The Secret Teacher: ‘We cannot talk diversity and inclusion and then limit choice’

“Do as I say, and not as I do” feels outdated. While we may say it to young people less often, do we expect it of them anyway?

The gap between students and teachers has narrowed, as has the gap between modern parents and their teens. Where once only the teacher had a newspaper, now everyone carries the news in their phones, giving us all the same access. School uniforms are no obstacle to carrying your preferred hot beverage in one hand and your smartphone in the other, precisely the same accessories you’ll find in most teachers’ hands. While a simplistic way to illustrate the point, we simply aren’t living in an era where things are reserved for adults in quite the same way as they used to be.

In former, more authoritarian or even autocratic times, teachers could tell students what to do and, if necessary, beat them into submission. As a student, I witnessed those times and observed – and remember – the effect they had on my peers. Despite wishing I had the courage to intervene, I kept my head down and tried never to be noticed except for the right reasons. Since I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a teacher, I took full advantage of remaining in the background and studiously noted what worked for us as students. But by far the most valuable learning lay in forming the picture of the kind of teacher I was determined not to be. Maintaining harmony in what I do involves aligning how I behave with what my students need – and this takes ongoing reflection.

Being clear on how we want our schools to be requires the same careful consideration. The debate about single-sex schools may lull at times, but it never completely goes away. As a topic it has its popularity surges too, as it did earlier this year when research revealed that attending a single-sex school doesn’t bring academic advantage with it.

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This kind of story grabs our collective attention and we rush to the keyboard to have our say. The same old say as we had every other time it became a talking point, dividing us into those who were for it once and have resolved to remain so, and those against it, equally determined not to change. Such news items typically feed us for a few days, where others provide months of nourishment. And with those juicier stories, any development – however minor – merits column inches as it is guaranteed to attract the masses. Online engagement on such pieces illustrates how quick we are to react and type, and how slow we are to take a step back and reflect.

Single-sex schools also represent choice, the most modern of concepts in Irish schools. This makes them the very opposite of outdated

Inclusion is a core priority in schools now. Removing barriers to a child’s full participation has been and remains centre-stage. Efforts and energy are directed towards promoting the merits of harmonious co-existence from an early age. In addressing schools’ needs and responding consciously by making as many supports as possible available, the Government and relevant agencies are preparing young people for a world which does its utmost to include everyone. Trans people have always been there even if we have not known it, yet it is only now that gender transitioning is becoming acknowledged in Irish schools. Young people today see this as a choice available to them in a way that previous generations did not, and with this comes a responsibility to bring the system into line with their emerging needs.

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Single-sex schools also represent choice, the most modern of concepts in Irish schools. This makes them the very opposite of outdated and brings questions and responsibilities of a complex nature. Transitioning does not happen overnight, and so to transition in a mixed school is one thing but quite another in a single-sex school. A mixed school will at least have a choice of bathrooms: do we support our students’ right to choose? If “right to choose” seems too strong here, take a look at how America is currently handling the politics of a “bathroom bill” for schools.

‘Do as I say and not as I do’ is a total cop-out. It allows what we are saying and doing to be out of sync

The strongest argument for mixed schools has always been that they reflect society. That is the reactive keyboard comment, but it is simply not true. In fact the active right to choose not to be inclusive very much lives on through Men’s Sheds and Women’s Networks, both of which are on the rise at the same pace as inclusion is at schools. While I am charged with ensuring youngsters understand the need to accept everyone, we grown-ups get to mix with whoever we like. There is an inconsistency here that we must acknowledge if we do not want to appear hypocritical.

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The greater the choice of schools for young people the better, so where is the harm in maintaining a healthy offering of single-sex and mixed schools? Rather than debate that, let’s decide what is in young people’s best interest if they are transitioning and need to change from one single-sex school to another. That is a very real and very complex problem, and we need to be ahead of it before it features in the media as a failing of our education system.

“Do as I say and not as I do” is a total cop-out. It allows what we are saying and doing to be out of sync. Yes, things are complex in Ireland when it comes to Church and State, but we cannot talk diversity and inclusion and then limit choice. On this subject, we simply cannot get away with one rule for our students and a different one for ourselves. Nor should we want to.