Teacher wins religious discrimination case [londonderrysentinel.co.uk[
- Published: 08 July 2010
Julie Brudell, a former P3 teacher at Ballykelly Primary School was awarded £8,250 by the Fair Employment Tribunal after they found she had been discriminated against in a redundancy selection process. Mrs Brudell, a Protestant teacher with over 25 years experience, took up the case following her selection for redundancy in 2009. Mrs Brudell had been teaching at Ballykelly Primary School for 15 years when she received formal notification of redundancy in March 2009. In August 2009 the primary school teacher left her post and at the time was offered a one day teaching post in the schools nursery unit, but following a successful appeal of her redundancy, she was redeployed when a permanent post became available in the nursery unit. On June 30 of this year the Tribunal made a declaration that Ms Brudell "suffered an act of discrimination on the ground of religious belief" and that she lost "her P3 teaching post which she clearly enjoyed."
Full Story: www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk
Overhauling education the smart thing to do [IrishTimes]
- Published: 08 July 2010
OPINION: Only radical changes to an education system not fit for the 21st century can help produce the smart economy we so desire
EDUCATION HAS always been of great interest and relevance to me because of my involvement in establishing a high-tech and high-value advanced manufacturing campus in Ireland. Our operations in Leixlip rely heavily on the availability of technically skilled and highly qualified people. The changing landscape of the global economy makes education even more relevant for the future of the country’s competitiveness.
If we are serious about our country being a globally recognised, effective, smart economy, we must focus on the factors that will help to achieve and sustain this.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
State bid to take over autism schools [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 08 July 2010
THE Department of Education has written to the boards of management of 12 schools teaching children with autism offering to take over the long-term funding of their schools.
It’s expected there will be much controversy among boards of management and parents as they decide whether to accept the new structure, which while guaranteeing future funding, is likely to dilute the role of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) programmes in the pilot project schools.
It is believed the department, as part of its offer, wants to replace the ABA tutors with primary school teachers and have suggested providing a certain level of ABA training to special needs assistants (SNAs).
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
ISPCC calls for a ban on physical punishment of children [waterford-today.ie]
- Published: 08 July 2010
Responding to the research carried out on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (Parenting Styles and Discipline: OMCYA June 2010), the ISPCC is calling for the introduction of a complete ban on physical punishment of children without delay.
The ISPCC welcomes this research and believes that it reflects that slapping has become less acceptable as a form of discipline, and that increasingly fewer parents now support its usage.
Some key findings of the research are:
Use of Physical Punishment;
The majority of parents favour non-aggressive discipline strategies such as verbal reasoning and calm discussion with their children
Just 25% of parents surveyed reported having used physical punishment in the last year, of this just 3.3% reported using physical punishment "often"
3% indicated they shook, grabbed or pushed a child in the past year
Children aged between 2-9 are more likely to be physically punished
Almost all of the parents in the study who did use physical punishment used it in addition to other strategies such as threats/time out/withdrawal of privileges
Full Story: www.waterford-today.ie
Families face huge schoolbus costs rise in September [meathchronicle.ie]
- Published: 07 July 2010
A call on Meath's Fianna Fail TDs to intervene to stop the Government's proposed increase of up to 78 per cent in school transport charges has been made by Cllr Catherine Yore of Fine Gael.
She said the Government is proposing a 78 per cent rise in junior post-primary school transport costs, from €168 last year to €300 this coming September.
"Senior post-primary pupils will see a 28 per cent rise in the cost of getting to and from school, while concessionary primary pupils will be hit by a huge 66 per cent rise in costs," said the Carnaross councillor, herself a primary school teacher.
"These hikes are outrageous at a time when the Government should be doing its best to encourage access to education for all. Many families already experiencing financial difficulties will now face the extra burden of higher school transport costs this September," she said.
Full Story: www.meathchronicle.ie
