Should schools stay open longer to account for working parents?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
What question opens the debate about staying open longer for working parents?
Now, should our schools stay open longer to accommodate working parents? That is the question that was posed by columnist with the Irish Independent, Mary McCarthy, who joins me on the line now. Good morning to you, Mary. What's your issue here?
Good morning, Ciara. Yes, so I have been writing about this for a while. I've been complaining about this For a while, Ciara. So basic supervision, right, for I'd say at least three hours, it should be kind of integrated into the ecosystem of primary schools. And the reason why is because we're now a dual income society, right? Most parents actually work. We've had actually huge change. When you look at the stats, it's really, you know, it's astonishing how much change, like even since my kids were babies, like, In 2010, half a million women said that their main duties were in the house. I was actually one of them. I took a few years out and I stayed at home. That's actually dropped 61%. So parents are working because they have to, right?
Because it's expensive. Like today there was a survey out there from the credit union and like cost of living is the biggest worry for like adults age 35 to 55. So my basic argument is that parents have to work. So I feel that schools have to change, you know, and we should be offering something like just basic supervised play for three hours on primary school premises. It would solve so many headaches for parents.
You've spoken to a lot of parents here. What is the most common story that you are hearing from them about the stress that this environment creates for them, their children, their family life?
Yeah. So I wrote about this on Saturday in the Irish independent and I talked to a bunch of parents and, and basically, and I also asked the department of education, how many primary schools are actually offering aftercare on the premises. So there's about 3000 primary schools in Ireland and four in 10 of them offer care, which is actually probably a huge improvement. Like I don't actually know what the, I can't compare it to anything because those figures weren't available like a couple of years ago when I asked, but now they are available. So I talk to parents. And so you have parents who are really stressed because they have to work like they you know, if you have to go in like you have to go in and do your job like you can't work from home, you know, so they have to find a solution.
Why does Mary McCarthy argue schools should offer three hours of supervised care?
So that's causing a lot of stress in the house. And it's not good for kids, you know, as well to have that stress because you've got to find a childminder either somehow kind of. manage to work from home and just have your primary school kid not really being looked after while you work. Or you need to cobble together loads of solutions. And then you've got some latchkey kids. I actually had a lady on and her 10-year-old just lets herself in because she has to be in work on a Wednesday and so does her husband. So they've no option. So her kid just comes home. She's 10. She has a phone, which is not ideal. So that's what's happening as well. And, you know, it's causing a lot of anxiety. And, you know, it's not like it's a choice.
And like the article got criticised a lot and people were saying, well, you know, schools aren't childcare, but they sort of are, is my argument. And I'm not saying teachers are childcare. They're not. They're educators. But there should be childcare. It should be interwoven into the primary schools because, you know, what else are parents doing when their kids are at school? They're working, right? So they need it.
You've lived abroad, so you have, and I know other countries do have a different approach to this and they do look at the entire day and try and facilitate that after school support or indeed that preschool support for parents and do it in a kind of a cost effective way.
yeah that's it right because sometimes the care is there and actually there is quite a good subsidy now in fairness to the government there's 214 an hour you can get that subsidy but the problem is with the kind of like slapdash like solutions we have like a lego club or drama with much it might start off like the last week in september and it's cash in hand like maybe the teachers might run it like you can't actually get a subsidy so it's still expensive and you can't rely on it because it could be cancelled but
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:10
2
What question opens the debate about staying open longer for working parents?
0:10–2:37
3
Why does Mary McCarthy argue schools should offer three hours of supervised care?
2:37–4:31
4
What evidence does Mary use to show changing work patterns for parents?
4:31–7:52
5
How are parents currently coping with after-school care stress and latchkey children?
7:52–11:31
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Claire Byrne Show
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