Cap on SNAs is Simply Unjust [marianharkin.com]
- Published: 21 February 2011
“The cap on Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and the withdrawal of the appeals system for parents where Special Needs Assistant hours are cut or discontinued is simply unjust”. This was stated by Marian Harkin M.E.P, when she called for SNA hours to be maintained throughout the primary education sector.
She said: “I have, over the past two years, met many families who are distraught about the fact that their son/daughter with special needs is being denied the necessary SNA hours needed to ensure that their children can fully benefit from educational opportunities.
“We have the situation where special needs children are competing with other children over the hours allocated to schools. Parents often find themselves in a battle of ‘my child needs more help than yours’ and schools are placed in an extremely difficult situation, having to make decisions as to which children will benefit and which do not.
“Up to now, there was an appeals system whereby parents could appeal the decision of a Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) on the allocation of SNA hours to children, or refusal to grant any hours. This facility has been withdrawn and parents feel totally helpless and excluded from the process. Sometimes I hear groups describe themselves as vulnerable and, in truth, not all of their members are. All children with special needs, starting off in primary school and those progressing through the system, are surely among the most vulnerable when they are denied the help and assistance they so desperately need. Their life chances, their opportunities to make progress in education in the world in general are very often determined by their progress, or lack of it, in primary school.
Full Story: www.marianharkin.com
Headspace gives a helping hand to young people [hse.ie]
- Published: 21 February 2011
A unique approach to dealing with mental health issues took place in Co Kildare recently.
More than 40 teenagers came together to perform, for the first time, in several dramas dealing with mental health issues with the help of parents, schools and mixed community groups.
Headspace is a HSE funded initiative surrounding mental health promotion and has been part of an overall plan for responding to such needs in the communities of North East Kildare and Kildare/West Wicklow.
A multi-agency Steering Group was set-up to develop, implement and review a range of Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention measures across sectors and within the community. The membership of the groups is composed of representatives from health, education, youth services and other key agencies working in the area.
This week, teenagers from Kildare performed three dramas in Celbridge, exploring issues which affect them in their lives such as peer pressure, isolation, alcohol and drugs. The initiative is aimed at being a catalyst for community discussion on such topics.
What is emerging from all this work is the importance of involving local services, organisations and communities in developing local and relevant responses.
Key partners in the community response are the North East Kildare Mental Health Sub Group, Kildare Youth Service and Crooked House Theatre Company who expertly guided the young people through the task to hand.
Full Story: www.hse.ie
The school that rewrites the rules [Independent.ie]
- Published: 21 February 2011
Ask a group of girls at one inner-city primary school how they'd describe themselves, and the answer comes back as quick as Dublin wit. "We're gorgeous," they shriek, with a healthy self-esteem that would be the envy of many adults. But it wasn't always so.
These youngsters come from one of the most disadvantaged areas of the city, where generational challenges of unemployment, addiction and domestic violence are common. Absenteeism rates at the school were high, and behavioural problems common.
But a programme called Early Focus is helping to change all that.
"Much of classroom time was spent dealing with angry outbursts," says one teacher from the Mater Dei primary school. "I remember getting punched full-force in the stomach by a kid in the playground, and that kind of incident was common."
Now a serene atmosphere characterises this thriving school of around 230 pupils, tucked away among the columns of council flats behind the old Guinness brewery at James's Gate.
So what's the secret? Peek into a few classrooms during a typical school day and you soon find out.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
The writing is on the wall for child literacy [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 19 February 2011
Child literacy is not a priority on the political or public agenda. This must change, writes Eleanor McClorey IT’S time to spell it out — Ireland has a child literacy emergency.
One afternoon last month four children from Ballymun were collected from primary school by their families and bundled into taxis heading for Kildare Street. Once there, they set about putting up posters with a difference outside the Dáil. One poster read: It’s time to spell it out. Ireland has a national literacy emergency. Another: Mark my words. Literacy is the key to my future.
The children and their families were part of “youngballymun” — a new agency for change in services to children and families at risk of poverty, disadvantage and marginalisation.
The fun over, the children trooped into Buswells Hotel and sat patiently through the launch of youngballymun’s 5 Literacy Lessons for the next Government. However, they didn’t get to meet any politicians because none of the political parties attended the launch.
Unfortunately, this was not at all surprising since child literacy is not, and never has been, high on the political or public agenda. Collectively, we have been bystanders to Ireland’s literacy emergency. The PISA study in December 2010 found that one in every six children in Ireland has poor literacy skills. Other studies have found the rate to be as high as one in three for children in disadvantaged communities. In the last 10 years, Ireland has fallen dramatically from 5th to 17th place internationally.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Education reform - Teach our teachers to succeed [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 18 February 2011
IT is reassuring but frustrating that Education Minister Mary Coughlan has acknowledged that teachers beginning a career in the classroom do not have the "requisite skills" to reverse falling literacy and numeracy standards.
It is reassuring that she has accepted international evidence that our schools are not what we imagine — or need — but it is frustrating that this realisation could not have been reached, despite all of the domestic evidence, before now. Valuable time has been lost.
Ms Coughlan’s comments, and it must be accepted that she is a caretaker education minister, follow the 2010 OECD report which recorded falling standards in literacy and numeracy amongst 15-year-olds.
Our literacy rating suffered the sharpest decline of any developed country. We now rank 19th from a high of fifth. In maths and science we get the unsatisfactory rating of "average". These are not the standards needed to build much less sustain a knowledge-based economy.
The OECD report was followed by another from the Teaching Council which said that students in one of the country’s largest teacher training colleges spend too much time studying religion at the expense of other subjects. For every hour trainee primary teachers at Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College spend on science, they spend four studying religion so they can meet employment criteria laid down by Catholic bishops.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
