Our education failures cannot be put on backburner [Independent.ie]
- Published: 01 May 2011
DISCUSSIONS: Delegates at the TUI conference in Tralee, Co Kerry. Photo: Domnick Walsh "It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught."
-- R J Baughan
Forgive me if I got it wrong, but I thought teaching was about imparting knowledge and equipping the student with the skills necessary to cope with the ever-changing circumstances of today's society, and to give the best possible advantage.
Listening to the reports coming out of the teachers' conferences in Tralee and Cork last week, one would be forgiven for thinking that the only matter of interest to teachers was money. The whole theme of the conferences seemed to be about teachers' pay, state funding in private schools, embargoes on promotions and recruitment and nothing about the education system and its fitness' for purpose.
I know the teachers' unions are, well, unions, but surely they should have some care for the ideology attached to teaching? Surely there should have been a sense of intellectual excitement among these well educated people, putting forward ideas and suggestions relating to the curriculum and systems of education? No, it was all back-pocket stuff.
Education and Skills Minister Ruairi Quinn must have felt a bit like the man talking to the apocryphal actress who says, "Oh, but enough about me, let's talk about you. What did you think of my performance?"
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