School absenteeism still high [IrishTimes]
- Published: 31 May 2010
A new report published today shows that school absenteeism in Ireland remains high.
The report show that over 57,000 students miss school each day. Approximately 31,500 of truants are primary students and 26,000, post-primary students. This equates to a loss of 12 school days per student per year in primary school and 13 days in post-primary school.
The new data, is contained in a National Educational Welfare Board's report which calculates attendance from the academic years 2006/07 to 2007/08.
NEWB's study reveals that about 58,000 or 12 per cent of all primary school students and 57,000 or 17 per cent of post-primary students are absent for 20 days or more per year.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
16,000 pupils suspended from school each year [Independent.ie]
- Published: 31 May 2010
AROUND 16,000 second-level students -- or more than one in every 20 -- are suspended from school every year because of indiscipline, shock new figures reveal.
But in disadvantaged schools, the figure for suspensions jumps dramatically to one in 10 pupils.
And the problem is getting worse, a new report due out today shows. It reveals that the rate of suspensions is rising slowly but steadily -- up from 4.9pc in 2004/05 to 5.3pc in 2007/08.
It's believed to have climbed higher since then, as schools struggle to cope with the effect of cuts and growing indiscipline.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Warning as children miss vital class time for holiday [Independent.ie]
- Published: 31 May 2010
PARENTS have been warned not to take their children out of school early to avail of cheaper summer holidays as "every day counts".
It is thought several thousand primary school pupils miss out on class time each June as their families take foreign holidays before prices shoot up during the official summer break. However, principals have said the recession appears to have led to a drop in such absenteeism as many families can no longer afford a sun holiday.
A recent survey in Britain found that more than four out of 10 parents are taking their children out of school during term-time in a bid to reduce the cost of sun holidays. Two-thirds of parents said they did so because they couldn't afford higher prices during the peak months of July and August.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Non-attendance a symptom of wider problem [Independent.ie]
- Published: 31 May 2010
SUSPENSIONS and non-attendance at school are symptoms of wider problems in school and society.
All too often they result in early school-leaving, which ends up costing the individual and society more in the long run.
Early school-leavers were the subject of a significant but little-noticed report published last week by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science.
One in six students drops out before the Leaving and, as Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames, rapporteur for the group that produced the report, noted, "these are the forgotten kids".
"They do not show up in the yearly education statistics for sitting the Leaving Cert or entering college. Sadly, for many of them, the only time they feature in state data is in a negative sense, through statistics for unemployment, the courts or drug abuse."
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Teacher Recruitment Registration and Qualifications [cpsma.ie]
- Published: 31 May 2010
The Minister for Education and Skills, in accordance with the authority conferred by section 24 of the Education Act 1998, directs that school authorities, as employers, ensure that teachers proposed for appointment to teaching posts for which salary grant is being sought must be
1. Registered with the Teaching Council in accordance with Section 31 of the Teaching Council Act, 2001
And
2. Have qualifications appropriate to the sector and suitable to the post for which s/he is proposed
The following exceptions will apply
a) Where an employer can satisfactorily demonstrate that every reasonable effort has been made to recruit an appropriately qualified and registered teacher, an unqualified and/or unregistered person may be recruited pending the recruitment of an appropriately qualified and registered teacher and this provision must be inserted in the employment contract. The employer shall repeat the process to recruit an appropriately qualified and registered teacher within the period of any such contract and in any event within the school year. The person recruited will be remunerated at the unqualified rate.
b) In the case of an appointee who has applied to the Teaching Council, remuneration will be at the rate for unqualified persons pending the decision of the Council. This provision must be inserted in the employment contract. When registration for the sector and recognition of qualifications for the purpose of the post is achieved then incremental salary will be allowed from the date of registration. Otherwise the employer shall repeat the recruitment process within the school year.
Full Story: www.cpsma.ie
