Department looks abroad for fees and loan guidance
- Published: 24 October 2008
Source : Irish Independent
By John Walshe
Fee and loan regimes in Australia, the UK and Scandinavia are being examined by the Department of Education and Science, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.
This is being done in preparation for proposals which Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe is planning to bring to Cabinet in about six months time.
Department official Jerome Kelly said this review was quite separate from the forthcoming National Strategy for Higher Education.
The minister intends to bring proposals to Government shortly in relation to the process.
Higher Education Authority officials told the Education and Science Committee that 20-25pc of recurrent funding went on post-graduate education -- there are currently 108,000 undergraduates and 30,000 post-graduates studying full time in higher education.
But HEA chief executive Tom Boland rejected suggestions that post- graduate research was being prioritised over undergraduate education.
He said that significant investment in science research was still relatively new in Irish higher education.
Healy-Rae demands 'radical changes' to secure his vote
- Published: 24 October 2008
By Áine Kerr
Friday October 24 2008
INDEPENDENT TD Jackie Healy-Rae last night warned the Government that it will only receive his support in next week's Dail vote on education cutbacks if "radical changes" are made.
In a statement, the Kerry South TD said he was not satisfied with the impact the Budget changes would have on the education sector with class sizes increasing and substitution cover for short-term sick leave and school business suspended.
"I am meeting the Minister for Education next week to voice my concerns to him and inform him that in order for my support, radical changes have to be made," Mr Healy-Rae said.
Elaborating on his statement last night, the government-supporting TD said huge numbers of parents and teachers had contacted him about the potential loss of teachers.
"They are uniting in a very big way. They want this sorted out," he said. "I've a lot of problems to discuss with him [Education Minister] with schools losing teachers and class sizes going up."
Asked if he would be seeking a reversal of the class sizes decision, Mr Healy-Rae said he simply hoped the Education Minister would "improve" the current proposals.
"It doesn't look like they're going to reverse it all together because they'd have too many turn arounds if they reversed on that I suppose," he said.
With the Labour Party forcing a vote on the issue next week, Mr Healy-Rae said his vote for the Government could not be guaranteed.
"I'll have to get commitments anyway because there's no way I could put up with another round of this," he said.
Striking a less threatening tone, his fellow government-supporting TD Michael Lowry said there would be no conditionality to his vote next week.
"I'm going to be totally briefed by both sides of the argument and hear the Department's position and the position on the ground in the schools. When I'm fully briefed on both aspects of it, I'll be in a position to say what line the department should take and what they shouldn't do," he said.
- Áine Kerr
A New Dawn for Teacher Professional Development
- Published: 23 October 2008
As a result of the highly innovative cross border digital creativity project, ten television programmes that aim to support the professional development of primary teachers North and South will be made available on Information TV on Sky Channel 166 during November and December 2008.
165 inspection reports published on Department's website
- Published: 23 October 2008
Department of Education and Science
23 October, 2008 - 165 inspection reports published on Department's website
A total of 165 school inspection reports were published today on the Department of Education and Science website alongside the responses received from the schools inspected. New inspection reports on the web today include
33 Whole School Evaluations (WSE) reports at primary level including 1 Curriculum Implementation evaluation, where particular focus is given to the SPHE and English and 1 evaluation where the emphasis is placed on Science and Mathematics
9 Whole School Evaluation (WSE) reports at post-primary level including 28 subject inspections and 2 programme evaluations
88 stand-alone subject inspections
5 stand-alone subject inspections
Since 6th February 2006, school inspection reports, such as WSE and Subject Inspections, are published on the Department of Education and Science's website at regular intervals throughout the school year. There are now 2275 school inspection reports on the website, representative of 1178 schools or centres for education.
Whole School Evaluation reports comment on the school's management, planning and management of resources, the effectiveness of teaching and learning, its arrangements for student assessment, supports for students, provision for minority groups and home-school links. Depending on the size of the school an inspector or team of inspectors visit the school for a period of time to evaluate management and planning, teaching and learning and supports for pupils.
Following this evaluation phase of WSE, Inspectors discuss the findings and recommendations with school management and members of teaching staff. This is followed by a period for factual verification of the report and a timescale is built into the process for the school to respond to the WSE report. At the end of this process the WSE and School Response are published simultaneously on the Department's website.
Subject Inspection reports evaluate the teaching and learning of specific subjects in second-level schools. A number of subjects can be inspected as part of a WSE or a school can have a stand alone subject inspection. The subject inspection reports published today include a total of 116 subject inspections including English, Geography, Mathematics, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Physical Education, German, Guidance, Art, , German, Guidance, Gaeilge, Home Economics, SPHE, Art, Metalwork and Engineering, Science, Physics, Science and Biology, Chemistry, Spanish, Italian, Special Educational Needs, Music, Technical Drawing and Technical Graphics, Materials Technology Wood/Construction Studies, CSPE, SPHE and Religious Education.
Attached link to the school inspection reports
http://www.education.ie/insreports/school_inspection_report_listing.htm
Ends
Tallaght School with 258 Non-National Children to lose 4 Language Support Teachers
- Published: 21 October 2008
STATEMENT BY PAT RABBITTE TD
Labour Party Spokesperson on Justice
St Mark's Junior and Senior National Schools have over 1,000 pupils in their care in an area not designated disadvantaged. The area concerned is a modest private housing estate of approximately 2,000 houses a very high proportion of which are privately rented. A very large number of these privately rented houses are leased to immigrant families whose children comprise 48% of the Junior School. The junior school for example has 258 children for whom English is not their first guage.
Recently the junior school got sanction for six language support teachers, four of whom will not be re-employed under the Minister's Budget announcement. 258 newcomer children in a school with an enrolment of 536 has placed a huge responsibility on the school ; a challenge which the teachers have taken up with very considerable success and themselves evolved best practice with little help in the matter of guidelines from the Department.
It seems to be unpopular with some outside commentators to highlight that, if schools are inadequately resourced to cope with the language difficulties of newcomer pupils, it will have a seriously adverse impact on indigenous pupils.
Only a year and a half ago St Mark's Junior School won 6 language support teachers i.e. one teacher per 43 pupils with a variety of language needs. The Minister now proposes to cap such resource teachers at two.
To compound the damage the same school now stands to lose €25,333.93 in grants, money that was used to provide books for necessitous pupils, for psychological assessments and so on. This small grant was of immense value. How in the name of heavens does the Minister for Education consider that a school like this can cope with this huge proportion of non-national children and at the same time tend to the needs of its indigenous pupils. Before the very recent arrival of the language support teachers and notwithstanding the diligent efforts of the established teachers, numeracy and literacy levels over ten years suffered badly. Despite the scale and novelty of the challenge nobody from the Minister's department visited the school over 10 years to experience the challenge.
Now as the two schools on the St Mark's campus are about to get on top of the challenge, the government proposes to undermine them. Notwithstanding that the St Mark's Schools are not in an area designated disadvantaged, the proportion accessing third level is improving but not large enough. There are many young people who don't get to third level and some who don't finish second level. For the government to attack primary school children as they have done in the Budget is indefensible and tonight I ask the Minister to withdraw the re-imposition of the ceiling for language support teachers.
For more information contact Deputy Rabbitte at 618 4870
www.labour.ie/press
