Danger of social gap in schools [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 23 June 2011
THE danger of a wider social gap being forced between schools even if parents have greater choice needs to be avoided, the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector was told.
The point was made by a number of groups on the opening day of hearings by the forum’s advisory group.
Fr Michael Drumm of the Catholic Schools Partnership said that while the primary system is very vibrant, particularly in rural areas, some urban areas have the most stratified schools in Europe.
"There are parents who are certainly not serving the common good at the moment, moving [their children] from a town centre school to the edge of town. There’s a lot of evidence of that and all patrons would frown about that kind of thing," he said.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Four Free Ways for Educators to Stay Sharp this Summer [ascd.org]
- Published: 23 June 2011
Alexandria, VA (6/23/11)—As educators across the nation wipe their chalkboards clean and close up school for summer, ASCD, the global leader in providing programs, products, and services that empower educators to support the success of each learner, offers four ways to stay sharp over the break.
- Catch Up: The school year is always busy. Here are some resources educators may have missed.
- ASCD’s Annual Conference Archived Session: ASCD’s Annual Conference was held in March in San Francisco, Calif. Missed it? Never fear! We have archived some of the most popular sessions, including the Urban Education Panel featuring Linda Nathan, Baruti Kafele, and Tim King, and the session on transforming schools into contemporary learning environments by Heidi Hayes Jacobs.
- ASCD Webinar Archives: Throughout the year, ASCD holds free webinars for educators. Revisit favorites or catch up on missed webinars like Judy Willis’s seminar “Why Aren’t They Paying Attention?” or Robyn Jackson’s “How to Plan Rigorous Instruction.”
Cut to numbers may be revisited [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 22 June 2011
A CUT to the number of special needs assistants for children with autism at St Senan’s Primary School may be revisited after complaints about the appeals process.
The Irish Examiner highlighted yesterday how the appeal lodged by the school last October was not even considered but the decision was only notified to staff and parents last week.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) had said the loss of SNAs could not be considered within the appeals process because the overall number of SNAs at the autism unit for 18 pupils was above those set out in Department of Education policy.
But the school insists any SNAs employed were properly sanctioned by the NCSE or the department to meet the children’s needs, based on reports of health professionals. It also accused the NCSE of shifting the goalposts by allowing it to submit an appeal eight months ago and now saying it was inappropriate to use the process
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Children aged 7 subjected to cyber-bullying [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 22 June 2011
CHILDREN as young as seven are being bullied on social networking sites and mobile phones, an expert warned yesterday.
Primary school pupils are falling victim to cyber-bullying as the age of children using Facebook, Bebo and mobile phones falls.
Chief executive of the National Parents Council Primary, Aine Lynch, said that while cyber-bullying is mainly a problem among teenagers, children as young as seven being bullied via technology.
"Cyber-bullying is an issue among primary-school children. Younger and younger children are using technology, such as the internet, and have mobile phones," she said.
"Reports of children in the age bracket of nine to 11 being bullied on the internet or over a mobile phone is more common, but there are isolated cases of seven- and eight-year-old children in Ireland being victims of cyber-bullying.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
'Fairness more of an issue than patronage’ [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 22 June 2011
FAIR treatment by schools of all children, regardless of their beliefs, is more important to parents than who is patron, a forum on pluralism in education will hear this morning.
The National Parents Council-Primary (NPC-P) says transferring the patronage of the only school in a rural area from the Catholic bishop would not increase choice because there would still only be one local school, albeit with a different patron.
The advisory group of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector today begins three days of hearings with groups representing primary patrons, managers, principals, teachers and patrons.
The forum was set up by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn with a central aim being to increase the choice of school types for parents, particularly in urban areas where there may be scope for one or more schools under Catholic patronage to be divested to another patron. He has suggested up to half the country’s 3,300 Catholic primary schools could transfer but groups representing Catholic schools and their bishops consider such a target unrealistic.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
