Tánaiste launches the National Strategy for Higher Education [fiannafail.ie]
- Published: 11 January 2011
The Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D., today launched a strategy that will see the transformation of Ireland’s higher education sector over the next two decades. The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, which has been endorsed by the Government as the future blueprint for the sector, was developed by a High Level Group under the Chairmanship of Dr Colin Hunt. The Strategy sets out changes for the sector that are aimed at providing for:
- a more flexible system, with a greater choice of provision and modes of learning for an increasingly diverse cohort of students;
- improvements in the quality of the student experience, the quality of teaching and learning and the relevance of learning outcomes; and
- ensuring that higher education connects more effectively with wider social, economic and enterprise needs through its staff, the quality of its graduates, the relevance of its programmes, the quality of its research and its ability to translate that into high value jobs and real benefits for society.
Full Story: www.fiannafail.ie
Tough test awaits minister [Independent.ie]
- Published: 11 January 2011
PITY the next education minister. He or she will take over at a time when the sector has never been more vital to the success of our society as a whole, but also a time when money for expansion and badly needed reform will be hard to come by.
And the new minister cannot avoid tackling a much-neglected problem. A new system must be found to replace the present all-but-complete religious control of schools. That means difficult and intense negotiations, and issues of conflicting rights.
In the meantime, early solutions need to be found for problems of conflicting rights that already exist.
The 1998 Education Act requires that schools' admission policies take into account children with disabilities or other special educational needs. But a report in 2007 found that, in one vocational school, 55.84pc of the pupils had special needs while two secondary schools in the same area had only 2.5pc of special needs pupils.
Anecdotal evidence suggests discrimination against Travellers and immigrants, and special treatment on grounds of social class and likely educational attainment. Some discrimination may be benign or at least unwitting. It would be difficult -- almost cruel -- to prevent siblings from attending the same school, supposedly in the interest of fair play.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Coughlan defends her decision to pay for site [IrishTimes]
- Published: 11 January 2011
MINISTER FOR Education Mary Coughlan has defended her decision to approve the payment of a sum, believed to be €6 million, for a 10-acre site in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, which is jointly owned by a former Fianna Fáil councillor.
The 10-acre site opposite Letterkenny Institute of Technology is owned by former Letterkenny mayor Terry McEniff and former Letterkenny town clerk Peter Coyle.
Ms Coughlan was replying to questions yesterday after she announced the approval of funding to the college to purchase two separate parcels of land to allow for the expansion of the institute.
The second land acquisition, believed to be €2.5 million, consists of 66 acres of HSE-owned land a mile from the college campus on the Port Road.
The Port Road site is to be used “in the short term” as a car park for the college’s 3,000 students and staff.
The site was purchased from local developer Dessie McFeely in 1995, and subsequently rezoned as “town centre/commercial”.
When pressed on the matter, Ms Coughlan said she did not know the price paid for the Port Road site, adding: “I don’t want to get into that just now.” However, well-placed sources said the site cost more than €6 million.
“The situation is that two independent valuers were appointed by the governing body of the college. Advertisements were place last year for expressions of interest from landowners and a considerable number of expressions were received and independently valued,” Ms Coughlan said.
“The valuation process was totally independent in that I nor any member of my staff, or indeed the governing body of the college, had any access or influence over this.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Gearoid O Bradaigh: We need to cut out social apartheid in our schools [Independent.ie]
- Published: 11 January 2011
AFTER more than 40 years of free education, isn't it incredible that we are still playing out the game of education on a pitch skewed by discrimination, class consciousness, income and family background?
There is a belief in the minds of some that they do not have to deal with what they consider the unpleasant business of problem students, Travellers, students with special needs and, generally anyone who might impact on their self-constructed coziness.
Irish education is not played out on a level pitch and a detailed study of schools' admission policies reveals the common thread -- that many of them have devised imaginative ways of setting the slope on the pitch:
- By giving preference to the brothers or sisters of existing students or children of former pupils.
- By reserving places for certain feeder schools or parishes.
- By reserving places for the children of full-time members of staff.
- By taking applications only from students who are in third or fourth class in their primary feeder schools and who have an €800 non-refundable deposit.
- By requiring parents to have the resources to participate in an "induction weekend".
- By telling parents at the open evening that they want only "honours students".
This list is not exhaustive.
In some schools the restrictions are innocent and simply exist by custom and practice. In others, however, they are very carefully crafted to enable the school to "cherry pick" its intake. In many towns the length and breadth of the country, this covert form of social apartheid is in operation.
The Department of Education is well aware of this but, like so many problems, refuses to deal with it until, as with the banking crisis, it becomes unmanageable.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Priorities for admissions are laid out where applications exceed supply [Independent.ie]
- Published: 11 January 2011
ENROLMENT policies vary across different school types at both primary and post-primary levels.
Well over 90pc of primary schools are Catholic and Catholic children in the parish are generally entitled to a place.
Guidelines issued by the Catholic Primary School Management Association say that where applications exceed supply, applicant children will be enrolled in accordance with the following order of priority.
- Catholic children living within the parish boundary, and sisters and brothers of school pupils.
- Catholic children living outside the parish boundary who do not have a Catholic school within their own parish.
- Children of current staff, including ancillary staff.
- Other children living within the parish boundary.
- Other children living outside the parish boundary.
Denominational schools are legally entitled to give priority to children of their particular faith in order to protect the ethos of the schools. Similarly, gaelscoileanna give priority to children whose families opt for an all-Irish school. The Educate Together multi-denominational primary schools offer places on a first-come, first-served basis.
At second level, the practice varies considerably. Vocational, community and comprehensive schools in general take all comers, as do many traditional voluntary secondary schools. But some schools -- particularly fee-paying secondary schools -- have long waiting lists.
Many schools give priority to siblings, children of former pupils and of staff.
All schools are required to have admissions policies that do not discriminate against children due to their race, sexual orientation, gender and family status. The 1998 Education Act requires that school's admission policies must have regard to children who have disabilities or other special educational needs.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
