Assessing school league tables
November 28, 2013
Sir, – Given that so many Irish-language schools are at the top of the league table for entrants to third-level education, what is the justification for the 10 per cent bonus marks given for answering certain Leaving Cert papers through Irish?
The old idea was that since studying through Irish resulted in students acquiring less knowledge, that their marks should be topped up to sustain them in that challenging activity. Clearly that’s nonsense. So why does the Department of Education continue this practice, an obvious corruption of the examination marking system? The 10 per cent is an example of the sort of institutionalised favouritism to select groups which was the hallmark of governments in the past. Now it should be ended. – Yours, etc,
DONAL FLYNN,
Breffni Terrace,
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.
www.irishtimes.com
Ceiliúradh ar shiopa Green’s
November 28, 2013
Minister Quinn announces patronage of 9 new Post-Primary schools to be established in 2015 and 2016
November 28, 2013
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today announced the patrons for nine new post-primary schools which will open in 2015 and 2016.
These new schools will provide additional places for up to 7,300 students in areas of Cork, Cavan, Dublin and North Wicklow which have seen their populations expand in recent years.
The new schools include five which will cater for up to 1,000 students each.
Four of the new schools will be under the patronage of Educate Together, two will be run by the local Education and Training Board (ETB), one by the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), one jointly by the local ETB and Educate Together and the final school will be managed by the local ETB with involvement of the Catholic Bishop of Cloyne (see table below).
Minister Quinn said, “The fact that the new patrons include those of multi-denominational and those of a Catholic ethos clearly demonstrates that the Department and I are committed to providing diversity of ethos in our schools and respecting the demands of parents.”
“I am very pleased to see that Educate Together will be sole patron in four schools and joint patron in a fifth school, particularly as ET was formally recognised as a second level patron body by me just two years ago.”
“I am confident that these new schools, alongside the existing schools in each area, will mean that parents and students have real choice when it comes to deciding which school most reflects their own ethos.”
Today’s announcement is the culmination of the process which began in June 2011 when the Minister announced that 20 new post-primary schools were to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing student numbers.
Minister Quinn said, “We are experiencing significant increases in our school-going population. The establishment of these new schools is an essential part of our actions to ensure that the school infrastructure is in place in time to ensure every single student has a quality place at second level over the coming years.”
At that time the Minister also announced new criteria and arrangements for the recognition of the new schools. The arrangements included the establishment of an independent advisory group, the New Schools Establishment Group, to advise the Minister on the patronage of the new schools following its consideration of a report prepared by Department officials.
The New Schools Establishment Group reported to the Minister earlier this month. Minister Quinn has accepted the group’s recommendations in full.
Prospective patrons were asked to provide evidence of parental demand when making applications for patronage of the new schools. In addition, the criteria used in deciding on patronage included how the proposed schools under the respective patrons would provide for extending or strengthening diversity of school ethos in each area, having regard to the views of parents.
The Minister expressed his thanks to the members of the New Schools Establishment Group for their valuable input to the process. Minister Quinn said, “I initiated the revised system for the establishment of new schools and the appointment of the school patron so that it would be an objective and transparent process. The role of the New Schools Establishment Group is critical to achieving these aims and I want to thank them for their work in this area.”
Department officials will shortly contact each of the patron bodies in regard to the logistics of the establishment of these new schools.
| County | Area | Recommended Patron Body | No. of students |
| Cavan | Kingscourt | Cavan and Monaghan ETB | 400 |
| Cork | Cork South Suburbs/Carrigaline | 2 Schools: Educate Together & Edmund Rice Schools Trust |
600 each |
| Cork | Midleton/Carrigtohill | Cork ETB (involving the Catholic Bishop of Cloyne) | 1,000 |
| Dublin | Balbriggan | Educate Together | 700 |
| Dublin | Ballinteer/Stepaside | Educate Together | 1,000 |
| Dublin | Kingswood, Tallaght | Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ETB | 1,000 |
| Kildare | Celbridge | Jointly Educate Together and Kildare and Wicklow ETB (subject to confirmation of sufficient parental support) | Up to 1,000 |
| Wicklow | North Wicklow | Educate Together | 1,000 |
www.education.ie
Information evening for parents will take place in Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha on Thursday November 28th at 7pm
November 27, 2013
Everyone’s welcome! The school is located in Tower View, Kildare Town, Co. Kildare.
Contact:
045 535588
gaelscoilmhicaodha@gmail.com
‘Fáilte isteach i mo shaol’
November 27, 2013
Eagarthóirí Taighde – Fiontar
November 27, 2013
More schools send all pupils to third level education
November 27, 2013
Fee-paying schools claim majority of places that have a high entry-point requirement
Non fee-paying schools dominate the 2013 league tables for sending students into third-level education, accounting for three-quarters of the top 100 schools. However students from fee-paying schools and Gaelscoileanna claim the vast majority of places that have a high entry-point requirement. These students capture most of the places in teacher-training, medicine, dentistry and law, according to The Irish Times Feeder Schools list published today. Broadly, there is little difference between the performance of fee-paying and State schools in the overall feeder list, which shows how many students each school sends to each third-level institution.
However, once again, the list of schools which send students to high points courses in the universities, teacher-training colleges, DIT and the Royal College of Surgeons, is almost entirely dominated by fee-paying schools. Here, the top nine schools are all fee-paying: eight of these are in south Dublin while one, Glenstal Abbey, is a boys boarding school in Limerick with day fees of just over €10,000. The 10th place on this list is taken by Coláiste Íosagáin, a girls Gaelcholáiste in Stillorgan, south Co Dublin. Seven of the remaining top 20 schools on this list are also fee-paying. This is a consistent annual pattern in the lists and suggests that the highest-earning professions – including business and finance and some science careers – have a higher proportion of people who attended a private school.
The numbers of schools that effectively send all of their students into third level has continued to climb in 2013 with almost one in seven schools achieving this. There were 97 schools in this top group. The figures also show, however, that little has changed in terms of access to higher education, with children in well-off neighbourhoods much more likely to attend third level than those in less advantaged areas. There are 17 schools in the top 100 in south Dublin – 14 of them fee-paying – while north Dublin boasts only two, Castleknock College and Ard Scoil Rís.
Attendance at a grind school does not seem to guarantee a third level place, the figures show. Only one, Ashfield College, Templeogue, Dublin, was among the top schools with all students attending third level. The league tables also highlight the importance of having an institute of higher education nearby as a way to increase student access and participation. Students are much more likely to attend college if there is a local third-level institute.
Data for these tables comes from the publicly funded third- level institutions and the State Examinations Commission.
www.irishtimes.com
Assessing school league tables
November 27, 2013
Sir, – Gráinne Faller (“Parents need transparent information on schools”, Opinion, November 27th), declared there should be a debate on school performance tables.
Just over a fortnight ago, the Chief Inspector’s Report 2010-2012 was published. It contains an analysis of all 2,378 inspections which took place in second-level schools during this period, including surveys of 29,000 students and 20,000 parents. School inspection reports, which are available to the public online, contain factual information on the performance of each school across domains such as the quality of school management, the quality of supports for students and the quality of teaching and learning in subjects. In other words, contrary to Gráinne Faller’s claim that parents do not have easy access to information on schools, these reports answer key questions such as: Is the school well run? Are there good student support structures? Are the subjects taught in a manner consistent with improving educational outcomes for students?
League tables are based on a narrow and distorted view of second-level education, ie that it is all about exam results and CAO points. League tables tell us very little about schools because they ignore the multi-faceted work they do. League tables do not consider that each school and student is unique. They fail to see merit in the fact that schools set and meet goals based on the individual needs of their students. League tables dismiss the challenges faced a nd of ten overcome by s t udents and t eachers in every school in the country. The real debate in education is not about league tables, it is about what we want as a society and how schools can work to help us achieve that. At present only 55 per cent of second-level students in Ireland transfer to higher education. Despite the ongoing publication of feeder-school league tables, second-level schools continue to operate on the premise that their mission is to assist all students to achieve their potential as young people and as citizens.
However, if the message is that league tables matter more, all young people, and indeed all of society, will come to suffer.
– Yours, etc, PAT KING, ASTI General Secretary, Winetavern Street, Dublin 8.
Sir, – Can I deduce from the school “league tables” (2013 School League Tables supplement, November 26th) that if the pupils from schools where a minority proceed to third-level education were transferred to fee-paying schools or Gaelscoileanna that virtually all of these pupils would then all go on to third-level and capture many o f the places on high points entry courses? – Yours, etc, JOSEPH MACKEY, Kilkenny West, Glasson, Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Sir, – I refer to your publication of feeder tables to Irish institutions of higher education and to Gráinne Faller’s article on the measurement of schools’ academic performance (Opinion, November 27th).
At St Columba’s College, we have long championed the rights of parents to have a s much information as possible regarding the school’s performance in public examinations and this is why we always publish an average points score per candidate in the annual Leaving Certificate. This information is promulgated on the college website together with information about results against national averages. I know of no other school in Ireland which is so open about its results, but would certainly welcome similar openness from other institutions. In 2013, St Columba’s had an average CAO points score of 466 per candidate across all papers taken at all levels. Over the past five years, it has had an average score of more than 450 points per candidate. Regrettably, however, this outstanding achievement is not recognised in your tables because, by your own admission, the information you have at your disposal is limited. It is time there was much more transparency for parents – and the wider public – in the information given out by schools in Ireland. – Yours, etc, Dr LJ HASLETT, Warden, St Columba’s College, Dublin 16.
A chara, – It is always an interesting set of data, but one wonders whether the use of the “per cent progression” figure is in any way reflective of how particular schools are performing in the year in question. The sample population that would be most instructive as to how well our schools and students are doing, is surely the performance of that year’s Leaving Cert cohort. The “per cent progression” number includes a school’s students who are repeating first year in university as well as mature students. This skews the school performance data potentially significantly given that only 71 per cent of this year’s college registrations sat the Leaving Cert in 2013. Therefore, though perhaps unlikely, it i s possible for a school whose alumni had statistically significantly high failure rates in their first year exams and elect to repeat the year, to appear higher on the league list than a school where every one of its Leaving Cert 2013 students progressed to university. This surely suggests the data as presented should be interpreted with care. The data source is not something The Irish Times can control, but I am sure most who scour these league tables would rather a “pure” dataset, based solely on analysis of those who sat the current year’s Leaving Cert. That would allow us develop real indicators of how our secondary schools and our students are performing over time. – Is mise, DES O’SULLIVAN, Springfort, Montenotte, Cork.
A chara, – It is ironic that on the day you publish dubious “league tables”, Dan Flinter’s appointment as chair of The Irish Times Ltd should be announced (Home News, November 26th). A very wise appointment. Dan Flinter went to the same school as myself, CBS Athy. Out of perhaps 25 Leavi ng Cert graduates in the three years during which Dan Flinter graduated, one became editor of a national newspaper, another a university vice president, a third an enormously successful business consultant in the US, etc. And not a fee in sight! And there was me! – Yours, etc, BRENDAN RYAN, Senator 1981-92, 1997-07, CBS Athy 1964, The Orchards, Montenotte, Cork.
www.irishtimes.com
Scaradh na gcompánach
November 27, 2013
Congratulations to the Irish-medium schools names in the Irish Times School League Tables
November 27, 2013
Gaelscoileanna Teo. would like to congratulate the Irish-medium schools named in the Irish Times School League Tables. Irish-medium schools at primary and post-primary level provide an excellent standard of education and their reputation is growing alongside demand for gaeloideachas. Further information on the School League Tables is available to read here.
