Principals Struggling To Cope With Cuts [thecorknews.ie]
- Published: 02 September 2011
School principals are facing into a “difficult” September even before the Department of Education’s latest cost saving proposals are considered. That’s according to local principal Angela Lynch, who was reacting to news that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn TD could increase primary school class ratios by one, from 1:27 to 1:28, next year.
Schools across Cork are already suffering from a spate of recent cuts to Special Needs Assistants (SNA) number as well as learning support and language resources – all of which means that class sizes are likely to soar in coming years.
“The ratio isn’t a maximum for each class. Numbers are actually higher because that 1:27 includes special needs teachers, resource and language support and administrative principals,” Ms. Lynch, Principal of Scoil Mhuire gan Smal on the Glasheen Road, explained.
“We already have one of the biggest average class sizes in the EU and classrooms today are very different to what they were even a couple of years ago because we have children with special needs and children whose first language isn’t English. The reason they are looking at this is because there is absolutely no other place in the education budget that they can cut.”
Full Story: www.thecorknews.ie
Knock Schoolyard Remains Empty as Politicians Play Blame Game [midlandtribune.ie]
- Published: 02 September 2011
It's back to school time for children all over the country this week but, in the village of Knock, Roscrea the schoolyard remains silent and the children of the area, who thought they would be lining up for roll call in their own village, continue to be scattered in primary schools in North Tipperary and Laois.
This week was to have been an historic one for the people of Knock, who believed that their national school would re-open for the first time since it closed its doors in 2003 when pupil numbers had dropped to just three. Banners proclaiming the event and inviting enrolments adorned the village earlier this year and parents and local people were thrilled at the prospect of having life pumped back into the heart village where the school stands.
But the only game being played in Knock schoolyard this week is political football and, as the local children return to their various schools, people are left with shattered hopes and lots of questions as to why it seemed so certain that the school would re-open and why, in fact, that did not happen.
Full Story: www.midlandtribune.ie
Private schools: are they worth it? [IrishTimes]
- Published: 02 September 2011
The scramble for private education continues despite the recession and the fact that some 'free' State schools perform just as well academically. So why do parents fork out for private schools?
IT’S THE FIRST week of school at Presentation College in Bray, Co Wicklow, and four recent graduates are gasping through a tour of their old school’s new facilities. “You’d almost want to repeat,” says Harry Barrett, who is 19, admiring a language lab lined with freshly unpacked Apple iMacs. A transition-year class is being led out to a sailing lesson, there’s a new AstroTurf pitch behind the building and the light wells illuminating the hallway make it feel like a modern third-level institute.“There’s a belief that the more you pay, the better it is,” says Gerry Duffy, the school’s exuberant principal. “It’s rarely based, particularly not in education, on any sort of reality. I wouldn’t agree that fee-paying schools have ever necessarily offered better physical facilities. They certainly don’t offer better teaching.”
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Teacher watchdog fails to set up urgent probe into maths crisis [Independent.ie]
- Published: 01 September 2011
THE teaching watchdog has no plans to carry out an urgent probe into the number of unqualified maths teachers in second-level schools.
This is in spite of the admission by the Teaching Council's chief executive yesterday that such a move would be a "very simple exercise" that could begin within days.
Despite the urgent need to tackle the maths crisis, the council, which regulates the teaching profession, said it had no plans to contact schools immediately to establish exactly how many unqualified teachers were teaching maths.
A Teaching Council spokeswoman told the Irish Independent: "Getting the numbers alone will not solve the problem."
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Quads take first day of school in stride [Independent.ie]
- Published: 01 September 2011
"A haon, a do, a tri, a ceathair . . . all together now."
There was a quick headcount before John Maher and his wife Mary loaded their quadruplets into the family minibus destined for Ballon national school yesterday.
Carlow's famous quads Jamie, Robbie, Lillie and Johnny didn't shed a tear between them on their first day at school.
But there were plenty of tears across the country yesterday as thousands of boys and girls waved goodbye to their parents.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
