Parents - don't go mad if the dog has eaten the homework [Independent.ie]
- Published: 13 October 2010
Tens of thousands of schoolchildren have reason to cheer. Irish primary principals have finally admitted that homework is a waste of time.
All those hours spent toiling on sums and Irish vocabulary, with accompanying high-pitched grumbles to parents, are futile, if we are to believe the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN).
The IPPN told last Thursday's Oireachtas Committee on Education: "There is little evidence to suggest that homework as we currently know it has any real benefit.''
If the principals follow their own teachings on the homework question, the days when young children, and parents, sweat over copy books at the kitchen table late into the evening may be numbered.
Pat Goff, president of the IPPN and principal of Scoil Mhuire National School in Wexford, said: "Homework causes a lot of stress between parents and children. It often erodes the short length 'quality-time' that parents have with their children.''
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Real reform in education needed more than ever [labour.ie]
- Published: 13 October 2010
The Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 is a disappointing piece of legislation which has taken more than two years to produce. It fails, in its fundamental objective, to place the patronage of Vocational Education Committee (VEC) primary schools under the control of the local community and answerable to local elected representatives.
Under the proposals of the Minister for Education and Skills, the Board of Management of a VEC primary school would not be a sub-committee of that VEC, but rather a completely autonomous body. This means that democratically elected members of the VEC will, by law, not have the same relationship to the new VEC primary school that they currently have to existing VEC schools.
The Minister and her supporters have proposed that the VEC is the rightful custodian of community interests as it is accountable, democratically, to the community. But that accountability, as proposed under this legislation, will not extend to the new VEC Boards of Management in the new primary schools.
Under Ireland's system of primary school Patronage, which dates as far back as the famous Stanley letter of 1831, Christian Churches of different denominations were invited to come forward as Patrons of primary schools. The State pays the salaries and related cost of schools and provides a National Curriculum which must be adhered to by the Patron. In return, the ethos of the Patron, in other words its religious beliefs, can be taught in the school and pupils instructed in the tenets of the faith of the Patron.
Article 42 of our Constitution recognises the family as the primary educator of the child.
Children are guaranteed the right to primary education and must attend school.
The same Constitution requires the State to provide for primary education, which it does through the present system of Patronage.
Full Story: www.labour.ie
Cut in VECs will annihilate education services, says union [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 13 October 2010
It would result in all but City of Dublin, City of Cork, Co Cork and Donegal VECs being merged with neighbouring committees, in some cases amalgamating three VECs.
As well as political concerns from councillors who make up half the members of the committees, anxiety has been raised among administrative staff, whose role includes not just managing almost 250 second-level schools but also adult education services, third-level grant schemes and school transport arrangements.
The IMPACT union has around 1,200 members working in VECs. It said the decision creates grave risks to local education services.
"Many services face annihilation, ranging from third-level, school transport and sports grants to night classes, adult and community education, and early school leavers’ programmes. They simply will not exist in the communities where they have played such a vital role for several decades," said IMPACT national secretary Matt Staunton.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Cabinet agrees to cut number of VECs [IrishTimes]
- Published: 13 October 2010
THE NUMBER of Vocational Education Committees (VECs) is to be cut from 33 to 16 under proposals agreed by the Cabinet yesterday.
The cut is even deeper than recommended by the McCarthy report last year. However, the move seems unlikely to deliver any major immediate savings as the Croke Park deal on the public service rules out any compulsory job losses.
The new multi-county VECs will break the link between the local authority and the county-based VEC. For the first time in 80 years, some individual counties will no longer have their own VECs.
The VEC sector has long been identified as a target for potential cost savings, with McCarthy proposing a cut to 22 VECs.
Spending in the vocational sector has increased from €731 million in 2005 to €949 million this year. Some 87 per cent of this is teachers’ pay.
At present, the 33 different VECs – 27 county, five city and one borough – have their own administrative structure. The VECs vary in size, some with more than 20 schools, while others may only have two or three schools in their area.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
In my opinion: Why students learning German will help the economy [Independent.ie]
- Published: 13 October 2010
Learning another language gives students the chance of getting to know a new culture and make new friends.
Language skills help you to communicate, understand and deal with all the different information you face daily. In difficult economic circumstances each additional skill, such as a foreign language, is of added value.
I want to suggest German as an important and interesting language that certainly should be considered carefully when a choice between various languages must be made.
In Europe more than 100m people speak German as their mother tongue, and it is therefore the most commonly used language. German is not only spoken in Germany. There are other countries, such as Austria and Switzerland, and regions such as South Tyrol in Italy where the language is spoken as well.
Germany is well-known for its leading and trade-orientated economy. It is not only the EU's biggest economy, it is also Ireland's fourth largest trading partner. There are 300 German companies in Ireland employing more than 20,000 workers, including world leaders like Siemens, SAP, Deutsche Bank and Allianz.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
