Teachers’ leader slams league tables [asti.ie]
- Published: 22 November 2011
Commenting on the publication of college entry league tables today, ASTI General Secretary Pat King said: “It is important to recognise that these tables do not tell us about the real performance of schools. In fact they present a shallow, incomplete and distorted picture of the work of schools.”
“League tables which focus solely on college and university entry ignore the fact that a school that empowers a pupil to attain a pass grade in a subject, or to complete the Junior Certificate or the Leaving Certificate, has contributed as much or more as another school that empowers a pupil to attain A grades.
“The best type of school is one which provides a broad and holistic education which seeks to empower all students, of all levels of ability, from all kinds of backgrounds, and who face all kinds of challenges in their young lives.
Full Story: www.asti.ie
Education: It's a question of faith [IrishTimes]
- Published: 22 November 2011
With 97 per cent of primary schools under religious patronage, education is a big issue for those who want a religion-free system
WALK INTO any church on a Sunday morning and the chances are people aged from about 15-30 will be conspicuous by their absence.
Increasingly, young people in Ireland drift away from organised religion as they become independent of their parents only for some to trickle back when they become parents themselves. The arrival of a baby tends to bring matters of faith back into focus.
Whether it is family and friends’ expectations of a baptism or pragmatic planning for choice of schools, a reawakening of spirituality after one of life’s great events or a desire to give a child a religious grounding, the chances are discussion of religious adherence, or none, will be on the agenda.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
School principals call for overhaul of board structures [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 22 November 2011
PRINCIPALS have called for an overhaul of how primary school boards are structured as figures show that almost half are still chaired by priest or other religious person.
Almost 27,000 volunteers will assume positions on the boards of the country’s 3,300 primary schools next week for a four-year term. Most boards have eight members, which must include two nominees of the school patron, the principal and another teacher elected by staff, two parents, with two community representatives chosen by other members.
But the chairperson is still nominated by the patron of each primary school, who is the local Catholic or Church of Ireland bishop in 95% of cases, under structures which have barely changed since being established in 1975.
A survey about school governance by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) of members of 500 boards found that 84% of chairpersons are male and 47% are a priest, rector or nun. A key recommendation of the organisation is that the chairperson should be selected by the board.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Patronage campaign gathers pace [fingal-independent.ie]
- Published: 22 November 2011
EDUCATE TOGETHER'S campaign for patronage of the new second-level school due to open in Lusk in 2013 is gathering momentum with a public information meeting scheduled to take place on December 8th. The campaign in Lusk has been running for two years with hundreds of parents already registering their interest in the new school. Next month's public information event will give members of the community and parents the chance to hear abou the plans for Educate Together's state-of-the-art new school. The multi-denominational education body is applying to open four secondlevel schools in the next two years. Minister of Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn formally recognised Educate Together as a second-level patron in May this year. He has given particular praise to their 'Blueprint for Second-level' as a model of excellence for how second-level schools should be run in the future. This ' Blueprint' is the basis on which the Lusk school will be operated and managed by Educate Together.
Full Story: www.fingal-independent.ie
Duvet Days for the kids? [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 22 November 2011
We’ve all had that awful, sinking feeling on a cold, dark, winter’s morning – oh no…….work. You know, those mornings where you just cannot face work and just want to turn off the alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. And, of course, it’s the same for the children. They wake up groggy, grumpy and just don’t want to go to school.
For adults, the concept of ‘duvet days’ was developed for those days when you just can’t face the office, and rather than faking a terrible illness and coughing uncontrollably down the phone, the duvet day (or mental health day as it is sometimes called) allows employees to have that quiet time at home you desperately need to get back on track.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
