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TO DESCRIBE THE life of second level education as hectic is an understatement. Teaching was once said to be a vocation, I like to think of teaching as a profession of great importance. I struggle to think of any other profession which has a greater impact upon the lives of children. As a colleague recently said to me, we are in the business of educating children and unfortunately that business has increasingly come under threat in recent years.
The average teacher (and I use that term very loosely here) at second level works 22 hours a week, 167 days a year spread over three terms. To clarify, this is what second level teachers are paid for and to further shatter the myth, the pay for 167 days contact time at 22 hours per week is paid over a 12 month period. Now that that chestnut has been thoroughly roasted let’s discuss an average teacher’s working day and week and the challenges that entails.
An average teacher will have roughly 33 contact class periods per week in which they are expected to deliver the curriculum of their chosen subject. These curricula are laid down by the Department of Education and Science and there are detailed learning outcomes, teaching strategies, aims, objectives and many other wonderful aspirations which are designed to help the children of the nation obtain the best possible future. The reality is far removed from the fantasy.
Teachers are paid to deliver curricula that are cumbersome, ill defined and often do not serve the needs of the students. The delivery and implementation of the recent Project Maths scheme is just one example of the unplanned and haphazard approach to education in Ireland today. The discussions and plans for the proposed Junior Cycle reform are also frightening and I shudder to consider what will emerge from the mind of the minister next. Thirty-three class periods is the basic minimum of a teachers working life.
The challenges associated with teaching a class in any of Ireland’s second level schools deserves a dissertation all of its own. A class teacher is expected to manage, monitor and control the behaviour of increasingly larger class sizes due to budgetary cuts. While managing a class of 30 adolescents is do-able it is difficult, especially considering the challenges of delivering the curriculum, dealing with differentiation in the classroom, learning difficulties of some students, embedding key skills, co-operative learning (group work), sharing learning outcomes and aims, assessment for learning and homework. All in 40 minutes. Nine times a day. Five days a week. On average.
None of this includes the hours, upon hours of preparation time. Detailing schemes of work and preparing handouts, notes and basic educational material that every student not only needs but deserves. Simple things like organising a class room to make it a comfortable and accessible learning environment and to promote teaching and learning takes more than a few hours a week, it takes months or years to get right.
The correction and assessment of homework, which is probably the most important part of the job, takes hours a week. Children and young adults only learn through their mistakes and rely on the feedback from their teachers.
Then there are the extra-curricular activities that many teachers engage in, in their own free time. This may often entail washing jerseys for a team or travelling great distances with a debate or quiz team, staying after hours to prepare for a music event or organise field trips. This is all happening right now in Ireland. This work goes on the length and breadth of the country – largely unnoticed – just like the challenges that the teaching profession are now enduring.
Arguably the most pressing challenges facing the Irish education system at the moment are the erosion of the status of the profession and the lack of finance.
Firstly, teaching is no longer an attractive profession for young Irish students. The illusion of all the holidays and the ‘handy’ life has been thoroughly shattered. The inept nature of the teacher unions and the complete lack of understanding of successive ministers and governments in terms of the basic needs and provisions of Irish education are staggering.
Secondly, increased class sizes, a freeze on recruitment and the lack of adequate professional oversight has, I fear, irreparably damaged the morale of many within education. A professional body was formed to regulate and run the teaching profession, financed by teachers, many of whom have yet to see the benefits of this organisation.
The biggest problem is the public perception of the teaching profession. The “excessive” holidays that teachers “enjoy” is a contentious issue for many people and is a complex issue all of its own and requires a far greater discussion. The other target is the ‘job for life’ argument. This is absolutely ludicrous. There are thousands of teachers working in Ireland today with little or no security of tenure in their employment and no prospects of this changing in the near future. Education is the backbone of any economy and sadly the lack of adequate investment in the futures of Irish children is both short-sighted and irresponsible.
With all this in mind, I hear you ask, why do you teach? The simple answer is I, like many of my colleagues, know nothing else but the need and the desire to help.
From my own perspective there, is nothing better than being there in the moment when a child of 15 or 18 opens their Junior or Leaving Certificate results. To see that unconstrained and pure joy, in that moment, makes everything worthwhile. It’s not the student who gets the A, because you maybe always hoped he/she would, it’s the lad who got the C, the lad who worked so hard and struggled through every lesson, assignment and exam and drank in your every recommendation and when there was nothing left to give achieved the seemingly impossible.
That is job satisfaction. That is why I teach. That is what gives me hope.
Gerry Sutton has been a teacher at second level for 11 years with a Master’s and PhD in History.
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I was referred for counselling last April, still waiting. I’ve managed to get myself off opioids after taking them for four years, almost off the anti depressants after twenty years. I asked for help, you wouldn’t want to hold your breath, there is no point the medical council threatening doctors to act unless the necessary supports are available
@Ken Adams: well done for getting off opioids not an easy ride but a sensible one. I agree the services are bismal for thos seeking addiction services.
@Ken Adams: You are one of the strongest people in the population to do that alone. Great things are in your future Ken. You can achieve anything after climbing over that adversity.
Sure, there are a lot of people addicted to these medications but there are also a LOT of genuine patients out there who actually need them and some of you are suggesting “meditation” please do one. Have you ever tried to meditate your way through a traumatic flashback? This doesn’t work. It is simply not feasible. Can we please have medical marijuana and then we will talk.
@2shy: I agree, people shouting about meditation, it really doesn’t work for everyone. Having C-PTSD, I can’t even close my eyes during the day, the risk of dissociation is too high.
And yes sometimes especially at terrible anniversaries I have to be prescribed benzos for a small period of time. My doctor wouldn’t give them to me if she taught my symptoms were minor.
@ʎɥʇɹɐƆɔW ˙ſ: stay strong. I applaud your courage. I practice meditation, and mindfulness, gratitude, exercise etc etc etc. I still need a xanax every now and then to get me past certain moments.
I would hope that the baby isn’t thrown out with the bathwater here so to speak. These medications are dangerously addictive but they have their place. I’m so careful with my usage for fear of becoming addicted but I’d choose addiction over suffering that trauma over and over in my mind.
Stoic Savage said it first. People demand benzodiazepines. Many people will change doctors to get them. Yes, mindfulness works, but requires discipline and patience. Certain antidepressants work as well to help sleep but have side effects and don’t feel as pleasant. Blood pressure medication will help with panic episodes with the same concerns- side effects and less pleasant. People like the effects of benzodiazepines, a pint in a pill. It’s the quick fix that creates a monster.
@Rathminder: 5HTP is one of the best natural anti anxiety tablets with minimal side effects..
To take them away you must replace with something else , ie meditation , psychotherapy . But that’s not available readily , there’s very little support . So mostly GP s and patients are doing the best they can .
Prescribe meditation and mindfulness. It’s free and natural. Can be done any time, anywhere once you get the hang of it.
Can be useful in certain cases over a short period. Difficult for GP’s in certain cases.
Ive been taking them for years and they never affected zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Ruining lives
@STOIC SAVAGE: Patients are demanding the benzodiazepines.
@Chin Feeyin: stop the press… Addicts are demanding what they’re addicted to… Who’d have thought
@Alan Wright: Thay wont be able to sell them for their Smack.
@Derek Moean: judgemental and lazy stereotype
Are doctors prescribing these meds for fun or is there a hidden epidemic of anxiety / depression / chronic fatigue / pain etc that is driving demand.
There is a newly defined immune disease that fits the bill : Mast Cell Activation Syndrome ICD10 D89.40.
Studies by University of Bonn have estimated prevalence in Western countries in the 15-20% range. Here is a video with many refs.
Doctors in Ireland have no training on this disease, it is too new. In medical school GPs get 5 minutes on Mast Cells and are told they don’t go wrong by themselves except for rare Mastocytosis and very rare and extremely fatal Mast Cell Leukemia
@Gavin Tobin: Illness is being driven by man made chemicals like isocyanates, hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon exhausts, artificial fragrances, sulphite preservatives, glutamic acid flavors enhancers, colorants and many more.
Problem is simple. What we eat, drink and breath is making us sick at an unimaginable scale and it is staring us in the face.
@Gavin Tobin:
Some – perhaps – but not all.
If you want something on an imaginable scale go back 100 years to the ‘Spanish Flue or try another old mass killer – TB .
People are living longer and healthier on the whole than any time past.
@Michael Kavanagh: What you say is true but longivity has peaked for example in the USA and is now on the decline. Will this happen elsewhere?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/us-life-expectancy-has-been-declining-heres-why.html
MCAS is a chronic disease and somewhat insideous in a population. To be clear many of the theorised 1 in 6 that may already have MCAS are already sick and are already clogging up our health services with cancers, CV disease, mental health issues and more. So if University of Bonn studies are correct MCAS may already dwarf TB & Spanish Flu.
The same should be done with Statins.
@Dave Doyle: Agree 100%
ADs, pain meds & sleeping tablets actually do something for patient’s who likely have something wrong.
Statins are just a con, mass medication of a population for little or no benefit. How did we get to this?
@Gavin Tobin: Statins have a huge evidence base. NNT to prevent 1 CV event in 10 years is 25 for those with lower risk factors, 14 for higher risk factors (primary prevention) and the numbers are better for secondary prevention (NNT 12-34). You’re talking rubbish. Ref: NICE and SIGN guidelines.
@Tom Tom: You are cherry picking NNT of 25 is for patients who ALREADY have heart disease.
“Treating 1,000 middle-aged men… with pravastatin for 5 years will result in 20 fewer nonfatal myocardial infarctions, 7 fewer deaths from cardiovascular causes, and 2 fewer deaths from other causes’: 111 men need to take this drug for 5 years to prevent 1 death; 110 of these men will not benefit. ‘Number needed to treat’ is much easier to explain to patients than relative and absolute risk, and clearly shows also that most patients taking preventive drugs such as statins and antihypertensives (for high blood pressure) will not gain from years or even decades of taking these drugs, and are far more likely to experience side effects than avoid death from a heart attack”
Many of you don’t know that prescribing all sorts of medications like antidepressants etc. is a very good business. GP gets percentage from each prescription. Also it’s a multi billion industry, don’t be so naive please. Only a small percentage of the patients really need those medications. GPs are treating their patients like plastic toys which are broken and needs to be fixed quickly, in reality they don’t care a single bit what is the real problem and only looking at the symptoms which is not always accurate.
@Peter Bond:
1. The best treatment for depression/anxiety of mild to moderate severity is psychology (CBT). However, getting access to primary care psychology is difficult if not impossible in many parts of the country.
2. Some patients refuse to engage with psychology services or to wait the lenght of time required to see a psychologist.
3. Depression is a massive risk factor for suicide. Treating depression (yes with antidepressants) drastically reduces risk of suicide
4. GPs can’t be GPs, social workers, psychologists, life coaches, counsellors etc all at once ( in a 10-15min consult slot). GPs are dependent on these services being made available to them – which they are largely not, or the waiting lists are so long they are of no use
5. We operate in an extremely litigious system. If a patient presents to a GP with depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and the GP doesnt prescribe antidepressants and refers to psychology and the patient completes suicide while on the waiting list. Who will get the blame and be (likely sucessfully) sued? – yes the GP.
GPs operate as best they can within a rotten system with totally inadequate supports.
@Damon16: No the best treatment is finding the underlying cause of the depression/anxiety and eliminating it.
@Peter Bond: GPs do not get “a percentage” or any benefits whatsoever from a prescription. In the unlikely event that your GP is treating you like a plastic toy you are free to change GPs
@Ger Twomey: When I say they get paid from your prescription I know exactly what I am talking about but if you prefer to think the you do, you are free to do so. You may not gonna believe me but I was taught to use that grey substance which majority of the humans have in their heads before making any decisions so i am aware that changing a GP is possible nowadays. You should probably read my comment more attentively.
@Alan Wright: you’ll know them,they’ll be all over 65
Meditation and mindfulness can be self taught. It is naturally in us but we let modern living over ride our instincts for it. The conscious practicing of it is thousands of years old but let’s be honest, popping pills is much easier and I presume free if you’re over 65.
@Thomas Devlin: I’m 65 and have never been on these tablets.
@Charles Coughlan: I’m 26 and ive never taken panadol. We must be genetic freaks ?!
In 1966 the Sunday Independent reported that young suburban mothers and people living in ‘cramped quarters in town’ were resorting to tranquillisers and sleeping pills to help them cope with loneliness. Four years later the Minister for Health, Erskine Childers said ‘one in every 10 people’ went to sleep under the influence of drugs and he told the Mental Health Association of Ireland that there would be an inquiry into the extent to which tranquilliser and sleeping tablets were being prescribed and consumed. Then, in 1972, it was reported that 17 per cent of prescriptions to medical cardholders in the area covered by the Eastern Health Board were for tranquillisers, sleeping pills and anti-depressants. Pharmacists reckoned that the scale of ‘mild drug use’ was somewhere between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of total prescriptions; an increase of around one-third over the previous three years. In 1977, the Irish Psychological Association issued a statement saying the greatest problem being encountered by psychologists was the use of sedatives and tranquillisers and criticised the ‘tendency of the medical profession to load people with drugs’. The following year the Department of Health said the Irish consumed more sleeping pills and sedatives per capita than any other European country and announced that prescription rates would be surveyed. Nearly five years later use of the tranquilliser drug diazepam, commonly known as valium or‘mothers little helpers’, was estimated to have increased by 53 per cent.
See ‘Love’s Betrayal: the Decline of Catholicism and Rise of New Religions in Ireland’, page 194
Not that long ago in Ireland GPs were prescribing antibiotics for the flu which is simply ridiculous, antibiotics do not work on flu. Start educating people first and we might gonna get rid of the majority of the problems.
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