Children who are too busy perform poorly at school
January 27, 2012
WELL-INTENTIONED parents can keep their children so busy on organised activities it damages their school performance.
It means the ‘hurried child’ can end up with the lowest scores for reading and maths, according to a report on how recreation can influence educational achievement.
It is the latest research from the ongoing ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ survey of nine-year-olds, by the Economic and Social Research Institute and Trinity College.
But the old adage of education beginning at home is also proved.
The government-funded study places 8,500 children into five distinct groups based on how they spend their time when not in school — and other factors such as social class and where they live.
The children sat tests in reading and maths from the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, Dublin, and some wide variations in performance were thrown up.
The study found higher scores were achieved by kids active in cultural activities, such as music and drama, and living in areas where it is safe to play outside.
Poor scores were found among those who mainly engaged in unstructured activities, such as vegging out in front of the TV, and those who do not use — or have access to — computers and other such technology.
Children using technology in school are more likely to use it outside, but the report highlights a significant divide. Kids with greater access to computers included those in private schools, designated disadvantaged schools, Gaeltacht schools and urban areas.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said yesterday literacy begins at home and parents and grandparents have a role to play.
“The classroom cannot solve everything,” he said.
Mr Quinn said television had become an “electronic baby-minder” and active involvement by parents was required.
The biggest group in the study, 25pc, are very involved in cultural activities, such as club participation and reading. These, along with what are described as the social networkers (18pc), have the highest scores in reading and maths.
Social networkers are distinguished by their frequent use of computers, especially for keeping in touch with friends, while also being involved in cultural activities and sports. Children from more advantaged families are most likely to fall into these categories.
Next on the performance ladder are the 20pc who play sports and computer games more than others, and spend less time on other activities.
Those with the lowest scores in reading and maths are the 23pc who spend most of their spare time watching television or with friends, and those with ‘busy lives’ who are taking on too much.
While there is a link between involvement in organised activities and better results, the study found that too much cancels out some of the educational benefits.
This was identified in the 15pc with ‘busy lives’, the so-called ‘hurried child’.
Gender differences are highlighted with girls more likely to be involved in cultural activities and to use social media. Boys are more involved in playing sports and computer games.
Urban children are more likely to fall into the social networkers and busy lives groups, and children attending gaelscoileanna are strongly engaged in cultural activities and least likely to fit into the TV/sports group.
One of the report’s authors, Prof Emer Smyth of the ESRI said children from more disadvantaged backgrounds may lose out academically if they didn’t have access to the same kinds of organised activities as their more middle-class peers.
Among the measures called for in the report — carried out in 2007/’08 — are subsidies for children’s recreation, and access to safe play areas within neighbourhoods.
IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ceol’s Comhrá the Castlebar based Club Óige is back
January 27, 2012
Ceol’s Comhrá is a group aimed at secondary school students offering them an opportunity to use whatever Irish they may have while trying out different activities.
This year Ceol’s Comhrá will be behind the camera, getting involved in every stage of film making.
The group will meet up every Monday from 6pm to 7.30pm in the Neighbourhood Youth Project in Castlebar.
There is a €5 registration fee, and a €2 attendance fee per week. This project is funded by Foras na Gaeilge.
MAYO ADVERTISER
Too many activities after school erode overall benefit
January 27, 2012
PUSHY PARENTS who overload their children with after-school activities may not be helping them as much as they believe, according to the latest findings from the Growing Up in Ireland study.
The national longitudinal study found that children who did cultural activities such as music, drama and dance, and read for pleasure were likely to score well on reading and maths tests. However, being involved in too many activities cancelled out some of the educational benefits.
At the other end of the spectrum, children who spent most of their spare time in unstructured activities such as watching television fared worst in the tests.
Growing Up in Ireland – Influences on 9-Year-Olds’ Learning: Home, School and Community involved interviews with 8,568 nine-year-old children, as well as interviews with their parents, teachers and principals, in 2007/2008.
The researchers found that children divided into five groups. The cultural activities group accounted for 25 per cent of children and included those who did after-school activities such as music, drama and dance, and read for pleasure.
The sports and computer games group accounted for 20 per cent of those surveyed, while the social networkers group (18 per cent) identified children who used computers a lot.
The busy lives group (15 per cent) included children who did a very wide range of after-school activities. The final group, the television and sports group (23 per cent) identified children who spent spare time watching television and doing things that were not structured. They seldom used computers.
Not surprisingly, it found that boys were more likely to fall into the sports and computer games group while girls were more likely to be in the cultural activities group.
Children from privileged backgrounds tended to be involved in social networking and cultural activities and were also more likely to fall into the “busy lives” group.
Those who took part in cultural activities and social networking had higher levels of reading and maths performance than other groups. But, taking account of social background, there was no difference between the performance of the “busy lives” group and the group of children who spent most of their time watching television and playing sports.
The “hurried child” phenomenon was highlighted by Dr Emer Smyth who co-authored the report with Dr Selina McCoy and Amanda Quail. Dr Smyth said these busy children were spread very thinly across so many areas in their spare time that they were not feeling the academic benefit. Literacy, in particular, was being squeezed out, and also maths to a lesser extent.
She also highlighted the fact that Gaelscoileanna students were more likely to be involved in cultural activities and less likely to spend their spare time watching television.
She said schools in Gaeltacht areas did not have the same profile, which seemed to suggest that it was not connected with the Irish language culture.
The study also found that children from immigrant families were more likely to fall into the social networker category while children with learning disabilities were most likely to fit into the television and sports group.
Urban children were more likely to be social networkers than rural children, while children in one-parent families tended to fall into the television and sports group.
The children interviewed for this study are now 13 years old, and are taking part in follow-up interviews as part of the national study.
IRISH TIMES
Líonra Réigiúnach Gaelscoileanna Teo. ar Glór Anoir, Raidió na Gaeltachta
January 26, 2012
Some small rural schools are being put in immediate jeopardy by staffing cuts
January 26, 2012
AS A Fine Gael Senator and former education spokeswoman, I have a request for Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.
I am respectfully asking him to review his position on small rural schools.
From a total of 1,000 small schools the Minister in 2012/13 is seeking to find 100 teaching posts by increasing teacher retention numbers based on last September’s enrolment. This puts some small rural schools in immediate jeopardy.
I formerly worked as a primary teacher in a four-teacher rural school, and latterly as a lecturer in teacher education, and have just visited seven small rural Gaeltacht schools in Connemara.
At the early stage in my career I taught for nine years in Newcastle NS, near Athenry, a homely school embedded in the community. Like the schools I visited in Connemara, it was the centre of the rural community, and through its connectedness with that I came to know parents, to understand their way of life, and to really know the children. I was a better teacher for it. It was there I formed many of the philosophies that informed my understanding of how children learn best and to shape my later practice in teacher education.
Because the numbers fell in that primary school, as the last teacher in, I was subsequently redeployed to a large school in an urban area. This left the rural school with only three teachers to cope with almost the same number of children. Not easy given the complexity of the mix of classes, ages and ability levels.
This is the scenario now faced by An Tuairín NS in Béal an Daingin (Connemara) next September. Only in this case it is a sudden adjustment and without adequate notice.
According to September 2011 figures it needed 76 pupils to retain its four class teachers. With 78 on the roll all was fine until new retention numbers were announced in the budget which now require it to have had 81 pupils on that date.
Now An Tuairín’s pupil teacher ratio (PTR) will be above the national average (around 80 pupils for three teachers). To make matters worse, what will make Tuairín NS a complex teaching situation is the number of class levels, ability levels, and some split classes that will exist in its three classrooms. Classrooms that are now too small for the new reality.
Lest one think otherwise, I am a fan of multi-class settings for better pupil outcomes. Evidence shows that younger pupils learn from older peers, and older pupils gain cognitively by going into “teacher mode” with their younger peers. But there comes a tipping point when the class mix is just too close to be advantageous to the children. Tuairín NS is at this point.
Similarly, a situation envisaged by 2014 whereby a one-teacher school would have 19 pupils across eight classes, spanning four-to-12-year-olds, is mind- boggling.
In any single class, children’s abilities fall into high, middle and low categories. You can have a further two levels of special needs at either end of the spectrum – developmentally slow and gifted. What makes the multi-class situation complex in the small rural school is these ability levels exist in multiples, depending on the number of classes in the room, and are exacerbated further with the loss of a teacher.
Add in social disadvantage in a rural community where in some Connemara schools I visited up to 80 per cent of parents are unemployed – thus the classification “Rural Deis”.
Be assured this scenario is as educationally challenging, if not more, than any Urban Deis school. Yet, why have only the urban Deis schools earned a review from the Minister?
Rural Deis small schools are equally deserving of a review.
There are other changes coming too in relation to learning support and resource teaching hours that will undermine good local practice.Three schools I visited in
Lettermore, Leitir Caladh and Tír an Fhia share the same learning support and resource teacher.
Parents and schools with children with autism and cerebral palsy, among other learning difficulties, reported very high levels of satisfaction with her work. Under new arrangements this will become the work of two teachers and is actually likely to cost the State more.
I have said little about the effect of the loss of a teacher and the gradual erosion of a school on a small rural community. Education aside, this is arguably the biggest effect of all. In my experience, the loss of a teacher is felt far more deeply in a rural community than in an urban community.
Minister, I am asking you to rethink your position on small rural schools. There are other ways to find savings. For example, an increase to the PTR of 0.6 across all schools would give you more posts than needed by 2014. When we are well off again as a nation in 10 or 15 years, let’s not regret that we have a rural Ireland without young people. Let that choice be theirs.
In communities where amalgamation may be preferable, let us ask communities to come up with a local solution over a four-year period, This will give them time to plan their futures.
Fidelma Healy Eames is a Fine Gael Senator
IRISH TIMES
Daltaí Gaelscoile dearfach faoin nGaeilge
January 26, 2012
Méadú 60.8% ar an Ghaelscolaíocht
January 25, 2012
Oscailt an tSrutha i Scoil Íosaef
January 25, 2012
Irish language careers road show 2012
January 24, 2012
Once again this year Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge will host a series of Irish language careers seminars for secondary school students all over Ireland.
To date, An Chomhdháil has held sixteen ‘Buntáiste breise na Gaeilge’ seminars all over Ireland in the past three years and in February and March 2012 the towns of Ballinasloe in east Galway, Ennis in Co. Clare and Navan in Co. Meath will host the seminars. After the summer holidays the seminars will visit Thurles in Tipperary, Wexford town and Naas in Co. Kildare.
These seminars cater for second level students all over Ireland. Guest speakers and well-known personalities will speak on the advantages which the Irish language has afforded them in their chosen careers.
As part of the seminars, questions from the students are welcomed, which give rise to lively debate about such subjects as the future of the language, Gaeltacht status, Irish as a compulsory subject, Irish at third level, and the Government’s support for the language.
Representatives from third level institutions attend with exhibition stands, to inform students of the various Irish language courses available to them after they leave school.
These seminars which have been organised since 2009 have proven to be a great success with over 123 secondary school schools and up to 3,808 students all over the Ireland attending.
If you are a secondary school teacher or an individual who would like to attend any of the upcoming seminar listed below which may be taking place in your region please contact Brígíd in Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, 01 679 4780.
- Ballinasloe, Co Galway, 29th February 2012
- Ennis, Co. Clare, 1st March 2012
- Navan, Co. Meath, 27th March 2012
- Thurles, Co. Tipperary, 17th October 2012
- Wexford, 18th October 2012
- Naas, Co. Kildare, 15th November 2012
Rith 2012 in Kildare
January 23, 2012
