The gift of giving [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 14 December 2011
I saw a Christmas advert recently which made me laugh, albeit sarcastically. It’s the John Lewis one set to the song, ‘Please, please, please let me get what I want.’ In the ad, we are led to believe that the little boy is thinking about all the presents he’s going to get on Christmas morning, but when he wakes up he just steps over the pile of presents at the bottom of his bed and goes straight into his parents’ room with a gift he has for them. Nice in theory, but would it really happen? Not in my house I wouldn’t think!
Anyway, it got me thinking about whether we have forgotten to teach our children how nice it is to give gifts at Christmas, as well as to receive them. We have done this in other ways by encouraging the children to choose some of the older toys they don’t play with anymore to take to the charity shop so other children can enjoy them, but I’m not sure they really have much concept of thinking about someone and choosing a gift for them which they think the person will like – be it a bought gift or a homemade one.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
Report highlights "clear lessons" for education system [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 14 December 2011
A review of secondary schools in Ireland has identified a number of areas in which the quality of the education system can be improved.
The Improving Second-Level Education: Using Evidence for Policy Development report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) highlighted three key areas where the country could do better.
This includes moving away from grouping classes by ability, which it stated harms individuals' development across the board.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
Educate Together vies with VEC to be school patron [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 December 2011
THE MULTIDENOMINATIONAL group Educate Together is set to challenge Co Dublin VEC’s bid to become patron of a new secondary school in north Co Dublin. If successful, the school in Lusk would be the first Educate Together second-level school in the country.
The second-level school is due to open its doors in 2013 and its patronage has yet to be decided.
John McKenna, chairman of the Educate Together Second Level Lusk group, said an Educate Together school would be a school for the whole community.
Both prospective patrons – Educate Together and Co Dublin VEC – are offering a multidenominational and coeducational model. The main distinguishing factor, as far as Educate Together is concerned, is the educational approach.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Disadvantaged pupils suffer most from lack of guidance [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 December 2011
THE SCALING back of guidance counselling in schools will be most keenly felt among young students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to an ESRI report.
Such students are “far more reliant on advice from their school in making post-school decisions, and particularly decisions in relation to higher education entry, educational quality and standards”, according to the paper by ESRI researchers Dr Emer Smyth and Dr Selina McCoy.
The report examines how the second-level school system can be improved at a time of cutbacks. The most recent OECD report highlighted an alarming drop in literacy levels among Irish teenagers and poor performance in maths and science.
It concludes that rigid grouping of students by ability, or “streaming”, harms overall educational outcomes. This happens, it states, because students assigned to lower ability classes tend to do much worse under streaming, while those assigned to higher ability classes do not make corresponding gains. So average student performance falls.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Warning over cuts to career guidance [Independent.ie]
- Published: 14 December 2011
CUTS to career guidance will leave pupils exposed to making poor choices when they leave school, the ESRI think tank has warned.
The ESRI report says that investment in education is "perhaps unique in having the potential to impact on generations to come". It warns about the impact of Budget cuts to career guidance in schools, and how this will affect pupils.
It has been the practice for schools to get extra teaching hours for career guidance, which were over and above their general allocation.
But from next September, they will have to provide the guidance service from within their general teacher allocation. It amounts to the abolition of about 500 posts.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
