Fee-paying schools in a different class [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 07 February 2010
Money talks in Irish education more than ever, as fee-paying schools increase their lead in The Sunday Times’s annual Parent Power league table. Some 80% of the republic’s top 10 schools are charging annual fees, of between €3,400 and €14,500. A year ago, half the country’s top 10 schools were fee-paying.
With state funding to these schools being cut, parents are forced to pay more for the privilege. This is the case in Gonzaga College, the boys’ school in south Dublin which tops the table for the fifth time in seven years. Its €5,030 annual fee is up from €3,400 in 2007.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
Public sector unions move to reduce membership fees [tribune.ie]
- Published: 07 February 2010
Most public sector unions are set to reduce membership fees or have already done so following the pay cuts imposed in December's budget.
The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), which charges a set annual fee of €386, will discuss a motion at its conference in Galway at Easter to decrease fees by around 6%.
Sheila Nunan, incoming general secretary of the union, said it was an opportune time to examine its finance and structure in light of the many challenges facing the union in the coming years.
Fulll Story: www.tribune.ie
Double jobbing lecturer to pick a pension [Independent.ie]
- Published: 07 February 2010
THE enterprising lecturer who was double jobbing in colleges in Galway and Athlone will not, after all, qualify for two pensions.
The discovery that Fergal O'Malley was lecturing in Athlone IT and NUI Galway sparked a furore over lax governance standards in the third-level system.
This intensified even further when it was revealed that, in spite of his dismissal, he could qualify for a pension from both former employers.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Answer the question: Shot down for taking computer games seriously [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 07 February 2010
Cambridge University has set up a research and training centre for the study of children’s computer games, comics and picture books. The director, Professor Maria Nikolajeva, thinks that modern computer games offer children the chance to make moral decisions in a way they cannot when simply reading books. Do you agree?
Anne Matsuoka, Buckingham
No, I do not agree with her. Cambridge University must have more money than sense. In that the printed page encourages the use of the imagination in a way a visual image never can, books have an enormous advantage over computer games and videos.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
Lack of halls denies pupils school sports [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 07 February 2010
The school around the corner is just the same; it doesn’t have a gym either. In fact, no primary school built since 2008 has a hall where pupils can engage in physical education (PE), even though it’s a core element of the state curriculum, it has emerged.
Last week the Department of Education confirmed that none of the 25 schools built within the past two years had a hall where children could take part in activities such as gymnastics or table tennis, or even just play during break time, confining a generation of pupils to classrooms during bad weather.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
