9th October 2009 - Smart Economy Undermined By "Dumbing Down" Education
- Last Updated: Monday, 14 September 2009 15:01
Reacting to the OECD Report Education at a Glance 2009, Seán Cottrell, Director, Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) said "that the government's insistence that education must take its 'fair share' of cut backs to solve the budgetary crisis is unwise. Investing in education is an essential strategy to ensure a return to economic growth and the development of a smart economy". According to the report there is a clear positive relationship between spending on education and GDP per capita.
"We only have to look to Sweden and Finland where investment in education rather than cut backs proved to be a vital part of their strategy in recovering from their economic and financial crisis in the early 1990's" said Pat Goff, President, IPPN. Numerous reports from the National Council for Competitiveness (NCC), The Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) all point towards education as one of the key drivers of the Irish economy and essential for national recovery. Furthermore, the OECD Report "Improving School Leadership" (2009) strongly recommends investment in and the empowerment of school Principals' as the optimum strategy to enhance educational outcomes.Mr. Cottrell acknowledged "that some savings can be made in education and there are many examples of waste and duplication in the system.He continued "that the one aspect of our education system that operates most cost effectively is the school. Further cuts to the operational costs of schools cannot be justified when it is already evident that parents have to contribute between a quarter and a third of their schools operational costs due to existing levels of under-funding. If cuts have to be taken in education, they must be confined to cost areas that are not essential to the day-to-day operation of schools".
"In terms of education standards, it is inevitable that despite the commitment and best intentions of parents, Principals and teachers, education standards will drop as a consequence of on-going cut backs. It's time to 'smarten up and not to dumb down' if we want to do the right thing for future generations" said Mr. Cottrell.
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