With the right programme, teachers can make learning Irish a pleasure
November 13, 2013
Not for the first time schools inspectors recently identified some weaknesses in the teaching of Irish in both primary and post- primary schools.
Should this finding take us by surprise? At primary level we have had a new curriculum since 1999, so what’s missing? What is really needed to support the teaching of Irish in primary schools is a structured teaching programme to support the curriculum. We have them in other subject areas. Programmes such as Maths Recovery and Literacy Lift Off are having an impact in schools in disadvantaged areas (DEIS schools) in maths and English literacy.
A structured teaching programme in Irish should be designed for all class levels that would bring together all aspects of Irish – listening, reading, writing and oral language. Such a programme could spell out clearly the expectations for learning at every stage from junior infants to sixth class. And it should be modern, colourful, attractive and relevant to children’s lives in the 21st century. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are some excellent resources available to support the teaching of Irish, but what is lacking is a coherent structure. Teachers’ time is better spent teaching instead of searching for and assessing the suitability of resources for different aspects of the Irish curriculum. A structured language teaching programme for the 21st Century will need to use the most up-to-date technology and reflect the interests of today’s children. Irish can be really cool as we saw from the success of Aifric, a TV programme for teenagers.
If the Department of Education were to free up a small team of experienced teachers to design the programme and a coordinator to oversee the project this work could be completed quickly and inexpensively. Lessons can be learnt from the design of Séideán Sí, an integrated Irish language teaching programme for Gaeltacht schools and gaelscoileanna – certainly a success story. But there is no point in having a state-of-the-art programme unless it is supported by professional development for teachers. Lessons can be learnt here too from the School Support Programme in DEIS schools. Professional development for teachers makes a difference. No matter how good a programme, without professional development, its impact will be less than optimum. If we’re serious about supporting the teaching of Irish in our primary schools, let’s give teachers the tools and the confidence to bring the pleasure of language learning to their pupils. With the right curriculum, the right programme and the right on-going support, teaching and learning Irish will be fun.
The department has failed to give this support to teachers for 30 years. It’s no wonder there’s a problem. Giving teachers the teaching programme they need is the answer.
Deirbhile NicCraith is Education Officer in the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
www.irishindependent.ie
Watch out Béarla, it’s the Stepaside Gaeltacht
November 13, 2013
The number of children learning through Irish has trebled in two decades.
The demand for places at Irish language schools continues to surge, but Gaelscoil- eanna hope Education Minister Ruairi Quinn will shelve plans to change their admission policies. The number of students taught through the language outside the Gaeltacht has trebled since 1990 and is set to top over 50,000 in the next five years. In 1990, there were just 15,000 children in Irish language schools. Now there are over 45,000 children who learn as Gaeilge, according to figures supplied to the Irish Independent.The language is booming in the suburbs of Dublin and in commuter counties such as Kildare, according to the school patron body An Foras Pátrúnachta.
Areas such as South Dublin, Lucan and Leixlip are now hotbeds of the language, at least in the classroom. A second Gaelscoil has just opened in the Stepaside area of South Dublin to cope with soaring demand among a new generation of Gaeilgoirs. There is also a third school in nearby Ballinteer. Conchúr O Raghallaigh, principal of tiny Gaelscoil Shliabh Rua in Stepaside, says: “Many parents grew up with a negative attitude towards the language because of the way it was taught. However, they now feel a sense of regret and really want their children to learn it. “Irish is a lot more popular because the teaching methods have improved.” A new Gaelscoil in Lucan has had 223 applications for just 56 places in 2014. Since 1990 the number of Irish medium schools has grown from 79 to 217. Patron bodies for Irish language schools now hope to take over some primary schools if they are vacated by the Catholic Church. Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, general secretary of An Foras Pátrúnachta, says: “We would hope to open a Gaelscoil in Birr (Co Offaly) if one of the schools is left vacant, as the local Catholic diocese reconfigures its schools.”
One point of controversy for Gaelscoileanna is their admission policies. Under the current arrangements they give preference to families where the children are brought up through the language, and they may select pupils by interview. This is said to discriminate against immigrant families. However, as he announced plans to revamp admissions policies earlier this year, Mr Quinn complained about restrictions. ‘We now have a large Gaelscoileanna movement across the country. We are building up a network of Gaelcholaiste to enable parents who want to continue their [children’s] education right through the second-level stream. “I would be concerned with restrictive practices for entrance into those schools just as I would be for entrances into other schools,” he says. Recent draft legislation on school admissions stopped short of blocking all-Irish schools from giving preference to children from Irish-speaking households.
However, under the draft bill they would be barred from carrying out interviews with families to check on their Irish language ability. Gaelscoileanna would also not be allowed give preference to those who attended Irish language pre-schooling. Mr Ó hEaghra denies the schools discriminate against immigrant families. “If you walk into our classrooms you will see that they reflect the diversity of our population. There are students from all kinds of background.” Mr Ó hEaghra says the schools were established to promote Irish and had a responsibility to support families raising their children through the language. “Irish-speaking families are a crucial resource for the schools, because they act as a kind of scaffolding for others hoping to learn the language.” Scoil Shliabh Rua opened with just eight pupils in a pre-fab at Palmerstown Rugby near the village of Stepaside in September. A new school is set to be built on a site at nearby Ballyogan and when it is at full capacity it will have 432 pupils.
Mr Ó Raghallaigh says: “People no longer have the fear of the language that they once had. Years ago it was all about learning poetry and grammar. “Now you have cartoons and game shows on TG4 and Des Bishop has done wonders for the language.” One of the problems for Irish is that it has so far failed to make a breakthrough beyond the classroom and the TV studio. Students may learn through the medium of Irish but when they go home they still speak English. “It is very important that parents are also speaking Irish,” said Mr Ó Raghallaigh. “That is why some Gaelscoileanna are organising Irish classes for parents.” One of the problems facing parents who send their children to Irish-speaking primary school is that there are fewer options at second-level. “We now have a lot of parents who want a second-level Gaelcholaiste, but there is none in their area,” says Mr Ó hEaghra.
www.irishindependent.ie
New School for Coláiste na Coiribe
November 8, 2013
An Bord Pleanála ruled on September 12 that permission should be granted for the development of Coláiste na Coiribe’s long awaited new facility.
A number of conditions were attached to this permission, details of which can be found at www.pleanala.ie reference PI. 61 241932.
This is a great development for the growing Coláiste na Coiribe community, who have been waiting for this day since Coláiste na Coiribe was founded in 1992 with 10 students. Much credit is due to Tomás Mac Pháidín (príomhoide Choláiste na Coiribe) and the many members of respective boards of management over the years, who have campaigned relentlessly to this end.
An information evening/oíche oscailte for prospective students and their families will take place on Wednesday November 13 from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.
Thug ABP lán-chéad pleanála do GRETB bogadh ar aghaidh leis an scoil nua ar an 12 Mean Fómhair, ach cloí le roinnt coinníollacha. Gach eolas le fáil ar www. pleanala.ie ach cuardaigh uimhir thagartha PL 61.241932 .
Is cúis áthais e seo do chomhphobal Choláiste na Coiribe atá anois 21 bliain ag fanacht ar chóiríocht cuí don dea obair atá ar siúl sa scoil. Táthar ag súil go mbeidh an scoil nua ag oscailt I Meán Fómhair 2015. Buíochas le Tomás Mac Pháidín (príomhoide Choláiste na Coiribe) agus baill éagsúla ar bhord bainistíochta thar na blianta a thíomáin an fheactas seo le díograis.
Galway Advertiser
Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer as Gaeilge
November 7, 2013
Padraic O’Neachtain has the answers.
He’s a producer and actor in Connemara, with Telegael, which dubs programmes such as Dora The Explorer (below) and Sesame Street into Irish. He’s also the voice of Elmo. A former presenter of Echo Island, on RTÉ, Padraic has been in Irish language TV for 15 years, so he’s well versed in turning the Cookie Monster into An Ollphéist Briosca (or an Ollphéist Bicít, depending on your Irish). Padraic talks of the control exerted by the American producers of the original shows, and of maintaining a voice for years. He has nailed Elmo: one Stateside big wig wrote him a letter commending his performance as the best of the international Elmos.
“As a kid even, I always enjoyed doing voices,” Padraic says. “You would be practising away on it, moving your diaphragm and stomach, and tightening your vocal chords. “Your objective is to try and make the voice as close to the original as possible — maybe it’s easy, in that regard, in that decisions are taken out of your hands.” Bríd Seoighe is a producer at Abu Media, another company in Galway that specialises in dubbing programmes into Irish. She and Padraic know the voice actor selection drill for particular characters. “We would be dealing with the producers of the show, not the actors behind the voices.” she says. “Normally, the Irish producer will shortlist the best three [voices] in their opinion, as well as a preferred option, and send this out to the company that made the original cartoon. They will choose one, hopefully, and agree with you and send some directions as to how the voice should be directed to get the best quality. They may want to see the final product, also.”
Padraic says: “with all of our shows that come from the States, you need to put down voices and send them over, three voices per character usually, and they will listen to them.” Far from the cliché of the cigar-chomping producer returning calls in between gulps of Scotch, he says, “it’s usually a girl in an office that casts the voices all over the world. They’re very nice and I don’t think they smoke cigars — all the emails are ‘have a nice day’ and ‘super awesome’. “They decide then, usually fairly quickly, in 24 or 48 hours, and they come back and say ‘this is the person’, and they might say something like ‘they need to bring the voice up’ or that it needs to sound a little more nasal.” Challenges abound. We all know that a sentence as gaeilge can be longer — or shorter — than its English equivalent. “It’s a constant challenge,” Padraic says. “We were doing Twitter before Twitter was ever invented. You have to say things to match your flaps. It’s all about timing, hitting the syllables, that’s what it’s all about and you script accordingly.
“If you are doing live action, like Harry Potter [the films are a Telegael project], that’s even more challenging. If Harry finishes in a sentence with an ‘o’ sound or an ‘e’ sound, you have to finish it with that, as well. It has to, obviously, be the same as it is in English, but you have to modify the structure, you might have to shorten or lengthen the sentence.” If that sounds tricky, then imagine the difficulty of singing the lines. “We are currently doing a series, Elmo the Musical, and there’s 120 songs in it,” Padraic says. “There’s a new one, called Pajaminals, and that’s got 100-plus songs in it, as well, and another [Jim] Henson project, filmed in the North, and it’s absolutely brilliant. We did the Irish version, we just finished the second series and it was very challenging. It takes a good bit of work, because you’ve got to make it rhyme.”
Telegael call on 20 to 30 people for their voices, and Padraic says that some have day jobs in restaurants in Galway. “You are not going to make a living as an Irish language voiceover artist in this country. You have to be involved in other projects,” he says, referring to the contrast between eight- or 10-week recording sessions and similar periods of inactivity. The actor who voices Dora the Explorer is a teacher. Actor availability is a factor, particularly when there’s a burst of recording. “We have been doing [Dora] for the last eight, nine years and with the same Dora, and she’s fabulous, but she’s also working as a teacher. She travels quite a bit and you have to work around that. You can only have one Bert, one Cookie Monster. It depends on the voice — it’s easier to replace Elmo than Dora, because his voice is so up there and tight, whereas Dora is more a character.”
Bríd says the Irish versions hit the screens soon after the original English versions. “TG4 are buying up programmes at the market, for dubbing, as soon as they are complete,” she says. “For example, Tickety Toc, Dinosaur Train, Olly an Veain Bheag Bhán, Puppy in my Pocket, they are all examples of international brands that we dubbed and were broadcasting on TG4 around the very same time as the English language versions are on Nickelodeon, etc. They have to be current, as it’s the brands that children are interested in and they will listen to any language, once it’s the character they like. I’ve tried and tested this with my own children.”
You could subtitle and do away with dubbing, but that’s not a showcase for the Irish language. Some TG4 programming, such as late night movies, are subtitled, but, says Padraic: “my two-year-old child doesn’t watch the films at night, but she does watch the programmes in the morning and she is watching programmes that are helping her, and us, to learn Irish and to learn valuable skills from the point of view of language.” Irish voiceover artists are unique: truly bilingual, they appreciate the original character’s voice in a way that a Spaniard who has grown up only knowing the Spanish SpongeBob or Homer, cannot. But fame is less likely. Veteran actor, Tonino Accolla, aka the Italian Homer Simpson and a man who dubbed Eddie Murphy and Kenneth Branagh, among others, died last summer, and made headline news. In recent weeks, Irma Lozano, the voice of I Dream Of Genie in her native Mexico, died to tributes from her peers.
The job’s not so high-profile here, but there is sadness in recasting a character. Such sombre moments are balanced by the fact that everyone involved enjoys themselves so much in a job for which they receive limited credit. Bríd says: “it helps to be a fan and familiar with the character, but it’s not necessary. We audition actors whom we think may be able to voice-match. Some are more versatile than others and its a particular type of talent, so those that can mimic do well here, too, and are always included in the audition process. So, it’s all in the acting, really.” Abu Media dubs South Park, a TV show that presents a few challenges of its own. “You could never find somebody with a normal day-to-day voice that sounds like Cartman,” Bríd says. “We strive to keep standards inline with every other country and, in often cases, are way better. Standards are very high in Ireland, by comparison to the other European language versions that I see at the Cannes television markets every year.”
All this talk of getting in character prompts one obvious question, which I ask of Padraic — who would you like to play that you haven’t? “I would tell you what I would love to do,” he says. “I would love to do more English voices. I’d like to see more of our talent base here being used in the States by people there. Give me a cartoon with an Irish character and let’s sell that all over the world. That, or Scooby Doo.”
www.irishexaminer.com
Líonra nua ar líne
November 7, 2013
€1.2m ar fáil do sheirbhís úr nuachta
November 6, 2013
School inspectors criticise standards of teaching in maths and Irish
November 5, 2013
Teaching quality and standards in all other subjects were found to be satisfactory Report includes assessments after announced and unannounced inspections
School inspectors have highlighted unsatisfactory quality standards in the teaching of maths and Irish in schools. However, teaching in all other subject areas holds up better, with more positive assessments, a report by the chief inspector of schools has found. The report shows that a quarter of Irish lessons at primary level during inspections were unsatisfactory. In post-primary schools, about a third of Irish lessons were ranked as unsatisfactory, as were a quarter of maths lessons. And while maths learning in primary schools was satisfactory or better in 86 per cent of cases, the report showed that only half of students were involved in collaborative working, something considered essential in this subject area.
Teaching quality and standards in all other subjects were found to be satisfactory or better, according to the Chief Inspector’s Report 2010-2012 released yesterday. The highly detailed report includes assessments after announced and unannounced inspections by staff from the department. For the first time the inspector’s report includes surveys involving parents and also students, who give their assessments of teaching standards in our schools. Inspectors judged that 86 per cent of lessons inspected in unannounced inspections were satisfactory or better in primary schools, but 14 per cent were not satisfactory. The overall figures for post-primary schools were 87 per cent satisfactory or better and 13 per cent not satisfactory. This generally good performance was repeated across all lessons, the inspectors judged, except for in the areas of Irish and maths. Baseline of data Minist er f or Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn said he had read the report with interest. It now provided a baseline of data which could be used in ongoing inspection activities.
The difficulties with maths and Irish were a problem, he said. “Does it point to a need for reform? No, it screams for reform,” Mr Quinn said of the inspector’s findings. For too long people had “unwisely” accepted the notion that Ireland had the best education system in the world, something that blocked change. The report showed that generally the school system was performing well, he said, but it also revealed some weaknesses and pointed schools in the direction of improvement. The school system had been working “in a challenging context” given the fiscal restraints, said chief inspector of schools Harold Hislop. Student numbers had grown while the number of teachers has remained fairly static. The report included the details of a l mo s t 800 whole school evaluations and 1,100 incidental inspections at primary level, he said. At post-primary there had been a l mos t 190 whole school evaluations, more than 1,400 subject inspections and 430 incidental inspections, he said.
Inspection procedures had been changed considerably and this was the first such report to be issued publicly by the inspector’s office, Mr Hislop said. Also for the first time questionnaires were completed by thousands of parents and students to assess their views on the provision of education. These surveys showed there was a “communications issue” between schools and parents. While 94 per cent of primary pupils felt safe at school, only 70 per cent of parents f elt their child’s school was dealing well with bullying. Only 70 per cent of parents said their views were regularly sought by the school. Parental surveys The responses from parental surveys were very positive from the point of view of education, the report indicates. The survey of 47,000 parents of primary school pupils showed that 97 per cent of them f elt that teaching was good in their child’s school. At post-primary school level 87 per cent of the 20,000 parents surveyed were happy about the teaching standards at their child’s school. The 29,000 post-primary student surveys showed 70 per cent of students said their classes were interesting and 74 per cent agreed that their teachers explained things clearly.
www.irishtimes.com
Embedded shortcomings in the system revealed
November 5, 2013
There was good news in this report – but it will be hard to solve the problems
Parents and students are at the receiving end of the education system but their views on the services provided are only infrequently requested. So it is interesting that their views are so well represented in the chief inspector’s report on the quality and standards in teaching and learning in our primary and post-primary sectors. Previously the results of school inspection visits were kept within the Department of Education and Skills and were not issued as public documents. It was decided to revamp the inspection procedures for this latest report, changing them in the knowledge that at the end there would be a report for publication.
There was a considerable effort made to sample sentiment, given that 132,000 questionnaires were issued to parents and students at primary and post-primary level, and the results add significantly to the value of the report. It will be reassuring for the department to see relatively high percentages of “satisfactory” and “better than satisfactory” assessments across the full range of subjects. The report looked at both the teaching approaches taken but also the learning outcomes in the students. Lower performance levels were seen in maths and Irish however, evidence that our educational system needs to improve in these subject areas. The chief inspector Harold Hislop said that these results could not inform on whether the revised maths syllabus, Project Maths ,was having any impact in the classroom. There was confidence, however, that this would make a difference when the syllabus was fully implemented.
There are embedded shortcomings in the system, however, such as the fact that many teachers teaching maths are graduates of subjects other than maths or a science. This does not help when it comes to helping students with this sometimes difficult subject. Preparation It is difficult to know what to do with Irish. The report showed that far too often there was a low level of preparation for the classroom. The inspector speculated on whether having better in-class teaching materials might help bring improvements, although it is clear there are problems when almost a third of lessons at post-primary were considered unsatisfactory. The parent survey proved interesting because it revealed a communications gap between school management and parents, a point highlighted by Ruairí Quinn. At primary level only 70 per cent said their views were sought on school matters, and only 65 per cent knew about the work of the school board of management.
The gap apparently widens at post-primary where just 44 per cent of parents agreed their views were sought, with 32 per cent disagreeing and 24 per cent saying they don’t know. And the schools’ parents’ association does not seem to link with parents given only 51 per cent of parents said they were being informed, while 28 per cent disagreed and 20 per cent didn’t know.
www.irishtimes.com
10pc of lessons given in our schools are sub-standard
November 5, 2013
SERIOUS weaknesses have been found in the teaching of Irish and maths in schools.
The most comprehensive snapshot ever of quality and standards in primary and post- primary education reveals some disturbing evidence of poor practice. While it found that the majority of schools were well- managed, most teachers work effectively and the learning of students is generally satisfactory, there are significant problems in some areas. Chief schools’ inspector Harold Hislop expressed concern about the overall minimum of “10pc to 15pc of schools and lessons where less-than-satisfactory practices exist”. “Fundamentally, there are weakness in the teaching and learning of Irish in particular and, to a lesser degree, in maths, in a significant proportion of our schools,” he said.
The Chief Inspector’s Report, published for the first time, gives a detailed overview of the quality of teaching and learning, based on inspections in the majority of schools over the period 2010-12. For first time also, the report includes the views of parents and pupils on their experiences of the education system, with 65,000 students and 67,000 parents completing questionnaires. The findings on the quality of teaching and learning are based on a range of inspections carried out in half of primary schools and more than 90pc of post-primary schools. In primary schools, it found that a “very significant” 24pc of Irish lessons were less than satisfactory. In post- primary schools, teaching of Irish was “satisfactory or better” in only 72pc of classes, and in some cases teachers’ own skills in the language were deficient. Shockingly, the quality of student learning in Ireland was found to be problematic in 32pc of cases.
Moves to improve the quality of Irish teaching and learning include longer teacher training and a new strategy on numeracy and literacy in schools. Mr Hislop’s report also highlighted issues around maths teaching in post-primary schools, which have been publicised before, and which are blamed for Ireland’s disappointing showing in international student tests. Mr Hislop said it was of concern that the quality of teaching was only “satisfactory or better” in 77pc of classes and the quality of learning was less than satisfactory in 26pc of lessons.
Upskill
Efforts are under way to upskill maths teachers, where necessary, while hopes of improving national student performance are also pinned on the new Project Maths syllabus. However, inspectors also noted that the depth of mathematical understanding required to teach Project Maths was challenging for some teachers. The inspectors found a much more positive picture around the teaching and learning of English, at both primary and post-primary level. Mr Hislop said among the issues raised by the inspections are the “definite shortcomings” in approaches to planning and preparing classes, at both primary and post-primary levels. He also said there were crucial issues to be addressed about how students were assessed. “Improvements in how schools assess and monitor the learning experiences and performance of their learners and in how they use the resulting information to plan for future teaching and learning are particularly important,” he said. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said while the report acknowledged all the good practices taking place on a daily basis in schools, it also showed a system “screaming for reform” in some areas.
www.independent.ie
If our schools scream for reform, let’s reform them
November 5, 2013
IT is hardly news to anyone that there are “weaknesses in the teaching and learning of Irish”, as pointed out by the Chief Inspector of Schools in his report for the years 2010-2012.
This is self evident from the fact that successive generations of students emerge at the end of their primary and second-level education with only a vague idea of the language and an inability to carry out a conversation in Gaeilge. More worrying perhaps is the fact that the Chief Inspector, Harold Hislop, has identified weaknesses “to a lesser” extent than Irish, in the teaching of maths and it is hoped the newly introduced Project Maths syllabus will help to eradicate some of these problems. The Chief Inspector’s report is based on visits by inspectors to over half of primary schools, and more than nine in 10 post-primary schools over the two-year period.
While his report says that a majority of schools are well managed and most teachers work effectively there are, he declares, “dimensions of education delivery that are, to varying degrees, problematic”. What this means is that “definite shortcomings in approaches to planning and preparation for students” exist in both primary and post-primary sectors. For those with school-going children this is indeed worrying. Whatever about Irish, and for many it remains an important part of our educational system and our culture in general, it is not good enough that serious deficiencies have been identified in the teaching of mathematics. This is now a subject of fundamental importance in the digital age and the Chief Inspector’s report is not the first to point out that Irish teachers and schools need to do better.
The survey also found that communication with parents is another area where schools must do better. Parents do not believe they get enough advice when it comes to the subjects their children choose for the Leaving Certificate. There is also widespread dissatisfaction at the response to the problematic area of bullying, which has become an issue of so much importance. “The picture that emerges in this report lays down challenges for everyone who works in the educational system,” concludes Mr Hislop. It is reassuring that he believes “excellence in terms of learning experience and standards can be achieved” but that does not detract from the Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s contention that in some areas education is “screaming for reform” and maths and Irish would seem like a good starting point.
WHEN DID OUR PUBLIC SERVICE FORGET IT EXISTS TO SERVE THE PUBLIC?
www.independent.ie
