Schools' academy bids cost £18.6m [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
- Published: 23 October 2011
Union leaders said it was a "waste of taxpayers' money" while one MP said the figure was "astonishing". The Department for Education (DfE) said the costs reflect the success of the academies scheme.
The academies programme was first established under Tony Blair's Labour government to boost standards in poorer areas. Last year, under the new coalition Government, Education Secretary Michael Gove opened up the scheme to allow all schools to apply for academy status.
Academies are semi-independent state schools, free from local authority control, that receive their funding directly and have more freedom over areas such as the curriculum and staff pay and conditions.
Full Story: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Retiring teachers will be allowed to finish school year [Independent.ie]
- Published: 22 October 2011
TEACHERS who quit their jobs to take early retirement in February will be allowed to go back to school to take their Leaving and Junior cert classes through the rest of the school year.
But the teachers who retire early and then return will not go back into the classroom at their old salary -- instead, they will work at the lower starting rate introduced for new staff last January as part of government cutbacks.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is relaxing the early retirement rules to minimise disruption to students doing the state exams in June in advance of the flood of teachers expected to apply for the retirement package.
Second-level school managers and principals had warned of the potential for disruption if significant numbers of teachers retired at the end of February and had sought an extension of the scheme beyond February.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Toddlers get 'back to school' payments [IrishTimes]
- Published: 21 October 2011
THE AWARDING of more than €7 million in back-to-school allowances last year to the parents of 40,000 children aged three or under and who do not go to school has been described as “completely unnecessary”.
The Government yesterday said it had underestimated the amount of money required to fund the back-to-school clothing scheme this year and blamed a substantial increase in the number of parents applying for the allowance.
The scheme offers a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn and, in a written response to a Dáil question from Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said the €82 million earmarked to fund it this year would not be sufficient.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Quinn rows back on plans to cap subjects at Junior Cert exam [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 21 October 2011
EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn is rowing back on plans to impose an eight-subject cap on the Junior Cert for students starting second-level next year.
He now says that it will not be a requirement until 2014 -- for pupils doing the exam in 2017 -- but individual schools may decide to introduce it before then.
The move follows concerns from schools, teachers and parents about the short notice of such a radical change. Schools are already involved in detailed planning for next September, talking to prospective students about subject choice and working out staffing needs.
School management bodies and teacher unions, who warned that the 2012 deadline was wreaking havoc, welcomed the minister's announcement, at the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) annual conference.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Principals voice concerns over standardised tests [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 21 October 2011
THE testing of second-level students’ reading and maths ability should not be used for the wrong purposes, a schools’ leader has warned.
Patricia O’Brien, the president of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), said there are concerns about the introduction of testing of students in second and fifth years, planned under the national literacy and numeracy strategy published in July.
Such tests are already used in primary schools, allowing teachers and principals to monitor standards.
Ms O’Brien said it is the interpretation of results that can cause most concern, as happened after Irish teenagers’ dwindling rankings in reading and maths emerged from the most recent international test results last year.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
