Official Recognition for Four Gaelscoileanna in Northern Ireland
August 12, 2010
Four new Gaelscoileanna recently received official recognition from the Department of Education, Northern Ireland for the next school year.
Parents and local organisations responded with great joy to the announcement which followed an intensive campaign by community groups to establish Irish language medium schools in Maherafelt and Limavaddy in Co. Derry, Kilkeel in Co. Down and in Ballymena in Co. Antrim.
The schools hope to open on the first day of September this year once conditions set out by the Department are complied with.
The good news added to the festivity of a fund-raising dance held ast Saturday week in the Europa Hotel, Belfast in aid of Gaelscoil an Seanchaí, one of the newly recognised schools.
The schools received recognition based on the consistent demand for Irish medium education in these school areas. It has been recognised that Irish medium secondary schools may be established in these areas in the coming years if demand persists at a local level.
©Gaelport.com 10 Lúnasa 2010
Irish to be included in assessment criteria for new schools
August 10, 2010
Tánaiste and Minsiter for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, TD, has recently announced major reforms in the system employed in recognising new second level schools. An Tánaiste intends to set out a framework of criteria, which will be used as assessment criteria, to allow for a transparent system for recognising new schools.
The Tánaiste is to establish a new expert group, known as the Second-Level Patronage Advisory Group, who will consider applications for new schools and advise the Tánaiste in relation to those applications, having undertaken survey work of parental views and using the criteria to be set down.
It is expected that the number of students in the second level education system will rise by 67,000 by the year 2024, and the greatest rise is expected in the east of the country. An Tánaiste said: ‘The need for clear criteria and increased transparency in decision making on the patronage in these cases arises as there are now a number of patron bodies seeking to establish new schools.
While specific criteria are yet to be established, the Department of Education and Skills have proposed that criteria include whether the school can cater by way of an Aonad for pupils desiring tuition through the Irish Language (in areas where there are insufficient numbers for an Irish medium second-level school);
New criteria suggested will also examine whether the school model proposed has the capacity to operate schools in the size range of 800 to 1,000 pupils, however a lower threshold of 400 would apply for Gaelcholáistí having regard to the alternative of establishing an Aonad within a school.
With regard to Irish-medium Units within English-medium schools Bláthnaid ní Ghréacháin cautions “while we welcome the proposal to provide Units to cater for the demand for Irish-medium education in cases where there is insufficient demand for an independent Irish-medium school, it is vital that consultation between ourselves and the Department continues with a view to reviewing and comprehensively developing the existing model of the Irish-medium Unit in both concept and approach. Clearly, the Unit model can cater for demand to an extent, however the current model has many challenges to overcome.”.
©Gaelport.com 10 Lúnasa 2010
Tacaíocht léirithe ag Laochra Spóirt do Ghaelscoil Ráth Tó
July 27, 2010
Oíche Mhór ar son na Gaelscolaíochta
July 27, 2010
Gaelscoil students come out on top
June 15, 2010
The Department of Education in Northern Ireland recently carried out research which shows that pupils in Irish-medium primary schools are achieving higher marks in Maths and English than pupils in English medium schools.
The research undertaken compared primary school pupils from families who had similar economic backgrounds.
These finding are very interesting in the wake of recent findings from school inspectors who criticised the standard of a number of Irish medium schools in Northern Ireland.
Dr Reamaí Mathers from the organisation Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, said the emphasis that was placed on the performance of Irish Medium schools when the results of the inspections came out was incredibly unfair, especially considering that pupils from the Irish-medium schools were performing at a higher standard than their peers in the two most important subject in the curriculum.
Mathers pointed out that these new findings support the research recently undertaken at Queens University in Belfast where it was discovered that children from Irish Medium schools have a better short term memory that pupils from English medium schools which was found to be due to their bilingualism.
Tacaíocht na Comhairle á lorg ar cheist na Gaelscoile
May 10, 2010
Irish medium education under threat
May 4, 2010
The last twenty years has seen a rise in the number of gaelscoileanna across the country but now Irish language organisations are worried that the future development of the sector in under threat because of new criteria brought in by the Department of Education.
It’s an issue which was raised by President of Conradh na Gaeilge, Pádraig Mac Fheaghusa when he spoke at the Ardfheis of Conradh na Gaeilge two weeks ago in Limerick.
He believes that civil servants in the Department would happily remove the Irish language from the education system if given the chance.
Much of the issue thus far as focused on the case of one gaelscoil in particular in Rath Oath in Co, Meath which was denied official recognition by the Department earlier this year.
Mac Fhearghusa has criticised the decision and has called on the Irish speaking community to fight the threat posed to the future expansion of the sector.
The new criteria focus on the degree of demand for primary education in the location generally. Gaelscoileanna have argued that they don’t factor in a need for Irish medium education as well as English medium education in various areas.
Five Irish organisations have come together last week for launch a campaign ‘Aitheantas’ to secure official recognition for the Rath Oath gaelscoil. The campaign is also calling on the Department to introduce provision for Irish medium education in particular areas as a criterion when recognising new schools.
Seán Ó Buachalla is the Chair of the School Committee in Rath Oath and he has welcomed the support received from Irish organisations on the matter.
He said that the local committee would be working hard to raise funds for the school which is due to open its doors in September 2010, albeit without official recognition and funding.
The next step for the organisations is to lobby the Department and politicians on the matter and some support has been given by local councillors.
The local committee has spoken to other gaelscoil committees who faced similar issues in the past but who eventually received full recognition from the Department.
They are hopeful that the school will get official recognition in the near future but will continue with their plans to establish the school in the meantime.
©www.gaelport.com 4 Bealtaine 2010
New campaign to support Rathoath Gaelscoil
April 26, 2010
Five Irish language organisations have announced that they are cooperating in supporting a newly established Gaelscoil. Conradh na Gaeilge, Glór na nGael, Comhluadar, An Foras Pátrúnachta and Gaelscoileanna Teo. have announced that they are united in their efforts to support the founding committee of Gaelscoil Ráth Tó.
The campaign called Aitheantas (Recognition) has been established to ensure that Gaelscoil Ráth Tó gets Departmental sanction and that the provision of Irish Medium education be part of the criteria the Department uses when selecting areas for new schools.
The Department has refused to sanction Gaelscoil Ráth Tó even though the Department has stated that there is a need for more educational places in Ratoath.
The Dept. is ignoring the wishes of the parents of Ratoath and the demand for Irish Medium Education.
Speaking about the campaign, Lorcan Mac Gabhann, Glór na nGael, said that ” this is both a local and national issue. No Gaelscoil has opened since 2008. It would seem that the Dept. is unwilling to consider Irish Medium Provision when considering educational need”
Welcoming the pledges of support, Seán Ó Buachalla, Chair of the school committee, said “we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure that Irish Medium Education is available to the Ratoath community and the stance taken by the wider Irish language community gave the parents here a great boost”.
The organisations have vowed to provide support to the Ratoath community as they demand parental rights and the response from the Dept. they deserve.
Gaelscoil Ráth Tó will open on 1st September at Ratoath GAA, Sean Eiffe Park, Brownstown, Ratoath, Co. Meath.
New Look for Gaelscoileanna Website
April 21, 2010
GAELSCOILEANNA TEO. has developed a new website. The website gives a fresh insight into every aspect of the organisation’s work. It intends to facilitate users into gaining a better understanding of Irish medium education.
The new website boasts many up-to-date applications including a list and contact information of all Irish medium schools, its e-newsletter as wells as archived newsletters.
Information can also be found on the organisation’s annual conference and provides advice in relation to establishing new Irish medium schools.
The website also contains a lot of material that can be downloaded such as lectures, presentations, training material for boards of management, publications and lots more.
A DVD with valuable information on Irish-medium schooling, issued in conjunction with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta can be found on the website’s main page.
The website also showcases numerous photographs on different events that have taken place amongst the Irish-medium schooling community.
Gaelscoileanna Teo. intends to further develop the website and welcomes public feedback in relation to the site by sending them an email at oifig@gaelscoileanna.ie
Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta’s Annual Conference
March 9, 2010
