Irish schools need serious investment now [labour.ie]
- Published: 20 January 2010
The remarks that Ireland's schools are a cause for national shame made by Lord Puttnam, the Open University Chancellor and a British Labour Party peer, in Dublin last night are a sad but true assessment of our education system. Puttnam, the award winning film director, lives in Skibbereen, Co. Cork
Ireland is currently spending 4.7% of GDP on education, which is far below the OECD average. I believe Ireland needs to set a target of spending a minimum of 7.0% of GDP on our education system over a period of years and to keep that level of expenditure. This will be required to repair the damage done by Fianna Fail.
Full Story: www.labour.ie
Message to worried parents: texting won’t make children illiterate [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 20 January 2010
Children may LOL at the thought of adults trying to decipher text message abbreviations, such as OMG, CUL8R and IDK*. But rather than destroying their ability to write coherently, being fluent in text-speak could be a sign of superior literacy, academics claim.
Far from texting causing damage to children’s aptitude for writing properly (as well as repetitive strain injuries to their thumbs), as parents and teachers believe, regular texters often possess sophisticated literacy skills, a report out today says.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
Prefab paid for twice over in rent [fingal-independent.ie]
- Published: 20 January 2010
THE Department of Education has spent almost €120,000 renting a prefabricated classroom at a Swords primary school over the last decade, which could have been purchased twice over at the same cost. The full-size prefab at Holy Family Senior National School in River Valley has been rented since February 2000 for €11,634.48 a year, bringing the total figure to €116,344.80.
A further € 18,000 has been spent leasing a second unit since 2006, prompting fierce criticism from one opposition TD, who labelled the spending 'a shocking waste of taxpayers' money'. 'One prefab costs € 969.55 a month to rent and we've had that nearly 10 years,' principal Terry McGinty told the Fingal Independent. ' That prefab would have been paid for at least twice over had it been purchased.
Full Story: www.fingalindependent.ie
We need a brazenly elitist approach to education, say Tories [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 19 January 2010
The Conservatives want to emulate Finland’s education system with a “brazenly elitist” approach to close the gap between rich and poor, Michael Gove, the Shadow Education Secretary, said.
In Finland only the top 10 per cent of graduates are accepted as trainee teachers, and they must graduate with a master’s degree.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
