Secret diary of an Irish teacher: School league tables are nothing short of toxic

I deeply object to their only measure of success being the students’ entry into one of our national universities.

I got my hair done last week. It was the first time in a while, so I went all out. I’ve long straight dark hair normally; I chopped it to a long bob and added some copper highlights. Big news. I arrived back in school feeling that terrible ‘new haircut’ awkwardness. A few colleagues acknowledged it from behind their masks. They observed the change rather than complimented it. That’s ok, I thought to myself. All I wanted was a change.

Then I entered the classroom.