Nursery unit ‘good news’ for Irish language
Deireadh Fómhair 4, 2013
LOCAL Sinn Féin MLA Ian Milne has welcomed the announcement by John O’Dowd, Minister for eduction, that he has approved a development proposal for the establishment of a 26 part-time place statutory nursery unit at Gaelscoil an tSeanchaí, Magherafelt.
Speaking Mr Milne said: “I would like to commend the staff, board of governors and all those who have worked to put together this development proposal”.
“The growing enrollment numbers show the demand locally for Irish medium education and the establishment of these statutory nursery places will assist them to meet that demand”.
“This is good news for Gaelscoil an tSeanchaí and good news for Irish medium education”.
www.midulstermail.co.uk
Tá cuidiú ar fáil
Deireadh Fómhair 1, 2013
Sa sean-am, bhí sé iontach doiligh Gaeilge a fhoghlaim. Bhí sean-leabhar leadránach agat agus b’fhéidir go raibh sean-mhúinteoir leadránach agat fosta, i seomra ranga gruama.
Ach d’imigh sin agus tháinig seo. Tá réimse leathan téacsleabhar ann anois – tá siad tarraingteach agus tá cuma nua-aimseartha orthu. Ach níor tháinig an téacsleabhar foirfe amach go fóill – ní raibh an t-am agam. Ach chomh maith le téacsleabhair, tá áiseanna tacaíochta ann- áiseanna Idirlín go háirithe. Bíonn feabhas ag teacht ar an ábhar Idirlín an t-am ar fad, agus mar sin de ní dhéanann sé dochar cuid de na suímh a lua arís. Níl an leagan clóite de Foinse ar fáil níos mó , ach tá Foinse ag dul ar aghaidh lena sheirbhís nuachta laethúil ar an Ghréasán. Tá an tseirbhís dírithe ar dhaoine atá ag foghlaim Gaeilge agus tugtar achoimre de gach scéal i mBéarla. Áis iontach atá ann. (foinse.ie) Foilsíonn Nuacht1.com píosaí as na nuachtáin i nGaeilge. Tá fuinneoga ar an suíomh agus is féidir teacht ar suímh eile tríothu – Beo, Foinse, Gaelport, Meon eile, Nós, Nuacht24, agus Treibh ina measc.Téigh go bun an leathanach baile agus gheobhaidh tú níos mó ná céad amhrán de gach sórt – amhráin thraidisiúnta, amhráin do pháistí, sean- nós, popcheol.
Gúgáil RTÉ Gaeilge le sonraí a fháil de chláracha Raidió na Gaeltachta, RTÉ agus TG4. Gúgáil BBC Irish, agus gheobhaidh tú eolas ar ábhar d’achan duine ó fhoghlaimeoir glas go cainteoir líofa. Tá ceachtanna simplí ann le múinteoir áitiúíl, Fearghal Mag Uiginn. Agus tá na cluichí ríomhaire ar fheabhas! Is páiste mór mé tar éis an tsaoil. Tá seirbhís nuachta agus eolais Gaelport an-tábhachtach ag an am seo go speisialta, nuair atá an nuachtán Foinse ar shiúl. Agus mura mbaintear úsáid as na suímh Idirlín caillfidh muid cuid mhaith acu fosta. Mar fhocal scoir, bheadh leabhrán le liosta d’áiseanna idirlín an-úsáideach. Tionscnamh beag don Fhoras?
Ranganna: Beidh ranganna ar siúil i Halla Mhuire, Magh, gach Máirt, ó 5.30 go 7.00. Tá fáilte roimh achan duine. Gach eolas ón Áisionad, (00353)74 93 84572.
www.derryjournal.com
Coláiste Íde
Meán Fómhair 30, 2013
Is í Coláiste Íde an t-aon Mheán Scoil Chónaithe lán-Ghaelach 7 lá in Éirinn.
Lonnaithe i leithinis Chorca Dhuibhne i gCiarraí in eastáit stairiúil le gairdíní áille le hais Bhá an Daingin, cuireann Coláiste Íde sár chaighdeán iar-bhunoideachais ar fáil dos na daltaí a fhreastalaíonn air.
Tá fócas láidir ag an gColáiste ar fhorbairt phearsanta na ndaltaí agus cinntítear go sroicheann gach dalta buaic a gcumas i dtimpeallacht a spreagann féinmhuinín, neamhspleáchas agus féinmheas.
Tugann daltaí Choláiste Íde aghaidh ar an saol mar dhaoine neamhspleácha, muiníneacha agus sár oilte agus ullamh lena n-áit a ghlacadh sa sochaí.
Contact Siobhán on 066 915 1211
www.mayoadvertiser.ie
€3,000 don chomórtas BEO
Meán Fómhair 26, 2013
Beidh €3,000 mar luach saothar ag buaiteoirí BEO, an comórtas nua d’amhrán nuachumtha atá á reáchtáil ag Foras na Gaeilge agus Údarás na Gaeltachta mar chuid de Bhliain na Gaeilge.
Tá BEO dírithe ar an aoisghrúpa 11 – 18 bliain d’aois agus fáilteofar roimh iarratais ó mheánscoileanna, gaelscoileanna, clubanna óige, coláistí samhraidh, clubanna CLG, Comhaltas agus eagraíochtaí óige Gaeilge. Caithfidh an t-amhrán a bheith nuachumtha agus i nGaeilge agus caithfidh an duine/grúpa bheith sásta an t-amhrán a chanadh beo ag an mbabhta ceannais den chomórtas. Beidh an babhta ceannais ar siúl le linn Scléip na hÓige ag Oireachtas na Gaeilge i gCill Airne 31 Deireadh Fómhair. Beidh ar gach iarrthóir físeán 10 nóiméad a dhéanamh ina bhfuil an t-amhrán á chanadh agus cur síos gearr déanta faoi chumadh an amhráin. Tá go dtí an Déardaoin 10 Deireadh Fómhair ag grúpaí chun cur isteach ar an gcomórtas.
Tá an t-eolas uilig faoin gcomórtas chomh maith lena rialacha agus foirm iarratais le fáil ar www.beoireland.com
www.advertiser.ie
Government failing children as schools ‘starved of resources’
Meán Fómhair 25, 2013
The government is starving schools of resources, implementing cuts “by stealth” and depriving this generation of “cutback kids” of an adequate education, the organisation representing managers of almost 400 secondary schools said today.
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn and the government are failing to prioritise the young, the vulnerable and the nation’s future in their allocation of resources, it added.
In a pre-budget submission, the Joint Managerial Body representing managers of Catholic and Protestant secondary schools said hard-pressed schools are “at breaking point” and can take no more cuts to frontline services.
“The Budget must prioritise and protect frontline services,” JMB General Secretary Ferdia Kelly said, urging the government to recapture the vision of Donogh O’Malley, the Minister for Education who announced free post-primary education in 1967.
Mr Kelly said schools have lost guidance counsellors and suffered cuts in the numbers of language and special needs teachers as well as year heads and other supports.
The 2011 programme for government declared education was at the heart of sustainable economic growth and said it would prioritise frontline services but that hadn’t happened, he said.
“The government is spinning to the public that things are still the same but they are not,” he said. There had been a decrease “by stealth” of almost one percent in the pupil teacher ratio, class sizes were at a maximum and subjects were being dropped from senior cycle.
Michael Redmond, JMB research and development officer, said this generation has suffered education cuts worse than any in the State’s history. Every other generation had a better education experience than their parents but not this generation who will be known as the “cutback kids”, he said.
The submissions said services to students in need including travellers were being eroded, capitation grants had been cut by 11 per cent and the moratorium on appointment of posts of responsibility in schools was forcing principals to take on the tasks of key posts such as year heads and special needs organisers with consequent impact on the principals’ ability to fulfil their own responsibilities.
The “catastrophic” cuts in guidance counselling particularly exposed the lack of vision as a lot of counselling work was about stopping problems at source, it said.
Immediate restoration of guidance provision was a “no brainer”as the axing of this service affected the most vulnerable and it made no sense to have government educational policy add to the problem of high youth unemployment.
www.irishtimes.com
How do you divide 37 pupils into an official average of 28?
Meán Fómhair 24, 2013
Years ago in Ireland the classroom was organised along military lines: children in tight rows facing the blackboard with little scope for movement or interaction. It was a mixture of educational philosophy and practical necessity, as classrooms of 40 or more could hardly be organised any other way.
Since then, educational philosophy has changed and the importance of good teacher-child ratios is seen as crucial to the quality of education. The Irish primary curriculum emphasises group work, circle time, movement, experimentation and learning-by-doing. Shortly before the economic collapse and the first austerity budgets, the then education minister Batt O’Keeffe pronounced the ideal class size as 20 or less. At that time, between 20 per cent and a quarter of Irish classrooms had 30 students or more.
The official figure is now 28 to one, up from 27 since the last budget. Ireland currently has the second-highest pupil-teacher ratio in the EU. To establish the ratio of 28 to one, the overall number of pupils is divided by the overall number of staff, principal included. Many schools, however, have classes with significantly more than 30 pupils.Urban and commuter-belt schools are having particular difficulty making the ratios work.
This year, at Scoil Naomh Feichín in Co Louth, one classroom has 37 pupils. Four out of eight classes in the school are topping 30 pupils, including the junior infants class, which this year has 32 pupils aged between four and six.
Margaret Hurley teaches the new junior infants alone, with no SNA or classroom assistant to support her. She says having such a large class has had a huge effect on the way she teaches.
“With such large numbers you have to revert to a more traditional style of teaching, standing at the front of the class and engaging in whole-class teaching. The activity-based methods of the revised curriculum are just not possible with such a large number of young children. Even something as simple as a painting lesson is a mammoth task. Small-group work is virtually impossible,” she says.
Junior infants usually come from preschool environments, where the ratios are far lower. Something as simple as helping pupils open new lunchboxes or fasten new coats can be very time consuming in a class of 32, says Hurley.
“The Department of Education and Science has introduced Aistear, which is a new framework for the infant classroom. It involves the children learning through guided play in different activity areas in the classroom. I don’t have any space to set up these areas in my classroom as I’m tripping over someone every time I turn around.
“The area of the curriculum that will suffer most is literacy. I simply won’t have the time to check that the children are mastering their letter sounds and to hear them read. I’m sure this will result in less successful outcomes for the children,” she says.
Bryan Collins is principal of Scoil Naomh Feichín. Officially, he is an administrative principal but he has gone back to teaching smaller groups to try and offset the overcrowding issue.
“It’s very difficult. If I miss a call from one of the State bodies relating to a pupil, I may not be able to get hold of that official again for days or weeks. The paperwork is piling up.”
His greatest concern, though, is for the pupils. He believes the entire spirit of the primary curriculum is being undermined as schools are forced to return to the old chalk-and-talk method of teaching large groups.
“Scoil Naomh Feichín is just one of many schools that have to deal with the problem of large class size. Many primary schools in the Louth and east Meath area are in exactly the same position. I would say from my discussion with other principals in the area that we are looking at about half of all schools dealing with classes of more than 30 this year. This area of the country has a young population and it’s in the commuter belt. If houses start to sellagain, pupil numbers will go up even more.
“The main reason our school is coping at the moment, despite the cuts to date, is due to the dedication and hard work of the teaching and ancillary staff. We are fortunate to have a young, energetic staff who do a tremendous job.”
The problem is that while headline figures of 28 to one may not sound extreme, in reality it means that if a school is shy even one pupil it can lose an entire teacher. This leaves schools with full classes that have to be redistributed throughout the school. If the number of pupils at any particular level is higher than 28, the principal is left in a tough position. There is little flexibility in a system that is supposed to be designed around human beings.
According to the INTO, the actual average, nationwide, is 26. This reflects extremes within the system that mean some small rural schools may have fewer than 10 children in a class, with mixed age groups taught together, while urban and commuter-belt schools such as Scoil Naomh Feichín are handling much larger numbers.
Collins is afraid of what might happen in next month’s budget. He says that any more increases in the staffing schedule will be extremely difficult to manage, dedicated staff notwithstanding.
Sinéad Maguire is teaching 37 third-class pupils at Scoil Naomh Feichín this year. She says that she is just about managing because there are no significant behavioural or learning difficulties in the mix; a highly unusual scenario. Nonetheless, she feels the students are being shortchanged.
“This is the biggest class I’ve ever had to teach. In a smaller class, I would use constructivist approaches, emphasising the importance of using ‘hands-on’ activities and peer learning. Now whole-class teaching is the main approach used in many subject areas because of the constraints of the classroom size and pupil numbers.”
At a practical level, 37 pupils in a prefab is problematic, she says.
“The noise level is an issue, especially in the prefab where every noise is amplified. I would usually have groups of four children at a desk but due to the large numbers this year I’ve had to change the classroom desk arrangement into rows to make cooperative work easier and to reduce the noise level. I hand out books and other materials during my break now when the classroom is empty, because it’s too noisy and disruptive to do it during class time.”
Collins is chilled to hear growing media speculation about further increases in class size coming down the line.
“Within the four walls of the classroom the best teacher in the world cannot give adequate attention to these kinds of numbers,” he says. “There are rules about ratios of adults to children every time a group leaves the school, but when it comes to the classroom those rules go out the window. We can’t take any more increases; it just won’t work.”
www.irishtimes.com
UCC president celebrates links to gaelscoil
Meán Fómhair 23, 2013
A university president went back to primary school for a day to mark the 20th anniversary of his college’s unique link to a gaelscoil.
Gaelscoil Uí Riordáin in Ballincollig, Co Cork, was founded in 1983 in Coolroe, close to the former home of poet Seán Ó Ríordáin — for whom the school is named. A poet and essayist, Ó Riordáin, who was one of the most important Irish language poets of the 20th century, also worked in UCC’s department of modern Irish and was one of its resident poets in the 1970s until his death in 1977.
Here’s a beautiful poem about horses by Irish poet Seán Ó Riordáin. This is the translated version – Switch – http://t.co/On97Qj1f — Neil Burns (@foreverantrim) January 15, 2013 His university colleagues established a scholarship in his name, sponsored by UCC’s Bord na Gaeilge, which has, since 1993, been awarded to one sixth-class pupil in Gaelscoil Uí Riordáin who has most promoted the Irish language in the school. The scholarship helps to fund the student’s three-week stay in the Corca Dhuibhne gaeltacht. The award is normally presented by the UCC president during a ceremony in the college. However, Pól Ruiséal, director of UCC’s Ionad na Gaeilge Labharta, said Dr Murphy has been anxious for some time to visit the 566-pupil gaelscoil to meet pupils, the principal Gabriel Ó Cathasaigh, and his staff.
And as the school marks its 30th anniversary, he said felt this was the right time. “We, in a sense, in the Ionad, are the gaelscoil of UCC,” said Mr Ruiséal. “What we have here is a unique partnership between a third-level gaelscoil and a primary gaelscoil, who have come together to do something very useful and very promotional of the Irish language.” He also said that UCC has seen a huge rise in recent years in the numbers of overseas students who have been attracted to the university to study the Irish language and culture. “We have in the region of 350 overseas students from the seven continents who arrive here without a word of Irish,” he said. “They’ve heard of U2… the Wolfe Tones, and know something of Ireland. They learn about the music and culture and then realise there is something behind this — the punch that the Irish language culture makes.”
www.irishexaminer.com
Rebel teachers could stall plan for new Junior Cert
Meán Fómhair 23, 2013
PROTESTING second- level teachers may force Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to delay plans for a new- style Junior Cert next September.
A union ban on training for the new English syllabus, due to start in little over a month, is on the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) list of possible actions after it rejected the Haddington Road Agreement. It would strike at the heart of Mr Quinn’s reform agenda, causing maximum discomfort for the minister rather than for schools and students. The 17,000- member ASTI gave the green light for industrial action, up to and including a strike, as it voted against the pay and productivity deal. General secretary Pat King said they had had enough of being asked to do more with less. ASTI members, particularly younger teachers, face more painful changes in pay and conditions than members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) or the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), both of which accepted the agreement.
Apart from lower starting pay and a permanent three-year delay on increments, those who have not signed up to the deal are vulnerable to other changes in conditions and redundancy. Action by ASTI would affect about two-thirds of the country’s 730 second-level schools. It is the only teachers’ union in voluntary secondary schools – those traditionally run by the religious – and shares representation with TUI in community and comprehensive schools. As the union leadership prepared for a meeting today to decide on its next step, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton reiterated that there would be no renegotiation of the deal.
Headaches
“We are trying to make sure we can deliver at the front line. People have agreed to make changes and we are implementing them,” he said. The ASTI move has thrown the education community into turmoil. At the very least, it will cause serious administrative headaches for schools and for the Department of Education. Today’s meeting of the 23- member ASTI Standing Committee, whose role is to implement union policy, will decide on what action to take. It is likely to instruct members to stop co-operating with the extra 33 hours a year introduced in the Croke Park Agreement, with a view to minimising the impact of events such as school planning or parentteacher meetings on class time. That will force school managers to either bring such meetings into the normal school day, eating into tuition time and perhaps causing students to be sent home early, or cancel them. Mr King said that while withdrawing co-operation with the terms of the Croke Park Agreement would cause administrative headaches, “I hope it will not affect students”. Short of work stoppages, the ASTI list of possible actions includes withdrawing from initiatives such as the new-style Junior Cert, which is a particular bugbear for ASTI members. They oppose one of its key concepts – assessment by teachers of their own students in place of the traditional state exam.
www.irishindependent.ie
Concern as gaelcholáiste cuts pupil intake
Meán Fómhair 20, 2013
Children who want to be taught through Irish will have to be driven past a local school on Cork’s northside to others several miles away because of a one-third cut in intake, a councillor has claimed.
Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG at the North Monastery is only admitting 58 pupils next September. This was announced in an enrolment policy published this week. The school accepted more than 80 first-year students in each of the last three or four years.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn allowed the Edmund Rice School Trust (ERST) to replace the board with a temporary manager earlier this year after disagreement between trustees and the board, largely on whether to continue enrolling three first-year classes. The new policy says space is no longer available for three classes in Sept 2014.
Cllr Thomas Gould (SF) said temporary accommodation should be provided for the next year or two until capacity issues are resolved.
“The school is a victim of its own success, it’s a great school. But parents and children, and particularly those living locally, are hugely stressed about this. It will mean some having to go to Ballincollig, Glanmire, or the city centre to get the education in Irish that they want,” he said.
Mr Gould is a board member at nearby Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, where he also has a child enrolled. It is one of the schools where he says pupils wanting to attend the gaelcholáiste in 2014 might not get in.
The number of students at Gaelcholáiste Mhuire has risen from 354 to 445 since 2010, but the new policy says the process to decide who will be offered places next year is fair and understandable.
ERST chief executive Gerry Bennett said the trust is satisfied that the manager consulted widely about the policy, which explains the rationale for the decisions, and the trust approved it last week.
Children with a brother or sister currently enrolled will get first priority on places next year, followed by siblings of past pupils, then children of staff. The next stage of the process will see places offered to applicants from two ERST boys’ primary schools — one at North Monastery and one in Blarney St — and two local girls’ convent schools.
Mr Gould believes fewer than 20 places will be left and even pupils in the next group of feeder schools could face a lottery at that stage. These schools are: Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, and Scoil Iosagáin and Scoil Aiséirí Chríost, both in nearby Farranree and overlooking the gaelcholáiste.
The concern is that no places will be left for pupils at the next group: Sunday’s Well Boys and Sunday’s Well Girls national schools; Gaelscoil Ghoirt Álainn, Mayfield; Scoil Mhuire, Rathpeacon; Scoil Oilibhéir, Ballyvolane; and Scoil Padre Pio, Churchfield.
Sunday’s Well Boys NS principal Paddy Lynch expressed disappointment, as it has been a feeder school to the gaelcholáiste for 30 years, and sends an average of five pupils each year.
“To date, the children of our school had the right to be educated through the medium of the official language of the State. This proposed criteria denies them that basic right as well as changing the fabric of how education operates in the north of this city,” he said.
www.irishexaminer.com
History in schools
Meán Fómhair 20, 2013
Sir, — Tom Collins (“Compulsory history, an anathema”, Education, September 18th) writes that “it is ironic that historians should find themselves arguing for compulsion, given the experience of compulsory Irish”.
It is not clear that Prof Collins has himself considered the experience of compulsory Irish quantitatively. The facts are that only geography and English had a higher number of students sitting higher level papers than sat the Irish paper in the Leaving Cert last June.
For a subject that is the target of all manner of negativity in this country for cultural reasons – often hidden behind the “I’d have really loved Irish if it wasn’t compulsory” argument – it is remarkable that almost 40 per cent of students sitting the exam chose higher level, when they were not compelled to do so.
Incidentally, while Irish is always the popular target when talking about compulsion, let us not forget either that 50,000 students sat maths in the Leaving Cert, while only 43,000 sat “compulsory” Irish. Compulsion ain’t what it used to be, it seems.
The relevance of history – even from a general knowledge perspective – as a central part of any educational system which purports to produce informed rounded citizens is self-evident.
It would be a shame if t he teaching of history were to fall victim to some specious political crusade to be seen to promote “choice”. In the average post-primary school, students find their choices extremely limited anyway, not least because of the constant cuts.
Had my daughter started post-primary school five years ago she could have studied two European languages but now because of cuts she can do only one in that school. In that context, talk of choice is risible.
This development is far more about creating the illusion of choice, as part of the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn’s “reforming ” agenda, than creating actual choice, which would require more teachers teaching mo r e subjects. –
Yours, etc, Martin Ryan, Springlawn Close Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
www.irishtimes.com
