Stand Up With One Voice

I rarely say no to an invitation to speak about early years in Ireland, and this weekend was no exception. I therefore found myself in Athlone, a small town right in the middle of Ireland, with a castle, a fabulous church, the Sheraton Hotel, some great restaurants and the river Shannon; a combination which must make the Irish Tourist Board job easy.

I was asked to speak by Seas Suas (which means stand up), a group which is led by the formidable Regina Bushell. Ireland is experiencing all the early years issues we are facing, recruitment disaster, inconsistent quality, a funding shortfall and some government policies which are hard to implement. In fact the morning copy of the Irish Times has an acerbic piece from Weekend columnist Breda O'Brien commenting the funding crisis in schools. Her strapline was schools need to focus on teaching rather than begging! Ah, so familiar!