Language Campaign group ‘delighted’ with announcement on Irish language new school
August 9, 2011
A campaign group which has been calling for the establishment of a new Irish language secondary school in South Dublin has enthusiastically welcomed an announcement from the Department of Education that such a school will open in the Dundrum area in 2014.
Speaking on Wednesday Lúgh Ó Braonáin, secretary of Bunchoiste Gaelcholáiste Dheisceart Átha Cliath praised the role of Gaelscoileanna Teo. And Co Dublin VEC, in the campaign: ‘The staff at Gaelscoileanna have been of huge support to us providing much needed practical support encouraging throughout the process. The VEC has also given us great support and if they are confirmed as patron for the new school we know that their expertise and experience will ensure that the new school will provide a first class education to its pupils.’
The campaign group for Gaelcholáiste Dheisceart Átha Cliath, which is made up of parents from the six local Primary level Gaelscoileanna with support from local politicians and educators, has long noted that there has been a doubling of pupil numbers attending the local Irish language primary schools with no attendant increase in Second level Irish Language school places. With the support of their proposed patron body, County Dublin VEC, the campaign group has sought the establishment of an Irish language, multi-denominational, mixed gender community based school, in a suitable premises which has been identified in the Dundrum area.
On Tuesday, August 3rd, after more than 5 years of campaigning, Gaelcholáiste Dheisceart Átha Cliath received notification form the Department of Education and Skills that such a school will be opened in Dundrum County Dublin in 2014. While the patronage of the school is yet to be determined, the campaigning group are confident that the County Dublin VEC will be identified as the most suitable patron body seeing as it has fully supported the proposed Gaelcholáiste and that it has experience in setting up similar schools in recent years elsewhere in Dublin.
Fergal Ó Riain, the committee’s chairman said: ‘I’m delighted that the Department has recognised the pressing need for additional Irish language second level school places in the Dundrum region. The committee of Galecholáiste Dheisceart Átha Cliath have been campaigning for such a school since 2005 and have received the support of hundreds of local families and students as well as support from local and national politicians over this time. Other Irish language schools in the city and county have also been extremely supportive, as has our patron body, County Dublin VEC. We’re grateful to all of our supporters and look forward to the day when the new school will open its doors to students who have, until now, had no prospect other than to continue their education through the medium of English despite spending their primary school years in an Irish language environment. The provision of the new school will offer genuine choice and will, I’m sure, serve the needs of the community well into the future.’
Another triumph for Irish-medium schools but Aitheantas wants to do more
August 8, 2011
The Aitheantas campaign welcomes the announcement by the Department of Education and Skills that at least three of the 14 new post-primary schools to open within the next three years will be designated as Irish-medium Gaelcholáistí in Dublin and Cork, and wants to ensure that Coláiste Ghlór na Mara in Balbriggan is numbered among the all-Irish secondary schools.
Owing to a dearth of new all-Irish schools opening in recent years, Irish organisations Comhluadar, Conradh na Gaeilge, Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge and Glór na nGael joined forces to form the Aitheantas campaign to redress the situation, and in particular to support the parents of Gaelscoil Ráth Tó in Ratoath, Co. Meath when their request for recognition for the all-Irish primary school was refused in 2010.
Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge has been very active in the Aitheantas campaign since its formation and An Foras Pátrúnachta is the patron for Coláiste Ghlór na Mara in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, as well as for other primary and secondary schools. A founding committee has also been working to gain recognition for Coláiste Ghlór na Mara over the last five years, and an official request to recognise the secondary school was lodged with the Department of Education and Skills two years ago.
Patrons for the new secondary schools have yet to be decided by the Department of Education and Skills but Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, General Secretary of Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna LánGhaeilge, is encouraged by the fact that the Gaelcholáiste in Balbriggan has both a patron and a development plan: “An Foras Pátrúnachta welcomes the good news that parents in Dublin and Cork looking for an all-Irish second level education for their children will have their needs met, and we hope that Coláiste Ghlór na Mara will be recognised owing to the fact that there is a long-term development plan in place and widespread support for Irish-medium education in north Dublin. There will be no trouble filling places in Balbriggan’s Gaelcholáiste!”
Feargal Ó Cuilinn, Director of Comhluadar says: “The Irish-medium education movement is widely recognised as one of the most successful and important factors in the promotion of Irish in the community in the last 20 years and as such, the announcement by the Department of Education and Skills that three all-Irish secondary schools will open between now and 2014 is great news for the language in general. Aitheantas hopes that this is a sign of the Government’s long-term commitment to meet the needs of parents looking for Irish-medium second level education for their children, and that other Gaelcholáistí across the country will gain recognition in coming years as well.”
Aitheantas is also calling on the Department of Education and Skills to include the provision of Irish-medium education in the criteria used when selecting areas for all types of new schools in future, primary and secondary schools alike, to ensure that the national demand for all-Irish education is catered for.
Published on Gaelport.com 08 Lúnasa 2011
14 second-level schools scheduled to open by 2014
August 5, 2011
MORE than a dozen new second-level schools will begin classes for the first time in 2013 and 2014, mostly in the greater Dublin region.
The first will open next month in Gorey, Co Wexford, with Co Wexford VEC as patron, and Co Galway VEC will be patron to a second level school opening in Doughiska in 2013.
The Department of Education has now written to prospective patron bodies seeking applications to set up schools in 14 areas, with 1,000-student schools needed for 2013 in Claregalway, Co Galway; Lusk, Co Dublin; Naas, Co Kildare; and Navan, Co Meath.
A year later, schools for up to 1,000 pupils will open in Ashbourne, Co Meath; Drogheda and Dundalk, Co Louth; Maynooth, Co Kildare; west Blanchardstown, Balbriggan (an all-Irish gaelcholáiste); and Mulhuddart in Dublin. A school to cater for up to 750 students in Greystones, Co Wicklow, will also be needed for September 2014, as will two 500-place all-Irish second level schools in Dundrum on Dublin’s southside and for the Carrigaline area south of Cork city.
The department announced arrangements to select patrons for new second-level schools in June and groups or individuals who want to be patrons to these new schools must apply by mid-November.
Educate Together, which is patron to more than 50 multi-denominational primary schools, said having a standard, transparent process to decide their patronage is good news for parents campaigning for second-level Educate Together schools.
“It is especially positive that this process will take parental demand and the need for different types of schools into account,” said head of education and network development, Emer Nowlan.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn granted recognition to Educate Together to become a second-level patron earlier this year.
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Three new Gaelcholáistí promised, but demand is there for more!
August 4, 2011
GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. welcomes the announcement by the Department of Education and Skills that 14 new post-primary schools, at least 3 of which have been earmarked as gaelcholáistí, are to open in the next 3 years. The Department confirmed that the new post-primary schools in Dundrum, Balbriggan and Carrigaline will be Irish-medium schools, though the schools’ patrons have yet to be decided.
“It gives us great hope to hear that there will be gaelcholáistí opening in these areas. The local communities have been campaigning for years for Irish-medium education for their children and we’re both delighted and relieved that the Department of Education have recognised this demand” said Bláthnaid ní Ghréacháin, CEO for GAELSCOILEANNA TEO.
Although the announcement that 3 new gaelcholáistí are to open is a great boost Irish-medium education, there are worries that the demand for gaelcholáistí in Maynooth and Drogheda, two areas also identified by the Department as needing new schools in 2014, will not be recognised. Maynooth has had a founding committee campaigning for an Irish-medium post-primary school since 2005, and Drogheda has had a committee working to establish an Irish-medium school since 2009. Both campaigns have large numbers of students pre-enrolled and have gotten widespread support from their communities. GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is asking the Department to take these campaigns into account when making decisions on the language ethos and patronage of these new schools.
The Department of Education have also indicated that there will be changes to how the ethos of any new school will be determined. From now on, the Department will make the initial decision as to whether the language of the school will be Irish or English before a patron is chosen for the school. It is not yet clear what process or criteria will be used by the Department to make this decision. GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. is asking that it be made in consultation with the educational partners and that the campaigns of founding committees and the provision of Irish-medium education be taken into account when any new school is being established. In addition to the areas mentioned previously, there are campaigns all around the country to establish new Irish-medium post-primary schools in areas that have not been identified by the Department as areas of rapid growth, but that nonetheless do not have any Irish-medium provision at post-primary level available. The Department needs to recognise the demand that exists in these areas and to support Irish-medium education in accordance with the guarantees made in the Government’s 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language. GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. believes that every child has a right to access Irish-medium education, and we will continue to support the founding committees working to achieve this.
The other areas in which new post-primary schools are to open in 2013 are as follows: Lusk, Co. Dublin, Claregalway, Co. Galway, Naas, Co. Kildare and Navan, Co. Meath. In addition, 10 new schools are due to open in 2014, in Blanchardstown, Mulhuddart Dundrum and Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Carrigaline, Co. Cork, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ashbourne, Co. Meath and Drogheda and Dundalk, Co. Louth.
14 second-level schools to open in next three years
August 4, 2011
FOURTEEN NEW second-level schools – some with capacity for up to 1,000 pupils – are to open over the next three years.
This comes as the Department of Education plans for a surge in pupil numbers over the next decade. Enrolment at second level is projected to increase from 317,000 last year to 334,000 by 2014, an increase of more than 5 per cent.
Schools with capacity for up to 1,000 pupils will be opened in Claregalway, Lusk, Naas and Navan in 2013. Schools of similar size will open in Ashbourne, Blanchardstown West, Drogheda, Dundalk, Balbriggan, Maynooth and Mulhuddart in 2014.
Other schools to open in 2014 will be in Cork city, Dundrum and Greystones, catering for 500, 500 and 750 pupils respectively. The schools in Balbriggan, Cork city and Dundrum have been designated by the department as Gaelcholáistí, although their patronage has yet to be decided. It is envisaged that most of the new schools will be co-educational in nature.
The new schools are in addition to the new post-primary schools already scheduled to open in Gorey, under the patronage of Co Wexford VEC; Doughiska, under the patronage of Co Galway VEC; and Lucan-Clonburris, under the patronage of Co Dublin VEC in partnership with the multi-denominational group, Educate Together.
Educate Together – recently recognised as a second-level patron by the department – will also be hoping to run some of these schools.
For Educate Together, which already runs 60 primary schools, the move into second-level patronage is a significant advance.
The group says its second-level schools will provide an alternative to the grind school mentality so prominent in the second-level system. It says there is strong local backing for an Educate Together second-level school in Greystones, with more than 800 expressions of interest from local parents.
The Department of Education has also put new arrangements for patronage at second level in place. Most new schools, it says, must have the capacity to operate schools in the size range of 800 to 1,000 pupils. A lower threshold of 400 will apply for Gaelcholáistí.
“This is great news for parents campaigning for Educate Together second-level schools all over the country,” Educate Together’s head of education and network development Emer Nowlan said.
Irish Times
Plan to increase school class sizes to save €75m
August 4, 2011
CHANGES TO the pupil-teacher ratio which would mean larger classes in primary and second-level schools have been proposed by the Department of Education.
The department has indicated to Government that increasing the number of children in a classroom is the most effective means of achieving sizeable savings in the education budget. It says that annual economies of at least €75 million can be achieved by such a move.
The proposal – set to be a key part of the next budget – would mean more than 1,100 teaching posts left unfilled at primary and second level. It is certain to elicit a furious response from the teacher unions and it will also concern parents.
Bigger class sizes would also have serious implications for students in teacher training, making it even more difficult to secure teaching posts. It is understood the department also favours a rationalisation of teacher training.
While there is no plan to close any of the five State-funded teacher-training colleges, it says the current situation, where 21 colleges are providing 42 courses, cannot continue. The department is expected to demand that some courses be merged.
The proposals for primary schools include a one-point increase in the staffing schedule, with one teacher for every 28 pupils; it is now one to 27. This could potentially mean the loss of 350 posts. The cost to the taxpayer of each of these jobs is €60,000, including pensions etc, yielding savings of €21 million, according to the department.
Plans for second-level schools include a single point increase in the staffing schedule, with one teacher for every 20 pupils. It is now one to 19, except in fee-paying schools where it is already one to 20. This could translate into a potential loss of 850 teaching posts. The cost of each of these jobs is €64,000, yielding savings of €54 million, according to the department.
Under the terms of the EU-IMF agreement the unions have to accept increases in class size if equivalent savings cannot be achieved on payroll. The proposal echoes that in the McCarthy report which recommended class sizes of 29 or more.
Irish primary schools already have the second-highest average class size in the EU. Last year department figures revealed that more than 106,000 pupils are in classes of 30 or more while some 8,000 are being educated in classes of 35 or more.
The problem of overcrowding is particularly acute in the Dublin commuter counties – Carlow, Kilkenny, Meath, Laois, Wicklow and Kildare.
Three years ago more than 100,000 people attended protests held by teachers’ union the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
A decade ago Fianna Fáil promised to reduce class sizes for under-nines to below 20, in line with international norms.
Irish Times
17 new schools to open as pupil numbers soar
August 3, 2011
Soaring pupil numbers will see the opening of 14 new second-level schools in 2013 and 2014, on top of three already announced, writes Katherine Donnelly.
Most of the schools will be built in the Dublin commuter belt that includes Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford. The Department of Education yesterday announced the location of four new schools to open in 2013: Lusk, Co Dublin; Claregalway, Co Galway; Naas, Co Kildare; and Navan, Co Meath.
In 2014 schools in the Carrigaline/south suburbs area of Cork city; Blanchardstown West, Mulhuddart, Balbriggan and Dundrum, Co Dublin; Maynooth, Co Kildare; Drogheda and Dundalk, Co Louth; Ashbourne, Co Meath; and Greystones, Co Wicklow, will open. These are in addition to schools already announced for Gorey, Co Wexford; Doughiska, Co Galway; and Lucan/Clonburris, Co Dublin.
The schools in Balbriggan, Cork city, and Dundrum have been designated by the department as all-Irish Gaelcholaisti, although their patronage has yet to be decided.
Enrolments are set to rise by over 100,000 across all school sectors by 2017-18.
03 Lúnasa 2011
Moltaí do mhúinteoirí Gaeilge
August 3, 2011
Taighde ar shealbhú na Gaeilge i measc daoine óga
August 2, 2011
An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) has agreed to fund a 3-year studentship towards a PhD in the UCD School of Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Tina Hickey.
Research Area: Later stages in the acquisition of Irish among monolingual and bilingual children.
Deadline for application: 8 August 2011 (6 pm)
Eligibility Criteria: Required
1. A First or upper Second-class honours primary degree in Psychology and/or Master’s degree
2. Fluent spoken and written Irish (ideally native speaker-level) and excellent written communication skills in English.
3. Evidence of ability to analyse data with SPSS, and excellent computer skills
Desirable
4. Experience in testing children sensitively; evidence of interest in language acquisition and interest in/understanding of the sociolinguistics of Irish, and of the Gaeltacht context.
Preference will be given to those who can show academic excellence in Psychology, high levels of proficiency in Irish, and interest/experience in the area of language acquisition research.
Research Study: This study will look at aspects of the later states of Irish acquisition within a crosslinguistic research framework which examines how the features of a particular language interact with the child’s developing cognitive system and how the features of the input facilitate or delay acquisition of particular systems in one language compared to another. The successful candidate, under the supervision of Dr. Tina Hickey, will be expected to conduct an extensive literature review of crosslinguistic research on later stages of child language acquisition, particularly of endangered languages, to develop child-friendly tests of children’s and adults’ performance on particular aspects of Irish grammar, to collect data from children and adults using these tests, and to analyse the results using SPSS, considering the implications of convergence phenomena in the input to children acquiring a threatened language (Hickey 2009).
COGG Studentship: The scholarship is valued at €15,000 per annum, from which postgraduate fees must be paid. The successful candidate will also be eligible to apply (subject to certain conditions) during the studentship for a Tutor/Demonstratorship in UCD School of Psychology which carries a half-fee waiver as remuneration for contributions to the undergraduate teaching programme. All students are obliged to pay the Student Centre Levy.
Applications: Applicants should apply by email to Dr. Tina Hickey at the School of Psychology tina.hickey@ucd.ie. All applications will be acknowledged within 48 hours so if you do not receive an acknowledgement, please re-send.
The application should take the form of ONE Word file attachment saved as ApplicantSurnameFirstnameCOGG.doc:
1. an up-to-date CV in English with details of the courses studied and grades obrained. Include telephone and email contact details of two relevant referees. Applicants must also supply a telephone number where they can be contacted in August; and
2. a detailed letter as Gaeilge outlining how the candidate’s experience matches the eligibility requirements.
Deadline for applications: 6 pm on Monday 8 August 2011
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com 28 Iúil 2011
Coalisland Gaelscoil to open doors to more students
August 2, 2011
