FF using school projects for own gain: teachers [Independent.ie]
- Published: 15 February 2010
EDUCATION Minister Batt O'Keeffe is at the centre of a new controversy amid concerns that Fianna Fail TDs are getting early access to the school building programme to boost their popularity.
The Department of Education has not yet published the €579m 2010 list, but Fianna Fail TDs have been making local announcements.
The department's annual school building programme is one of the most eagerly anticipated announcements in the education calendar.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Poor children a year behind in language skills [guardian.co.uk]
- Published: 15 February 2010
The vocabulary of children from the poorest backgrounds lags more than a year behind that of their classmates from richer homes by the time they start school, a major new study showed today.
The Sutton Trust, the charity which sponsored the research, said the divide was a "tragic indictment of modern society", showing how educational inequality starts young and leaves children from the most disadvantaged homes struggling to keep up throughout their school years.
Full Story: www.guardian.co.uk
Contracts for nurses re-ignite row over retirees [Independent.ie]
- Published: 14 February 2010
NURSES who retired on full pensions are back working in the health service on contracts, re-igniting the row over retired public servants taking jobs away from unemployed graduates.
More than 360 retired nurses earned a total of €8.1m working across the health service in 2008 at a time when hundreds of newly qualified nurses were unemployed. And in one Dublin psychiatric hospital, St Brendan's in Grangegorman, up to 15 retired nurses are currently working on short-term contracts.
The practice of hiring retired health employees on a part-time basis is not restricted to nursing. In 2008, the HSE paid €13.7m to retired staff for "services", according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. Health sources say the practice has increased since then because the moratorium on hiring new staff has forced health services to rely on part-time workers and on overtime.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Maths teachers fail primary level test [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 14 February 2010
Primary school maths teachers are failing to attain the standard of arithmetic expected of 11-year-olds, new research has claimed.
Only 20% of the teachers tested for a Channel 4 television documentary were able to work out that the solution to 4+2x5 is 14, not 30 — multiplication takes priority over addition.
The results have led to renewed calls from business leaders for the government to improve standards of maths teaching — last year, more than 20% of pupils left primary school without reaching the expected level of maths in their Sats tests.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
Double-jobbing lecturer must pick one pension [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 13 February 2010
A DOUBLE-JOBBING college lecturer has been blocked from claiming two pensions after concern was raised over lax governance standards in the third-level system.
Engineering lecturer Fergal O’Malley managed to work at the Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) while holding down another lecturing position in NUI Galway.
He double-jobbed for eight years until both colleges found out in late 2007 and forced him to resign.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
