Irish in vogue as foreign languages fall out of favour
Lúnasa 13, 2014
More Leaving Cert students may be brushing up on their Irish, but foreign languages, in demand from employers, are losing favour.
Growing numbers of candidates are opting for higher level Irish, up to 40pc this year, showing a steady rise from 37pc two years age.
It is attributed to a change introduced some years ago to award up to 40pc of marks for the oral side of the exam. The initiative is achieving its aim, with 18,134 higher level candidates this year, compared with 16,665 in 2013.
Students clearly are much more comfortable chatting as Gaeilge to the examiners than grappling with the grammatical constructions of the native tongue.
However, while more students are opting for higher level Irish, big numbers still avoid the subjects. About 20pc of Leaving Certificate students are excused from the otherwise compulsory requirement to study Irish, either because of a learning difficulty or because they were not in the Irish education system before a certain age.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing decline in the numbers taking French and German.
Tony Donohoe of the employers’ organisation, noted that this year less than13pc of candidates took German, while 49pc took French.
“We continue to see significant numbers of unfilled job vacancies that require modern languages.
“It’s vital that we don’t find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to selling into global markets and attracting foreign investment,” Mr Donohoe said.
Katherine Donnelly
Irish Independent
Folúntas: Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach
Lúnasa 13, 2014
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More is more as number of students taking Irish and science increase
Lúnasa 13, 2014
During her term as minister for education, Mary Hanafin increased the percentage grade for the oral component of Irish to 40 per cent, aiming to increase the overall numbers taking Irish and the uptake at higher level. This change was flagged in advance over a five year period, so Hanafin was long gone from the DES when the results of her initiative began to emerge in the past few years.
Evidence from the higher level Irish results for 2012-2014 show the increase in the oral component to 40 per cent has led to an increase in the actual numbers taking Irish in the Leaving at higher level. As a proportion of those sitting English, the number who actually sit Irish at all three levels has increased over the past three years from 42,964 (85.17%) to 43,651 (85.83%) to 45,268 (86.6%). The number taking Irish at higher level has increased from 15,937 (37%) to 18,134 (40%). The success rate of these students in securing a C or higher (88.8%) is by far the highest of the mainstream subjects; the failure rate is just 0.6%. At ordinary level failure is a modest 4.1%.
Compared to the numbers taking English, which is indicative of the total numbers of school-based full-time Leaving Cert students, over 13.4% of full-time Leaving Cert students at second level do not sit Irish in the Leaving. Many of them are exempted because of a disability or having moved to Ireland late in primary school. Apart from these, a significant number registered as studying Irish, as non-exempted students are required to do, have effectively abandoned the subject, and fail to even turn up to sit the exams in the Leaving. These numbers highlight the question of whether Irish should remain compulsory for all students not exempted up to Leaving Cert level.
Teacher unions are concerned about the capacity of schools to continue offering the full range of Leaving Cert subjects given staff cutbacks. This is not reflected in the numbers taking the wide range of optional subjects. Spanish is now taken by 5,340 or 10% of Leaving Cert students. The numbers taking higher level Spanish, having increased by 17% last year, went up by a further 10% in 2014, to 3,378. This is welcome given the ongoing dominance of French (26,496 students or half of Leaving Cert students), and, to a lesser extent, German (6,858 or 13%).
The message that there are career advantages in science has been taken on board by students, as seen by the increase in the numbers taking science subjects. Across biology, chemistry, physics, agricultural science and physics/chemistry, 57,141 papers were taken by approximately 54,000 students.
The Leaving Cert student numbers increased by 2.9% this year, but the percentage increase at higher level science subjects is 4.3% in biology, 6.4% in agricultural science, 7% in chemistry and 12% in physics. The numbers for applied maths increased again this year to 1,569 at higher (over 28% got an A).
There is an increase again for non-curricular EU languages – from 1,470 in 2013 to 1,485 in 2014. Polish was taken by 50% of students who took a non-curricular EU language. Croatian was offered for the first time this year, with 23 candidates taking the examination. Other languages taken in 2014 included Japanese (298 students) and Arabic (108 students, all at higher level).
By far the most successful students in the 2014 Leaving Cert, as in 2013, are those who sat Russian. All 292 took the subject at higher level, and 97.5% got a C or higher, with 82.5% getting an A.
www.irishtimes.com
Folúntas: Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara
Lúnasa 13, 2014
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Stiúrthóir Naíscoile de dhíth láithreach do Naí-Ionad Ard Eoin
Lúnasa 13, 2014
Stiúrthóir Naíscoile de dhíth láithreach do Naí-Ionad Ard Eoin, Béal Feirste, ó Mheán Fómhair 2014 .Riachtanach – NVQ leibhéal 3 ar a laghad. Tuilleadh eolais ar fáil ón Rúnaí; bohare11@hotmail.co.uk
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Lúnasa 11, 2014
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Lúnasa 11, 2014
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Rothaíocht go Ráth Cairn ar son bhus meánscoile
Lúnasa 11, 2014
Tá baill Chumann Rothaíochta Loch Lao chun rothaíocht ón Cheathrú Ghaeltachta i mBéal Feirste go Ráth Cairn na Mí le hairgead a thiomsú ar son bhus meánscoile Choláiste Feirste.
Cuirfear an t-airgead a bhailítear ón rothaíocht i gciste ‘Tuistí an Tuaiscirt’, tuismitheoirí ó cheantar Ard Eoin ar a bhfuil a gcuid páistí ag freastal ar Choláiste Feirste.
Tá 112 dalta ó cheantar Ard Eoin ag freastal ar Choláiste Feirste gan soláthar iompair tiomnaithe ar fáil dóibh.
Gheall an tAire Oideachais, John O’Dowd, go réiteofaí cás na ndaltaí trí mhí ó shoin ach is beag dul chun cinn atá déanta, dar leis na tuismitheoirí.
Seo chugaibh léargas ar fheachtas rothaithe Loch Lao – féach an físeán ar www.meoneile.ie.
Folúntas: Gaelscoil Nás na Ríogh
Lúnasa 11, 2014
Múinteoir acmhainne ar 21.25 uair a chloig i nGaelscoil a chleachtaíonn an luath thumoideachas iomlán agus ata mar chroílár pobal na Gaeilge sa cheantar. Glacfar le iarrataisí I nGaeilge amháin. Sonraí ar www.educationposts.ie.
