Supporting progress in Irish: stories from the Primary School Network [NCCA.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2011
Schools in the Primary School Network are working with the NCCA on supporting children's language learning, examining ways of recording children's learning in Gaeilge and using this information to identify goals and plan for progression. Listen to the first of the emerging stories, in videos from the network schools.
Full Story: www.ncca.ie
Parents face loss of Catholic school choice [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 30 March 2011
PARENTS could be left with no choice of a Catholic secondary school in parts of the country within 20 years because they face near-elimination by other education models, a school management leader has warned.
Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB) — which represents the boards of almost 400 Catholic and Protestant voluntary secondary schools — said there is a danger of moving from a second-level system once dominated by religious-run schools to one where they are just a small minority or even non-existent in new communities.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn this week announced a forum would decide on how some of the 90% of primary schools under Catholic patronage could move to new patron bodies.
However, delegates at the JMB annual conference, which begins today, have concerns about the falling numbers of denominational schools at second-level.
The number of denominational secondary schools has fallen from almost 500 in 1989 to 383 today due to closures and amalgamations. Around 360 of these are Catholic voluntary secondary schools, run by religious orders or taken over for them by lay trust bodies.
Most new second-level schools or those created from mergers — where neighbouring religious-run schools with falling numbers amalgamated — were community schools or colleges, mostly with a multi-denominational ethos, although some are succinctly Catholic.
Words fail us -- why the minister wants to improve literacy . . . [Independent.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2011
Irish schoolchildren are likely to spend more time on reading and writing as the new Government launches a drive to improve literacy.
Under the new plans, primary schools will have to spend 90 minutes each day on reading and writing. In disadvantaged schools this will be extended to 120 minutes.
There will also be moves to improve teacher training so that there is a greater focus on these basic skills.
There was general alarm in education circles at recent OECD figures showing that 17pc of Irish 15-year-olds -- and as many as one in four teenage boys -- are functionally illiterate.
This means the students would have difficulty with everyday tasks such as filling out forms, understanding bus timetables, reading maps and newspapers.
Education researchers may have had reservations about how the OECD figures were compiled, but there is agreement that we need to improve literacy as a matter of urgency.
The driving force behind Labour's strategy is Aodhan O'Riordain, who worked as a primary principal in the north inner city in Dublin before he was elected as a TD at the general election.
Although the strategy will ultimately be implemented by the new minister Ruairi Quinn, O'Riordain has campaigned to improve reading standards with a missionary zeal.
"It is simply unacceptable that in some areas as many as one-in-three children leave primary school unable to read or write properly,'' says the TD.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Diary of a schoolteacher: Why would anybody want the job of deputy principal? [Independent.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2011
How can we determine the level of effectiveness in our school management? I love it when my colleagues get all hot under the collar discussing the shortcomings of our bosses.
The principal of our school sees himself as a kind of president (in the Irish sense rather than the American), a chief executive who deals with mysterious correspondence from lawyers, the board of management and the department.
This, it appears, takes up most of the principal's time and woe betide anyone who disturbs his demanding and vital work.
Every August staff meeting, His Excellency hands down dire warnings, hinting at the Da Vinci Code-level of complexities that arrive on his hallowed desk, with the result that nobody dares question the great oligarch.
We just forget about him till the staff Christmas party. The dirty work of interrogating kids, phoning parents and roaring out windows at gurriers fighting in the yard belongs to the principal's official flunkey, the deputy principal.
The job of the DP is to determine the subtleties involved in deciding the different levels of punishment for telling a teacher to 'feck off' or 'piss off'.
The DP has the added role of being the person we blame for everything we don't like about our work. Why anybody would want that job is beyond me -- and I don't mind telling anyone who'll listen that as far as I am concerned you might as well give it to a chimpanzee, for all that can be achieved in today's schools.
Fifteen years ago, it was different; we had a fantastic DP, Mr McTurmerick. He insisted that pupils finished every sentence addressed to him with 'Sir' and none of this 'Yeah', 'Whah'?' or 'Whatever!' that is standard today.
When McTurmerick walked into the classroom they sat up and shut up.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Why would anybody want the job of deputy principal? [Independent.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2011
How can we determine the level of effectiveness in our school management? I love it when my colleagues get all hot under the collar discussing the shortcomings of our bosses.
The principal of our school sees himself as a kind of president (in the Irish sense rather than the American), a chief executive who deals with mysterious correspondence from lawyers, the board of management and the department.
This, it appears, takes up most of the principal's time and woe betide anyone who disturbs his demanding and vital work.
Every August staff meeting, His Excellency hands down dire warnings, hinting at the Da Vinci Code-level of complexities that arrive on his hallowed desk, with the result that nobody dares question the great oligarch.
We just forget about him till the staff Christmas party. The dirty work of interrogating kids, phoning parents and roaring out windows at gurriers fighting in the yard belongs to the principal's official flunkey, the deputy principal.
The job of the DP is to determine the subtleties involved in deciding the different levels of punishment for telling a teacher to 'feck off' or 'piss off'.
The DP has the added role of being the person we blame for everything we don't like about our work. Why anybody would want that job is beyond me -- and I don't mind telling anyone who'll listen that as far as I am concerned you might as well give it to a chimpanzee, for all that can be achieved in today's schools.
Fifteen years ago, it was different; we had a fantastic DP, Mr McTurmerick. He insisted that pupils finished every sentence addressed to him with 'Sir' and none of this 'Yeah', 'Whah'?' or 'Whatever!' that is standard today.
When McTurmerick walked into the classroom they sat up and shut up.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
