Places still available in new Gaelscoil in Stepaside
April 4, 2013
Application forms for places in the Junior Infant class in the new Gaelscoil in Stepaside are still being accepted. The new school will open this September…
Almost 400 children are currently educated through Irish in Gaelscoil Thaobh na Coille, Stepaside. In 2012, the Department of Education announced that another Gaelscoil would be opened in the area, to cater for the demand for Irish language education.
The new Gaelscoil will be based at a temporary location in Aikens village and will transfer to a permanent site in the area. The Department of Education are currently sourcing this location.
The position of principal in the new Gaelscoil has been advertised. An Foras Pátrúnachta, the school’s patron, expect that the principal will be appointed by the end of April.
Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, General Secretary of An Foras Pátrúnachta, said: “Children starting off in the new Gaelscoil in Stepaside will be getting the fantastic advantage of a low pupil teacher ratio as well as the full support of the Department of Education with regard to accommodation and funding.
“The school will have the full support and experience of an Foras Pátrúnachta, setting the school on the path of providing an excellent standard of education to the children.”
Great interest has been shown in the new Gaelscoil to date. An information evening was held for parents recently and a parents committee is currently being formed. It is expected that an Irish language summer camp for the children will be organised. There has also been a keen interest in Irish language classes for parents.
Further information as well as application forms (for 2013 and other years) are available from www.foras.ie
www.sandyford.com
Irish language schools targeted over restrictive entrance rules
April 4, 2013
ANY Gaelscoil that refuses entry to prospective students if they do not speak Irish at home will have to change its approach under new enrolment rules.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has expressed concern about restrictive practices at some all-Irish schools, which are prohibiting some pupils from entry. His comments came in the wake of his announcement of a major overhaul in school admissions policies generally, in order to make them fairer and more transparent. The shake-up will include a prohibition on Irish-medium schools insisting that pupils come from an Irish-speaking family, both at primary and second-level.
Network
Yesterday, Mr Quinn said he was “concerned that in some cases, Gaelcholaiste have indicated to some applicant parents that unless the language at home is ‘as Gaeilge’ that they would not be inclined to accept a pupil for a place in a Gaelcholaiste”.
Mr Quinn said the proposed new enrolment measures for the country’s schools “will apply to all schools that are in receipt of taxpayers’ money”. “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 said. Currently, there are about 100 Gaelcholaiste in the country
Mr Quinn will bring proposals to Cabinet soon outlining plans for legislation to tighten up school enrolment policies. The changes will have little or no impact on the 80pc of schools that accommodate all applicants, but will affect the other 20pc that use selective criteria.
A range of different selection methods allow schools to control admissions, and means others may end up taking more than their fair share of pupils of lesser academic ability or with a special educational need.
Mr Quinn’s plans include proposals to end the ‘first come, first served’ policies used by many schools, which discriminate against people who move into a new area.
There will be a ban on booking deposits, which range from €50 to €200, charged by some schools. These are usually nonrefundable if the child is not offered or does not take up a place.
The new rules will also curtail the practice of giving priority to children of past pupils and of using compulsory open day and interviews to screen students, and their parents. But schools under church control will continue to be able to protect their religious ethos by giving preference to children of that faith.
The changes could mean that schools will have to rely on a lottery system to allocate places where demand exceeds the number of available places.
Sean Cottrell, director of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), welcomed the proposals which, he said, would make the enrolment process transparent and less stressful for parents.
“Minister Quinn’s reforms will go a long way towards levelling the playing field for all. But they must involve creating uniform enrolment criteria.”
www.independent.ie
Progress on patronage
April 3, 2013
When Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn took office two years ago he advocated the early establishment of multidenominational and non-denominational national schools in response to dramatic social changes and the exclusion of some immigrant children from Catholic-run schools.
He talked about removing half of all 3,000 primary schools from Catholic Church control. And while a Government advisory group on patronage and pluralism later advised a more gradualist approach, it expected the transfer of school patronage to begin this year. It now appears the process may be delayed until September 2014.
Delay is the great enemy of reform. The longer the delay, the greater the likelihood that political energy will dissipate and minimal change will result. A survey of parents in 38 districts by the Department of Education has found a demand for alternative patronage in 23 instances.
The great majority of those parents favoured patronage by Educate Together, where children learn about different belief systems but religious instruction takes place outside school hours. Vocational Education Committee control was favoured in three instances where multifaith instruction is provided. A spokesman for Catholic Schools Partnership, Fr Micheal Drumm questioned the need for “immediate” change and spoke of a “phased response” by the bishops involved.
Interest groups tend to defend traditional powers. While some bishops are open to change, others are reluctant. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has accepted the need for a reduction in Catholic Church control over education. And he has pointed to census results and falling Mass-attendance figures as reasons for a rethink of traditional church approaches.
Others are more cautious. Society has, however, changed dramatically in recent years because of the number of immigrant families. One in six residents was born outside the State and their children have now to be provided for in traditional, multidenominational or non-denominational schools.
The programme for government regards reform of education as “a priority”. It promises “sufficiently diverse schools to cater for all religions and none” at primary level. After that, it will “move towards a more pluralist system of patronage at second level”.
In giving those commitments, the Government was responding to social pressures and representations from teachers’ unions. The decision to release survey findings at this time and the implicit commitment to establish 23 new schools was, however, politically significant. It did not defuse the anger of teachers over their allowances and conditions or protect Mr Quinn from heckling but it suggested that, if teachers are serious about changes to school patronage, he is the one most likely to deliver.
www.irishtimes.com
Tionchar mionteangacha orainn
April 3, 2013
There is still a need for small schools in rural communities, says minister
April 3, 2013
EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn has ruled out closing 1,000 small schools.
Mr Quinn insisted that one, two and three-teacher schools will continue to form a vital part of Ireland’s primary education infrastructure, despite a new report that says a minimum of four teachers and 80 students is the future optimum level.
His comments came as he received an angry ‘red card’ protest at the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) annual conference in Cork.
More than 600 of the 800 delegates held special red cards aloft as Mr Quinn delivered his speech to signal their anger at swingeing cutbacks to teacher pay and conditions.
Mr Quinn, who yesterday celebrated his 67th birthday, had to pause three times during his address amid loud jeers and catcalls from the floor. One of the loudest roars followed his reference to teachers as “comrades in education”.
Teachers chanted “stop the cuts” and “shame” before president Anne Fay appealed for quiet to allow him to conclude his address. Mr Quinn insisted there was no closure threat to small and rural Irish primary schools.
INTO has repeatedly demanded the full publication of the Value For Money (VFM) report which was commissioned in 2011. The union also warned that it would not tolerate any threat of closure or forced amalgamation to small rural schools. Mr Quinn said no such threat exists.
“The (report) does contain a recommendation that we establish a national policy that recognised a four-teacher school as the optimum minimum size.
“This would ensure that multi-grade teaching would typically be limited to two grades at most, making teaching and learning more manageable for all. This does not mean that we will be forcibly closing down every one, two and threeteacher school,” Mr Quinn said.
“There is and will continue to be a need for small schools to exist in rural and isolated communities. Rather, this national policy will mean that, over time, any reconfiguration of schools would be guided by that optimum minimum size,” he added.
The Government is now only building new premises for eight teacher schools.
INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan warned that direct funding to Irish primary schools has been axed by 12pc since 2009. She also rejected the Government’s €11 per child school book subsidy as “a joke”.
“Teachers are looking at a system that is crashing about them, devastated by the wrecking ball of austerity,” she added.
www.independent.ie
Radical change to school enrolment
April 3, 2013
School waiting lists will be curtailed and application fees abolished under a draft Bill to be brought to Government by the Minist er f or Education and Skills.
Practices such as offering preference to children of past pupil s and first-come- first-serve enrolment policies may be banned under the proposals announced by Ruairí Quinn yesterday.
Under the new pr oposal s schools would no longer be permitted to charge parents for application to schools. Non-refundable fees of up to ¤100 are currently charged by s o me post-primary schools, primarily in the fee-paying sector.
Speaking at the annual ASTI conference in Wexford yesterday the Minister described as “insidious” the requirement for children and their parents to attend compulsory open days or be interviewed by schools, and said that these practices will be curtailed.
Enrolling students on a first-come-first-serve basis will al s o be reviewed. While t he practice might appear reasonable, he said, it can mean “that children who move to an area from other parts of the country or from other countries, can be effectively excluded from schools that have more applicants than places”.
In the 20 per cent of schools where demand exceeds supply there was a need for clarity on enrolment, he said.The draft heads of the Education (Admission to School) Bill 2013 will go to Government shortly.
www.irishtimes.com
Delegates wary of minister’s vow on closures
April 3, 2013
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn failed to convince teachers there will not be further pay cuts or small rural school closures.
He told the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation annual congress in Cork that a report he intends to bring to Cabinet says that a four-teacher school is the optimum, minimum size for smaller schools.
But while the value-for-money review by his department says it would make teaching and learning more manageable, as no teacher would have more than two class groups, Mr Quinn insisted the report does not mean there will be forced closures of schools with one, two, or three teachers.
“There is, and will continue to be, a need for small schools to exist in rural and isolated communities,” Mr Quinn told delegates. “Rather [than forced closures], this national policy would mean that over time any reconfiguration of schools would be guided by that optimum minimum size.”
Mr Quinn later told reporters that the value-for-money review, commissioned by the previous government, takes account of the additional costs amalgamations would add to budgets for school building and transport. However, his words offered no reassurance to delegates who spoke on a motion seeking an improved campaign to protect small schools.
The policy is seen as a way to force them to decide on amalgamations, instead of having it decided by the minister or his department.
www.irishexaminer.com
Survey shows ‘demand for diversity’
April 3, 2013
Educate Together named as preferred choice by majority of parents in study
The results of the recent Department of Education patronage survey were “significant” and “clearly show a demand for diversity”, the chief executive of the multidenominational Educate Together primary school organisation said yesterday.
Twenty-three of the 38 areas of the country surveyed had demonstrated demand for an immediate change in the existing school patronage, the department said in a statement this week. The majority of parents who took part in the survey named Educate Together as their preferred patron.
Educate Together chief exeecutive Paul Rowe said the organisation was “delighted that so many parents across the country want an Educate Together school in their community.
The Forum for Patronage and Pluralism has given parents in these communities the opportunity to express preference for the schools they want. We are honoured that so many communities have put their trust in Educate Together and our educational ethos.” He said the survey results were significant as they clearly showed demand for diversity of school-type existed across the country.
“Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn is to be commended for the forum initiative. It has given parents a real opportunity to choose the type of schools they want for their children’s education.”
The association representing vocational colleges has expressed concern about restrictions placed on patrons to promote their model to parents. The Irish Vocational Education Assocation gave a “qualified welcome” to the survey which found demand for its community national school model in two areas, Carrigaline in Co Cork and Celbridge Co Kildare. The restrictions meant potential patrons could spend €300 promoting themselves to parents in each survey area.
As the VEC’s community national school model was the “newest” available to parents, they needed to “be allowed to promote and advertise their merits, and parents need to be made aware” of it as a choice, association general secretary Michael Moriarty said. The VEC currently operates eight community national schools in the State.
Irish language patron An Foras Pátrúnachta was “delighted” to have been pre-ferred by parents in Birr, Co Offaly where there had been “strong demand” for a Gaelscoil for “quite a while”, general secretary Caoimhín ÓhEaghra said.
However the organisation raised concern about the use of a survey system to cater for a linguistic minority. An Foras Pátrúnachta is patron of 59 primary schools with two more opening next year.
www.irishtimes.com
Comórtas: Láithreoir Óg á lorg ag RnaG
April 3, 2013
Ruairi Quinn plans to make school enrolment fairer
April 3, 2013
Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is to publish draft legislation in the coming months aimed at making school enrolment policies fairer. The legislation is aimed at making policies more just, especially for newcomers to an area, and other groups, such as children from the travelling community. It has been almost two years since the Department of Education published a discussion document on school enrolment policies. It outlined proposals to make the school entry system fairer to all, proposals including the outlawing of the practice of giving priority to the children of past pupils or staff. Practices such as this disadvantage newcomers and others, including children from the travelling community. Yesterday evening the minister said he would be bringing draft legislation to Cabinet shortly. Parents would no longer have to pay simply to apply for a school place. It would also outlaw schools interviewing parents and children prior to acceptance. Mr Quinn said the draft legislation would be published in coming months for consultation. Later today Mr Quinn will address the Teachers’ Union of Ireland’s annual congress in Galway. Yesterday, he was heckled during his speeches at the conferences of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
rte.ie
