Thar am aghaidh a thabhairt ar dhearcadh na ndaltaí ‘nach maith leo an Ghaeilge’
Eanáir 29, 2016
Ba chóir go mbeadh ‘labhairt na Gaeilge’ ina ábhar éigeantach do gach dalta bunscoile agus iarbhunscoile agus ba cheart ‘léann na Gaeilge’ a thabhairt isteach mar ábhar roghnach dóibh siúd atá ag iarraidh tuilleadh staidéir a dhéanamh ar an teanga ag an dara leibhéal.
Sin cuid de na moltaí atá déanta ag Príomhfheidhmeannach Ghréasán Príomhoidí Bunscoile na hÉireann (an IPPN), Seán Cottrell, in alt leis a foilsíodh ar maidin.
Thug Cottrell le fios gur léirigh suirbhé a dhein an IPPN le déanaí go raibh leath de bhaill na heagraíochta sin den tuairim nach raibh aon ‘straitéis shoiléir’ ann do theagasc na Gaeilge agus go mba ghá athrú “radacach” a dhéanamh ar churaclam na Gaeilge.
Ag scríobh dó san Irish Times, dúirt Cottrell go raibh an iomarca ‘foghlaim de ghlanmheabhair’ fós ar bun sa rang Gaeilge agus go raibh múinteoirí fós ag brath rómhór ar théacsleabhair.
Maíonn i bhfad an iomarca daltaí ‘nach maith leo an Ghaeilge’, agus ní foláir an cheist a chur cén fáth go bhfuil an dearcadh sin acu i dtaobh na teanga, a dúirt Cottrell.
Dar le Príomhfheidhmeannach an IPPN gurb é freagra na ceiste sin ná go múinfí scileanna cumarsáide agus comhrá do dhaltaí in áit a bheith ag iarraidh an Ghaeilge a theagasc mar ábhar ‘acadúil’.
B’athrú chun feabhais a bhí i gcuraclam nua na mbunscoileanna, a dúirt sé, ach theastaigh cur chuige níos radacaí ná sin.
Dúirt Cottrell gur cheart féachaint chomh maith ar an tslí a chuirtear oiliúint i múineadh na Gaeilge ar ábhar oidí seachas a bheith ag fáil locht ar na múinteoirí féin.
Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí www.tuairisc.ie
Tuairimíocht: Conas an Ghaeilge a shábháil
Eanáir 29, 2016
(English) O’DOWD OPENS NEW £1.3MILLION GAELSCOIL GHLEANN DARACH, CRUMLIN
Eanáir 29, 2016
Foirne Scoil Chuimsitheach na Ceathrún Rua dochloíte i gCraobh na hÉireann de Chomórtas Díospóireachta Uí Chadhain
Eanáir 28, 2016
Níor éirigh le foireann ar bith eile an ceann is fearr a fháil ar Scoil Chuimsitheach na Ceathrún Rua ag Craobh na hÉireann de Chomórtas Díospóireachta Uí Chadhain 2016 a bhí ar siúl in Óstán an Heritage, Portlaoise tráthnóna.
Ba ag an scoil Ghaeltachta a bhí an bua i gcraobh na sinsear agus i gcraobh na sóisear sa chomórtas bliantúil a eagraíonn Gael Linn.
I gcomórtas na soisear foireann scoil na Ceathrún Rua ar son an rúin ‘Is fiú an t-airgead a chaitear ar TG4!’. Ba i bhfabhar an rúin ‘Tá dea-thionchar ag ár gcuid stair orainn in Éirinn!’ a bhí foireann buacach na scoile i gcomórtas na sinsear.
Bhí foirne ó scoileanna Gaeltachta go mór sa treis i gcraobh na bliana seo agus Coláiste Pobail Ráth Cairn, Coláiste Ghobnatan, Baile Bhuirne agus Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, An Cheathrú Rua, á fhéachaint le Coláiste Eoin, Baile Átha Cliath i rannóg na sóisear sa chomórtas a eagraíonn Gael-Linn gach bliain.
I rannóg na sinsear i mbliana b’iad na scoileanna a thug aghaidh ar a chéile ná Coláiste Pobail Ráth Cairn, Coláiste Íde, an Daingean, Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, An Cheathrú Rua agus Coláiste Eoin.
Ghlac os cionn 50 foireann páirt i gcomórtas na bliana seo. Bronnadh buanchorn agus duais de luach €1,000 ar fhoirne buacacha na Ceathrún Rua agus bronnadh duais de luach €250 ar na sé foirne eile ar éirigh leo áit a bhaint amach sna babhtaí ceannais.
A thrí oiread Gaelscoileanna agus Gaelcholáistí ag brath ar chóiríocht shealadach
Eanáir 28, 2016
Tá nach mór a thrí oiread Gaelscoileanna agus Gaelcholáistí ag brath ar chóiríocht shealadach ná mar atá i gcás scoileanna eile na tíre.
De réir anailíse atá déanta ag Tuairisc.ie ar fhigiúirí nua ón Roinn Oideachais, tá 29% den 187 Gaelscoil agus Gaelcholáiste sa Stát ag brath ar chóiríocht shealadach, i gcomparáid le 11.5% de scoileanna eile na tíre.
Is Gaelscoileanna nó Gaelcholáistí iad 4.6% den 4,009 scoil sa Stát.
468 scoil ar fad atá ag brath ar chóiríocht shealadach agus is Gaelscoil nó Gaelcholáiste 54 de na scoileanna sin.
Dúirt urlabhraí ón eagraíocht Gaelscoileanna Teo le Tuairisc.ie gur cheart tabhairt faoi chóiríocht bhuan a chur ar fáil láithreach do na scoileanna Gaeilge a bhfuil a leithéid ag teastáil dóibh agus gur cheart tosú láithreach ar scoileanna nua Gaeilge a thógáil chomh maith.
Dúirt an t-urlabhraí, áfach, gur údar dóchais don eagraíocht líon na scoileanna Gaeilge a luadh i bplean caipitil na Roinne Oideachais a foilsíodh ag deireadh na bliana seo caite.
Tá méadú tagtha le cúig bliana anuas ar an maoiniú caipitil atá curtha ar fáil ag an Roinn Oideachais do Ghaelscoileanna.
€23.6 milliún a cuireadh ar fáil do Ghaelscoileanna i 2011 agus €33.6 milliún a cuireadh ar fáil do bhunscoileanna Gaeilge i 2015.
www.tuairisc.ie
School league tables: Country’s top schools get perfect results
Eanáir 26, 2016
When it comes to sending students on to third level, the past seven years have seen seven schools in five counties managing to deliver an extraordinary 100pc record.
Given the size of its population, it’s unsurprising that three of the country’s best-performing schools are located in Dublin. The other four members of the ‘100pc club’ are to be found in Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary.
You can explore the data on each school by clicking here and registering
While all seven schools have maintained a perfect record in terms of placing their students in third-level institutions every year since 2009, further analysis of the data based on the percentage who were admitted to a course of study at a university makes it possible to rank them accordingly.
With 81pc of Leaving Certificate students securing a place at university between 2009 and 2015, Presentation Brothers College in the Mardyke in Cork emerges as the best performing school in the nation. The school, which charges annual fees of €3,500, also bears the distinction of having had the greatest throughput of students during the period (of those schools in the ‘100pc club’) with a total of 767 boys sitting the Leaving Certificate. Looking more closely at the figures, one finds the majority – or 542 of those graduating from the school – went on to study at University College Cork (UCC).
Coming in at number two is Mount Anville School in Goatstown, south county Dublin. The all-girls school, which charges yearly fees of €5,350, has placed 80pc of its Leaving Certificate students in universities between 2009 to 2015.
Some 381, or just over 52pc of the 726 students graduating from Mount Anville, went on to study at UCD while 147 (20pc) secured places at Trinity College.
Read more: ‘We focus on each individual student’s exact skill set’
Third is Glenstal Abbey in Limerick. While the all-boys boarding school, which charges yearly fees of €10,600 for day boarders, has equalled Mount Anville’s record of sending 80pc of its 260 graduates to university between 2009 and 2015, it comes in behind the south Dublin girls’ school on our list owing to its lower throughput of students. With an average of 37 students sitting the Leaving Certificate compared to the average of 103 who sat the exams each year at Mount Anville, Glenstal Abbey’s students could be seen to enjoy a relative advantage in terms of the individual attention they might receive.
Between 2009 and 2015, 60 of Glenstal’s Leaving Certificate students took up places at Trinity College Dublin, while 68 went to UCD, 32 went to UCC and 18 attended NUIG.
Read more: ‘It’s a real team effort here – everyone is involved’
The fourth-placed school on the list merits special mention by virtue of the fact that it is non fee-paying. According to our analysis, 78pc of students at the all-girls school, Colaiste Iosagain, in the south county Dublin suburb of Stillorgan, progressed to university between 2009 and 2015. The most popular destination for its students is UCD with 246 or over 44pc of the 552 girls who sat the Leaving Certificate during that time going there.
In assessing Colaiste Iosagain, it is worth noting that its students learn through Irish and benefit from the bonus marks awarded to those candidates who do their Leaving Certificate examinations through the language.
Fifth on the list is the €13,150 all-boys Cistercian College in Roscrea, with 71pc of its students placed in university between 2009 and 2015. UCD proved the most popular destination with 74 or 24pc of the Tipperary boarding school’s 303 leaving certificate students taking up places there between 2009 and 2015.
Read more: Hard-working schools show that better results can be achieved
St Mary’s College in Rathmines, which charges fees of €5,250 a year, came in sixth place. Some 59pc of students from the fee-paying, all boys’ school secured a place in university between 2009 and 2015.
The seventh member of our ‘100pc club’ is Tralee Community College in Co Kerry. While the non fee-paying, co-ed school sent just 3pc of its Leaving Certificate students on to university between 2009 and 2015, it has placed 100pc of them in third-level institutions. 142 of the 159 students who sat the state exams at the school went on to study at Tralee Institute of Technology.
Irish language Donegal secondary schools top school leagues table
Eanáir 26, 2016
Two Irish language Donegal secondary schools have topped a school leagues table. Every single student who completed their Leaving Certificate at Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair and Coláiste Ailigh in Letterkenny last year went on to third level colleges.
This information was revealed by a survey in the Sunday Independent, which also found that Baghene College in Bundora was the only other secondary school to reach 100% of pupils heading on to college last year.
The Sunday Independent called the schools’ success as ‘remarkable’
Catholic school offers pupils alternative ethics classes
Eanáir 25, 2016
A Catholic primary school that is offering an alternative non-Catholic ethics and religious beliefs programme to pupils has said that schools interested in the idea should “go for it”.
Gaelscoil Dhochtúir Uí Shuilleabháin in Skibbereen introduced the programme two years ago. The school says it has been a resounding success with 37 of its 59 pupils opting for non-Catholic classes.
On Wednesday mornings children break into four separate groups. Two classes, divided into younger and older children, do the Alive-O Catholic programme.
Two other classes, with pupils similarly grouped according to age, study a multi-denominational programme.
Non-Catholic parents at the school told RTÉ News they did not want their children sitting in class during Catholic religious education.
More than four years ago the school moved religious education to the end of the school day and allowed non-Catholic parents to collect their children early or put them in a homework club.
But parents say this did not work out. Some parents could not collect their children early, others could not afford to pay for the homework club.
Two years ago the Board of Management approved the current system. Parents and staff at the school say the arrangement works very well and has become an ordinary part of the school day.
Principal Aisling Ní Néill says it means teachers delivering the Catholic programme can now do so wholeheartedly, knowing that every child in the classroom is there because their parents actively want them to participate.
She stressed that the school remained a Catholic one, with a Catholic ethos.
As the school is small, with only three teachers, one of the classes is taken by a volunteer parent, who is also a qualified teacher.
But the school points out that larger schools with more teachers should not have this problem.
The school uses a multi-denominational ethics and religious beliefs programme developed by multi-denominational body Educate Together.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0125/762798-catholic-schools-multi-denominational/
‘Géarghá le neartú cearta teanga i gcónaí’, a deir an Coimisinéir, agus é ag admhaithe ag an Taoiseach nach bhfoilseofar reachtaíocht teanga
Eanáir 25, 2016
Dúirt an Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, ar maidin, go raibh “géarghá” i gcónaí le reachtaíocht teanga a láidreodh Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla.
Bhí an Coimisinéir ag caint ar an gclár Adhmhaidin ar RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta faoi admháil an Taoisigh sa Dáil an tseachtain seo caite nach bhfoilseofar Bille leasaithe na dTeangacha Oifigiúla sula scoirfear an Dáil don olltoghchán.
Ag labhairt dó le Tuairisc.ie ar maidin, dúirt an Coimisinéir Teanga gur cheart uasdátú la dhéanamh láithreach ar liosta na gcomhlachtaí a thagann faoi scáth an Achta.
“Tá práinn ag baint leis an uasdátú sin agus ní theastódh aon reachtaíocht nua chun é a dhéanamh,” a dúirt an Coimisinéir Teanga.
Mar fhreagra ar cheist ó cheannaire Shinn Féin Gerry Adams, dúirt an Taoiseach Enda Kenny sa Dáil an tseachtain seo caite nach dtiocfadh “an Bille go dtí an Teach roimh dheireadh na Dála seo”.
Cuireadh tús leis an athbhreithniú ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003 i mí na Samhna 2011 agus foilsíodh ceannteidil na reachtaíochta nua i mí Aibreáin 2014. Mhol coiste oireachtais a d’ullmhaigh tuarascáil faoin dréachtreachtaíocht sin go ndéanfaí 34 leasú ar 13 ceannteideal an Bhille. Nuair a foilsíodh an dréachtreachtaíocht dúirt an Coimisinéir Teanga gur beag a bhí inti a neartódh cearta teanga an tsaoránaigh.
Thug an Taoiseach le fios i mí Nollag na bliana 2014 go bhfeicfí an Bille atá le leasú a dhéanamh ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla “go luath” i mí Eanáir na bliana 2015.
Dúirt an tAire Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta Heather Humphreys i bhfreagra Dála i mí an Mheithimh seo caite go mbeadh an reachtaíocht nua teanga le foilsiú “sna seachtainí amach romhainn” roimh bhriseadh an tsamhraidh.
Ina dhiaidh sin arís, thug urlabhraí ó Roinn na Gaeltachta le fios do Tuairisc.ie go bhfoilseofaí an Bille “le linn téarma reatha na Dála”.
Dúirt urlabhraí thar ceann Aire na Gaeltachta le Tuairisc.ie níos túisce an mhí seo go raibh “leagan dátheangach den Bhille á ullmhú” faoi láthair agus go bhfoilseofaí é “chomh luath agus is féidir faoi réir chead an Rialtais a bheith faighte chuige sin”.
www.tuairisc.ie
Coiste oireachtais chun athbhreithniú a dhéanamh ar Straitéis 20 Bliain na Gaeilge geallta ag na Daonlathaigh Shóisialacha
Eanáir 25, 2016
Bhunódh na Daonlathaigh Shóisialacha coiste oireachtais chun ‘athbhreithniú cuimsitheach’ a dhéanamh ar chur i bhfeidhm Straitéis 20 Bliain na Gaeilge, de réir a bhforógra toghcháin a foilsíodh ar maidin.
Deirtear sa bhforógra céanna go bhfuil éileamh níos mó ná mar a bhí ag an bpobal ar an nGaeloideachas, agus go ndéanfaí soláthar don éileamh sin mar chuid d’athstruchtúrú ar ‘mhúnlaí pátrúnachta na scoileanna’. Dá mbeidís i gcumhacht chinnteodh an páirtí nuabhunaithe, a deir siad, go mbeadh an luathoideachas ar fáil i nGaeilge, ‘go háirithe sa Ghaeltacht agus i mbailte móra’.
Ach deis acu a bheith i rialtas, dhéanfadh an páirtí athbhreithniú chomh maith ar a éifeachtaí is atá na hiarrachtaí atá ar bun borradh a chur faoi gheilleagar na Gaeltachta.
Maíonn na Daonlathaigh Shóisialacha go ndéanfaidís tuilleadh infheistíochta in oiliúint múinteoirí Gaeilge ‘to equip them to inspire students to continue their language journey beyond school’.
Seoladh a bhforógra toghcháin Building a Better Future 2016-2026 agus gealltar ann go gcuirfeadh an páirtí deireadh le bochtanas i measc páistí agus go gcruthófaí 100,000 post mar thoradh ar an gcóras baincéireachta nua a chuirfidís ar bun.
Bunaíodh na Daonlathaigh Shóisialacha i mí Iúil na bliana seo agus 14 iarrthóir atá ag seasamh dóibh san olltoghchán. Tá cúram na ceannaireachta á roinnt idir triúr de na hiarrthóirí sin; na Teachtaí Dála Catherine Murphy, Róisín Shortall agus Stephen Donnelly.
www.tuairisc.ie
