40 schools to be built to meet pupil numbers rise [IrishTimes]
- Published: 28 June 2011
FORTY primary and secondary schools are due to be built over the next six years to meet a sharp increase in the school-going population.
The Department of Education is forecasting an increase of more than 45,000 primary pupils and almost 25,000 secondary school students by the start of the school year in 2017.
Of the new schools, 17 will be in the Dublin area and 12 in the commuter-belt regions of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Louth.
A further six schools will be established in Cork, three in Galway and one each in Wexford and Cavan.
Eighteen of the new schools were announced by the previous government but have yet to come on stream.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Irish Students Score Better on OECD PISA Digital Literacy Test - Minister Quinn welcomes improvement in literacy scores [education.ie]
- Published: 28 June 2011
Irish students' ability to read computer based text such as emails and websites is significantly above the average of 19 OECD countries, according to a new OECD report.
The students in Irish schools ranked 8th out of the 19 countries that participated in the OECD's Digital Literacy test. Just four countries, Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan, had significantly higher scores than Ireland.
The above-average results of Irish students on these digital literacy tests contrasts with their poor performance in the 2009 round of the traditional pencil-and-paper PISA literacy tests.
The 2009 pencil-and-paper tests showed a marked decline in reading scores in Ireland with Irish students falling from above average to the average level in the OECD. There was some surprise at the results achieved by Irish students on the traditional reading test, as they had scored well above the OECD average in previous tests in 2000, 2003 and 2006.
These latest results seem to suggest that the reading standards of Irish 15-year olds may be better than the results achieved on the traditional pencil-and-paper test in 2009 but not at the levels scored by Irish students in 2000. Ireland's average score on the digital reading assessment, at 509 points, is 13 points higher than its average score of 496 points on the traditional pencil-and-paper PISA test in 2009.
The performance of Irish students on the digital literacy test still lags behind the Irish performance on print reading in PISA 2000 when students here scored an average of 527 points.
Full Story: www.education.ie
Parental demand at heart of school patronage, says Quinn [IrishTimes]
- Published: 28 June 2011
PATRONS OF new schools will be obliged to show there is parental demand for their kind of educational approach, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn announced yesterday.
He said the new arrangements mean that decisions over school patronage will be more transparent and create more choice for parents.
“Parental preferences should be at the heart of considerations about the type of school to be recognised,” Mr Quinn said.
A total of 40 new schools are planned to come on stream over the coming six years to help cater to a growing school-going population.
At present almost 90 per cent of primary schools are under the patronage of the Catholic Church. It is also involved in the patronage of about 400 of the 700 second-level schools.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
School transport cuts to be implemented from next year [newstalk.ie]
- Published: 28 June 2011
The government will press ahead with cuts to the school bus transport scheme.
Junior Education Minister Ciarán Cannon told more than 400 parents and teachers at a meeting in Listowel in Co. Kerry last night the country is borrowing €350 million a week and savings had to be made.
He says €17 million in savings on school bus transport had to be made between now and 2014.
These cuts are measures introduced in Budget 2011 by the previous Fianna Fail-Green government but are being implemented by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition.
From next September primary school children will be charged a minimum of €50 per year for bus transport rising to a maximum charge of €650 per family.
The minimum number of children required to establish a bus route will rise from 7 to 10.
Full Story: www.newstalk.ie
Mother faces extra €400 cost for school bus [Independent.ie]
- Published: 27 June 2011
THEY are the ultimate borderline case. Kate Brosnan and her children live within sight of a new boundary for school transport that will mean an extra €400 a year in costs.
The mother of two faces a stark choice this September -- either she forks out for her children's school transport fees or gives up the job she loves.
Under proposed changes to the school transport scheme (STS) she will have to pay the €400 for her son and daughter to travel to Ardfert Central National School in Tralee, Co Kerry, by bus -- a service that was previously free to children attending amalgamated primary schools.
But from September, parents will have to contribute toward their children's school transport costs.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
