Méid an Téacs

Quinn challenges church over patronage of schools

Aibreán 22, 2014

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has thrown down a challenge to the Catholic Church to give concrete examples of how its schools can be “genuinely inclusive” for children of all faiths and none.

In an address to be delivered at a teacher union conference this morning, Mr Quinn says is it “disappointing” that the church has failed to provide such information to his department as had been promised in previous discussions.

He also suggests that, in developing policies on inclusivity, Catholic schools in areas where there is no alternative patronage should consider timetabling faith formation at the start or end of the day to minimise disruption to class.

The intervention comes just days after Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin called for an acceleration of reforms to achieve a “plurality of patronage” in Irish education. In an interview with The Irish Times , the archbishop said he believed “a more robust collaboration” between the church and the Department of the Education “would make these things move a little quickly”.

Robust collaboration

Picking up on these comments, Mr Quinn says: “I look forward to working with Archbishop Martin and others to develop that robust collaboration.”

He notes that one of the issues highlighted by the report of the forum on pluralism and patronage in 2012 is “respecting a child’s rights not to receive religious instruction”.

Some 1,700 of the State’s 3,200 primary schools are in areas where there is no alternative school – and thus local children are typically obliged to accept Catholic patronage.

White Paper

Mr Quinn is developing a White Paper on inclusivity in these “standalone” schools and he urges the church to engage fully in this process.

“We are regularly told that our denominational schools are inclusive and there is anecdotal evidence that this is true in many cases – thanks to the good work of teachers, who are determined to welcome all children.

“However, we need clearly demonstrated examples of genuinely inclusive schools, so that other schools can learn what works for them.

“It is regrettable that, two years after the publication of the forum report, we have yet to see such exemplars furnished by the Catholic Church – the main patron of primary schools in this country. That is disappointing, but I remain convinced of the importance of having such exemplars, to help guide the approach in all of our schools.”

While he says he doesn’t wish to be prescriptive about policies on inclusivity, there are suggestions that could be usefully aired.

“For example we could have more flexible timetabling for religious education. One possibility, raised in the forum report, was for religion classes to be held at different times for different class groups. This would allow students opting out of religion classes to participate in another class. Such an arrangement could work better in larger schools.

“Another option in some cases would be to have faith formation at the start or end of a school day.”

Mr Quinn points out that, aside from the white paper, these issues might also be addressed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment this October in its consultation proposals for the revision of the primary curriculum.

“This will again allow for an examination of timetabling religion at the start or end of the school day, or scheduling religion at different times for different classes in larger schools.”

Noting his views on this topic “have often been misrepresented”, Mr Quinn expresses his long-time admiration for Catholic theologian, Hans Küng, and says it is important to differentiate between faith formation, and education about religion and beliefs.

“Education about religion and beliefs, as I have said repeatedly, is an essential component of any well-rounded education.”

Faith formation, he says “is equally important for many families; indeed for most families” and the rights of these families are clearly outlined in the constitution. But “so too are the rights of families who wish to allow their children to opt-out of this aspect of religious education.”

www.irishtimes.com

Volunteerism of teachers keeping society going, says Cody

Aibreán 22, 2014

The volunteerism of teachers is “essentially what is keeping our society going”, Kilkenny hurling manager and school principal Brian Cody said in a speech backing his union’s critique of Government policy.

Addressing the annual congress of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation in his home city, Cody praised fellow members for the work they did outside office hours in sport, music, drama and community or charity work.

Volunteering by teachers was “happening all over the country”, he said. “I think we are all duty-bound to pass on that sense of volunteering to the children we work with every single day because if that volunteerism ever disappears from our society then we are really going to be in a sorry state; then we will really have a recession.”

Cody was invited to speak in response to the INTO president’s address, which was strongly critical of Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn for overseeing cuts in teacher resources, increasing pupil-teacher ratios in small schools and creating “initiative overload”.

Opening the INTO’s 146th congress, Brendan O’Sullivan told the 800 delegates Mr Quinn was contributing to low morale in the classroom by being “overly negative” about the quality of teaching and learning.

“I am not saying everything in the garden is rosy . . . but I would call for a balanced assessment that doesn’t smack of a cowboy builder trying to talk up the state of disrepair in a job to give a misleading impression of his own work.”

Mr O’Sullivan cited as a good news story the recent Pisa survey results showing Ireland’s 15-year-olds were the fourth most literate in the OECD and were performing significantly above the OECD average in mathematics and science (13th and ninth respectively). Yet the Minister focused only on areas of criticism from the study.

Mr Quinn is due to speak to INTO delegates this morning before travelling to the conferences of the other two teacher unions, the ASTI and the TUI.

Informing the Minister of the likely reception he would receive, Mr O’Sullivan said: “In my nearly 40 years teaching I do not believe I have ever witnessed a more demoralised teaching force.”

‘Drowning in reports’

He called for a “moratorium on initiatives”, saying teachers were “drowning in . . . the reports and paper trails which are their inevitable consequences”.

The INTO president challenged the Government’s claim that class sizes had not increased, saying schools with one-four teachers had endured class size increases over the last two years. This was an issue that could “feature strongly in the forthcoming local elections”, he remarked.

Resources to children with special needs had been cut by 15 per cent, while teachers’ salaries had fallen by about 20 per cent on average. This represented a choice by the Government to “visit pain” on ordinary workers “rather than levy a tax on wealth”, introduce a financial transaction tax, or seek “a fair contribution from the multinationals”.

Of the president’s address, Mr Cody said: “I think he stole some of my speech”, and went on to talk about the importance of being ambitious as a profession and to set the highest of standards. He noted one of the things he learnt from sport was “excuses are a dangerous thing”, and it was better to banish them and instead “look at the reasons why you weren’t successful”.

A survey of INTO members published yesterday showed nearly two thirds were dissatisfied with their pay levels and conditions of employment, while half said they did not have enough time for additional non-teaching responsibilities.

www.irishtimes.com

Crumlin primary schools join ‘The Big Clean’

Aibreán 22, 2014

More than 70 excited, environmentally conscious pupils from Crumlin Integrated Primary, Gaelscoil Gleann Darrach and St Joseph’s Primary, collected a staggering 34 bags of rubbish when they recently embarked on a ‘Big Spring Clean’ litter pick of Crumlin residential areas and Crumlin Glen.

The day began with a guided tour of Tesco by Jacqui Mitchell, Community Champion, where the children learnt how Tesco recycle their waste.

This was followed by a talk from Antrim Council’s Borough Warden, Paul Chapman, on why people shouldn’t litter as it has such a negative impact on the community and the environment.

Maeve Stewart, grandmother of one of the school children who took part, volunteered on the day.

She said: “I thought it was an excellent idea. If we teach the children to be proud of where they live when they are young and not drop litter, then hopefully it will stay with them. We had a lovely morning and it was great to see all the schools working together and enjoying themselves.”
The schools registered for ‘The Big Spring Clean’ with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and participation in the event will be counted towards their Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.

They will also be planting new trees, scattering wild flower seeds and creating community garden patches for all to enjoy but they can’t do it alone!

They also need the help of the local Crumlin community.

So, if you’re green fingered, interested in gardening, have a few hours to spare or have an environmental project in mind why not get in touch with Antrim Borough Council’s Volunteer Facilitator for Crumlin, Fiona Kidd on 028 9446 3113 Ext: 1328 or email Fiona.kidd@antrim.gov.uk

www.antrimtimes.co.uk

The bilingual brain is more nimble and efficient

Aibreán 22, 2014

I have occasional bursts of enthusiasm to learn French. But now I have an extra incentive to stick with it because research is increasingly showing that, if you know two or more languages, your brain is better than those who know just one language. Multilingual people are better at reasoning, multitasking, reconciling conflicting ideas. They work faster, with less effort, and retain their cognitive faculties better as they age. The research that underpins this story is summarised by Jeffrey Kluger in Time (July 29th, 2013).

The human brain can be bilingual even before birth. The foetus in the womb can hear the mother’s voice from the beginning of the third trimester (six months), and the speech rhythms of her language(s) pour into the baby’s brain and comfort him/her. The vigour with which a baby sucks on a soother is a measure of how stimulated it is by its environment, and this technique has been used to study babies three days old and younger. When played recordings of multiple languages, babies with monolingual English-speaking mothers suck harder only when they hear English; those with mothers who speak English and French suck harder when they hear either language (Krista Byers-Heinlein and others, Psychological Science , January 29th, 2010).

Babies who are a few months old can recognise language on sight of the speaker alone. From four to six months, babies from both monolingual English homes and bilingual English-French homes can tell the difference between English and French when watching silent videos of adults reading from The Little Prince in English and French, but by eight months only the bilinguals can do this.

Suppressed response

Other research has shown that seven-month-old babies raised in a bilingual home can suppress a previously learned response, whereas babies raised in a monolingual home cannot. Both sets of babies watched a screen and learned that when they heard certain words a puppet always appeared on the same side of the screen – their eyes would turn to that side on hearing the words. In the second part of the experiment the puppet moved to the other side of the screen when cued by the words. Bilingual babies anticipated the new location but not monolingual babies (A Kovacs, Proceedings National Academy of Sciences , 2009).

Indications are that the benefits of early-language training in children will be considerable and may be discernible in brain structure. It is well-known, for example, that motor-control regions in the brain governing finger action are particularly well-developed in violinists and other musicians. But which comes first – are you pre-disposed to be talented because of your brain structure or does training cause changes in the brain?

Kluger describes an experiment carried out at Lund University in 2012 to answer this question. Students at the Armed Forces Interpreter Academy taking a gruelling language course that brings them from no knowledge to fluency in 13 months were compared to students taking equally rigorous courses in medicine or cognitive science. Students’ brains were scanned before and after completion of the course. The language students showed significant growth in the hippocampus area of the brain, which helps govern memory and mastery of new material, and in other areas, where higher order reasoning is processed. There was no change among the other students.

The bilingual brain is more efficient. Constant juggling to choose between two words for every object/concept is great practice at doing several things at once. How deftly one can multitask is approximately measured in the Stroop test. Names of colours are flashed on a screen, with the colours of the letters matching the word, and subjects must say the colour’s name. This is easily done. Next the flashes are mismatched – the colour doesn’t match the word. Subjects must again say the colour – this is not so easy. Bilinguals are faster than monolinguals and make fewer mistakes (Ellen Bialystok, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology , 2011).

The advantages of multilingualism are particularly important for older people. Not only are older bilingual brains more nimble than monolingual, but they don’t have to work as hard. Studies of older people suffering from cognitive decline indicate that bilinguals get an extra 4.1 years of clarity before signs of dementia show up – and those who develop Alzheimer’s get an extra 5.1 years. Now where is that Teach Yourself French book?

William Reville is an emeritus professor of biochemistry at UCC.

understandingscience.ucc.ie

Comórtas Filíochta an Free Wee Library 2014

Aibreán 22, 2014

Comórtas Filíochta do Dhaoine Fásta agus do Pháistí

Béarla agus Gaeilge

Bronnfar duaiseanna ar an 1ú agus an 2ú háit do dhánta i mBéarla, agus ar an 1ú agus an 2ú áit do dhánta i nGaeilge, sna catagóirí seo a leanas,

Daoine Fásta:

1ú Duais €150 + 250 cóip den dán buacach, priontáilte mar ribín marcála, le dáileadh ar fud an FWLP.

2ú Duais €75 + 100 cóip den dán buacach, priontáilte mar ribín marcála, le dáileadh ar fud an FWLP.

Páistí:

Os cionn 10:
1ú Duais €30 + 100 cóip den dán buacach, priontáilte mar ribín marcála, le dáileadh ar fud an FWLP.
2ú Duais €15 + dhá dhearbhán leabhar.

Faoi 10:
1ú Duais €20 + 100 cóip den dán buacach, priontáilte mar ribín marcála, le dáileadh ar fud an FWLP.
2ú Duais €10 + dhá dhearbhán leabhar.

Rialacha agus Treoirlínte an Chomórtais

Glacfar anois le hiarratais do Chomórtas Filíochta an Free Wee Library 2014. Glacfar le dánta i mBéarla agus i nGaeilge.

Tá an comórtas seo oscailte do gach aon údar, fad is go bhfuil dán iontrála an údair sin nuascríofa, gan an dán a bheith foilsithe ná féinfhoilsithe cheana, in aon áit sna meáin ná go poiblí, agus gan aon chomórtas buaite ag an dán cheana.

Ní ghearrfar táille ar iontrálacha ó pháistí, ach beidh táille iontrála €5 le híoc ag daoine fásta, ar uasmhéid 3 dhán, agus iníoctha leis an Free Wee Library Project. Seoltar iontrálacha, mar aon le seic/ordú poist €5 (daoine fásta), chuig Comórtas Filíochta 2014, Free Wee Library Project, f/c The Exchange, Ascaill an Chaisleáin, Bun Cranncha, Co. Dhún na nGall, Éire, roimh 5:00 i.n., 30 Bealtaine 2014.

Ní mór do dhán/dhánta an iontrálaí bheith ar leathanach as/astu féin, gan ainm an iontrálaí bheith ar an leathanach céanna leis an dán/na dánta, nó ní ghlacfar leis an iarratas sin. Ní mór litir mhínithe a chur isteach le gach iarratas, le hainm agus sonraí teagmhála an údair ar an leathanach sin (ainm, seoladh, uimhir ghutháin, seoladh ríomhphoist). Ní scaoilfear ainmneacha na scríbhneoirí leis an bpainéal moltóirí, go dtí go mbeidh na dánta buacacha roghnaithe.

Is féidir aon ábhar a bheith i gceist, ach ní féidir le haon dán a bheith níos faide ná 15 líne. Ba mhór againn luathiontrálacha. Ní mór bunchóip den dán a choinneáil mar ní sheolfar iarratais ar ais.

Ní bheidh dul thar bhreith na moltóirí, agus ní rachfar i mbun comhfhreagrais maidir lena gcuid moltóireachta.

Cuirfear na buaiteoirí ar an eolas roimh an 20 Meitheamh 2014, agus tabharfar cuireadh dóibh bheith i láthair, lena ndánta a léamh, ag bronnadh na nduaiseanna in The Exchange i mBun Cranncha, i rith Feel Good Fortnight. (Dáta le deimhniú.)

Fanann cóipcheart an tsaothair leis an údar, ach coinníonn an Free Wee Library Project cearta chéadfhoilsiú/chéadchraoladh an tsaothair bhuaitigh.

 

Bronntar bua uile-Éireann Dráma ar ‘Sheampaíní’ Ghaelscoil na gCrann

Aibreán 17, 2014

Téann Gaelscoil na gCrann, bunscoil lán Gaeilge ar an Ómaigh, ar aghaidh ó neart go neart agus a clú feabhais á fhorbairt aici i gcónaí nuair a bronnadh ‘Seaimpíní Iomlán Uile-Éireann’ orthu i mBabhtaí Ceannais Náisiúnta den ‘Chumann Scoildrámaíochta’ sa Mhuileann Cearr an tseachtain seo. Bhí 44 scoileanna, idir bhunscoileanna agus mheánscoileanna, as gach aon cheantar in Éirinn páirteach sa chomórtas ardcháiliúil seo. Is í seo an chéad uair a bhain scoil as na Sé Chontae an comórtas clúiteach ó cuireadh ar bun é.

Bhí an dráma s’acu den ainm “Istigh i mo chroí ‘tá neart” scríofa agus léirithe ag Leas-phríomhoide na scoile Risteard Mac Daibhéid. Léirítear díshealbhú in Éirinn i ndiaidh an Ghorta Mhóir ann agus an dóigh a dtéann sé i bhfeidhm ar theaghlaigh agus ar an phobal ar fad leis.

Is amhlaidh a bhí áthas an domhain ar an Phríomhoide Deirdre Uí Cheallaigh, a bhí mar chomhordaitheoir ceoil ar an dráma. Chuir sí síos go cruinn ar an atmaisféar sceitimíneach sa scoil: ‘Is rud iontach ar fad é gur bhain Gaelscoil na gCrann ceann de na duaiseanna is mó le rá i ndrámaíocht na scoileanna Éireannacha. Ní amháin gur mhór an onóir dúinn í a bheith inár n-ionadaithe ar son Thír Eoghain agus Chúige Uladh i mbabhta ceannais Uile-Éireann ach is pribhléid ollmhór í atá dochreidte agus millteanach maith ar fad é gur bronnadh seampainí Uile Éireann orainne. Caithfimid an-bhuíochas ar fad a thabhairt do na páistí as a gcuid dianoibre uilig, a dtiomáint agus a ndualgas agus is duais chuí í an rath seo dóibh.

Má bhreathnaítear ar thús simplí ár scoile a bunaíodh 8 mbliana ó shin agus 6 daltaí ag freastal uirthi is ea is féidir le Gaelscoil na gCrann a bheith an-bhrodúil as an ghnóthachtáil ollmhór seo.’ Chríochnaigh sí le buíochas mór a thabhairt do Risteard, do Bhrian Mac Daibhéid stiúrthóir ceoil na scoile agus don chóiréagrafaí Alison McElhatton.

Rachaidh na páistí go Páirc an Chrócaigh i mí na Bealtaine go mbronnfar a gcuid gradaim orthu.

www.comhairle.org

GS na gCrann

Minister Quinn announces all primary schools to be offered funding from school book rental scheme capital fund

Aibreán 17, 2014

Approximately 400 primary schools will receive funding to establish book rental schemes shortly

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., is announcing that all primary schools who currently operate a school book rental scheme will be able to benefit from the €15 million School Book Rental Scheme Fund which he secured as part of Budget 2014.

Last October, the Minister announced that the €15 million fund would be targeted specifically at primary schools who did not currently operate a book rental scheme. The Department of Education has received applications from approximately 400 such schools to date.

531 schools who previously indicated that they did not have book loan schemes were invited to apply for the funding. Of these, three quarters of these schools have now applied.

DEIS schools will receive €150 per child and non-DEIS schools will receive €100 per child in seed capital funding over the next two years to establish book rental schemes. This will cost approximately €6.7 million and is expected to benefit more than 63,000 pupils and their families.

Minister Quinn has now decided that the balance of the fund, some €8.3 million, will be divided among all other primary schools that currently operate book rental schemes, in 2015 and 2016. These schools are expected to receive a total of €18 per pupil or €20 in DEIS schools over those two years. This is on top of the annual book grant of €15 million which is paid to all schools on a per pupil basis. This forms part of the Minister’s wider agenda to tackle the high costs of going to school for parents.

“Every primary school in the country has now the opportunity to benefit from the School Book Rental Scheme funding we secured through the proceeds of the sale of the national Lottery.”

“When I first announced this scheme which targeted only primary schools who were not operating a Book Rental Scheme, many of the other schools voiced their concern at being left out, despite the hard work of many parents and teachers to establish such schemes.”

“I indicated that after the initial first round of funding was allocated that we could examine the scheme again and I am delighted that we will be able to provide an extra boost to these other schools which should allow them to expand or replace some books on their own schemes.”

“Every primary school has now been given the opportunity to benefit from the funding I secured for book rental schemes. I believe that all parents should have access to a school book rental scheme enabling them to significantly reduce the costs of sending a child to school,” said the Minister.

€5 million in seed capital funds for approximately 400 schools to establish book rental schemes will be distributed later this month in order to give the schools time to do so for the next school year, using the Guidelines issues by the Department in January 2013. The balance of the funding, €1.7 million, will be distributed to qualifying schools in 2015.

Provisions are also being made for new primary schools due to open in September to receive this funding. All other primary schools that currently operate book rental schemes will receive their share of the funding in 2015 and 2016.
The eligibility criteria for funding under the Seed Capital Grant Scheme for Book Loan/Rental Schemes is as follows:

(a) The school authorities must undertake to establish a textbook loan/rental scheme (covering either hard copy or electronic books) for the main textbooks used by the students in accordance with best practice contained in the Guidelines for Developing Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools for a minimum of 5 years. A book loan/rental scheme will normally have to achieve a life of approximately five years for each textbook, for it to break even.
(b) The school must confirm that it did not operate a school textbook loan/rental scheme in the school year 2013/14.
(c) The school must agree to maintain and furnish financial and other records regarding the establishment, maintenance and operation of the textbook loan/rental scheme to the Department, on request. All funding provided will be used exclusively for the purposes of establishing a textbook loan/rental scheme.

Distribution of remaining funding:

Following the distribution of seed capital funding to qualifying primary schools it is estimated that there will be €8.3 million remaining in the fund.

It has been decided to distribute this money to primary schools who currently operate school book rental schemes in 2015 and 2016 in order to allow them to supplement their existing school book rental schemes. These schools will receive €18 per pupil in non-DEIS schools and €20 per pupil in DEIS schools over that two year period or €7 or €8 per pupil in 2015 and €11 or €12 in 2016.

Existing funding provided to schools for books:

The book grant is paid to all recognised primary schools and all post-primary schools within the Free Education Scheme, with DEIS schools receiving an enhanced rate. It is paid in June each year for the following school year. For both 2012 and 2013, €15 million was ring-fenced for the programme.

Naíscoil an Iúir ag ceiliúradh na Cásca

Aibreán 17, 2014

Naíscoil an Iúir um Cháisc

Craobhchomórtas Siansa Gael Linn ar TG4!

Aibreán 16, 2014

Craolfar clár speisialta faoi Chraobhchomórtas Siansa Gael Linn 2014 ar TG4, Dé Céadaoin 23 Aibreán, 10.30 p.m. Ghlac 8 ngrúpa thraidisiúnta ó cheann ceann na tíre páirt sa cheolchoirm iontach seo sa Cheoláras Náisiúnta ar 6 Aibreán, 2014. Bhí os cionn míle duine i láthair don ócáid. Beidh ceol agus amhránaíocht den scoth le cloisteáil – ná caill é!

Lean sinn ar Twitter #Siansa nó ar Facebook Siansa Gael Linn!

Cúntóir riachtanas speisialta – Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg

Aibreán 16, 2014

Post do lá Naíonáin atá i gceist(0.83). Is scoil Lán Ghaeilge í Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg. Is í an Ghaeilge teanga cumarsáide na scoile. Beidh gá le caighdeán maith Gaeilge labhartha a bheith ag an té a cheapfar. Beidh na hagallaimh don phost seo i nGaeilge.(Interviews for this position will be in Irish.).. Is é 24 Aibreán 2014 an sprioc d’iarratais. Tá tuilleadh eolais faoin bpost seo ar fáil ar http://www.educationposts.ie/

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