Margaret Cash steals €300 worth of clothes from Penneys and aftermath/etc!

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Fixed the link for you:

https://m.facebook.com/margartandjohnnymccarthy/posts/532418330562461

iguana wrote: »

No. In Ireland the parents have the constitutional recognition as the primary educator of their children. Children are entitled to an education that meets 'certain minimum standards' and the parents can choose how the child receives that. Obviously the majority of parents choose state schools and then it becomes the responsibility of the school to give the child the 'certain minimum standard' while parents are legally compelled to make sure the child attends the school they are registered with. Other parents choose from a variety of types of private school. If the school is registered with the Department of Education and receives state funding they school is required to make sure the children meet the education requirements of the national curriculum. If the school is not state funded they register with Tusla as an independent school and and there are Tusla staff, usually ex school principles/teacher who check that the children are receiving the minimum standards of education. But Tusla is primarily a child welfare organisation so, tbh, they are also checking for signs of neglect and abuse.

But a parent can also choose neither of these options and educate their children themselves at home. The current legal requirement on this is that parents register with Tusla as home educators and have an assessment with the same people who assess independent schools. For the most part this is actually extremely hands-off as once the child clearly has access to an education and there are no signs of abuse or neglect the parents have pretty free reign as to how they provide that education.

I'm not an assessor, so I don't know exactly what they are told to look for as warning signs but I know a number of home educators who have been through assessments and from talking to them I suspect that they are essentially assessing the parents. If they meet with a parent who is clearly well educated and has made a decision they believe is in the best interests of their child, who can talk through their educational methods, the theory and history of the method(s) they are using, have evidence of the education the child is receiving, ie project work, workbooks, shelves full of books, educational games, art supplies, maths equipment, etc. They will usually step back and let the parent get on with it. There is no need for micro-management and tbh, no resources to do so either. If the parent has literacy levels that match the quoted Facebook post, a complete lack of concern that the child is illiterate (which would definitely start to come under the heading of 'minimum standard' by age 9) no clear signs of an education being provided for the child, etc then further, more intensive assessments would be required and the parent may find themselves refused registration as a home educator, which could then see the child required to attend school.

Will I Am Not wrote: »

There’s a traveller woman that lives near me that heads into town every weekend, robs the f*ck out of clothes shops and puts them up for sale on Facebook on her way home. She takes pics of them hanging up individually on the handrails of the train with a price under each pic. No shame.

wexie wrote: »

But how is it even possible for children to slip under the radar? How can it be possible that a parent can receive child benefit on the one hand and on the other hand the child falling under the radar with regards to education?

Seems to me that education, or lack thereof more importantly, lies pretty much at the foundation of many if not all of the problems with traveler culture.

As far as I'm concerned deliberately withholding a basic education from your children, regardless of what trouble you go through to feed or cloth (:rolleyes:) them is child abuse and should be treated as such, no it ifs or buts about it, no excuses regarding culture.

Effects wrote: »

Link or it didn't happen.