Efforts to divert middle-management disaster [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 07 March 2010
Talks are taking place between the Departments of Education and Finance, in an effort to pre-empt an “inoperable” situation in schools in September.
In the Dáil on March 4, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe conceded that some schools were already encountering serious difficulties because of the hiring moratorium imposed by the Government on the filling of vacant promotion posts, and that children were being affected.
The latest figures reveal that 1,100 middle-management positions at assistant principal and special duties level have been lost to date in primary and secondary schools. Many more are forecast to go in the summer when a glut of retirements is expected.
Full Story: www.educationmatters.ie
It’s not about class, it’s about the classroom, says Gove [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 06 March 2010
Michael Gove never quite fits into the “Tory toffs” story. The adopted son of a mother who worked in an Aberdeen jeweller’s shop and a father who skinned fish in the family business, as a youngster he wore a kilt, not a bow tie. He never joined the tennis club, went to pony camp or had a nanny, and he still prefers haggis to steak.
At Oxford, while David Cameron and George Osborne honed their drinking skills in the Bullingdon Club, he concentrated on debating as president of the Oxford Union. When, on graduating, they took jobs in Conservative Central Office, he was soon on strike as a trainee journalist at The Press and Journal in Aberdeen.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
Call to consult parents in handover of schools [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 06 March 2010
MOVES to begin the firsthandover of some Catholic primary schools to other patrons is to begin shortly but Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has been urged to ensure parents and other interested parties are fully consulted.
His department is set to notify Catholic bishops in the coming weeks of 10 urban areas where it believes the number of Catholic schools could be surplus to local parental demands. It is believed most will be in the Archdiocese of Dublin, as it has a higher proportion of cultural diversity and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has been to the fore in acknowledging the need for the Church to divest its patronage of schools in certain areas.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Church-State row breaks out over control of schools [Independent.ie]
- Published: 06 March 2010
A ROW has broken out between Church and State over how many schools will remain under Catholic control in the future.
The bishops last night disputed claims by Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe that they 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.
The remainder are run by the Protestant churches, Educate Together, the Irish language movement and others.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Bruce Arnold: Church and State colluded in this abuse-ridden society [Independent.ie]
- Published: 06 March 2010
Tracey Fay's death has shifted public focus in the continuing and unbroken narrative of child abuse and neglect in Ireland. For the past decade, and before that, we have been able to blame the church. Now the blame has shifted, quite markedly, to the State. Her death, and that of many like her, is the result of the State's failure to set up and fund a proper care system.
It is an irony that the period during which this new abuse occurred has been a period of intense self-examination over how abuse happened from 1920 to the 1980s, carried out principally by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, and focused on the industrial schools. But with the change of focus we can no longer hide behind blaming the church.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
