listen.

Bad Santa make my wish come true.

All I want for Christmas is something completely, entirely, uniquely, and bravely new.