Language posts cut 'will hit integration' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 01 March 2010
PRIMARY schools have lost a quarter of the teachers who were helping non-Irish pupils learn English, new figures reveal.
There are fears that the loss of 438 posts in the current school year could make integration of students from overseas more difficult in schools and in Irish society.
"It's a dramatic cut which will have a huge affect and will have long-term consequences. We have already seen a rise in racism and racial tensions in some areas," said Fine Gael education spokesperson Brian Hayes, who was given the details of the language support cuts in a Dail reply.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Taking schoolbooks out of the bag [IrishTimes]
- Published: 01 March 2010
Madam, – Further to recent correspondence regarding ways of recycling used schoolbooks, I wish to point out a related campaign to remove most, if not all, schoolbooks from the schoolbag.
I am a secondary school teacher at CBS Charleville, Co Cork. For three years now, Transition Year students at our school have been running a project called “The Green Mile” whose objective is to get more students cycling and walking to school, as opposed to being driven (which is the present majority mode of transport) or taking the bus.
It has emerged from extensive research that the weight of the schoolbag is the single biggest disincentive to walking or cycling. A typical secondary schoolbag can weigh 20kg.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Why 'one-size-fits-all' schools will not work [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
- Published: 01 March 2010
I read with much interest Dr Alastair Walker's article in the Belfast Telegraph entitled 'Grammar schools are houses built on sand'; it seems to me, on the examination of his remarks, that his arguments are based on shifting sands.
Dr Walker, at the start of his article, outlines his career as one spent in educational testing, assessment and research.
Full Story: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Abolition of sick cover for teachers criticised [IrishTimes]
- Published: 28 February 2010
THE ABOLITION of a scheme that provides a panel of supply teachers to cover sick leave for some primary schools is “shortsighted” and will affect disadvantaged schools hardest, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has said.
As part of Budget 2010, Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe announced he would discontinue the Supply Panel Scheme this September. The scheme was piloted in 1993 and extended and made permanent in 1998.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Slow disruption of pay-cut row [Independent.ie]
- Published: 28 February 2010
ESCALATION of the public service unions' industrial action continues apace with no clear indication of what it aims to achieve and against whom it is directed.
It is unlikely that the Taoiseach or the Minister for Transport lay awake last night worrying about Killian McKay or Conor Fitzpatrick, who had to cancel their travel plans yesterday because they failed to meet the ad hoc requirements imposed by passport office staff.
Who will be worse affected from Monday, when health workers launch their work-to-rule? Will it be the Health Service Executive mandarins with their six-figure salaries, or will it be some blameless patient whom the promised safeguards fail to protect?
Full Story: www.independent.ie
