The formula is simple: real change
February 14, 2012
Entrenched vested interests are hijacking the Irish education system. Those who care about the future need to take it back
Its time to end the monopoly of educationalists determining the future of Irish education. Vested interests of religious structures, the Department of Education, third-level institutions and teacher unions have acted in pursuit of their own narrow goals. The results? Unsustainable costs, the shortest school year, the highest-paid teachers, growing illiteracy, declining academic standards and increasing reliance on migrant workers to fill jobs in technical sectors. Education policy debate is a game for insiders only.
The inevitable outcome is self-serving agendas that fail to meet current economic needs.
We might have hoped that the Minister Ruairí Quinn would be different. He was previously Labour’s opposition education spokesperson. He’s probably on his last ministerial gig, having been in finance and party leader.
His government has the largest parliamentary majority in the history of the state, with reasonable prospects of a five-year term to pioneer reform. Yet last week, he told a student audience in the University of Limerick that it was up to them to deal with poor performing and absentee tutors and lecturers. What an abject failure to tackle dud teachers. Instead of providing accountability he presides over a free pardon.
The pussycat politics of acquiescence seem set to continue. Rarefied university presidents think they deserve to be paid more than the Taoiseach – over €200,000 per annum. Gross unapproved over-expenditure goes unpunished. The Hunt report charted a future course for higher education. It opposed dilution of Irish university status by granting any increase on the current strength of seven.
This is already above international norms based on population. The Government blithely ignores this by promising a new technological university in the southeast to placate ministers such as Howlin (Wexford) and Hogan (Kilkenny). Meanwhile, no Irish university is in the world’s top 100.
Hard questions need to be addressed to our universities and institutes. Contracts for lecturers must be renegotiated. Annual tutoring hours of 560 per year or six hours per week is unacceptable. Research commitments are elusive and unfocused. Poor productivity and asset utilisation were identified in the Bord Snip Nua report, along with abolition of the National Universities of Ireland body. These recommendations gather dust while elitist personnel fail to provide value for money. Graduates receive little follow-up support for employment placement or enhancement.
But the greatest indictment of our education system is not that half of employees for the ICT sector have to be recruited abroad and brought here for Google, Yahoo and Facebook. No, it’s the decline in basic educational attainments.
OECD surveys of 15-year-olds in essential subjects of reading, maths and science since 2000, reflect poorly on our educational output. We declined from 5th to 17th in reading skills and from 16th to 26th in maths. Adult illiteracy is trending towards 20 per cent.
Finland tops these PISA surveys. Its education budget is 6 per cent of GDP. The average class size is 25 pupils. Their school year is an average of 190 days. Here it is 167 and 183 respectively between secondary and primary levels. Finnish teachers are not paid as much as their Irish counterparts. What are the differences? School entry age is seven years, with a pre-school year at six. All teachers must have graduate qualifications to be recruited. Teacher accountability is devolved to local school management.
Poor performance is not tolerated.
Successive ministers for education tend to be ministers for teachers. Upsetting teachers is off limits. Teachers may be fired if they’re found to be drunk in the classroom or fail to carry out the daily roll call. It’s okay that up to 50 per cent of secondary maths teachers are not properly qualified.
There is no insistence on changing this or a timetable for retraining to reach minimum standards. Contracted hours at 1,037 per annum for primary school teachers and 735 hours per annum of secondary level are not up for review. In the Netherlands and Britain, respective comparisons are 1,659 and 1,265 hours per year. The Croke Park
Agreement preserves higher pay. Absenteeism is accepted under the supervision and substitution schemes, costing €36 million annually.
Reform under Croke Park is extremely modest. An extra hour here and there represents tokenism. Some schools still don’t do parent teacher-meetings at times to suit parents. Sick-leave arrangements facilitate up to 21 days absence without medical certification. As close to 80 per cent of the education budget is comprised of teacher salaries and pensions, cost reduction depends on productivity adjustments.
It’s a people business, fair enough. At primary level, we could reduce school enrolments from 60,000 to 20,000 by increasing the school entry age to a minimum of five years. At secondary level, abolition of the transition year would remove one-sixth of the cost of the teaching budget. Both measures together would mean school leaving age would be unchanged. Radical thoughts are absent in Marlborough Street.
It’s important to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of the vast majority of teachers and academics. Their commitment is undermined by a lack of uniformity throughout the service. We need to reward good teachers. Payment of increments to teachers is automatic, irrespective of performance. Incentives and rewards in the pay structure is anathema to unions.
Good schools, irrespective of whether they are private or public, should be highlighted. Comparative tables providing fair analysis should be freely available to parents who seek choice. The points system, for all its shortcomings, can focus on poor results that can be traced to underperforming teachers. The private grinds industry is testament to this reality. Who cares? Not the professional politicians. Cursory reading of Dáil education debates reveals the extent of former teachers who are TDs.
Irish society is changing rapidly. It is becoming more cosmopolitan and secular. It is also growing. Demographics indicate an increase in the school population of 20 per cent in the decade ahead. The challenge of extra demands and less resources won’t be met with “policy as usual” prescriptions. At primary level, this means consolidation of smaller rural schools. In every other walk of life, rationalisation has occurred.Half parishes cannot sustain individual schools. Improved facilities and greater subject choice are results of mergers. It’s already occurred at post-primary level, with obvious benefits.
The vexed question of consequences from declining adherence to organised religion must also be tackled. This not only means relinquishing of chairmanship and control of local school boards of management, but also alterations to the curriculum. Teaching two-and-a-half hours per week of religious studies could be done by visiting chaplains/ clergy at the end of the school day. Other vital subjects could replace it during the normal timetable. Preparation for first Communion and Confirmation, while on school property, should be conducted outside of the teaching day.
Resistance to change equals postponement of the inevitable. Church leaders such as Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin deserves support for modernisation moves.
Whilst slaying sacred cows, we must confront cultural insecurity.
Despite the critical competitive advantage of having a natural English-speaking workforce, we persist with compulsory Irish language teaching and exams. A diminishing 3 per cent of the population converse in our official tongue. Declining relevance of Irish is swept under the carpet. If both Irish and religious studies were replaced by computer studies/information technology learning, we could greatly enhance economic performance. Heresy? Let’s embrace a future of options rather than obligations.
In summary, educationalists and their specialist cheerleaders in the media believe they alone must chart the future course of Irish education. Most businesses can’t operate in such a bubble. They have to perpetually adapt to their consumers’ needs. Parents, taxpayers, jobseekers and employers observe a system that is living off its past reputation.
Tardiness in reforming the curriculum to meet job requirements is self-evident. We produce excess arts graduates and insufficient trained young adults. We preserve inefficiency and protect bad teachers. Educational systems of emerging markets of South Korea and Singapore are kicking our ass. Endless introspective chants for more money will have to be met by borrowings from creditors of last resort. Special pleading is a dialogue of the deaf, where the troika is concerned. We must integrate the needs of the economy into Irish education, because the converse is unsustainable.
Ten changes needed in Irish education
1 INCREASE SCHOOL ENTRY AGE TO FIVE AND ABOLISH TRANSITION YEAR
2 REVIEW TEACHER CONTRACTS TO INCREASE HOURS AND REMOVE INCENTIVES TO ABSENTEEISM
3 INCENTIVISE GOOD TEACHING WITH FINANCIAL REWARD
4 INTRODUCE COMPARATIVE SCHOOL LEAGUE TABLES
5 CONSOLIDATE SMALL RURAL SCHOOLS
6 MOVE RELIGIOUS TEACHING OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS AND OUT OF THE TEACHERS’ JOB DESCRIPTION
7 ABOLISH COMPULSORY IRISH LANGUAGE LEARNING AND REPLACE WITH COMPUTER STUDIES
8 RENEGOTIATE CONTRACTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION TO INCREASE LECTURERS HOURS AND DEFINE THEIR RESEARCH COMMITMENTS.
9 ELIMINATE OVER-EXPENDITURE IN OUR UNIVERSITIES AND INSTITUTES OF TECHNOLOGY AND REDUCE THE SALARIES OF OUR UNIVERSITY HEADS
10 REDUCE THE NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES AND ABOLISH THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND
Ivan Yates, former cabinet minister, co-presents Breakfast on Newstalk
IRISH TIMES
Co-operation and the Irish language
February 14, 2012
Sir,
Your newspaper contains an article concerning a proposal by Foras na Gaeilge for a new funding model based on schemes rather than organisations (Home News, February 9th).
Some of the assertions by the chief executive of Foras na Gaeilge cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
Services required by Irish speakers are as diverse as those of the general population. It is, therefore, not excessive that 19 organisations serve those needs on an all-island basis.
Furthermore, there is no basis for the assertion that there is duplication of provision.
As to the assertion that organisations “flatly refused” to co-operate, a report commissioned by Foras na Gaeilge from Mazars identified that collaboration did already exist but that it could be improved. While organisations reviewed do collaborate with other organisations it would appear that this is largely done from a bottom-up perspective, ie each individual organisation collaborates with others to the level of breadth and depth that it as an organisation or they as a group see fit.
A request by Foras na Gaeilge, in 2008, that organisations establish committees to effect greater co-operation between them was well-intentioned but doomed to failure in the absence of an overarching plan or any external facilitation.
I believe that the interest of the current public consultation process would be best served if meaningful engagement were to occur between Foras na Gaeilge and the sector, as requested by the North-South Ministerial Council. – Yours, etc,
ANTOINE Ó COILEÁIN,
Príomhfheidhmeannach,
Gael Linn,
Dame Street,
Dublin 2.
IRISH TIMES
(Gaeilge) Mórshiúl ar son Feachtas na Scoileanna Beaga
February 10, 2012
Coláiste Samhraidh do dhéagóirí
February 10, 2012
Bonus points for Irish
February 10, 2012
Sir, –
I agree with your correspondent that there is something “bogus” about bonus points for those that do Leaving Cert subjects through Irish (To Be Honest, Education Today, February 7th).
However, what is bogus is not that these points are granted. It is why they are granted.
Your correspondent acknowledges that completing an exam such as history in Irish is challenging. It is.
My children still have to use textbooks in English for many subjects. And much auxiliary information — library books, newspaper articles, and so on – is also only available in English.
Rather than systematically addressing the lack of schoolbooks in Irish, the Department of Education avoids its responsibility towards Irish-language education by offering these bonus points. – Yours, etc,
AONGHUS Ó hALMHAIN,
Páirc na Seilbhe,
Baile an Chinnéidigh,
Co Chill Mhantáin.
A chara, –
In school I learnt about oidhreachtúil aonfhachtóireach and single-factor inheritance, about the interauricular septum and an fochra idirchluaisíneach, and about liontán ionphlasmach and endoplasmic reticulum.
Anybody who thinks bonus points for sitting Leaving Cert subjects as Gaeilge are “bogus”, might try studying Bitheolaíocht with a textbook as Béarla.
– Is mise,
AINDRIÚ Ó FAOLÁIN,
Bóthar Simmonscourt,
Baile Átha Cliath 4.
IRISH TIMES LETTERS
1,550 children in North Kildare denied the option of Irish-medium post-primary education
February 10, 2012
According to a recent statement from the Department of Education and Skills, an application for a new gaelcholáiste will not be included for consideration along with other applications for the patronage of the new school due to open in Maynooth in 2014. This decision means that Irish-medium education at post-primary level will not be available to more than 1,550 children attending Irish-medium primary schools in Maynooth, Kilcock, Leixlip and Dunboyne.
In July 2011 the Department of Education and Skills announced that a new post-primary school to cater for 1000 pupils is to open in Maynooth, and that prospective patrons might apply for patronage of that school. The criteria the Department will use to assess the applications were also published, and diversity of provision and parental choice were specifically mentioned.
It is clear that the campaign being run by the local community since 2005 to demand a gaelcholáiste for the area is being ignored. Co. Kildare VEC have made two previous applications for a gaelcholáiste in Maynooth (in 2007 and 2010) and more than 430 expressions of interest from parents have been collected by An Foras Pátrúnachta, the prospective patron chosen by the school’s founding committee for this new application. Despite the very strong evidence of parental demand, the Department is not taking diversity of provision or the preference of the people of North Kildare into account in the assessment of applications for patronage of the new school.
The founding committee for Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara Thuaidh surveyed local parents in 2010 on their preferences for post-primary provision in the area, and the results showed that a local gaelcholáiste was the first preference for 88% of those who responded. The demand for a new gaelcholáiste has been recognised by parents and the education community in North Kildare, by the patrons and by the wider Irish-medium education community, and it would be negligent of the Department to ignore it.
The Department does not appear to be following the criteria set out in the New Arrangements for the Patronage of New Schools or respecting the expressed wishes of parents in North Kildare. GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. demands that the application by An Foras Pátrúnachta for the patronage of the new school be given due consideration, and we ask that the Department of Education support Irish-medium education and the will of the community in Maynooth.
GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is the national coordinating organisation for Irish-medium schools at primary and post-primary level. It provides assistance and support to parents and local communities who wish to found a school and it supports existing Irish-medium schools in their development.
Further information:
Clare Spáinneach, Development Officer, GAELSCOILEANNA TEO.
Phone: 01 8535193 Email: cspainneach@gaelscoileanna.ie
Máirín Ní Chéileachair, Chairperson, Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara Thuaidh Founding Committee
Phone: 01 6290667 Email: mairinnicheileachair@gmail.com
Clondalkin could be Dublin’s first official Gaeltacht
February 10, 2012
A SPRAWLING SUBURB of Dublin could become Ireland’s newest Gaeltacht area thanks to a bill which will create a new definition of what it is to be an official Irish-speaking region.
Labour TD Robert Dowds said that the approval of the draft bill gives Clondalkin a great opportunity to be designated as a Gaeltacht area “at a certain level”.
“One of the main aims of this bill is to create a new definition of what constitutes a Gaeltacht,” explains Dowds. “This will give areas outside of traditional gaeltachts a chance to be recognised should they fulfill certain criteria.”
Under the proposed legislation, the Gaeltacht will be based on linguistic criteria instead of on geographic areas. During last year’s presidential election, Michael D Higgins said that Clondalkin had a case to be recognised due to the number of Irish speakers living there.
Joe MacSuibhne has been principal of the local Irish-speaking secondary school Coláiste Chillian for the past eight years and strongly supports the idea of designating Clondalkin as a Gaeltacht area.
“We have been looking for something like this for years. Currently, there are about 1,500 students receiving their education through Irish in the area and are, therefore, fluent in the language,” he told TheJournal.ie this morning.
Language planning at community level will also be central to the new definition of the Gaeltacht. As well as MacSuibhne’s school, Clondalkin boasts two all-Irish primary schools, Áras Chrónáin Irish Cultural Centre and a host of naíonraí (pre-schools).
“The benefits of being designated as a Gaeltacht area would greatly help here,” continued MacSuibhne. “I think it would help us in the promotion of the language in the school, as well as the town.”
Coláiste Chillian currently serves students from Clondalkin, Rathcoole, Inchicore and Ballyfermot.
“There are endless possibilities for the area if it is given the recognition for the number of Irish speakers here,” added MacSuibhne who has been teaching in Clondalkin for more than 20 years.
Even simple ideas around language development could create employment for students when they graduate, according to MacSuibhne.
Being designated as a Gaeltacht would encourage more local businesses to use Irish and to take on people who are fluent. An Irish-speaking till at local shops would be just one example.”
The decision to prioritise the drafting of the bill was welcomed by Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Dinny McGinley yesterday.
The bill will also make amendments to the role and functions of Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Gaeltacht areas are currently restricted to parts of Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Cork, Waterford and two small villages in Meath.
THE JOURNAL.IE
Bonus points for Irish? That’s bogus
February 8, 2012
A parent writes: Leaving Cert students who do their exams through Irish get grade boosts that add up to extra CAO points. This has been the case for so long it has been overlooked as a very serious inequality in our system.
The Leaving Cert is supposed to be a “level playing field”. That’s the phrase that supporters of this exam love to use.
Bonus points for Irish queer the pitch.
Take two students, equally able, going for the same course in university. The student from the Irish language school has a better chance of getting that course, even if Irish is not required to study it. It doesn’t make academic sense at all.
If, for example, a student gets 65 per cent in history, he will be awarded an extra 10 per cent of that mark because he did the exam in Irish. That will push him from a C to a B grade. Any student who gets a mark of 75 per cent or less in a range of subjects gets this 10 per cent boost.
I accept that completing an exam such as history through the Irish language is challenging, but not for a child that has had the benefit of 14 years of Irish language education. This option is just not available to the majority of students in the country. In my own locality there is one gaelscoil (Irish language primary school) and it is oversubscribed. The nearest gaelcholáiste (Irish language post-primary school) is miles away.
I absolutely support the right of parents to choose an all-Irish education for their children. I also realise that the bonus system is designed to encourage more parents to choose Irish language schooling. As we have seen, however, demand exceeds supply so the interest is being stoked by the bonus points system without a corresponding increase in provision.
Meanwhile, awarding bonus points for Irish continues to discriminate against those outside this limited Irish language school system. When a large pool of students are going for a small number of high point courses in university, is it really fair that those whose parents had access to a gaelscoil and gaelcholáiste should find themselves at such an advantage?
Bonus points for maths are open to all with the ability – there’s scarcely a school in the country that doesn’t offer higher level maths. However, a minority of students have a realistic chance of completing the Leaving Cert through Irish, regardless of ability.
Supporters of the Leaving Cert always say that, blunt as it may be, at least it’s fair. This is not fair.
The Irish Times
Rialtas faoi ionsaí as ‘droch-chinneadh’ eile teanga a dhéanamh
February 8, 2012
“Le Chéile Arís” – dlúthdhiosca nua Ghaelscoil na Bóinne
February 8, 2012
