Reform of education can boost economy [Irish Times]
- Published: 10 March 2009
Source: Irish Times
OPINION: BEGINNING IN the 1990s, we had one of the most competitive and fastest growing economies in the world. Living standards improved and more money was available for public services, writes DON THORNHILL
Our improved competitiveness can be traced back to policy decisions made much earlier, mainly in respect of taxation and education. The growth in domestic consumption and investment, much of which was construction-related, contributed to the decline in competitiveness from 2005 onwards.
The international financial crisis has intensified the vulnerabilities we accumulated in recent years. Stabilising the public finances and restoring competitiveness are essential for us to emerge from recession.
The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has just published its statement on education ; see www.competitiveness.ie for details. Education is central to our ability to improve our quality of life and well-being through success in selling goods and services on international markets.
Ireland is a high value-added economy, with a well-educated labour force. The quality of education outcomes is a core part of our competitiveness. We need to have one of the world's best education and research systems.
The strengths of our education system include a strong commitment to education throughout society, particularly by parents and students and a high-quality teaching profession. We continue to attract very good candidates to teaching.
Many countries envy the quality of our teachers and by international standards, teaching in Ireland is well-regarded and well-paid. However, much more can be done to improve the effectiveness of this talented group of people.
Creating opportunities for professional development for teachers is one of the most important avenues. In Irish schools and higher education institutions, there are limited opportunities for teachers to share best practice and benefit from research into effective teaching methodologies.
Development needs to be continuous, school-based and throughout a teacher's career ; not just when new syllabuses are introduced. This is particularly important as developments in technology offer exciting new opportunities to enliven teaching and learning. The NCC statement addresses a wide range of areas in considerable detail. Some recommendations include:
The need to prioritise the teaching of maths and science;
The effective use and application of information technology in schools where we have a lot of ground to make up;
Creating an effective and high-quality system of pre-primary education;
The need to recognise outstanding teachers and reward them through promotion;
Empowering school principals to be education leaders in their schools supported by effective middle management structures;
The continued need to address educational disadvantage and
Provision of further education.
At third and fourth level, the NCC emphasises the importance of supporting excellence and innovation through the implementation of the Government's Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation.
We do not have the luxury of being able to promote reform through additional expenditure. The reality of the public finances must underpin all policies and the effective use of taxpayers' funds should be an essential principle of reform. Sustaining morale in the sector is essential.
Using resources effectively means focusing on priority strategies. The evidence does not support the view that lower class sizes result in better student outcomes. Reducing class sizes is expensive and can deflect scarce resources from other more effective strategies ; including professional development.
Education extends beyond the economic arena. We believe our recommendations, though mainly relating to competitiveness, would also help to achieve social, cultural and moral progress.
Don Thornhill is chairman of the National Competitiveness Council
Teachers unions claim talks can avert strikes [Irish Examiner]
- Published: 09 March 2009
Source: Irish Examiner
STRIKE action by more than 60,000 teachers can be avoided if the Government restarts talks with the union movement, their leaders said at the weekend.
Following the announcement on Friday night that their members had voted for industrial action, leaders of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) stressed that it is not intended to disrupt education for their students.
INTO general secretary John Carr said any action will be organised in consultation with the other teacher unions and the broader trade union movement.
It is not intended to take unilateral action which would only serve to fragment the public service response. Clearly strike action will be a last resort and it could be avoided if Government reconvened social partnership and worked out an equitable national recovery plan for the next number of years, he said.
The union revealed yesterday that more than 60% of its 30,000 members voted on the question of industrial action over the last fortnight, a high participation rate. Of those, almost four-in-five backed industrial action, which may include up to two days of strike action.
The turnout in the ASTI postal vote was just under half its 18,000 members and 60% of them were in favour of action. A TUI spokesperson said the vote for industrial action was almost 70%, with two-thirds of its 13,800 members casting a ballot.
TUI general secretary Peter MacMenamin said the figures highlight the level of anger and outrage that began with the education cuts announced in last October's budget.
The unions estimate that the income levy announced in October and the public service pension levy put in place this month have meant teachers earning €40,000 have seen a 14% attack on their salaries.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael education spokesperson Brian Hayes said the number of students dropping out of school will increase because of the loss of 62 Home School Community Liaison teachers currently working with 93 primary and second level schools.
Mr Hayes said principals have complained that their loss will have a detrimental effect on efforts to keep children in school.
Gormley not to seek removal of Gogarty as education committee chair [Irish Times]
- Published: 09 March 2009
Source: Irish Times
MARY MINIHAN
GREEN PARTY leader John Gormley will not seek the removal of Paul Gogarty as chairman of the Oireachtas education committee, following Mr Gogarty's resignation as the party's education spokesman yesterday.
Mr Gogarty said he was stepping down because a motion passed at the party's conference at the weekend "undermines the position of education spokesperson".
He said the decision to set up a group charged with achieving the Greens' education commitments "creates a new layer of bureaucracy in the party".
Opposition politicians argued that Mr Gogarty should now resign his position as Oireachtas education committee chairman, for which he earns €20,000 a year.
However, Green Senator Deirdre de Búrca, who spoke for the party on the issue yesterday, confirmed Mr Gormley would not act against Mr Gogarty.
"The issue of the chair of any committee is a matter for the Taoiseach. However, the issue has been raised with John Gormley as party leader and John is of the view that he has no intention of taking any action in relation to this," she said.
"If it were a matter of competence he certainly would but most people are aware that Paul Gogarty is a very competent, very able chair of the education committee so there is no intention on the part of the party to take any action in this regard."
Ms de Búrca said the parliamentary party regretted Mr Gogarty's decision and had asked him not to resign as education spokesman, a position he has held since 2002.
The appointment of a replacement education spokesman would be discussed at the Green Party's parliamentary party meeting tomorrow, she said.
Mr Gogarty yesterday acknowledged that his decision was taken against the wishes of the parliamentary party.
He said the motion passed at the party conference meant that the "role and autonomy" of the education spokesman would be different to that of other spokesmen.
The wording of the motion was: "That the Green Party convene a high-level reference group including representatives from all sections of the party including a Minister in order to devise a political strategy aimed at achieving our educational commitments as outlined in the programme for Government and preventing any further degradation of our education system."
Mr Gogarty said: "Anyone who now takes this position will be part of a committee rather than an initiator and communicator of party policy on education issues."
He said he was "outraged" about some recent education cutbacks.
"But I can still say, hand on heart, that without our influence they would have been much worse.
"I remain committed to working to reverse these cuts, albeit not as education spokesperson."
The Oireachtas education committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the possible reintroduction of third-level fees.
Fine Gael's education spokesman Brian Hayes, a member of the committee, said it was hard to see how anybody except Mr Gogarty would benefit from him stepping down from an internal Green Party position while "continuing to pocket the extra 20 grand he receives as chair of the Oireachtas education committee".
"It looks like Paul Gogarty just wants to keep the loot," he said.
Labour education spokesman Ruairí Quinn, who is also a member of the committee, said Mr Gogarty's resignation as Green Party education spokesman was a "fairly futile gesture".
Special education cuts frustrating - minister [RTE]
- Published: 09 March 2009
Source: RTÉ
Minister of State and Green Party TD Trevor Sargent has said that having to make cuts to special education provisions turns his stomach.
Mr Sargent was speaking in north Co Dublin this morning. He visited a school there that is set to lose its special needs class in September following cutbacks announced by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe last month.
Minister O'Keeffe announced in February that 534 children in 128 classes in 119 schools would lose the provision for their special needs teachers because they did not meet the requirement of nine pupils with mild general learning disabilities needed in order to keep the teacher.
Advertisement
Today Mr Sargent said he was not just a member of Government but also a former primary school principal and so it 'literally does turn' his stomach to be in such a financial situation that cuts have to be made to special education provisions.
He said it is very frustrating to be in a situation where the Government is not able to do what it would like to.
Gogarty Resignation A Futile Gesture At This Stage [Labour Party]
- Published: 09 March 2009
Source: Labour Party
"The resignation of Deputy Paul Gogarty as Education Spokesperson for the Green Party is a fairly futile gesture at this stage.
"Had Deputy Gogarty been prepared to take this stand when his government was forcing swinging education cuts through the Dail last October it might well have forced his Party to reconsider their support for Batt O'Keeffes proposals. Some of the significant damage that is now being caused to our education system might have been averted.
"At the end of the day, Deputy Gogarty was prepared to vote for the cuts and it is only a perceived slight to his position, in the form of a motion passed at the Green Party conference, that has now caused him to resign his position.
"If Deputy Gogarty is to be consistent he should now also resign his paid position as Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Education."
