Teachers live in permanent fear of their shortcomings being discoveredThe Secret Teacher: In front of 20-something pairs of eyes, very little goes unnoticedTue Sep 21 2021 - 00:00
We have no business debating the need to wear masks in schoolThe Secret Teacher: It is irresponsible to offer our own viewsTue Sep 7 2021 - 00:00
What happens when you set your class a 30-day homework challenge?The Secret Teacher: I have never covered more academic work in a month with a classTue May 25 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Must we go back to State exams as we know them next year?We have here a real opportunity to conduct proper reformTue May 11 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: What makes 21st-century students tick?We can’t expect students to be happy with what we catch and feed them any moreTue Apr 27 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: It is okay not to have the answerWe’re living through a prime opportunity for growth and learningTue Apr 13 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Labelling students is an appalling lack of professionalismThe Secret Teacher: Upon seeing the name, not the work, I’ve heard colleagues exclaim ‘oh, he’s a D’Tue Mar 23 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: This year’s Leaving Certs are the hardest workers we’ve ever knownEnforced distancing has served the students who want to learn well in many waysTue Mar 2 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: I envy the breakfasts I see being delivered during 9am classBizarrely, it seems easier to get children into school than on an online classTue Feb 16 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: This is not the time to limit ourselves to online traditional schoolTruly fantastic interactions occur if teachers are brave enough to experiment with the technologyTue Feb 2 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Our belief that Leaving Cert is exemplary is at dizzying heightsA hybrid plan is no plan when it comes to school closureTue Jan 19 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Students have grown in new and unexpected waysResilience, gratitude and understanding – we have a cohort unlike any beforeTue Jan 5 2021 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: We hold all the power when it comes to school reportsPoorly judged comments can lead to serious disappointment for studentsTue Dec 15 2020 - 00:00
Teaching in Covid-era: Students are now listening, engaged as classmates sit a metre awaySecret teacher: Silence in classrooms this year is of the most productive kind with an unnerving aura of tuned-in-nessTue Dec 1 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: How pupils feel back in school may surpriseBad seat allocation and lockerless burden of schoolbag: we should gather experience dataTue Nov 17 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: What’s the point of punishing students who won’t do their work?Covid-19 reminds us teaching should be about encouraging and inspiring not coercionTue Nov 3 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Pandemic pressures have hardened us to our bashersWe have bigger things to worry about, as absences from class create unsettlednessTue Oct 13 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: My students’ capacity to socially distance is worryingly low10 important lockdown lessons I’ve learnedTue Sep 29 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Grading the Leaving Cert class of 2020 was my toughest ever taskThere will be students who will officially learn that they were considered bottom of the classSun Sep 6 2020 - 09:50
The Secret Teacher: I’m genuinely petrified we aren’t properly preparedTeachers risk being the real casualty here … we’re under strain with the lack of rehearsals and little empathyTue Sep 1 2020 - 00:00
There’s absolutely no anonymity in this year’s Leaving CertThe Secret Teacher: Our transformation from lowly teachers to ‘assessors’ is officialMon May 25 2020 - 09:57
The Secret Teacher: Young people suffer as school rites of passage disappearIt isn’t like a funeral but, on so many levels, it isn’t unlike one eitherTue May 5 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Too many students are failing the coronavirus testWe need to do as we are asked – whether we like what we are hearing or notTue Apr 21 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Giving students full marks for cancelled tests isn’t fairStudents who differed vastly over the last 5½ years are suddenly now equalTue Apr 7 2020 - 00:27
‘See you in September,’ say some cheery colleaguesThe Secret Teacher: People need to ‘get’ the gravity of the situation, and soonMon Mar 16 2020 - 10:40
The Secret Teacher: Do we really need a longer school year? Give me a breakHas it occurred to commentators that, educationally, the school calendar actually works?Tue Mar 10 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Lots of homework is left undone because parents aren’t strict enoughWhat would be wrong with both parents and teachers making rewards greater?Tue Feb 25 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Our State exams are far too open to tweaking and manipulation’Students deserve total transparency: what they achieve should be the result they getTue Feb 11 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Social media contact with students is an absolute no-go area’Many teachers still leave themselves wide open to an array of safeguarding problemsTue Jan 21 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Rising tide of anxiety infiltrating our classrooms’In 2020 anxiety and homelessness must stop becoming the norm in schoolsTue Jan 7 2020 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Should we allow teachers have their own child in class?We strive to treat our pupils equally. Bringing a parent-child dynamic into the classroom compromises thatTue Dec 10 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Desperately seeking a Junior Cycle sample paperThird years are preparing for the first-ever exams in a range of subjects so why are we only seeing the first sample papers now?Tue Nov 26 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Sure, your woman can’t teach, everyone knows that’In every school there are ones you definitely don’t want to see on your roll bookTue Nov 12 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: The public stands by our nurses. But why not teachers?In school I’m surrounded by people and yet I truly feel I have nobodyTue Oct 22 2019 - 09:38
The Secret Teacher: Our obsession with wellbeing risks making it taboo to be okayPeople are becoming so greedy about their own wellbeing that they lose sight of what’s happening to othersTue Oct 8 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: I’m all for promoting student voice (so long as there’s a mute button)The old adage of having one mouth and two ears and using them in proportion should applyTue Sep 24 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Seeking special treatmentTo my fellow teachers: please don’t pull rank. We desperately need solidarityTue Sep 10 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Little wonder people have a go at us over our summer break’I often wonder how my pupils will have changed over the holidaysTue Aug 27 2019 - 00:00
An open letter to this year’s Leaving Cert studentsThe Secret Teacher: Your grades are not a reflection of who you are as a personTue Jun 4 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Sport should never come at a cost to a child’s school workExtra-curricular work is invaluable, but too much can affect pupils’ overall wellbeingTue May 14 2019 - 16:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘People just love having a go at us’Many other professions envy the fact that we get so much media attention at EasterTue Apr 23 2019 - 00:00
Classroom humiliation is the last thing a secondary student needsThe Secret Teacher: Parents need to alert us if their child is having a tough timeTue Apr 9 2019 - 00:00
Lesson plans are easy – until 30 students get at themThe Secret Teacher: The classroom is no place for control freaksTue Mar 26 2019 - 00:00
The best things about teaching? For some it’s June, July and AugustSecret Teacher: Students can easily tell devoted from disengaged teachersTue Mar 12 2019 - 00:00
Curriculum reform is like an Ikea flat pack without instructionsSecret Teacher: We feel increasingly insecure about what we are meant to be doingTue Feb 26 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘Staff slovenliness is nurtured by principals afraid to show who’s boss’The secrets of effective school leadership for dummiesTue Feb 12 2019 - 00:00
Secret Teacher: ‘I’m privy to parents’ frank remarks on their children’s career choices’Parents need to allow enough freedom for independence but enough control to prevent disasterTue Jan 29 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: Watered-down Junior Cycle is sinking the shipWe knew it was trouble when ‘reform’ meant baby, bathwater and tub were thrown outTue Jan 15 2019 - 00:00
The Secret Teacher: ‘We’re considered well-to-do, but many of us are financially burdened’Most teachers do not have the stomach to go into battle and fight for better conditionsTue Dec 18 2018 - 00:00
‘Pupils are increasingly unwilling to learn anything off by heart’The Secret Teacher: It is difficult to keep students interested if it involves waitingTue Dec 4 2018 - 00:00