Invest to ‘meet needs’ of primary level pupils [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 29 January 2011
GREATER investment in education here should be matched with more autonomy for schools and less focus on reading and maths, an expert who helped turn Finland’s education system into one of the world’s best has suggested.
From being one of the poorest systems in the developed world up to the 1990s, Finland now tops most international education system rankings.It invests more than 7% of national income in education compared to 4.6% here, but Dr Pasi Sahlberg said primary schools must be particularly well-funded to set the foundation blocks for a knowledge economy.
He is director general of the Centre for International Mobility in Finland’s Ministry of Education and worked for its National Board of Education from 1986 to 2000.
Dr Sahlberg told 1,000 primary principals that other measures taken in his country included abolishing the national school inspection system and increasing investment in research and innovation to bring focus to the skills pupils are taught.
"Schools and principals became the focal points in making decisions on everything about education. School should be the place where every pupil has opportunities to discover what they are good at, not just in literacy and numeracy, but maybe to find out if they’re good at a musical instrument," he said.
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) annual conference heard from Department of Education chief inspector Harold Hislop on Thursday that more inspections are important to address shortcomings in the quality of education at a significant number of schools.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
10 jailed for not sending children to school [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 29 January 2011
TEN people were jailed last year for failing to send their children to school, with the number of parents prosecuted hitting an all-time high.
Figures from the National Educational Welfare Board show 94 summonses were issued against parents last year. Some 52 prosecutions, some dating from the previous year, ended in convictions.
While the NEWB does not have a final tally as to the number of parents sent to prison, it is understood at least 10 were jailed — the highest sanction available to judges — for not ensuring children attended school.
A further 22 cases that made it to court last year were struck out, while 124 were marked as "ongoing", meaning schools and educational welfare officers are monitoring the situation regarding school attendance.
The 52 convictions last year is up from the 40 convictions registered in 2009, the first year in which parents were committed to prison for failing to ensure children attended school.
That sanction is seen as a "last resort", but the NEWB statistics show the number of School Attendance Notices (SANs — the first step in enforcing the law regarding school attendance) has also increased.
Lost snow days place school trips in jeopardy [Independent.ie]
- Published: 29 January 2011
SCHOOLS may cancel the annual tour or reduce the time allowed for exams to make up for the "snow days" that forced them to close in December.
These are among the suggestions from the Department of Education about replacing the tuition time that pupils lost because of the Arctic weather.
In extreme cases, schools could choose to open for part of their Easter holidays but any such decision would be voluntary and with local agreement.
The department has also laid down a marker that it wants greater flexibility around school opening and closing times from next September, to cover unforeseen closures on the scale experienced in December .
Department of Education rules require primary schools to open for 183 days, and for 167 at second-level -- and to make reasonable efforts to compensate for an unexpected shutdown.
Schools worst affected by the freezing conditions that swept the country for four weeks from the end of November were forced to close for 12 days, or more.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
School staff 'gobsmacked' by phone rant from Coughlan [Independent.ie]
- Published: 28 January 2011
EDUCATION Minister Mary Coughlan took time out of her busy schedule to berate a "gobsmacked" school deputy principal in an angry phone call, made after she saw a story in the Irish Independent.
The minister's rant -- at a time when the Government teetered near collapse and a Fianna Fail leadership contest was under way -- came after authorities in the Dublin school commented on delays in providing a new building.
Gaelscoil Bharra in Cabra has been waiting 15 years for a new building and staff were not convinced by a sudden promise made on Monday by the minister to include it in a list of 400 school projects.
Principal Sean O Donaile's sceptical comments enraged the minister, who picked up the phone and personally rang the school early on Tuesday morning to express her anger in strong terms.
Phone
The principal was out sick and the phone was answered by deputy principal Aodh O Mairtin, who received the tongue lashing from the minister.
At one stage he interrupted her to ask "are you cross?" to which she replied "yes, I'm very cross". She then gave him her phone number and demanded that he get the principal to call her back but Mr O Donaile was unavailable to do so.
A spokesman for Ms Coughlan confirmed the minister had telephoned the school.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Maths teaching in poor areas not sufficient [IrishTimes]
- Published: 28 January 2011
A MAJORITY of disadvantaged schools surveyed by the Department of Education failed to show any improvement in numeracy standards, a teaching conference was told last night.
Dr Harold Hislop, the department’s chief inspector, said progress had been better in literacy where 11 of the 18 schools in the study had achieved significant gains in literacy achievement.
In the study, the department looked at the school’s action plan, tracked the way its targets were set and then looked at how the school monitored and evaluated its own outcomes. Dr Hislop also revealed that the department had completed over 400 unannounced or incidental inspections last year.
Last year, a report based on these unannounced inspections found learning outcomes in almost 15 per cent of English and maths primary classes were unsatisfactory. The inspectors also said teacher preparation in almost one-quarter of these classes was not up to a proper standard. The department described the findings as surprising and worrying.
Addressing the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network, Dr Hislop said he was committed to maintaining the same level of incidental visits in 2011. “In addition, we plan to use this type of visit to a greater extent to follow up with schools to find out how they are managing to implement recommendations for improvement.”
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
