In my opinion: The truth about the 'Employment Control Framework' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 06 April 2011
Recently, the HEA circulated a document called "Employment Control Framework for the Higher Education Sector 2011-2014". This is the second such framework issued by the Department of Finance, the first having applied for the three years up to December 2010 and requiring a 6% reduction in teaching and support staff.
Employment-control frameworks, ordinarily, should have no place in a higher education system. They inevitably impact on institutional autonomy -- one of the strengths of our system. But, these are not ordinary times. An extraordinary effort is required over the next three years to bring public spending into line with revenue. The new framework should be considered against that background.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Diary of a schoolteacher: My beef with Gaddafi goes way back to the 1980s [Independent.ie]
- Published: 06 April 2011
It might come as a surprise to my colleagues, but a few years back a certain Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi was a real thorn in my side.
In 1986, when desperate for work in recession-weary Ireland (it had lasted since the Famine and there's still no sign of it picking up) I took a job in an industrial TEFL college that specialised in taking huge groups of students and business people from all over the world, each of them hungry to learn the English language.
Generally the Libyan students were young male engineers or university students and they had a pretty high level of English. We taught them in classes of 10 and they made it clear from the start that they were there to learn.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Catholic schools to urge radical slowdown in patronage transfer [IrishTimes.com]
- Published: 06 April 2011
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS will express concern today at plans by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to transfer half of their schools to other patrons.
The Catholic Schools Partnership (CSP) is to call instead for a slower process where patronage is only considered after the results of pilot studies are assessed.
In a position paper due to be published today, the partnership is expected to stress that the rights of Catholic parents and children must be protected if there is any change in patronage.
Reporting to parents: primary school report card templates [NCCA.ie]
- Published: 05 April 2011
The NCCA worked with schools to develop templates for reporting to parents. There are nine report card templates. All nine templates use four key areas for sharing information with parents on their children’s progress and achievement at school:
- insights gained into the child's learning disposition/s
- the child's social and personal development
- the child's learning across the curriculum
- the key role of parents in supporting their child's learning.
DES abandoning SEF in UK [LeaderMagazine.co.uk]
- Published: 05 April 2011
The government has announced changes to the school inspection process which, among other things, are intended to reduce the paperwork it generates. In particular, the part played by the self-evaluation framework (SEF) – and the content of the form itself – will change.
Previously, all schools have been expected to evaluate their work and most do it by writing their appraisal in a SEF then uploading it to the Ofsted website. It is not a statutory requirement, but it is a brave school which ignores Ofsted’s advice. The white paper makes it clear that, to reduce the bureaucratic burden on schools, a SEF will not be required from September 2011.
