Most parents want multi-faith schools [Independent.ie]
- Published: 16 February 2011
A survey by the Irish Primary Principals Network found that Irish parents would prefer their children to attend State-run primary schools open to all religions rather than church-run schools.
In the Red C survey, 327 parents of children under 15 were given a series of questions about religion in primary education.
They were asked if they would prefer a school managed by and promoting the faith of a particular religion or a school managed by the state with equal status and opportunity for all religions.
In the survey, which was carried out three years ago, they voted three-to-one in favour of the State option.
The poll also showed that parents wanted less time spent on the teaching of religion in primary schools and more time on activities such as PE.
At present, two-and-a-half hours each week is devoted in primary schools to religion.
In apparent contradiction of some of the poll's other findings, 56% of all parents said religious instruction and the preparation for Catholic sacraments should be taught by the class teacher during school hours.
General Election 2011: Education [into.ie]
- Published: 15 February 2011
Time 2pm
Results will tell the true story [Independent.ie]
- Published: 15 February 2011
FINE Gael's education policy, to be published today, will receive an enthusiastic welcome from thousands of parents who will endorse the proposal that second-level schools should be obliged to publish their results in the public examinations.
Controversy has surrounded this question for several years. On one side are ranged the parents who want a better way of assessing their children's progress; on the other, as always in Ireland, vested interests.
The teachers' unions vehemently oppose the publication of exam results. But caution is necessary when looking at their views. The case for publication is overwhelming, and support for it from within the system is probably much higher than the attitude of the unions would suggest. In any case, when reforms are introduced any government will need support from the school authorities and the teachers.
And reform, on a scale much wider than that relating to examinations, is critically needed. There are severe strains in a system that once gave rise to so much self-congratulation. Their economic and social implications cannot be ignored.
An appalling figure: one in four teenage boys cannot read and write. There is no need to dwell on what that means for their prospects in life or the impact on Irish society in the future.
Spokespersons for multinational corporations have expressed misgivings, in some cases extreme dissatisfaction, with the system. They point to the prevalence of rote learning and the failure to teach teenagers to think. Remedies for these problems and a multitude of others cannot be found at university level. Wide-ranging reform must begin at a far earlier age, in fact at pre-school age.
It must also take into account the unresolved disputes over the funding of third-level education, church control, and the Irish language. It all adds up to a daunting agenda for an incoming minister, but it can no longer be long-fingered.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
FG wants all schools to publish Leaving Cert results [Independent.ie]
- Published: 15 February 2011
THE country's 730 secondary schools will be compelled to publish Leaving Certificate exam results under a Fine Gael-led government, the Irish Independent has learned.
This will allow parents to see how schools are doing in the exam stakes and compare them with one another.
Many will use the information to help decide where to send their children to school.
In a pre-election move which has already angered teacher unions, the party says it will require all schools to publish an annual report which will include details of exam performance.
Pledge
The report will also outline extra-curricular activities, special needs education, learning support and music or drama activities.
The pledge is included, for the first time, in Fine Gael's education election manifesto which will be published this morning.
Clive Byrne from the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) said he would be disappointed if schools were required to release the information. But he said he would not be surprised if some schools -- even those with very good results -- would refuse to do so, as occurred in the UK.
"It would be like kicking other schools in disadvantaged areas in the teeth," Mr Byrne said.
Flawed
But the move was defended by Fine Gael, which said the present system of school evaluation in schools was flawed and had not worked to the benefit of either schools or parents.
"Fine Gael believes schools should move to a system of self-evaluation, backed up by a targeted department inspection process.
"Schools would evaluate their own progress year on year and wouldn't just be compared in terms of the number of students going on to third level, which is the case at the moment with the league tables published annually," a spokesman said.
The move angered teacher unions. ASTI general secretary Pat King said league tables of examination results presented a distorted picture of the second-level school system.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
A new school conquering old problems [IrishTimes]
- Published: 15 February 2011
PROFILE: TRINITY COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL, BALLYMUN, DUBLIN: In 2008, Department of Education inspectors delivered a harsh report on Trinity Comprehensive. But, despite the bad press and the education cutbacks, the school is fighting back writes JOANNE HUNT
A GIRL ON horseback stands sentinel outside Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun. In a bronze tracksuit with Velcro-fastened runners, she’s a former pupil here. Misneach, (courage, in Irish) is the name of this striking sculpture. After a bleak evaluation report by Department of Education inspectors in 2008, courage is exactly what her teachers and fellow pupils have shown.
In April 2008, the inspectors reported “a worsening downward spiral”. Citing “a climate of indiscipline,” the report pointed to absenteeism, lateness and disruption of classes by students, as well as absenteeism and poor morale amongst teachers.
For Fiona Gallagher, the current deputy principal, the words still smart and confound. Coming to the school last September, new principal Pat O’Dowd says, “I just wouldn’t have recognised the school I joined from the inspector’s report.’’
Trinity Comprehensive was formed from the amalgamation of three schools built in the 1970s – a boys’ junior school and a girls’ junior school which shared a campus, and a senior co-ed school which was situated on a separate site. The consolidation brought into being Ballymun’s largest secondary school with 650 students drawn almost exclusively from the area – one of severe disadvantage.
Unlike the clean-sweep satisfaction that comes with flattening the tower blocks, symbols of both disadvantage and community for Ballymun, the process of amalgamation and true regeneration is a far lengthier one, as Trinity Comprehensive knows well.
Perhaps that’s why the timing of the report – just after the amalgamation – made no sense to them. While the paint on the walls was dry, the inspectors’ assessment as the new school was finding its feet felt like a low blow.Merging schools – with different leadership, differing rules and approaches to discipline – would always take time to bed down.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
