Catholic school cutbacks queried [IrishTimes]
- Published: 09 March 2010
THE CHAIRMAN of the Catholic bishops commission on education has expressed surprise at a speech by Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe last Friday in which he said his department “will shortly be providing an initial list of about 10 urban areas that can be used to test the concept of reducing the number of Catholic schools”.
Speaking in Maynooth yesterday, as the Irish Bishops’ Conference began its three-day spring meeting, Bishop Leo O’Reilly said that last November, at a meeting in Dublin with the bishops, the Minister and his officials agreed the Department of Education would undertake research on areas where a reduction in the number of Catholic schools could be tested, and would then get back to the bishops.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Church 'got no warning' on plan to curb control of schools [Independent.ie]
- Published: 09 March 2010
CATHOLIC bishops say they were taken by "surprise" when Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe last week unveiled his plans to curb the number of schools under Catholic control. Bishop Leo O'Reilly, chair of the church's education commission, said yesterday the church had been given no warning of last Friday's announcement by Mr O'Keeffe.
In a speech to Catholic school managers, the minister declared the church would relinquish control of up to 1,500 of their primary schools within two to three decades.
The church runs more than 3,000 primary schools across the country, or 92pc of the total figure. But that would fall to about 60pc, said the minister, who did not say how the 60pc figure was arrived at.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Pay cuts may be reconsidered if reforms accepted [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 09 March 2010
THE Government may be able to lift the threat of further pay cuts, if unions representing public servants agree to reforms, but there will be no reversal of cuts already made, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe said yesterday.
Responding to news that schools could be shut down by teacher unions in the coming weeks in the escalating public service pay dispute, he insisted that their demands for the lifting of pay cuts already imposed was unrealistic.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Education needs to be balanced [Independent.ie]
- Published: 09 March 2010
It is somewhat surprising that a wordsmith as creative as Kevin Myers seems to hold the prescriptive belief that plurals of loan words in English, such as syllabus, must be formed by adding 's' or 'es' (Irish Independent, March 4). I look forward, therefore, to Mr Myers referring to the 'mass mediums' of communication and to the 'graffitoes' defacing our walls.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Can schools do without Special Needs Assistants? [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 09 March 2010
The culling of Special Needs Assistant posts, underway since January, will gain further impetus in March with the completion of a government review.
The value-for-money audit to identify cases where Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are no longer needed is being carried out in all schools where SNAs are employed. The work has been undertaken by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) on behalf of the Department of Education.
A spokesman for the Department said posts that did not meet current criteria were being identified. These included posts that had been retained when a pupil's care needs had diminished or a student had left the school.
Full Story: www.educationmatters.ie
