Teachers top of class for pay as schools get even more crowded [Independent.ie]
- Published: 14 September 2011
CROWDED Irish primary school classes have on average four more pupils than others in the EU -- and they are set to get even bigger.
And a new report has also found that Irish teachers are among the best paid in the world.
The OECD study 'Education at a Glance' examines international trends across the primary school sector. The report confirms that even at the height of the boom, Ireland's investment in education was low.
An average class size of 24.2 in Irish schools compares with 20 in the EU and 21.4 across the developed world. This is the seventh highest of 29 countries surveyed and second highest in the EU.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
How teachers say 'I do' to seven day holiday to marry [herald.ie]
- Published: 14 September 2011
TEACHER brides and grooms-to-be can take an extra seven days away from the classroom to plan their weddings.
In an agreement that dates back to the 1970s, teachers get uncounted holidays to walk down the aisle.
The Department of Education and Skills has admitted that almost 300 teachers have taken an extra seven days additional leave in recent years due to the decades-old deal.
The controversial deal -- which was negotiated in the 1970s and 1980s -- allows teachers to take the time off in the days surrounding their wedding, "subject to approval by school management".
Full Story: www.herald.ie
Many children 'missing out' on basic necessities [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 13 September 2011
A large number of children in Ireland are going without a number of basic necessities, according to a new report that has revealed the extent of poverty in the country.
The study, which was conducted by the Children's Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin in association with Barnados and the Society of St Vincent de Paul, identified a list of 12 items cited by youngsters as being essential.
These ranged from three balanced meals a day and suitable seasonal clothing to an annual holiday and family days out.
On this index, 30.5 per cent of children reported they had not had access to at least one of the 12 items, with this rising to 42 per cent among households classed as deprived.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
Parents get stuck in [IrishTimes]
- Published: 13 September 2011
Parental involvement in children’s education is not about ‘helping’ them create amazing art projects, but more about your attitude to their education, writes SHEILA WAYMAN
FEW THINGS make me feel more inadequate as a parent than when one of the children arrives home from school with an arts and crafts project for homework.
More than 30 years on, I still carry the mental scar of my art teacher’s verdict in an end-of-term school report: “Talent is limited.” It is no surprise, then, that as an adult I have never been a dab hand at transforming cereal boxes and yogurt cartons into 21st-century robots, with the artful use of tinfoil and glitter glue.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
High on aspirations, low on funds [IrishTimes]
- Published: 13 September 2011
Ruairí Quinn has been the most reforming Minister for Education in a generation, backing change to the Junior and Leaving Cert, the CAO, school patronage and much else. But how has Quinn changed the culture of his department, and what are his chances of success?
ASK ANY SENIOR Department of Education official about Ruairí Quinn’s first six months in Marlborough Street and they invariably reach for two words: “exhilirating” and “exhausting”.
It has been a extraordinary period in which Quinn has thrown out the rule book. Whereas many of his predecessors were content to cast themselves as cheerleaders for the education system, Quinn has been critical, sceptical and impatient, not least about the department itself.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
