ISSU NSE NATIONAL REPORT 2020-2021 T u a i r i s c C o i s t e G n ó n a n D a l t a í 2 0 2 0 - 2 0 2 1 CONTENTS C l á r Á b h a i r Introduction from President State Exams School Safety National Campaigns National Events Officer Reports National Working Group & Internal Group Reports Appendix: Press Releases INTRODUCTION C ú l r a What a year it has been. With Covid-19 we are the first NSE to never meet in-person, we have not been able to hold any in-person events and we have been doing all of this while facing one of the biggest challenges for students in the history of Ireland. And I must admit it - each and every one of the members of the NSE have handled this crisis with flying colours. In the last year we have seen the NSE catapult into the stratosphere in productivity and engagement - working day to day rather than month to month, meeting, working and fighting for your voice. Through this we have cemented the student voice as a central and equal stakeholder in education. We now have the same influence and access as any other stakeholder, but most importantly we have the relationships. We grew positive and collaborative relationships with all of the stakeholders, the political parties and the Department of Education. From this, the ISSU and the student voice is now held with the respect and esteem it deserves and has given us an edge in pushing our campaigns now and into the future. We have also no shied away from internal reform - we have revolutionised the internal working of the Union - uplifting Regional Officers and putting a focus on developing grassroots connections with individual students. We wrote an entirely new constitution - gave massive powers and new responsibilities to ISSU regions and created a more effective union. More than this we engaged more individual students face to face in the last year than we have ever done before - training 1,460 students on their councils, 557 students at regional councils and another 1,014 students across dozens of other events throughout the year, including 250 students at a members townhall to get their views on the state exams. This year we have also had over 80 working group members. INTRODUCTION C ú l r a Through surveys and messages we worked with well over 35,000 students to represent their views. Our Communications team, Secretariat and NSE worked day in and day out to answer all of the hundreds of questions through emails, Instagram and on the phone helping students through this crazy time. What we are most proud of (and what I hope is evident from this report) is that we have spent this year delivering real change for students. We put a focus on not playing a PR game, but instead focusing on delivering changes and progress to strengthen the student voice and make life better for our members at the grassroots We cannot fit everything into one report and there is still work being done - all of our officers are still working until July 10th finishing projects and solidifying gains. But from what we have included you can see the work that has been done to date. In this last year we have given everything, many late nights, thousands of hours and incalculable effort. And it has shown the most growth, the most change, the best grassroots engagement and the best year for student voice we have ever seen. I would like to thank the 12 NSE officers, each of the 44 Regional Officers, our forever steady staff members Rob O'Donnell, Suzanne Coombs and Alison Dervan, the Monitoring Committee and the over 80 students who make up our national working groups. Most importantly - I have to thank you, the student. We are here to represent you and work each day to improve your life and protect your voice. I hope you feel we have done right by you and delivered on our promises. You are the central pillar of everything we do and I hope you feel that you can make change - that you too can be part of something bigger and create a better place for students in Ireland. It’s not easy, it is very, very difficult and challenging; but anything worth fighting for is never simple. Reuban Murray, ISSU Uachtarán (President) NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS F e a c h t a i s N á i s i ú n t a STATE EXAMS 2021 / NA SCRÚDUITHE STÁIT 2021 In November of 2020 Minister Norma Foley formed the Advisory Group on the 2021 State Exams. This was a group of education stakeholders who met to discuss and share views about the best step forward for the exams. ISSU Uachtarán Reuban Murray and Education Officer Alicia O’Sullivan sat on the Group as the representatives of students. Over Christmas 2020 we submitted our first submission on how the state exams should run (this was before there was a consideration that schools would close) view submission here. You can view all the information around the advisory group - as well as read the minutes of its meetings here. After schools closed for the first time we issued a letter to Minister Foley calling for an emergency meeting of stakeholders. In January we wrote a letter to Minister Foley, each of her chief officials, the SEC, all Education Stakeholders, all the Directors of Schools in every ETB across Ireland, and to the Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Education calling for an alternative for the state exams. We ran a large-scale survey of students around the Leaving Cert, Junior Cert, school closures and the return to school. Alongside this we ran an online town hall event with over 250 students to discuss the same issues and give our membership the chance to raise their concerns. We combined the qualitative and quantitative data to form our official policy platform for the state exams and campaigned for choice for students. Following this we presented the findings of our report at the next advisory group meeting, setting the agenda of the meeting and clearly articulating the views of our members. Following this the Minister announced a new round of negotiations centred on deciding a non-exam alternative option for students. We worked tireless as part of these negotiations to get the best deal for students. View press release here. NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS F e a c h t a i s N á i s i ú n t a STATE EXAMS 2021 / NA SCRÚDUITHE STÁIT 2021 When the ASTI withdrew from talks we played a very vocal role in trying to apply pressure to return to talks -view our statements here. On February 17th, the Department of Education finally announced that students will be given the choice of accredited grades and sitting the exams. We also advocated for increased choice in the written papers and the Department agreed to this. Throughout this process, we made a conscious effort to make the information easy to understand for students and we ran a series of FAQ posts on our social media - view here. We also held a number of Instagram livestreams answering questions. Most importantly we help a livestream with Minister Foley to answer students' questions about the state exams announcement directly. Following the announcement we continued to work and advise students as to their rights, including releasing an open letter for students to clarify their rights to their schools - link here. SCHOOL CLOSURES AND REOPENING 2021 / DÚNADH AGUS ATHOSCAILT NA SCOILEANNA On 4th January 2021, the ISSU called for schools to reopen for 3rd, 5th, 6th year and SEN students, and children of frontline workers to be facilitated to go into school to receive online tuition if it was not possible for them to do so at the time. This decision was made at a point in time when the Department of Education made it clear to the ISSU that all students would be returning to school, and so was an attempt to come to a balanced and pragmatic compromise that minimised the number of students in schools. On 7st January 2021, the ISSU NSE joined calls for the closure of schools to continue and criticised the Department of Education’s failure to communicate effectively with students and the wider education community. NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS F e a c h t a i s N á i s i ú n t a In February 2021, the ISSU launched the Online Learning Hub. This Hub included remote teaching guidelines, students’ online education rights, template emails to assist students in contacting teachers, and a guide to using online learning space across various platforms. The ISSU engaged with the Department of Education and other education stakeholders to get a public health assurance that schools would be safe environments once all disease prevention and control measures were fully implemented and adhered to before the phased return to school commenced. The Leas-Uachtarán and Communications Officer engaged with the Department of Education to secure a question and answer video session on the phased return and students’ concerns with the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn. They also engaged with the DES communications department to ensure that their communications with students were clear, and comprehensible, and won the trust and confidence of students. SCHOOLS IN COVID-19 / SCOILEANNA I RITH NA PAINDÉÍME In June 2020, the ISSU and National Parents Council Post-Primary (NPC-PP) jointly launched a survey to ascertain the views and opinions of students and parents on the reopening of secondary schools in Ireland.