Rural schools safe from closure threat -- for now [Independent.ie]
- Published: 11 November 2009
THE future of small rural schools is up for discussion, but none is facing an immediate threat of closure, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said yesterday.
A controversial proposal in the McCarthy report on cost-cutting in the public sector to merge hundreds of small schools has sent shockwaves through rural Ireland.
For the first time yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe confirmed that the issue was on the political agenda.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
One-in-three deprived children has literacy difficulties [Independent.ie]
- Published: 11 November 2009
LEVELS of literacy among disadvantaged children have not changed in 25 years despite massive investment in the area, a new report warns.
The €215m-per-year programme to tackle disadvantage including poor literacy is flawed, according to a key government advisory body.
One in three children in disadvantaged communities have severe literacy difficulties, and there has been little change over the last 25 years.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
How Nintendo can boost your child's performance in maths [IrishTimes]
- Published: 10 November 2009
The Nintendo DS is often viewed with suspicion by teachers and parents. But new research suggesting Nintedo can be good for your kids is changing attitudes, writes LOUISE HOLDEN
SCREEN worship has made our children unfit, unfocused and easily bored. So the talking heads tell us, usually via a screen. Parents are regularly scolded in the media for replacing football with Wii, reading with the web and conversation with Nintendo DS.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Teachers close book on school swap plan [Independent.ie]
- Published: 10 November 2009
EFFORTS at redeployment in the public service can take on the air of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object.
At last count there were about 200 post-primary teachers surplus to official requirements in their schools, at a cost to the taxpayer of about €13m a year.
They work in the voluntary secondary schools, predominantly or formerly run by the religious and the community and comprehensive sector.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Teacher's Pet [Irish Times]
- Published: 10 November 2009
An insider's guide to education
** The Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe, is in a race against time as he seeks to push through major reform of the Junior Certificate while still in office.
Next month, his advisory group on exam issues – the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) – will deliver an options paper on a new Junior Cert. Ideally, O’Keeffe would like to roll out the exam from September 2010 but this is a tall order, given the snail’s pace of reform in education.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
