Anseo.net - If I were the Minister for Education

After three months focused on special education, I recap debates on routes into special education teaching, SNA issues (including the 72-hour proposal), professional development and respect, special classes/schools, and flawed SET allocation models. I highlight how “choice” often means simply finding any available place, and argue placements must be explainable, reviewable and judged by children’s lived experience—learning, participation, attendance, wellbeing and belonging—rather than “a bum on a seat”. I outline disagreements about specialist provision versus full inclusion (including concerns about a New Brunswick-style model without supports), raise risks around diagnosis and proposed placement criteria, and conclude that a dedicated convention on special education and urgent, independent reviews of allocation and training are needed.The full report can be found here:Summary of Podcast00:00 Convention Kickoff00:57 Podcast Format Explained02:26 Special Education Recap05:35 Rethinking Choice08:37 Placements And Transitions13:46 Inclusion Debate19:21 Need For Bigger Forum20:51 Teacher Learning And Training23:49 Allocation Models Mess27:43 Diagnosis And Safeguards30:35 Minister Takeaways37:08 Closing Thanks This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of If I Were the Minister for Education, I speak with Aoife Hughes, a professional ADHD coach and educator, during ADHD Awareness Month. Aoife shares her story as a late-identified ADHD and autistic woman, her experiences in school and a 20-year teaching career shaped by anxiety, change, and burnout, and how she moved into ADHD coaching after training in the US. She explains ADHD coaching as life coaching through the lens of ADHD, using a strengths-based approach and partnership rather than prescribing strategies. We discuss barriers for neurodivergent teachers, missed ADHD in girls, masking as “bracing” and its impact on learning, and practical classroom supports like movement and thinking tools. Aoife questions tick-box “ADHD-friendly” labels and argues for whole-community neuro-affirming education grounded in neuroscience, and says that as minister she would train policymakers, school leaders, staff, parents and pupils on neurodivergence, trauma, disability, poverty and racism.* Website: Aoife Hughes Coaching* Newsletter Subscription link: https://learn-ahc.mykajabi.com/signup* ADHD Starter Kit for Parents: ADHD Support for Parents | Starter Kit - (adult one launching soon)* IG / FB @aoifehughescoaching* ADHD Webinar Series with Wexford Education Centre: April 2027: Welcome to Wexford Education Centre (2) - Welcome to Wexford Education Centre, Ireland00:00 Welcome and Podcast Intro01:48 Meet Aoife Hughes03:05 From Teaching to Coaching09:10 What Is ADHD Coaching13:45 Neurodivergent Teachers16:43 Masking and ADHD Girls25:02 Making Classrooms Neuroaffirming30:25 Do School Supports Help34:32 Beyond ADHD Friendly Labels37:32 Are Schools Fit for Purpose41:51 Minister for a Day43:21 Where to Find Aoife44:40 Final Reflections and Wrap This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of If I Were the Minister for Education, I speak with Ronan McGovern about ADHD and its impact in Irish primary and secondary schooling. Ronan outlines his education and career path from Dublin to accounting, King’s Inns, PwC New York and an MBA at Stanford, where a classmate identified ADHD traits and he later received a diagnosis at age 34. He reflects on being held back in school by inattention, note-taking difficulties, a need to move, and negative experiences including corporal punishment, while also recognising teachers who focused on him as an individual. Drawing on work with Stanford’s Neurodiversity Project, he discusses universal design, the overlooked creativity of neurodiverse people, and internships as a practical inclusion strategy. Ronan shares approaches that would have helped him learn Irish: video, rhythm and sound, plus explicit grammar and structure; and recommends voice-to-text supports and mindfulness, alongside early diagnosis and intervention.00:00 Welcome and Overview00:47 Meet Ronan McGovern01:42 Career Path to Stanford03:39 Late ADHD Diagnosis05:59 School Years Revisited10:23 Coping and Sensory Needs12:27 Universal Design in Schools14:22 Why Support Lags Behind16:23 Stanford Research Takeaways19:06 Creativity and Neurodiversity21:27 Famous ADHD Role Models22:35 Why Leaders Stay Quiet23:27 Famous Neurodiverse Founders24:36 Learning Irish With ADHD25:28 Teach Through Sound First26:26 Grammar Patterns Matter29:18 Book And Classroom Fixes30:55 Early Intervention In Schools32:07 If I Were Minister33:09 Tech Ideas For Classrooms35:00 Where To Follow And Wrap Up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I speak with Debbie O’Neill, principal of Scoil Eoin in Crumlin about Department-level proposals to remove diagnosis as a criterion for access to special classes and special schools, replacing it with a needs-based model relying on school-written reports assessed by an unnamed independent body. We discuss the context of a reported 257% rise in children requiring classroom support alongside only a 7% increase in SET hours since 2017, and the implications for resourcing systems linked to diagnosis (SERC). We compare international examples cited in documents (Portugal, New Zealand, Denmark and England), contrasting wraparound in-school clinical supports abroad with limited Irish provision, and warning of New Brunswick’s failed rapid inclusion approach. We outline actions for teachers and principals through unions and patrons, and long-term requirements including smaller class sizes and adequate clinical staffing.00:00 Podcast Intro00:33 Support Needs Surge01:47 Debbie Joins02:43 Removing Diagnosis05:18 How It Works Now06:24 New Needs Model09:34 Resource Reality Check11:37 SERC Allocation Risks13:50 Full Inclusion Push16:36 New Brunswick Fallout19:14 Portugal Done Right23:24 Wraparound Services Gap25:49 In School Therapy Myth29:00 Why Now Money Motive30:47 Inclusion Driven by Money33:04 Patrons Sold a Story34:20 UK Model Falling Apart35:27 Denmark Numbers and Resources38:26 New Zealand Framework Lessons41:52 What Teachers Can Do Now46:20 Making Inclusion Work Long Term49:56 Final Call to Action This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe

In this week’s podcast I focus on Budget 2027, outlining an alternative primary education budget and arguing that annual measures like capitation increases, extra teachers, and more SNAs prop up a flawed system rather than changing it. After summarising Sinn Féin’s proposals (additional teachers, special education staff, SNAs, higher capitation and allowances) and the Social Democrats’ plans (free education measures, lower ratios, counselling access, prefab phase-out, meals expansion), I propose a 15-year transformation towards a publicly managed system built around local education authorities, removing patron bodies. Key ideas include the State paying schools’ utilities, insurance, cleaning and procurement; moving to maximum class sizes; reforming school meals through localised, simplified, on-site preparation; embedding wraparound services in schools (counsellors, social workers, nurses, therapists) via expanded training; ensuring public capital spending creates public assets by increasing State ownership of school buildings; funding implementation of the primary school survey; piloting the model in one county; and properly paying all education staff while aiming for two adults per classroom.00:00 Welcome and Subscribe01:39 Budget 2027 Preview02:33 Beyond the Usual Budget Questions03:56 Opposition Education Pledges06:53 A 15 Year Transformation Plan07:38 Local Education Authorities Vision09:20 State Pays School Bills15:54 Fixing Class Size Rules20:02 Rethinking School Meals25:07 Rethinking School Meals26:11 Wraparound Support Teams28:41 Training the Workforce30:30 Who Owns School Buildings34:07 Funding Survey Changes37:13 Pilot Local Authorities40:04 Scaling the New Model43:09 Pay and Classroom Assistants44:15 Stop Piecemeal Fixes45:34 15 Year Vision Wrap UpmUjMTNT5FRnlz7moH8By This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe