1,200 complaints last year to children’s ombudsman [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 03 March 2011
MORE than 1,200 complaints were made to the Office of the Ombudsman for Children last year, including some from children in the care system.
A conference heard yesterday that 69% of the complaints made to the office were from parents, but that another 10% were from professionals working in child welfare.
Concerned adults made 8% of the complaints, with extended family accounting for 5% of complaints and children themselves, 4%. The remaining 4% came from a variety of sources.
The overall number of complaints has soared. The office dealt with 912 complaints in 2009, up from 810 in 2008, and now the number has climbed above 1,200. Some 79 complaints were carried over from the previous year.
Manus De Barra of the office said 38% of complaints related to education and 37% to health, with those two issues dominating the contacts made to the OCO.
Among the serious issues raised by those contacting the ombudsman was the delay in or absence of aftercare planning for children who have spent time in the care system, as well as variations in aftercare provision around the country and limited services in some areas.
Teachers seek action on school patronage [IrishTimes]
- Published: 03 March 2011
PRIMARY TEACHERS have called on the new government to address the issue of school patronage in its first year in office.
The Irish National Teachers Organisation says the new government should establish an open forum that would allow all interested parties address the issue in an open and transparent way. “This could be set up now, begin its work in September and be finished by the end of the year,” said Sheila Nunan, general secretary of the union. It accused the last three Fianna Fáil education ministers of failing to deal with the issue.
The union first called for such a forum in 2006, which it said would allow all education partners to discuss and debate the future control of schools. This call was echoed by Fine Gael and Labour.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Provision of Teaching Supports to Traveller Students [DES Circular 0017/2011]
- Published: 03 March 2011
Bullying driven by wish to be at the top [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 02 March 2011
A new study carried out at the University of California Davis claims that bullying is motivated largely by a desire to climb the social ladder.
The study looked at 4,000 high-school students in North Carolina, mapping their relationships and bullying habits. Overall, most students weren't aggressive.
"By and large, our study found that it [bullying] was about social status, even more than demographics or socioeconomics," said Robert E. Faris, co-author of the study and an assistant sociology professor at UC Davis.
A small percentage of popular students at the very top of the social hierarchy tended to be less aggressive, he said, probably because they had reached the summit and had no need to bully.
But other than that, the study found that the more popular students became, the more they acted out.
Boys were more prone to physical bullying than girls, who leaned more toward passive-aggressive acts and needling comments.
Those at the bottom of the pecking order were less likely to bully, possibly because they lacked the clout with their fellow students to get away with it.
Full Story: www.educationmatters.ie
Benchmarking pay was €1.2bn annual 'mistake' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 02 March 2011
IN the boom years, social partnership was seen as a cornerstone of our economic success. But now a damning review of the Department of Finance's performance over the past 10 years has accused the national wage bargaining process of contributing to the failure of social partnership.
National wage agreements were credited with creating industrial peace and wage stability. But a new report has revealed the cost to the Government, and ultimately taxpayers, as a result of pay rises in successive wage agreements and controversial benchmarking increases -- with benchmarking for public servants alone costing €1.2bn a year.
The report stated that social partnership deals between unions, employers and the Government were initially based on wage moderation in exchange for lower tax rates, but after 2000 they became a "major driver of spending".
It said this was due to high wage demands and labour shortages as the economy "overheated".
"Economic overheating, along with the social partnership process, led to a major deterioration in competitiveness in the private sector and to very high public service wages, especially relative to international partners," the report stated.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
