Drop in the number of poorer students at college [Independent.ie]
- Published: 17 January 2011
THE number of young people from working class backgrounds going to college has dropped in recent years, new figures reveal.
The unexpected decline comes at a time of massive expansion in higher education.
A new report shows that college prospects for children of non-manual workers -- these include secretaries, bus drivers, bar staff, hairdressers, and lower administrative grades in the public service -- have also failed to improve.
And it confirms that colleges have not met their 2010 target for mature students enrolling.
The details are contained in the mid-term review of the 'National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2008-2013', which is published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).
The report says that while some progress has been made, the majority of the targets set for 2010 have not been met. Considerable work remains to ensure that students of all backgrounds get the support they need.
It shows that the percentage of 17 to 19-year-olds in the country enrolling in college has increased from 44pc in 2004 to 53pc last year. The total number of first years rose from 34,533 in 2007/08 to 40,059 two years later.
But a detailed breakdown of access data shows that the number of students from semi and unskilled backgrounds fell over that period -- from 10.8pc (3,730 students) to 8pc (3,212).
The percentage of students from non-manual backgrounds has also fallen -- from 10.8pc to 9.6pc over the same period.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Young musicians find what they're looking for with U2 [Independent.ie]
- Published: 17 January 2011
SOON, they will have found what they're looking for.
Young musical talent, starved of the money or opportunity to develop their skills, can look forward to tuning up thanks to the country's biggest band.
A public-private music education partnership, called Music Generation, has been partly funded to the tune of €5m by U2.
Two pilot projects, one in Dublin and one in Donegal, are already proving a huge hit.
In Co Donegal, about 1,000 children a year are learning an instrument or receiving vocal tuition, thanks to the programme.
Hundreds of children in disadvantaged communities in Dublin's north inner city and Ballyfermot are also benefiting.
At Larkin Community College in the city centre, the project led to the introduction of music as a core subject and saw an increase in attendance on the days it was offered.
Now Music Generation is ready to set up music education partnerships in other parts of the country and is seeking applications from interested parties.
The funding will support 12 new programmes between 2011- 2015, with up to €200,000 a year for three years on offer.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
'We're the only focal point for rural communities' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 17 January 2011
BRID Finnegan is the principal of a two-teacher school with the 'X Factor'.
Even though she has to juggle four classes simultaneously, she said it was possible to manage with planning -- and that includes using the popular TV talent show to teach maths.
She has polled her pupils about their favourite 'X Factor' singers and then got them to use the data in their maths exercises.
"The third class get the very basics, they got their tallies and did bar charts, whereas you can go on then to do percentages with the others. It's a lot of work, but if you're well planned, you can get through it," she said.
The Cnoc Doire national school has 25 pupils and is around four miles outside Kilrush in Co Clare.
Ms Finnegan works with another teacher, Catherine McNamara, and has 15 children in her class.
She believes children get a good education in smaller schools because the "small numbers are key".
"You can teach each child properly and, more importantly, you can monitor each child properly," she told the Irish Independent.
Despite the small numbers in individual classes, Ms Finnegan said the children were able to challenge themselves by competing with all those in the room.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Parents main source of advice for young people [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 17 January 2011
An in-depth study by the ESRI, involving parents of senior cycle students, reveals that 25pc of parents feel teachers are not very approachable.
The new report seeks to address the deficit of knowledge regarding the way parents themselves view their level of involvement in their children’s education.
‘Behind the Scenes?’ by Delma Byrne and Emer Smyth is the most comprehensive study to date on this subject. It draws on surveys and in-depth interviews with parents of senior cycle students, as well as insights from school personnel.
Main findings include:
- One in four parents believes their children’s teachers are not very approachable;
- One in six parents feels that the schools do not want them involved;
- Formal involvement in the parents’ council or board of management is confined to a small group of parents, usually those with higher levels of educational qualifications;
- Working class parents with lower levels of education tend to have less formal contact with the school than other social groups; where they do have contact, it is more likely to be in response to difficulties with their child’s behaviour or lack of educational progress.
Small schools face closure in bid to cut costs [Independent.ie]
- Published: 17 January 2011
SOME of the country's smallest rural schools could be shut down as part of a drive to save millions of euro in the education budget, it has been learned.
The closure of some of the country's 570 two-teacher schools -- one in six of the nation's primary schools -- will be examined in a wide-ranging value-for-money review.
Some of these schools have as few as seven pupils on their roll book, while 99 others have 20 pupils or fewer.
Many are located close to other schools, raising question marks about whether they can be amalgamated to save money.
The Department of Education last night confirmed it was commencing a value-for-money review of small primary schools and explicitly referred to the possibility of "school closures".
The Bord Snip Nua group estimated merging the 659 primary schools with fewer than 50 pupils would save €18m in teachers' wages, due to the grouping of children into standard class sizes which would require 200 fewer teachers.
Many of the two-teacher schools get grants of at least €30,000 annually for their running costs alone -- bringing the total bill to in excess of €20m.
The Department of Education said there were no plans to carry out large-scale school closures "at this time".
However, this means the next government will be left with the task of implementing the recommendations of the review once it is completed.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
