FG says cuts bad for integration [IrishTimes.com]
- Published: 02 September 2009
A GOVERNMENT decision to cap the number of language support teachers in schools will foster resentment against immigrants, Fine Gael spokesman on immigration and integration Denis Naughten has said.
Mr Naughten claimed the cuts to language support, coinciding with an increase in class sizes and cuts to special needs support, had "added to the situation that sees pupils competing for teacher attention and forces teachers to allocate inordinate amounts of time to some students".
Full Story: http://www.irishtimes.com/
Protesting parents who took pupils from school may be prosecuted [Independent.ie]
- Published: 02 September 2009
PARENTS of 14 children who have been withdrawn from a Co Donegal school in a row over school transport could face prosecution. Yesterday should have been the second day back at Stramore National School for children from the nearby village of Churchill.
But instead, they have been removed from the school indefinitely until a protracted row over school transport is resolved. They are seeking bus transport to Stramore NS, just 5km from their homes, instead of being bussed to another primary school 15km away, which is what they are being offered.
Full Story: http://www.independent.ie/
We spend less on children than most OECD countries [Independent.ie]
- Published: 02 September 2009
IRELAND spends less on its children than the average in the developed world -- and the under-sixes fare worst of all.
The Government invests €81,000 on children up to the age of 18 -- which is €7,000 less than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average and €22,000 less than the UK.
And the share of that money going to Irish under-sixes -- in what the OECD calls the crucial 'Dora the Explorer years' -- is also below the OECD average.
Ireland is one of a number of countries spending "relatively little on young children", according to the first-ever report on child well-being in 30 OECD member countries.
Full Story: http://www.independent.ie/
Panel Notices 2009 [INTO.ie]
- Published: 02 September 2009
Please note the important changes to the way the Redeployment Panel is operating this year as previously advised to all schools. Also included below are the timetable of Key Actions for the Panels which is part of the Staffing Schedule (Circular 002/2009) available on the Department's website www.education.ie and you are urged you to familiarise yourself with the various responsibilities contained therein.
Key Actions and dates for the operation of the redeployment panels
The revised procedures set out agreed timeframes that will help improve the operation of the redeployment panels. The revised procedures are available on the Department's website.
- Click here to link to the panel list for 2 September 2009 (Panel updates are obtained from the DES when available).
Anger at cut in language teachers [Independent.ie]
- Published: 01 September 2009
A DISADVANTAGED school with more than 100 foreign students has had its language support teachers halved because of Government cutbacks.
The secondary school in Coolcotts in Wexford is just one example of schools in the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) scheme affected by cost savings in education.
Yesterday, the president of the Irish Primary Principals Network, Pat Goff, who is also principal of the 530-pupil school at Coolcotts, said that although DEIS schools were spared the worsening of the teacher ratio and the withdrawal of the book grant, they didn't escape the axe altogether.
"We have pupils from 27 nationalities in our school -- 100 from overseas, but we have lost two of the four language support teachers we had last year."
Full Story: http://www.independent.ie
