Cúrsaí Samhraidh Ógras Iúil 2014
Aibreán 23, 2014
Baile Átha Cliath, Biorra agus Trá Lí – cláraigh anois! Gach eolas sa bhróisiúr thíos:
Sprioclá d’iarratais ar Iompar Scoile don scoilbhliain 2014/15
Aibreán 22, 2014
25ú Aibreán, 2014 – An lá deireanach do iarratais d’Iompair Scoile i gcomhair scoilbhliain 2014/15
Cuir iarratas isteach ar líne @ www.buseireann.ie
Minister Quinn addresses the ASTI Convention in Wexford
Aibreán 22, 2014
I would like to begin by thanking you for the invitation to address your Convention – my fourth opportunity to do so as Minister for Education and Skills.
In any given year, there are always many issues for discussion over Easter.
But this year, it is clear that one issue will dominate your convention.
Today, I want to take the opportunity offered by your invitation to discuss the introduction of the JCSA in some detail.
In the most recent edition of ASTIR, your president has written of how this Convention “is an opportunity to work collaboratively and collectively”.
It is in that spirit that I make my remarks today.
I have listened to your concerns over recent months.
And I will continue to do so.
I hope that you will listen to mine today.
But first, I want to touch briefly on some of our other reforms, which provide the context for the Junior Cycle changes.
The current reforms can be summarised under three themes:
• Supporting inclusion and diversity;
• Improving quality and accountability; and
• Creating opportunities – essentially this is about reshaping further and higher education, to better provide people with pathways to work.
Supporting Inclusion and Diversity
To begin with today, I would like to briefly outline some of our work to support inclusion and diversity.
In Ireland, DEIS is our principal mechanism for systematically promoting greater equity within our school system.
But there is more work to be done at second-level, to ensure that DEIS achieves the same outcomes we are seeing in DEIS primary schools.
Next month, I will host a conference in Marino Institute of Education about DEIS.
We will bring together teachers and other school leaders from disadvantaged schools;
Alongside parents, academics and other experts in educational disadvantage.
To explore what we have learned from almost 10 years of DEIS.
And more importantly, to begin to figure out where we need to go next.
Poverty is one of the primary differentiators between our children.
But the rich diversity of our children stretches way beyond the opportunities they are given at the start of their young lives.
Diversity in Ireland
Our children are as diverse as our society.
The Growing up in Ireland study has suggested that 25% of Irish children have special educational needs.
In other words, one quarter of all children in our schools have some restriction on their capacity to participate in and benefit from education.
Diversity is shown in other statistics.
According to the last Census, 10% of children in this country who are 14 or younger, were born outside Ireland.
The Census data also show us that just over 12,000 Irish Travellers aged 14 or under were recorded as resident in Ireland.
Another statistic from the same census is equally illuminating – the fastest growing group of adults in our society are people who profess to having no religion.
The 1981 census recorded 39,000 people as having no religion.
By 2011, that number had risen to almost 260,000 people – the second largest group in the country.
Poverty, immigration, differences in capacity.
Domestic dysfunction, embedded educational disadvantage, cultural changes in our nation.
All of these are challenges to the education you strive to provide each day.
And challenges to how we as a nation imagine our schools can and should operate.
By focussing on supporting inclusion and diversity in our schools, I hope that we can tackle the manmade limitations we have imposed upon our children.
Parents’ and Learners’ Charter
No discussion of inclusion and diversity in our schools would be complete without addressing the growing role of parents in our school communities.
Our constitution recognises the role of the family as “the primary and natural educator of the child”.
The Education Act of 1998 sought to put the involvement of parents at the heart of our education system.
And this has been realised in many of our schools.
Parents’ Associations have flourished across the country.
And the two National Parents’ Councils now play a meaningful role in the development of education policies.
But in truth, we have not done enough to underpin the involvement of parents in all aspects of education.
In health and other sectors, we have seen the development of charters in recent years.
These charters set out what those in receipt of services can expect, and how those delivering the services account to the public for what they are providing.
This year, I will publish revised legislation to create a Parents and Learners Charter for the first time – putting the involvement of parents and learners at the heart of how our schools operate.
The charter will be underpinned by a revised section 28 of the Education Act.
The charter will be designed to foster a culture of better engagement and communication by schools with parents and students.
Ultimately, this should reduce the need for invoking the complaints and grievances procedures.
But more importantly, it will help us see a change in culture.
Teachers, parents and learners – all as equal partners in the operation of our schools.
Equal partners working to set aside the differences which separate our children from each other.
Section 37
In discussing the need to support inclusion and diversity in our schools, I am conscious that this idea must apply to teachers as well as to students.
In that spirit, it is essential that we amend the Employment Equality Act, to deal with the existing Section 37.
Over the last fortnight, the Seanad has discussed the committee stage of a bill tabled by my colleague Ivana Bacik.
At last, after 17 years of delays, we are making progress on this vital piece of legislation.
I believe that this amendment will go a long way to removing the climate of fear faced by many of our LGBT teachers.
It will allow them to be open about who they are and who they love, without fearing the implications this may have on their jobs or their prospect of getting a job.
Working with the Minister for Justice and Equality, I am determined to resolve this legislation conclusively, before another year has passed.
Improving Quality and Accountability
As I mentioned at the outset, the major theme which I wish to focus on in my remarks today, is the idea of improving quality and accountability in our schools.
At other conferences this week, I will be setting out in much greater detail the various elements of our approach to improving quality and accountability.
There are a number of reforms involved: from initial teacher education, to the work of the teaching council, and from the transitions faced by senior cycle students to school self-evaluation, and improvements to school inspections.
However, acknowledging that JCSA is the largest current issue for your members, that will be the focus of the remainder of my remarks today.
Mark Patrick Hederman, the former headmaster of Glenstal Abbey once wrote of our education system, that:
“Imagination is what we should be cherishing, encouraging, cultivating. Instead of which we are systematically deleting it from the desktop of every child who wants to get enough points…to enter our third level institutes.”
He and I disagree on many things.
But on this, he has a point that few of us would dispute.
Developing and cherishing each child’s imagination through play based learning is central to early childhood education.
But what of the other levels?
At primary level, there has been a transformation over the past few decades.
Instead of being fearful about attending school, children now want to go.
Right throughout primary schools, we see children gather in small groups.
Exploring, playing, arguing, imagining.
Our primary school children are clearly being educated.
And the education they are receiving is filled with joy and wonderment.
In part, that is because the abolition of the primary certificate freed up teaching and learning.
It’s a different story at post-primary.
The most significant body of research we have on the lived experiences of post-primary students is the longitudinal study carried out by the ESRI.
Sadly, this research shows us, to quote Emer Smyth and Frances Ruane, “the current junior cycle is not providing an engaging and challenging experience for young people. Their learning is often well below its potential.”
This research tells us that many students experience fear and trepidation during their first year of post-primary education.
This perhaps, will always remain the case, as children move from ‘small school’ to ‘big school’.
Though it is a transition we could surely do more to ease.
More worryingly, the research tells us that during second year, many students – too many students – disengage from their education.
By this point, the play and imagination of primary school has been utterly disrupted by the backwash effect of the Junior Cert.
From that point, many young people will never fully re-engage with education.
They have already entered a departure lounge from education.
And some drop out as soon as they can after or even before the Junior Cert.
Moving away from centralised state certification at the end of junior cycle will certainly benefit those students.
But it will also benefit all others.
The learning approaches which post-primary students best engage with, are those which capitalise upon their natural creativity and imagination.
Participating in discussion and debate, testing themselves against those around them – these are approaches which capture the interest and imagination of our young people.
But for you, our teachers, there is little space for such approaches by the time students reach third year.
Practising past papers, learning to recite prepared essays, a narrowing of the curriculum to those areas likely to be examined.
These are the features of preparing for the Junior Certificate.
And by extension, must become features of your classrooms.
By the end of this process, Mark Patrick Hederman’s quote once again comes to mind – is this the manner in which we systematically delete imagination from the desktop of every child?
And to what end?
There are some who argue that the Junior Cert is an essential dry-run for the high-stakes Leaving Cert.
To that argument, there can only be two responses.
Firstly the Junior Cert serves such a purpose poorly.
The ESRI has found, and I quote “students report increasing demands between junior and senior cycles, with schoolwork becoming harder and more investment in homework required.
As a result, students become less confident about their capacity to cope with schoolwork and less positive about school in general.”
Again, I must stress that this ESRI study is the most significant evidence of the experiences of post-primary students available.
We have a responsibility to pay attention to that evidence.
These findings clearly show that students do not believe the Junior Cert is preparing them to study at Senior Cycle.
But even if the Junior Cert did serve this purpose as a dry-run, as some teachers and parents believe it should, would it really be worth the price?
Is it really acceptable to say that memorisation and rote learning, should be allowed dominate all other learning in post-primary schools?
Clearly, the answer is no.
As teachers, you are more ambitious than that for the young people you teach.
You want them to develop as people, as citizens.
Not simply develop the wrong skills for the wrong time in this globalised world we now inhabit.
I have heard from many teachers, that innovations they have introduced in their classrooms must be shelved in third year, to instead return to the handbook on exam preparation.
The introduction of the JCSA is about empowering teachers and students.
The principle underpinning these reforms is an idea of the relationship between teachers and students – an idea that teachers should be free to gauge the potential of their students, and help them to develop.
Not an idea that the role of teachers is simply to delete imagination from the desktops of our young people.
The JCSA forms one significant block in an array of policies designed to liberate our schools from a 19th century view of schooling, achievement and teaching:
We have acknowledged that the quality of teaching is key to quality outcomes for students, and have extended the H.Dip. to a two year teaching qualification.
The Teaching Council is being empowered through legislation to become a regulating body to maintain teacher standards and secure and maintain a strong profession.
Schools and teachers are being encouraged and supported, to reflect on the education you provide, to own it yourselves and to evaluate it as professionals.
JCSA will further empower teachers to lead and direct teaching and learning in your schools.
All of these ideas are interconnected, and reveal our approach to giving greater autonomy to our schools and to the profession.
Some of your members have chosen to criticise our reforms by pointing to the different direction being pursued by my counterpart in England and Wales.
I profoundly disagree with the policy direction being pursued across the water.
As I have said elsewhere previously, in the US and parts of the UK, we have seen the introduction of national testing, not only as a measure of student performance, but also as means to punish individuals and schools.
US academic Diane Ravitch has argued, and I quote:
“the goal of accountability should be to support and improve schools, not the heedless destruction of careers, reputations, communities and institutions”.
I make no apology for agreeing with that view of school accountability, and not that of my English counterpart.
The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and many others – countries who are achieving many of the standards we aspire to – these countries are already transitioning away from any state certification at the end of junior cycle.
Finland, until recently the poster child of the education world, utterly eschews any examinations until the point of matriculation.
We are almost unique in retaining a high-stakes terminal exam at the end of junior cycle.
And we know it doesn’t work.
That, plainly speaking, is why I made the decision to introduce the JCSA.
There is one other argument against the JCSA which I must address today – the idea that you would become judges rather than advocates for your students.
Your concern for the welfare of your students is a welcome feature of Irish education.
But just think about your choice of words – judges and advocates – for a moment.
The language of court trials is indicative of the impact that this state examination is having on our young people.
Teachers identify strongly with their students and regard “judging” them as a betrayal of trust.
Better, you say, that students should be “judged” by an external agency indifferent to their individual welfare.
An agency capable of sorting them properly into the queues for the Leaving Cert, which in turn will sort them into queues for Higher Education.
This idea of lower second level schooling needs to be challenged, and the new JCSA seeks to do so.
We need to move away from the sorting and judging of 15 year olds to a system which provides them with feedback on what and how they learn.
The current system narrows learning experiences, it narrows choice and it narrows skills sets.
Ultimately, it narrows life choices.
No parent wants this for their child.
Furthermore, it is unnecessary at this point in a student’s life.
To be clear, reform of Junior Cycle is ultimately a transition from examination to assessment.
It requires a move from judging students to providing them with structured feedback on their learning.
This will help them make more informed choices about what to study and at what level in senior cycle.
And what skills do we wish our young people to develop?
Capacity to present an oral argument, much prized in life?
The current junior certificate is blind to it.
Ability to function as a team member in solving complex problems?
Not easy to assess and given the margin of error, impossible to “judge”.
Capacity of a student to develop over time, learn and create something new?
No two or three hour exam can measure this with any degree of accuracy.
The system that people are defending is incapable of assessing these key skills, and if they cannot be assessed, they have no business in a classroom focused on the final exam.
The JCSA is intended to disrupt this cycle.
It relies on the strength and capacity of professionals.
And it starts by freeing them.
The JCSA will free you from collaborating in the preparation of 15 year olds for narrow judgment on restrictive criteria.
You are invited to really fulfil the role of guider and developer.
You are being empowered to sacrifice narrow precision for broad based, deep learning.
You are required to participate in a project that has at its heart a celebration of real achievement.
This is true advocacy.
JCSA is the most significant item on your agenda at this Convention.
But these issues are not new.
A century ago, Padraig Pearse wrote the Murder Machine.
In it, he wrote, and I quote:
“I would urge that the Irish school system of the future should give freedom –
freedom to the individual school,
freedom to the individual teacher,
freedom as far as may be to the individual pupil.
Without freedom there can be no right growth,
and education is properly the fostering of the right growth of personality”.
There have been many calls since to give schools and teachers that freedom.
Almost 25 years ago, the Junior Cert replaced the Inter Cert and the Group Cert.
Acclaimed originally as a more flexible entity than its predecessors, it was hoped it would be accompanied by new modes of assessment.
But the opportunity was lost.
A generation later, the NCCA published “towards a framework for junior cycle”.
That document made a compelling argument for change, building upon the ESRI research I referred to earlier.
It is worth noting – that that NCCA document, which your union now states was welcome – was presented to me with an accompanying objection from the ASTI.
So it is not accurate to suggest that ASTI would have supported the proposals published by the NCCA.
I gave serious consideration to the NCCA proposals – for over a year.
But ultimately, I came to believe that we risked repeating the error we made a generation ago.
Reform that does not fundamentally alter the assessment at the end of Junior Cycle cannot deliver meaningful change.
In making my decision, I looked again to the evidence provided by the ESRI, and consulted with many experts.
I was convinced that the quality of our education system would not ultimately change unless the high stakes exam was replaced.
Since I made that decision, time was lost as a result of your consideration of the Haddington Road Agreement.
That was understandable, but in retrospect I think that delays in sitting around a table to discuss JCSA were unfortunate.
But there is time.
This is a long project.
Almost a decade before full implementation.
And the first assessment event in the subject of English is almost two years away.
I encourage you to take the chance to put your mark on this significant change.
I am providing every opportunity I can for this to happen
In January of this year, I established a National Working Group to explore issues of concern to the various education partners.
The views of stakeholders have already resulted in changes to the timing of the introduction of these reforms – giving schools more time to prepare.
Additional CPD has been sanctioned for subject teachers and school leaders, while whole school days are being provided for planning these changes at school level.
A sub-group is considering in detail the issue of quality assurance and support for teacher assessment.
As part of its remit it is addressing external supports for moderation to reassure and support teacher assessment, and to help to ensure standards.
I trust you as our teachers to act professionally and assess your own students without fear or favour to anybody.
Teachers already do that in further and higher education where the stakes are much greater.
So why this fear of change in what is essentially a low stakes exam?
It begs the question: does your union have less faith in the professional capacity of you as teachers, than I do?
It would be dishonest of me to pretend that your union has been fully engaged in the National Working Group.
All other education partners – parents, management bodies and school leaders – have made written submissions to the sub-group, which we are considering, and continuing to discuss.
Regrettably, neither ASTI nor TUI have made any such proposals so far.
Your union has refused to provide any written views on ICT, resources, supports for moderation, or other matters.
I believe we can make progress by working together.
I hope that your union will now engage more fully.
Given the significance of JCSA, I have only had the opportunity to touch upon some of the variety of other issues which are of concern to your members.
I briefly referred to some of the reforms which underpin the idea of supporting inclusion and diversity in our schools.
And I have tried to clearly outline my reasons for the necessity of introducing JCSA.
Before I conclude, I also want to underline our commitment to enhancing the infrastructure which underpins these developments.
We will spend almost €550 million on infrastructure this year, continuing the five-year building programme.
Round 1 of the Summer Works Scheme has seen funding made available to 386 schools to keep them safe and warm.
And round 2 of that scheme will be announced next week.
The last batch of post-primary schools will receive a free connection to high-speed broadband by September.
There are many, many other issues which I would have liked to address today.
The development of new models of middle management in schools deserves further consideration.
You have concerns about multiple pay scales, about the future funding of our schools, about investment in technology.
I look forward to engaging with your leadership on these, and many other issues over the coming weeks and months.
Thank you once again for your invitation to be here with you today.
Ruairí Quinn, T.D., Minister for Education and Skills Addresses the INTO Annual Conference
Aibreán 22, 2014
Thank you once again for your invitation to address your Annual Congress.
This is the fourth Congress at which I’ve had the opportunity to address you as Minister for Education and Skills.
And I do view these events as an opportunity.
For dialogue and discussion.
And for all of us to learn from each other.
As you are aware, there is a very considerable reform agenda underway in education.
These are not changes for the sake of reform.
They are part of a continuous process of learning from educational research and best practice, both here in Ireland and abroad.
As our society evolves, our primary education system must reflect that change.
It has done so from the publication of the Stanley letter in 1831, through to the present day.
And our responsibility is to continue that proud tradition.
The current reforms can be summarised under three themes:
• Supporting inclusion and diversity;
• Improving quality and accountability; and
• Creating opportunities – essentially this is about reshaping further and higher education, to better provide people with pathways to work.
My remarks today will focus on the idea of supporting inclusion and diversity in our schools.
However, I would like to begin by outlining our approach to improving quality and accountability.
Improving Quality and Accountability
Quality and accountability underpin most efforts at school reforms around the world.
Ultimately, it’s a simple idea that we should continually improve the education we provide to children and young people.
And that educators and education systems should be accountable to the public for delivering those improvements.
Countries differ in the manner in which they are seeking to enhance quality and accountability.
In some, the introduction of performance related pay, an increased use of standardised tests, and the publication of league tables have been the central elements of reforms.
This is not my vision of accountability.
Why?
Because it suggests that teachers must be constantly monitored and incentivised by central Government.
I much prefer an idea of accountability similar to that which US education academic and author Diane Ravitch has advanced.
She argues that “the goal of accountability should be to support and improve schools, not the heedless destruction of careers, reputations, communities and institutions”.
We must aim for models of accountability that validate the excellent work taking place in all schools, and which encourage all public servants to strive to achieve more.
In Ireland, our focus is on curricular reform, improving teacher quality, promoting school self-evaluation, and having a modern inspection system, strongly focussed on improvements for learners.
The primary curriculum in Ireland, introduced in 1999, was a huge improvement on what had gone before.
But this year, that curriculum will be 15 years old.
It is timely that the NCCA has begun developing proposals to revise the primary school curriculum.
Unlike in 1999, the new curriculum won’t be rolled out in a big-bang approach, but will be phased, allowing teachers to adapt to the changes over a number of years.
A draft integrated languages curriculum for junior infants through to second class has now been published.
Revising the Maths curriculum will also begin later this year.
Significantly, a consultation process will begin in the autumn on the structure, aims and learning outcomes of the overall primary curriculum framework.
Quality Teaching
A major focus in improving quality in our schools, must be to ensure that we have the best quality teachers in every classroom.
Teaching is a widely respected and sought after profession in Ireland.
We need to continue to ensure that most entrants to Initial Teacher Education come from the top 15% of all Leaving Cert students.
As you know, we have expanded the B.Ed. from 3 years to 4 years.
There is now an increased focus on pedagogy, rather than academic subjects.
I also want to see Higher Level Mathematics in the Leaving Cert become part of the minimum entry requirements for Initial Teacher Education, and will be in discussion with the relevant bodies on this issue shortly.
Meanwhile, the historic amalgamation of 19 colleges of education into 6 centres is now happening –
This had been recommended by an international expert panel on teacher education.
Ensuring that our teachers are prepared to the very highest standard is essential.
Building on the great tradition which the famous ‘call to training’ symbolised in decades past.
We must also ensure that school leaders are equally well trained.
We are continuing to look closely in the Department, at how school leadership in Ireland can be strengthened – I will engage with you further in this area during 2014.
Once we have trained our teachers and school leaders to the highest possible standard, we must then work to ensure that they retain those standards throughout their careers.
Earlier this year, Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act finally came into force.
For the first time in our history, all teachers are now required to be registered with the Teaching Council in order to receive any payment from the State.
It has been too long a wait for this date.
The Teaching Council legislation was enacted in 2001, and the Council was established in 2006!
But the implementation of Section 30 is only the first step.
I will be amending the Teaching Council Act this year.
This will give the Teaching Council a broader range of actions to tackle below-standard teaching.
The changes to the Act will also include amendments, to support the vetting of teachers under the new vetting legislation.
Making all teachers accountable to their own regulatory body is a key component of improved accountability within our education system.
Doing so will ensure that your profession is fully recognised within society, in the same way as other regulated professions, such as doctors, architects, lawyers and engineers.
School Self-Evaluation and Inspection
Let me turn now to school self-evaluations and inspection.
Improving quality is linked to increasing the accountability of schools to their communities.
At primary level, detailed end-of-year reports for parents include the results of their children’s standardised tests in literacy and numeracy.
We will extend this standardised testing and reporting into second-level school.
We have also increased the frequency of school inspections, and ensured that, for the first time, parents’ and students’ views are fully incorporated into inspections.
The Chief Inspector has published national analyses of inspection findings, providing more detail than has ever been previously available.
Since 2012, schools have been working to implement a model of school self-evaluation, or SSE.
This allows schools to reflect on their own performance, and requires that they produce an SSE Report and School Improvement Plan, by the end of the current school year.
By June of this year, each school will provide a short summary of its self-evaluation report and improvement plan to its parents.
This is how we will empower parents, and make schools accountable to their communities.
The major theme, which I wish to focus on today, is the idea of supporting inclusion and diversity.
The American poet Maya Angelou once said:
“Growing up, I decided… I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.”
That quote represents the idea which our reforms are intended to underpin.
An idea that the children of our nation.
Children whom we treasure and esteem.
And who in turn delight and sustain us.
Must never be divided from each other,
By differences that society has itself created.
In Ireland, DEIS is our principal mechanism for systematically promoting greater equity within our school system.
Thanks to good planning, additional supports, and quality research, we are beginning to see compelling evidence that DEIS works in primary schools.
Absenteeism is down is these schools, while the performance of children in DEIS schools is showing significant and sustained improvement.
Next month, I will host a conference in Marino Institute of Education about DEIS.
We will bring together teachers and other school leaders from disadvantaged schools;
Alongside parents, academics and other experts in educational disadvantage.
To explore what we have learned from almost 10 years of DEIS.
And more importantly, to begin to figure out where we need to go next.
Diversity in Ireland
Our children are as diverse as our society.
The Growing up in Ireland study has suggested that 25% of Irish children have special educational needs.
In other words, one quarter of all children in our schools have some restriction on their capacity to participate in and benefit from education.
Diversity is shown in other statistics.
According to the last Census, 10% of children in this country who are 14 or younger, were born outside Ireland.
The Census data also show us that just over 12,000 Irish Travellers aged 14 or under were recorded as resident in Ireland.
Another statistic from the same census is equally illuminating – the fastest growing group of adults in our society are people who profess to having no religion.
The 1981 census recorded 39,000 people as having no religion.
By 2011, that number had risen to almost 260,000 people – the second largest group in the country.
Poverty, immigration, differences in capacity.
Domestic dysfunction, embedded educational disadvantage, cultural changes in our nation.
All of these are challenges to how we as a nation imagine our schools can and should operate.
More than most, as teachers, you are witnesses to the dramatic changes in Irish society over recent years.
You see these changes every day in your classrooms.
Our schools strive to be caring, supportive environments, working to achieve the very best outcomes for each of our children.
Regardless of background or gender; of ability or religion.
But there are other areas where we need to work together to support inclusion and diversity.
Religious Education
One of the most contentious is that of education about religion.
I’ve spoken on this topic on a few occasions.
And I wish to do so again today, as I believe that my views on this topic have often been misrepresented
Hilary Clinton once spoke of the polarisation of American society, and noted that:
“What we have to do… is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.”
I have always strongly believed, that knowledge of world religions is essential to understanding how our world works.
And I have been equally clear that I have no desire to see an end to denominational education in Ireland.
I have no wish to engage in culture wars, or to bring division to Irish society.
I have long admired the Catholic theologian, Hans Küng.
Whose work I first encountered as a very young man.
He once wrote, and I quote:
“No peace among the nations, without peace among the religions.
No peace among the religions, without dialogue between the religions.
No dialogue between the religions, without investigation of the foundation of the religions.”
It is in that spirit of investigation that I believe we must continue to explore this area.
We cannot pretend that our society has not changed.
It has, and it will continue to do so.
That is why we must continually reform our education system – so that it reflects and supports all of our people.
Your union was the very first organisation to call for the establishment of a forum on patronage and pluralism in our primary schools.
I was pleased to announce the establishment of such a forum on my first full day in office.
As you know, the report of the forum was launched in 2012.
By Easter 2013 surveys of parents had been carried out across 43 towns and areas of Ireland, as recommended in the report.
In 28 areas, parents have expressed a desire to see greater choice in the models of patronage available.
4 new Educate Together schools will open this September as a result of this process: in Trim, Tramore, Ballina and Malahide.
This is a significant first step.
The Forum report also raised important issues about respecting a child’s rights not to receive religious instruction.
In working on proposals for a white paper, I am conscious of our constitutional and international obligations.
Ireland is a party to a wide range of European and International conventions and covenants,
Which require us to respect the rights of children and parents in relation to education and freedom of religion.
The approach we have adopted is designed to ensure we meet all of our international obligations, as well as those detailed in our own constitution.
As part of a reasoned debate in this area, we must begin 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.
We cannot understand the frontiers of nations, the borders of countries, without a knowledge of religion.
We cannot understand history without understanding the role of differing belief systems.
The origins of European architecture, and the majesty of Renaissance painting and sculpture would remain mysteries without a knowledge of religion.
Religion has shaped all of these areas, and much more – music, science and literature were all shaped by religion through the ages.
Throughout human history, differing religions and belief systems have been present.
They remain so today.
Informing us, guiding us, and opening opportunities for us.
All of our children have a right to develop this understanding of the world.
Faith formation is equally important for many families; indeed for most families –
They want their children to be nourished by faith and belief.
The rights of these families are clearly outlined in our constitution.
So too are the rights of families who wish to allow their children to opt-out of this aspect of religious education.
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.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was quoted over the weekend, suggesting that “a more robust collaboration between the Department and the Church would make these things move a little quickly”.
I look forward to working with Archbishop Martin and others to develop that robust collaboration.
I don’t believe that we should be overly prescriptive in working towards a white paper on inclusive schools.
But I do believe there are suggestions which 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.
Issues would still remain around school transport, supervision of children who are not participating, and so on.
There may be other options which occur to you.
I believe we can work together, to explore how our schools can accommodate the changing contours of belief and religious practice in Ireland.
Teasing out directions for a white paper is not the only relevant development in this area.
This October, the NCCA will publish for 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.
I have focussed on the issue of religious education to a significant degree today.
Not to divide opinion, but to outline the challenges to ensure that we support inclusion and diversity in our schools.
And to suggest some ways in which we can better respect the variety of children you meet and educate each day.
In addressing that theme – that idea of removing the manmade differences we have created – there are two other policy areas I want to mention.
Special Education
Over the last twenty years, Ireland has taken an enormous step forward in our support for children with special educational needs.
It is now 10 years since my predecessor Noel Dempsey oversaw the introduction of the EPSEN Act, the establishment of the NCSE, and a massive increase in Resource Teachers and SNAs.
Even during the challenges we have faced over the last five years, investment in supporting children with special educational needs has risen from just over €800m a year, to over €1.3bn each year.
Almost 11,000 SNAs and over 10,000 resource and learning support teachers now work in our schools.
Working alongside the other 40,000 mainstream teachers.
The €1.3 billion we spend in this area is as much as we spend on the Gardaí, or on Higher Education.
And it’s a statement of the priorities of our nation, and one we can be proud of.
But is this investment genuinely leading to inclusion of that quarter of our children who must overcome restrictions in their capacity to participate in and benefit from education?
We know that there are problems with how we currently allocate those resources.
We know that the system for allocating additional supports is somewhat unfair.
In comparison with their needs, schools in some wealthier communities are receiving more support than disadvantaged schools.
Some parents who cannot afford to pay for assessments, see their children having difficulty accessing necessary resources.
Everyone knows that this system must change.
And we all know that we must work carefully to implement a more equitable system.
The NCSE is suggesting a new model for the allocation of additional teachers to support children with special educational needs.
I warmly welcome the work the Council is doing, and particularly the way in which it has involved parents and education partners at all stages of developing its proposals.
But I need to know what the impact on individual schools would be, before I can form a judgement on how workable any new model may be.
The Department will be looking carefully at this over the coming months.
I want to make a commitment here today.
All voices in education – parents, teachers, unions and managers – all of you will be deeply involved in the discussion on this area over the coming months.
Together, I believe we will succeed in making sure that the allocation of all resources works to support the inclusion of all children in our schools.
There is one further point I would like to make on this topic.
Since 2010, the number of special classes in mainstream schools has increased from less than 500, to over 730.
An additional 100 or more special classes will be open next September – I want to thank every teacher and principal in these schools today.
However, the NCSE have also advised that they are encountering quite “hard” barriers in trying to open special classes in certain areas.
Regardless of the supports available to mainstream schools, some students need the support of special class places.
I would ask that all of your members remain conscious of the role individual schools can play, in ensuring that all children are welcomed into the education system.
Parents’ and Learners’ Charter
No discussion of inclusion and diversity in education would be complete without addressing the role of parents in our school communities.
Our constitution recognises the role of the family as “the primary and natural educator of the child”.
The Education Act of 1998 sought to put the involvement of parents at the heart of our education system.
And this has been realised in many schools.
Parents’ Associations have flourished across the country.
And the two National Parents’ Councils now play a meaningful role in the development of education policies.
But in truth, we have not done enough to underpin the involvement of parents in all aspects of education.
Section 28 of the Act allows for procedures to be implemented to support the expression of grievances by parents.
Unfortunately, it has not been possible to give meaningful effect to that section of the Act.
But more troubling is that Section 28 does not set out principles on how schools should engage positively with parents, so that grievances are minimised.
Providing such principles in legislation would be a recognition, that parents must have positive rights in relation to the operation of school.
Here and in other countries, we have seen the development of charters in public and private sector organisations in recent years.
These charters set out what those in receipt of services can expect, and how those delivering the services account to the public for what they are providing.
This year, I will publish revised legislation to create a Parents’ and Learners’ Charter for the first time – putting the involvement of parents and learners at the heart of how our schools operate.
The Charter will be underpinned by a revised section 28 of the Education Act.
It will be designed to foster a culture of better engagement and communication by schools with parents and students.
Ultimately, this should reduce the need for invoking the complaints and grievances procedures.
But more importantly, it will help us see a change in culture.
We are moving away from a situation where the state or other bodies dictate to parents.
Towards a culture of genuine school communities.
Teachers, parents and students – all as equal partners in the operation of our schools.
Equal partners working to set aside the differences which separate our children from each other.
Conclusion
I have taken some time to outline my idea of supporting inclusion and diversity in our schools today.
I have also outlined some of our approach to improving quality and accountability.
Before I conclude, I also want to underline our commitment to enhancing the infrastructure which underpins these developments.
We will spend almost €550 million on infrastructure this year, continuing the five-year building programme.
Round 1 of the Summer Works Scheme has seen funding made available to 386 schools to keep them safe and warm.
And round 2 of that scheme will be announced next week.
There are many other issues which I would have liked to address today.
For instance, we will need to discuss the future for small schools.
The development of new models of middle management in schools deserves further consideration.
You have concerns about multiple pay scales, and I believe progress can be made on that in the near future.
I look forward to engaging with your leadership on these, and many other issues over the coming weeks and months.
Thank you once again for your invitation to be here with you today.
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
