Inspectors say religion too prominent on teacher course [IrishTimes]
- Published: 12 January 2011
STUDENTS IN one of Ireland’s largest teacher training colleges spend too much time studying religion, according to a report.
Trainee primary teachers at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick also suffer from programme overload, it said – many do not have time “to critically reflect on their professional development and practice”.
The report from the Teaching Council – the professional body for teachers – said the time allocated for religion in the college was four times that for science.
While the report welcomed the fact student teachers have access to the Certificate in Religious Education on an optional basis, it was concerned at the amount of time allocated to religious education within the Bachelor of Education (B Ed) programme, in the context of the overall number of contact hours available.
It recommended the college authorities address “some inconsistency in the balance of time allocated to various programme components . . . For example, attention should be given to the fact that subjects such as science, social, personal and health education (SPHE), geography and history are currently allotted 12 hours each, as compared with the 48 hours each allotted to other subjects such as visual arts, religious education and múineadh na Gaeilge.”
The report is certain to revive controversy regarding the huge influence of the Catholic Church in teacher training. The certificate in religious studies is a compulsory requirement of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference for teachers working in Catholic-managed primary schools.
These comprise more than 90 per cent of schools in the Irish system.
Some, however, have questioned whether State-funded teacher-training colleges should still require all students to complete a course in religion.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Will our politicians learn a lesson from teachers' survey? [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
- Published: 12 January 2011
It's a sad state of affairs because it says an awful lot about our society.
After all, an apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We have parents who are not only raising disruptive, violent kids but are supporting them in their behaviour.
Heaven help anyone interfering with our wee buck's "rights". And do our political leaders help those at the chalkface? Do they heck. Yes, there are words of praise but where are the laws allowing schools to take swift and firm action against unruly kids?
Teachers should be teachers, not thinly disguised frontline social workers.
Language activists blast FG's plan to make Irish optional [Independent.ie]
- Published: 12 January 2011
Fine Gael is set for a war with Irish language activists as it sticks by its plan to scrap compulsory Irish at the Leaving Cert.
The party, which is set to lead the next Government, is committed to making Irish optional after the Junior Cert.
Enda Kenny has frequently stated that compulsion has failed as the political engine to revive the language.
If he presses ahead with his plan, he would be slaughtering one of the sacred cows of Irish education.
Tens of thousands of students who see little value in learning Irish will welcome the move, but language activists warn that it could have a catastrophic effect.
Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language movement, warned that making Irish optional could cause a dramatic decline in the number of students taking the subject.
Julian de Spáinn, general secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge, said the measure could de-motivate students right through the school system.
"You could have parents telling their children in second class in primary school not to worry about the subject, because they do not have to study it at the Leaving Cert. That attitude could spread through an entire class.''
Activists also fear that tens of thousands will give up Irish because languages are perceived to be difficult subjects.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Diary of a schoolteacher: Why I put Operation Christmas Payback into action [Independent.ie]
- Published: 12 January 2011
Thanks to the weather, we nearly got the Christmas holidays we wanted. After coming back from the Halloween midterm on the day after Halloween, I believed that the Department's utter and final separation from reality had come into being.
I ask you, who made that decision, returning to classes the day after most Irish kids have been enjoying themselves on the most busy night for boozing, arson, killing defenceless pets and stoning Garda patrol vans?
Do they have no respect for the traditions of this country?
Christmas holidays normally start just when the toy shops run out of all the faddy stuff and you've still got a pile of tests to correct and write up.
The 22nd or 23rd of December? Much too late, and my missus tells me that she's fed up schlepping a turkey and ham all the way back home from Dunnes on her own, with the kids and me stuck in an overheated school listening to 'Jingle Bells' when we could be helping.
Then the snow came to the rescue and we were off a good three days before Christmas Eve, free to dance around in the snow like in all the movies.
You even had time to fit in Hanukkah, already. Even though it was Christmas it was the devil who found work for my idle hands.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
In my opinion: Memo to Hunt: Higher education must teach ethics [Independent.ie]
- Published: 12 January 2011
The Hunt report on higher education is an important document. However, it has one major weakness.
While it places much emphasis on factors such as knowledge, innovation, technology and skills, it makes no real reference to values, ethical decision making, regulatory frame- works, corporate responsibility...
Our recent economic collapse was more than a technical event -- it was a human event that arose from unwise and in some cases unethical decisions. When there were opportunities for fairness, caution and duty of care, there was carelessness, irresponsibility, and on occasion downright dishonesty.
The report's main weakness is that it allows higher education's almost exclusive focus on such things as knowledge, innovation, technology and skill to remain unchallenged.
At a time when many of the sharp suits in our failed banking and property sectors and in our inadequate regulatory, political and administrative regimes held high-quality degrees we wonder did we do enough for them. In teaching them to become innovative, technologically proficient and competent in the latest knowledge or method, did we short-change them?
UNESCO's director-general said that some of the pilots who perpetrated the 9/11 atrocity were university graduates and argued that "knowledge by itself . . . is not enough -- many terrorists, after all, are educated".
Hunt is a child of its time -- the early end of the Celtic Tiger. And it is inadequate for today's world. For all its good work, it misses a core weakness in higher education -- the lack of a coherent role in preparing graduates for responsible and ethical behaviour in the workplace.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
