Irish Examiner view: Schools are fighting an uphill battle
Many schools cannot manage the necessary inclusion policies for children with disabilities — especially those in the primary school sector. Picture: iStock
Ireland is a rich country. Alongside it, we like to paint ourselves as an egalitarian, caring, and fair-minded society, but there are times when you have to wonder if the reality is anywhere close to those lofty ideals.
On Thursday, the Oireachtas education committee was told how many schools cannot manage the necessary inclusion policies for children with disabilities — especially those in the primary school sector.
The Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) addressed the committee yesterday, and what it said was both shocking and revelatory.
Its representatives revealed that school leaders and special education teams are fighting an uphill battle “trying to stretch finite resources across growing and increasingly complex needs”.
The IPPN also highlighted the fact that the Department of Education’s traditional “resource allocation models” are driven by largely predetermined budgetary levels, instead of assessing schools’ needs according to their individual and unique nature.
Back in January, the IPPN surveyed school leaders about the reality of the provision of additional educational supports. The results, it reported, were “stark”.
Some 80% maintained that their allocation of special education teacher hours was insufficient, while 60% said the provision of special needs assistants wasn’t matching identified care needs.
Worse again, 83% said there are children in their schools who require special education teacher support but cannot access it, and a staggering 85% said the same situation pertained with special needs assistant support.
The cumulative effect is that schools are regularly being forced into making impossible decisions about prioritisation; this makes the ideal of inclusion becoming a lived reality something of a nonsense.
Two other teaching bodies, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals and the National Principal’s Forum added their weight to the argument that schools must have the staffing, funding, and expertise to make inclusion a reality rather than the delusion it currently is.
We are good at talking the talk in Ireland. Not so good, perhaps, at walking the walk.
Increases to the on-the-spot fines applicable to those responsible for littering and dog fouling are very welcome.
But the announcement from circular economy minister Alan Dillon that the increase in fines from €100 to €250 will go towards enforcement seems to suggest there is cart-before-horse situation extant with regard to these issues.
It is all very well for the minister to suggest that the increased fines will support cleaner, safer communities across the country. But the enforcement of the existing laws has been patently lacklustre, with local authorities regularly reporting minimal activity in this area. While there are litter wardens in all major urban areas, their effectiveness is very questionable.
Certainly, the authorities can claim that since the anti-dumping initiative was enacted in 2017, some 27,000 tonnes of waste have been removed nationwide, but it seems completely inadequate to simply fine those who litter mindlessly or allow their dogs to foul with impunity.
Mr Dillion’s announcement this week will not have found many objections, but most citizens will have quizzed why it is that the existing laws have been so fundamentally ineffectual.
The Government’s anti-dumping initiative is, without doubt, a good thing, and the minister’s declaration that 200 such projects nationwide will receive support this year is unquestionably positive.
This programme enables local authorities to draw down support for actions including clean-ups, CCTV monitoring, public awareness programmes ... and enforcement initiatives.
Surely, one of the most important of those would be to have active wardens visibly patrolling the streets to the point where people know that if they litter or allow their dogs to foul the streets, they will be caught and fined.
This is an altogether different proposition from identifying and criminalising those engaged in large-scale illegal dumping operations, and might seem piffling to many. It is not, and those indifferent to the wellbeing of their local environment have to realise there is a price to be paid for that apathy.
The achievement of Cork amateur golfer David Howard in qualifying for the forthcoming British Open at Royal Birkdale is one of the most inspiring sports stories of the year thus far.
Howard, who is 27 and plays out of the Fota Island course, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of seven, and was one of five players to qualify at Dundonald Links in Scotland earlier this week, overcoming several seasoned tour pros in the process.
Between digestive enzymes, modulators, and vitamins, he has to take some 30 tablets daily to look after his health and he recently quit his full-time job as a mechanic to follow his golfing dreams.
As the winner of the East of Ireland Championship at Baltray last year and having finished second to Patrick Keeling in the Irish Amateur Championship at Seapoint in May, he is a proven links golf performer, although only currently placed in 1,456th in the world amateur rankings.
As an ambassador for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, Howard’s health issues have long been well known, but he will now join six other Irish players in the field at Birkdale, including Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Tom McKibbon, and fellow amateur Stuart Grehan.
He has never before been to a British Open — not even as a spectator — but he will tee up with some of the world’s biggest golfing names as he seeks to place himself in golf lore.
His achievement in even making the starting line-up at the Stockport venue is a massive one, even withstanding his long-term illness. His progress at Birkdale will be followed with considerable interest.
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