More disruption for 300 schools as union votes to prolong action [Independent.ie]
- Published: 27 September 2010
INDUSTRIAL action will continue in more than 300 schools after a serious setback to government hopes for peace in the classroom.
Teachers voted at a special Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) congress on Saturday to retain controversial directives limiting their duties -- despite advice that they are illegal.
The directives prevent members from undertaking extra middle-management duties that increase their workload. They also prevent them from attending parent teacher and staff meetings outside school hours and attending some meetings associated with Whole-School Evaluation.
School managers will this week be trying to assess the impact of the decision. It will affect the running of vocational schools, community schools and colleges, and comprehensive schools where the TUI has members. Secondary schools where the ASTI is the only union involved are not affected.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Counsellors say suicide debate is 'flawed' [IrishTimes]
- Published: 26 September 2010
TWO SUICIDE prevention campaigners have described the current debate on suicide as “flawed and short-sighted” and have called for a new approach to the issue.
Dr Tony Byrne and Sr Kathleen Maguire, who run suicide prevention courses for the Awareness Education Office, said suicide rates would continue to rise until the root causes, such as bullying and alcohol abuse, were addressed.
Figures published earlier this year revealed a 24 per cent increase in the number of people dying by suicide last year, up from 424 in 2008 to 527 in 2009.
“We are getting nowhere if we don’t look at the root causes. Is it the easy option to avoid this?” Dr Byrne said. “We have been involved in community awareness programmes on suicide prevention and grief for the past 16 years, and we are therefore surprised at the flawed and short-sighted approach of the current debates on the problem of suicide.”
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Teachers refuse to end industrial action [Independent.ie]
- Published: 26 September 2010
The Government suffered a serious setback yesterday when the Teachers' Union of Ireland refused to end its current limited industrial action.
A special delegate congress decided to keep directives in place banning parent-teacher and staff meetings outside school hours. The directives also prohibit the re-shuffling of middle management duties.
The Government had said that lifting the action was necessary before the union could enter talks on the Croke Park agreement. Both the INTO and ASTI have already agreed to go into the talks.
The refusal to lift the directives will alarm managers of vocational schools, community colleges and community schools. They had hoped that the action would be halted immediately.
Clive Byrne, Director of the National Association of Principals and Deputies said the outcome of yesterday's congress would cause serious problems, especially in schools represented by dual trade union membership.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Share High spending on education flagged [sbpost.ie]
- Published: 26 September 2010
A report delivered to the government has identified areas of significant weakness in spending controls in the education sector.
The report from Comptroller & Auditor General John Buckley covers almost €2 billion in exchequer spending and has outlined proposals for major reform in the sector.
Among the issues examined by the report, which is being studied by the Department of Education & Skills, were payments from the state’s €500 million Strategic Innovation Fund.
It also looked at arrangements to monitor attendance in primary and post-primary schools and the causes of an overrun on a capital development project at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).
Other issues examined included the operation of an early retirement scheme by the state training standards body Fetac, certain remuneration and expenses in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and the current status of the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme and related matters.
Full Story: www.sbpost.ie
Immigrant children badly bullied - study [IrishTimes]
- Published: 25 September 2010
IMMIGRANT CHILDREN as young as seven or eight years are experiencing serious racist bullying in primary schools in inner city Dublin, a new study shows.
Research undertaken by the Trinity Immigration Initiative at seven primary schools in Dublin’s north inner city shows racist bullying is taking place inside and outside the classroom. Teachers are often not aware of the full extent of the racial problems as the children concerned often try and hide what is going on from adults.
Dr Philip Curry of the initiative told a conference yesterday there was a “clear strand of name-calling and bullying with specific racial overtones evident in most schools”.
He said name-calling was more typical than physical abuse, although acts of physical violence were occurring in primary schools.
Dr Curry said there was evidence racist abuse had serious negative impacts on children, leading to depression, delinquency and health problems. He provided details of one interview with an eight-year-old Nigerian who, when asked if he would change anything about himself, responded by saying he wanted to be white.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
