Members of the Dáil Committee on Education risked being accused of taking a called junket after a recent trip to Australia. So, was it all fun and no work? The Green Party's Paul Gogarty kept a diary . . .
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 3RD
As I rise for the red-eye flight to Manchester on the first leg of a 28-hour odyssey to Sydney, I have to wonder if this junket is worth it. "Stay at home for the midterm," my press officer Fintan told me. "Be with your wife!" I usually do the opposite of what Fintan advises, so here I am.
We're going to examine the Australian school system to see if we can learn anything useful for Ireland. They claim they have some novel ideas about discipline, special needs, educating young offenders and sports in schools. The delegation consists of chairperson Michael Moynihan TD, Tom McEllistrim TD and myself, accompanied by Richard Manley from the civil service. I'm looking forward to plenty of education and a spell on Bondi Beach.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5TH
(+11 hours Irish time)
We arrive in Sydney to be met by Anne Webster, the Irish Consul General in Sydney. Turns out she's Dick Roche's cousin. Anne is planning a party to bid farewell to her current posting, but I'm in no mood for planning parties now.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6TH
A rest and recovery day. This is the afternoon I'd earmarked for a bit of beach action, but I manage to sleep through it. While other members of the delegation manage to go for a ferry ride and wind up in an Irish pub, I get up with just enough time for a solitary climb up Sydney Tower.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 7TH
Woken by a phone call from the wife and the parliamentary work begins in earnest. The delegation visits the University of Sydney where Professor David Evans gives us an overview of special-needs education, while Dr Steve Georgakis outlines the training of teachers in physical education. Physical development and health education is a compulsory subject up to year 10 in Australia - it makes us look pretty lazy in comparison. However, despite all the sports training, great weather and outdoor activity, Australia has much higher obesity levels than Ireland. Funny that.
Dr Georgakis teaches a modified form of Gaelic football to 4th year students! That's why we keep seeing GAA jerseys on campus. During tea break, Tom McEllistrim spots a Kerry jersey outside the window and dashes down from the third floor to see if the owner is from Kerry North. Always on the campaign trail.
In the afternoon we meet Dr Jenni Shipp, manager of the international section of the NSW department of education and training, who talks us through the federal and state education systems. About 65 per cent of Australian schools are run by the state, with Catholic, other denominational and independent schools making up the remainder. In the State system, which is losing numbers to other sectors each year, there are no school boards of management. The non-teaching principal is the primary decision maker. The appointment of teachers is carried out by means of a regional body and resources are allocated to schools on the basis of need. One wonders if this system would even get to the discussion stage back home.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8TH
New South Wales is the cultural melting pot of Australia with a large number of immigrants of mainly Asian and European origin. We could learn a lot from their experience here. The approach they have taken is to continue to teach children their own language as a primary language and English as a second language. This maintains the link between the child, his parents and their ethnicity, and Australia.
The afternoon saw a visit by the delegation to the New South Wales parliament for a meeting with parliamentarians and a few minutes of question time. The NSW Parliament is affectionately known as "the Bear Pit" - last week a member of the National Party punched one of the ruling Labour ministers. His popularity rose to new highs in the polls. Michael Moynihan expresses alarm at my interest in the New South Wales model of parliamentary deliberations. The way the Dáil chamber is constructed you would have a bit of a climb before you got to hit someone. Interesting thought, mind . . .
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 9TH
Today we meet officials at the department of education and visit the Australian National University in Canberra. We hear about the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) system of student loans, which former minister for education Noel Dempsey briefly looked at in relation to third-level funding. While HECS has been a way of life for over a decade here, it looks like up to a third of former students will default on their loans, by leaving the country or simply disappearing off the radar.
The federal parliament is an impressive building and the delegation is invited to meet over lunch with the Australia/Ireland parliamentary group. We visit both houses, and I get a bit of a going over by my own shower for being a lone Green in the lower house. We're not represented here at all. In the Senate, however, there are a few of us. When the Green Party leader asks a question about whaling, the Liberal Party minister for the environment invokes the name of none other than our own Dick Roche TD to highlight the representations he had made about this issue at the highest levels. What a way to dodge a question and play to the Irish gallery!
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10TH
Back in Sydney. I finally get a bit of shopping done and a few presents for my wife. I've spent about $200 (€125) on phone calls to her so far - she's been very specific about my shopping duties. In the afternoon, we go for a briefing on the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) curriculum and the sports unit at the NSW department of education and training. This paves the way for a visit to Fairvale Public School to look at physical education at primary level. Then, in what is arguably the highlight of the trip, the delegation visits Westfields Sports High School, one of a small number of sports schools in Australia. This one, under principal Phil Tucker, is arguably the best, combining high levels of sporting prowess with real academic achievement. The walls are covered with photographs of national and Olympic athletes from a vast variety of sports. All of this was done on a small budget. Ireland needs to set up a model sports school soon if we are ever to get back in the game - any game.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11TH
This morning we visit Edgeware School for young offenders and disruptive children in Sydney. Schools like these provide a halfway point between school and juvenile detention. Rather than locking kids up for an education in crime, schools like Edgeware take a student-centred approach to getting high-risk kids motivated for education or employment again. We are introduced to current and former pupils who attest to the way the school allows them to achieve their goals in life when the mainstream system has failed. Another area that Ireland seriously needs to look at.
HEADING HOME.
A very successful junket. We have learned a lot about ways that our education system could improve - we've also picked up on some of the strengths of Ireland's existing system. I needn't have worried about getting photographed waxing my board on Bondi or buying shirts on Sydney's Oxford Street. The Sunday papers were Gogarty-free. Maybe next time.
