Minister Quinn launches a Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector [DES - Press Release]
- Published: 19 April 2011
The Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruairi Quinn TD, today officially launched the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector.
Addressing an audience of education stakeholders, Minister Quinn said the Forum "is a key objective of the Programme for Government for the education sector and I wanted it to get underway as quickly as possible."
Professor John Coolahan (Chair), Dr. Caroline Hussey and Ms. Fionnuala Kilfeather have been appointed as members of the independent Advisory Group. They will receive and assess the various views and perspectives submitted including those of parents, patrons, teachers and the wider community. The Group will then provide the Minister with policy advice within the Terms of Reference of the Forum.
The Minister called for submissions on a number of specific themes:
- Establishing parental and community demand for diversity
- Managing the transfer / divesting of patronage
- Diversity within a school or small number of schools in a locality
Details of these themes and of the arrangements for submissions are available on the Department's website www.education.ie.
Referring to the context of the Forum, Minister Quinn noted "the significant societal changes that have taken place in Ireland in recent years have led to an increased demand for new forms of multi-denominational and non-denominational schooling as well as increased demand for Irish language schooling. There are real questions to be answered about the match between our type of school provision, the demand for greater diversity and the make-up of the communities which need to be served."
The Advisory Group will analyse and evaluate the submissions received. It will then convene a conference in the autumn to present its interim report.
Chair of the Forum, Professor John Coolahan stressed that parental and children's rights are a bedrock principle of its work.
"Pluralism in education was the first principle enunciated in the Government White Paper of 1995 and it has been endorsed by the National Education Conference. Rather than being a threat to existing practice, true pluralism is an enrichment for society and its promotion is urged by key thinkers on modern Irish Education," said Professor Coolahan.
Full Story: www.education.ie
Teachers 'could work longer hours to avoid pay cuts' [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 19 April 2011
Teachers in primary and secondary schools could find themselves working longer hours in order to avoid getting a pay cut, it has been said.
Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey stated that public servant employees who wanted their salaries to remain the same could work more in order to avoid this.
"Nobody wants any more pay cuts, but we can change the way we work," he said, in an attempt to resolve the government's financial problems.
Mr Mulvey is the chief broker of the Croke Park agreement, which suggests that areas of the public service could make employees work longer shifts in order to help the nation's fiscal situation to recover.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
Debate over choice of religious education could be informed by teaching of Irish [IrishTimes]
- Published: 19 April 2011
RITE AND REASON: Faith can be expressed in schools without friction for those pupils exempt from religion
THE VAST majority (more than 90 per cent) of Irish primary or national schools are under denominational patronage. Whether State support for religiously-affiliated schools is desirable from civic and educational perspectives, and whether this support will prove financially realistic, are large issues. But we do not operate from a clean slate – we are where we are in respect of the control and management of schools.
Choice of schools is a very vexed issue and there is a knot of confusion surrounding it.
There is a distinction to be observed between freedom and rights – in particular between the right to education and the right to a particular kind of school.
Children in Ireland have a right to education and parents have the freedom to send their children to a school of their choice. But this does not mean that parents have a right to have a particular kind of school.
The following analogy might make this clear. Citizens have both a right and a freedom to get married and the State has an obligation to respect this right and this freedom. But the State does not have an obligation to find partners for people.
This means that some parents may end up sending their children to a confessional school that supports an ethos to which they do not subscribe. These parents have a right to withdraw their children from lessons in religion and from sacramental preparation. But they do not have a right to expect the schools to protect them from any exposure to religion.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Facebook reveals new set of safety and family tools [SiliconRepublic.com]
- Published: 19 April 2011
In the wake of a European report that revealed 38pc of children aged 9-12 are using social networks, Facebook has unveiled a new set of safety resources and tools, including a redesigned Family Safety Centre. Facebook has introduced a number of key resources, including a new redesigned Family Safety Centre with useful articles for parents and teens and videos on safety and privacy.
In the coming weeks, Facebook will also be providing a free, downloadable guide for teachers, written by safety experts Linda Fogg Phillips, B.J. Fogg and Derek Baird. Facebook recently unveiled a new social reporting tool that allows people to notify a friend, in addition to Facebook’s user operations team, when they see something they don't like.
Full Story: www.siliconrepublic.com
Lecturers back in Croke Park talks [Independent.ie]
- Published: 18 April 2011
UNIVERSITY lecturers are back in talks on the Croke Park pay and productivity deal.
Earlier talks between the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) and individual universities made little progress. New talks involving the Department of Education, the Irish Universities Association and the universities have opened, and a further meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
The negotiations have a tight deadline if they are to be completed in time for the critical review of the Croke Park agreement in May. IFUT had previously rejected the agreement. Its annual conference at the weekend decided to consider the outcome of the current negotiations in a further ballot.
IFUT president Hugh Gibbons said recent suggestions about the public service being "not fit for purpose" did not apply to the universities.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
