Poll indicates three-quarters of parents want change in primary school patronage
April 30, 2012
A NEW POLL commissioned by the Irish Primary Principals Network has shown that three out of four parents would send their children to schools run by patrons other than Churches if they had a choice.
The poll was conducted by RedC before Easter among 729 respondents aged between 18 and 54. Forty-five per cent of respondents were parents with children under 16, while the rest had no dependent children.
While 27 per cent of parents with dependent children would choose to send their children to a school owned and managed by a school, and providing its own religious instruction, 30 per cent of those with dependents would rather a VEC-managed school which provides for religious instruction throughout the day.
Twenty-four per cent of parents would choose a multi-denominational school, which caters for religious instruction outside of the school day, and 20 per cent of those with dependents would send their children to a state-run school without any form of patronage with religious instruction provided for outside of the school day.
The poll is the first of its kind since the publication of the report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism.
Earlier this month education minister Ruairí Quinn welcomed the report, which showed that while 96 per cent of education provision at primary level is denominational arising from the historical development of Irish primary education, there is clearly increased demand for new forms of multi-denominational and non-denominational schooling, as well as increased demand for Irish language schooling.
Meanwhile Minister Quinn has said that the multi-denominational Educate Together will be confirmed as patrons to a second-level school next month. The minister has praised the organisation for its contribution to Irish education as an agent for change and innovation.
The Minister is due to receive recommendations from the expert group on patronage for second level schools scheduled to be opened in the next three years. Educate Together has applied to open second level schools in Drogheda, Greystones, Tyrellstown/Mulhuddart, Blanchardstown and Lusk.
THEJOURNAL.IE
“Practical supports urgently needed for Irish speaking families”
April 30, 2012
Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge has welcomed the progress made under the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish language with the announcement of a new language support programme and a language planning process in Gaeltacht areas.
However, the umbrella body for the Irish language voluntary sector has said that further clarification is required in relation to the roles which various state agencies will play in implementing this work and in particular the role of the Department of Education and Skills.
Yesterday, (April 26th) Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, Dinny McGinley TD, announced details of the new language support programme and language planning process.
The new language support programme will come into place following the end of Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge, a scheme where an allowance was given to Irish language speaking families in Gaeltacht regions.
Minister McGinley indicated that the new language support programme will make provision for an information campaign in conjunction with the Health Service Executive where information about the advantages of raising children with the Irish language will be provided to new mothers and expectant mothers in hospitals in the western region.
An Chomhdháil recognises this as a valuable starting point however Kevin De Barra, Acting Director of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, says the time has come for more practical measures to support young families who wish to raise their children with Irish and that this should be done in consultation with organisations who have been working in the field for many years such as Comhluadar.
“Gaeltacht families in particular need support as the most recent linguistic study of the Gaeltacht has shown that the language may not survive as a community language in Gaeltacht regions before the full implementation of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish language”.
Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge has also welcomed the announcement of the development of the Department’s Language Assistants Scheme which supports children attending schools in Gaeltacht in learning and developing their language skills.
Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge will insist the Department provides, without delay, the necessary training and support to language assistants, as pledged, to ensure the success of this scheme at community level.
Minister McGinley also announced yesterday, the details of a language planning process for the Gaeltacht. Under the Gaeltacht Bill 2012, which will be put before the Houses of the Oireachtas later this year, Gaeltacht areas will in future be defined based on linguistic criteria, rather than the current geographical approach.
Under the new process, the Gaeltacht will be divided into 19 distinct language planning areas, and a unique language plan will be drawn up for each area.
The language plans will be implemented by co-operatives and community-based organisations funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Kevin De Barra, Acting Director of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge questions the choice of grouping together various language communities with different patterns of language use within language planning areas. He notes that one of the areas, Cois Fharraige, in Conamara, is a large region which spans from Na Forbacha further west to Ros an Mhíl, with great language diversity among its residents, some of whom live in Category A communities, and others who live in Category C, as defined in the Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the Use of Irish in the Gaeltacht.
The Minister of State outlined plans to develop inactivates in conjunction with Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge in the area of language planning training to community organisations. Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge believes further resources and support must be made available to organisation who already have challenging work programmes in place in order to accomplish the necessary language planning objectives.
A press release issued by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge
Waiting for a new school
April 30, 2012
A chara, – Today, April 30th, the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, opens a fantastic, brand new, secondary school facility in Wicklow town, for which we congratulate all concerned.
But, perhaps, he can take a few moments and ponder with Wicklow VEC the plight of its poor relation, Coláiste Ráithín in Bray. Coláiste Ráithín was to have a new school built at the same time as Wicklow town’s, but now (17 years after a new school building was first sanctioned), with its proposed site in Nama, Coláiste Ráithín is still waiting (like Godot), with no sign of any solution, at all, in sight.
Is this, we wonder, the first case of being NAA-MAD while minding our own business? We will go on! – Is mise,
PAUL MOORE,
Spokesperson,
Cairde Ráithín/Parents’ Committee,
Coláiste Ráithín,
Bothar Florans,
Bré, Chill Mhantáin.
IRISH TIMES
Babaí steps to promote Irish language
April 27, 2012
EXPECTANT AND new mothers are being recruited for the Government’s new Irish language support programme.
Flyers will be distributed in maternity wards in west coast hospitals, advertising the benefits of rearing your child through Irish.
Announcing details of the family-oriented programme, which is part of the Government’s 20-year strategy for Irish, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley acknowledged the “deontas”, or system of grants administered over decades to keep the language alive had “failed”.
“We used to have the Gaeltacht grants for houses and doors and windows, which might have helped the infrastructure and quality of life, but did nothing for the native tongue,” he said.
“If we are going to increase the number of daily speakers, we need to give families more practical support, not money.”
The HSE is facilitating the new awareness campaign, focusing initially on maternity services in Galway city, Castlebar, Co Mayo, and Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
New parents who wish to raise their children through the medium of Irish will be offered a “support pack”, which includes a CD and book “suitable for children”, and told about a dedicated website.
Teenagers are also to be enlisted under the plan to reverse the downward trend of Irish use, evident in various censuses, Mr McGinley said. Fluent speakers between 15 and 17 are to be offered special training courses to enable them to work as assistants in Irish-language summer colleges.
Speaking in Inverin, Co Galway, yesterday, Mr McGinley also announced that new language initiative will be developed in 19 Gaeltacht areas, beginning with six of them. This will be conducted by community-based organisations in association with Údarás na Gaeltachta and the department.
Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh has asked why plans were not being initiated for all 19 areas, and has also expressed concern about the fact that the procedure will be overseen by Mr McGinley’s department.
www.irishtimes.com
Duais fiontraíochta buaite ag daltaí i bPobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne
April 25, 2012
FÓGRA: Príomhoide do Ghaelscoil an Chuilinn – dáta deiridh ag druidim linn!
April 25, 2012
Protest March to demand accommodation for Coláiste Ráithín, April 25th
April 24, 2012
Coláiste Raithín Parents Association Protest March to Department of Education and Skills on Wednesday, 25th April 2012 at 14.30, to demand a new school building for Coláiste Raithín to open by 2014
In light of the Minister’s recent roll out of the DES new buildings and extensions programme for the next 5 years and beyond, which does NOT include any provision AT ALL for Coláiste Ráithín, the parents believe that the time has come to take direct action to protect the valuable education resource in north Wicklow that is Coláiste Ráithín. Negotiations with the Minister and the Department of Education and Science, Wicklow VEC (the patrons of Coláiste Raithín), Wicklow T.D.’s, Bray Town Council, especially in the last 6 months, have all yielded no real, tangible progress. The Parents most recent letter to the Minister has even gone without acknowledgement.
On Wednesday, 25th April 2012 at 14.30, pupils from non-exam years in Coláiste Raithín accompanied by parents, will protest at the Department of Education and Skills and hand in a replacement Information Pack to the Minister. This large pack (previously sent to the Minister) contains the bulk of the correspondence from the last 16 years or more, the period over which many parents committees have been negotiating for a new school building. Parents want Minister Ruari Quinn to take action to resolve the current Catch-22 situation in which the Coláiste now finds itself. This protest march is only the first of many planned until the matter is resolved- a second Protest March is already planned to take place on Wednesday 2nd of May to the Dáil.
While there seems to be general agreement amongst all parties that a new school building is required, there seems to be NO URGENCY to resolve this matter. This is particularly worrying for both current and future pupils and their parents, given that a brand new state of the art school is planned for 2014 in Blacklion, Greystones, a distance of only 4 miles from Coláiste Raithín. Such a new school facility can only have a huge negative impact on Coláiste Raithín and its future as it is right in the centre of its unique catchment area. Parents are demanding that it is now time to bring this long outstanding matter to an immediate and satisfactory conclusion.
Therefore, in order that a new school building for Coláiste Ráithín be open by September 2014, the committee request the Minister to do the following urgently:
– all outstanding issues regarding the current proposed Bray site be determined immediately;
– the Blacklion site be made a default option only to be exercised if the Old Bray Gold Club site is not available immediately;
– guarantee parity of esteem and equality of resources for the only Gaelcholáiste in North Wicklow;
– make the relocation of Coláiste Ráithín into a new school building, to open in September 2014, an absolute priority
NOTE: A relocated Coláiste Ráithín, in its entirety, includes staff, ethos and existing policies, including its current policies of admission for all its feeder schools in the area outlined above.
For further information, please contact: Paul Moore, spokesperson from Coiste Cóiríochta Coláiste Ráithín / 086 838 5049 / pmoore@iol.ie
Members of north Wicklow community can sign the petition in hard copy at Coláiste Ráithín or online at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/colaisteraithinnewschoolbuilding2014/
A victim of the unfair anomaly in Leaving Cert oral Irish
April 24, 2012
A PARENT WRITES:
There is an extraordinary anomaly in the marking of the new Leaving Cert Irish oral examination.
While students are examined and marked at different levels for the written exam, all students apart from foundation level are examined and marked at the same level for the oral.
This leaves my daughter in a real bind about which level to take for the Leaving Cert.
She has excellent spoken Irish and loves the language. She has been to the Gaeltacht over the years and made the most of the opportunity. She should do very well in her oral exam, now worth 40 per cent of the overall mark, but she has a reading difficulty that affects her performance in written exams, especially those with long, unseen reading-comprehension texts and essays.
Her marks for reading and written work are always quite average, but oral work is always above average.
Now she has to gamble with the extraordinary anomaly in the system. The Leaving Certificate Irish oral is a common assessment for higher and ordinary-level candidates.
The examiner should not know, and must not ask, which level the student is doing.
All higher- and lower-level students must prepare the same 20 picture sequences, the same poetry and the same range of conversation topics.
They will all be assessed in the same manner and marked with the same marking scheme, with no rebalancing or calibration of marks for the different levels.
An A1 at higher level is worth 100 CAO points. An A1 at ordinary level is worth 60 points.
It follows that the same oral is worth significantly more at higher level than at ordinary level.
At higher level it is worth 40 CAO points (40 per cent of 100 points), but at ordinary level it is only worth 24 points (40 per cent of 60 points).
This is not the case for the other languages at Leaving Certificate, as there is differentiation between higher and ordinary level at the final marking stage.
What should my daughter do? Should she continue at higher level and hope to do very well in her oral (getting the extra points this will provide even though it’s the same exam for both levels) and hope to get through the two written papers?
Or should she drop to ordinary level, where she will probably do better in her written exam but will get fewer CAO points for her strong oral performance?
Her case, I acknowledge, is individual, but there must be others caught in the same unfair situation. Surely this system is unjust for all the ordinary-level students who do the same oral exam as their higher-level counterparts but get fewer CAO points for their efforts.
Either way it’s a gamble for her as the student, but for me, as the parent, I cannot understand how this inequality and discrimination is allowed to exist in our supposedly equitable exam system.
As there is already a foundation-level oral, why is there not a higher- and an ordinary-level oral – or, at least, a different marking scheme for each level?
Ní thuigim!
This column is designed to give a voice to those within the education system wish to speak out anonymously. Contributions are welcome. Email sflynn@irishtimes.com.
www.irishtimes.com
Training teachers the Catholic way
April 24, 2012
AT THE CEREMONY for his inauguration as president of Mary Immaculate College of Education, one of the largest primary-teacher training colleges in the State, the Rev Prof Michael Hayes gave a speech that had many of those present, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn included, shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
A clear challenge to the increasing perception of the need for more secular education, Hayes’s speech referred to the college’s Mercy tradition as an “essential part of our identity”. He went on to say, “So if, as the president of this Catholic college, I call on us all to come to a sharper, more explicit awareness of the college’s Catholic identity, then, as a community, it will challenge all of us to look at our own preconceptions and take on the difficult work of exploring together what this college is.”
The professor mentioned children, teaching and teachers 16 times. He said the word Catholic 28 times. It caused consternation among many of those present and was seen as a pointed shot across the Minister’s bow.
Quinn has been openly critical of the strong focus on religion in Mary Immaculate’s teacher-training programme. In 2010 the college was criticised by the Teaching Council, which monitors professional standards, for spending too much time teaching religion, noting that subjects such as science, history and geography were allotted 12 hours each in contrast to the 48 hours allotted to religious education.
The appointment of Hayes was the subject of much discussion at the Department of Education in Dublin. Originally from Limerick, he was educated at St Patrick’s College, in Maynooth, and the University of London; he received his PhD from the University of Surrey. He is the editor of the international Pastoral Review journal, taught in the department of theology and religious studies at Roehampton University, in London, and was vice-principal and professor of Catholic pastoral studies at St Mary’s University College, also in London, where he is still a visiting professor.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Fr Hayes said: “Mary Immaculate is not an institution run solely by Catholics for Catholics, but the institution functions in a Catholic context”. The Catholic ethos of the college means the “starting point is that we begin with the dignity of the human person as a child of God who is called to flourish in the world’’.
Teacher education is fully denominational at undergraduate level in this country. There are four Catholic colleges (and one that caters to the Church of Ireland sector). They are publicly funded, but the Catholic Church retains control.
Mary Immaculate, for example, is managed by a board of trustees: the Most Rev Dermot Clifford, archbishop of Cashel Emly; Sr Peggy Collins, Congregration of the Sisters of Mercy (CSM); Sr Breda Coman, CSM; Sr Thomasina Finn, CSM; Richard B Haslam; Very Rev Tony Mullins, administrator of the diocese of Limerick; Most Rev William Murphy, bishop of Kerry; and Margaret O’Brien.
These trustees appoint the governing body of the college, which controls all affairs of the college, including appointments. The trustees also appoint the president of the college. Posts in two areas – religious education, and theology and religious studies – are also subject to approval by the trustees.
This is despite the fact that the college is funded through the Higher Education Authority, apart from a small additional amount of money it receives through student fees and research grants. It received €18 million from the exchequer in 2011.
St Patrick’s in Drumcondra, Dublin, the other large college of education, is managed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. He entrusts the management of the college, including academic appointments, to the governing body. However, he appoints the members of the governing body and retains the right to make appointments to the religious-studies and religious-education departments. St Pat’s is largely funded by the taxpayer; it received €14 million last year. Its president, Pauric Travers, says: “We are very aware that we are a publicly funded institution. We are committed to serving the needs of all schools. We’re introducing a postgraduate certificate in ethics and education aimed at providing training for teachers working in Educate Together schools.
“We haven’t had issues, at least on an official level, with students being unhappy with the choice on offer. Of course that’s easy for me to say. But we have always supported students. Our job is to prepare teachers for Irish schools. The education landscape is changing, and we will evolve with that.”
Of the two smaller Catholic colleges, Froebel College of Education appears to have been the canniest. Next year it will move from Sion Hill, in Blackrock in south Co Dublin, to the campus at NUI Maynooth. Significantly, the move will see the Dominican Sisters, who founded and built up the college at a time of limited State resources, divest their trusteeship. It will become the first secular, publicly funded college of education in the Republic.
Coláiste Mhuire, in Marino in Dublin, on the other hand, looks more vulnerable. In January Trinity College became a cotrustee, along with the Congregation of Christian Brothers. The trustees appoint the governing body of the college. At the time of going to press, Christian Brother nominees still hold a majority on the governing board, but the new instrument of governance is expected to shift the balance of power towards Trinity College nominees.
Marino’s involvement in curriculum design for the VEC sector seems to possibly position it to train teachers for the new VEC primary community school sector. Or the college may shift its focus toward the booming Gaelscoileanna sector.
For now Marino is staying with tradition: it is the only training college in the State that has not allowed the multidenominational patronage body Educate Together to address its students about its ethics-education curriculum.
Teacher training is in flux, with the colleges adjusting to a new four year bachelor of education degree from next September.
The Hunt Report on the third-level sector may be another catalyst for change. It promotes the integration of small independent colleges with larger institutes in an effort to cut costs. At present, training a student in one of the smaller colleges is significantly more expensive.
Added to the mix is the online Hibernia College, which is training teachers at postgraduate level at no cost to the State, with none of the religious interests that currently oversee the colleges of education.
All of these factors mean that the colleges of education are engaging in a quiet jostling for position as each tries to carve out its individual niche. All of them, given the current state of affairs, know they need to justify their continued existence as individual institutions.
Some see Hayes’s speech as a signal that Mary Immaculate is willing to be the Catholic college in a segregated future for teacher education.
Student voices
Tara is a recent graduate from St Patrick’s College. She does not wish her real name to be published.
“I went to a multidenominational school. When I went into teacher training, I presumed it would be progressive, like primary education, but I was shocked at the amount of time that religious education took up on the timetable.
“The compulsory religious-education module was taught from a strong Catholic perspective. Many of the lecturers used to emphasise what ‘we as Catholics’ believe.
“It was taken for granted that everybody was a Catholic. It’s astonishing that, in order to get a job as a public servant, you have to espouse or pretend to espouse beliefs that are not your own or you endorse yourself. The cert is nominally optional, but it is strongly implied that if you don’t study it you will not get a job in a Catholic school. That’s over 90 per cent of schools.
“I ultimately decided not to pursue a career in teaching despite securing very high marks. I was worried sick that I’d get second or sixth class and have to prepare them for their Communion or Confirmation when I wasn’t raised as a Catholic and don’t have religious beliefs.”
Religious iconography is dotted around both the Mary Immaculate and St Pat’s campuses. Last year a statue of St Patrick the Teacher was erected and blessed on St Patrick’s campus following a Mass at the chapel.
Another student, currently at Mary Immaculate College has another view. “There are probably a few more crucifixes than in other places, and Mass is celebrated regularly, but very few actually attend it. If you are going to be annoyed by the mere presence of these religious tokens, yes, you will be annoyed in Mary I. But nobody, in my experience at least, has been forced to pretend they are Catholic or otherwise.
“If pressure is coming from anywhere for a student to pretend they are Catholic, it’s from primary schools themselves. People pretending to be Catholic are doing so because they know that when they graduate they will be hunting for jobs in Catholic schools.”
Patronage report
The report of the advisory group to the forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector made a number of recommendations in terms of teacher education.
First, it recommended that colleges provide a broadly based religious-methodology programme that prepares students to teach religion in a variety of school settings. This would not be compulsory for students with conscientious objections.
Second, it says a course focused on ethics, morality and world religions should be compulsory for all students.
To date, St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra is the only Catholic training college that has introduced an ethics-in-education module as an alternative to religious education.
But take-up is very poor. Essentially, students who take the course are unable to complete the certificate in religious education required by many Catholic schools. With more than 90 percent of schools under Catholic control, most students, with a eye to job prospects, see the ethics as irrelevant to their needs.
As of next year, however, students at St Pat’s and at Mary Immaculate College, in Limerick, will have a choice of religious education, ethics education or both.
Questions remain about who will deliver the ethics modules. Will it be the philosophy departments or the religion departments?
If I call on us all to come to a sharper, more explicit awareness of the college’s Catholic identity, then it will challenge all of us to look at our preconceptions.
Doire ag Damhsa
April 23, 2012
