Widening gap in two-tier school system is revealed
May 7, 2013
Reports show who is going to college and who drops out PUPILS in fee-charging schools and those who receive an all-Irish education are most likely to go straight to college from school.
At the other extreme, research reveals that pupils attending schools in disadvantaged areas are most likely to drop out and if they do the Leaving Cert are least likely to go straight to a third-level institution.
Worries
A key finding – that girls are more likely than boys to leave school early – contradicts the long-held view that this was a predominantly male problem. The reports confirm much of what is already known about how the system favours some students more than others – but the level of dropout by girls will trigger fresh worries about whether the education system is adequately meeting their needs. Attempts to tackle early school leaving has traditionally focused on boys. For the first time, the Department of Education has now tracked the progress of individual school-leavers from a single year, including both those who had done the Leaving Cert and those who dropped out. The research was carried out on pupils who attended school in the 2009/2010 year, but were not enrolled the following year. The department used PPS numbers to track the pupils and, in a ground-breaking exercise, cross-checked data in a range of government departments and agencies to establish where the school-leavers were a year later.
One study, ‘School Completers – What’s Next’ looked at what happened to the 54,824 Leaving Cert candidates in 2009/2010. The other study, ‘Early School-Leavers – What’s Next’ looked at the destination of the 7,713 pupils (out of a total second-level enrolment that year of 257,060) who left school in 2009/2010 at any point before sixth year Among the key findings were that 50pc of those who completed their Leaving Cert went straight into higher education. An additional 28pc went on to further education, such as a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course; training, such as a FAS course; or repeated the Leaving Cert. A total of 10pc of the class of 2009/2010 took up employment; 7pc were claiming social welfare; and 5pc were ‘other’, such as emigration. A closer analysis of the average 50pc who went straight to college shows a wide variation in progression rates, depending on school sector: Fee-charging schools (66pc). All-Irish schools (57pc). Non-fee-charging secondary schools, generally those run or previously run by the religious (47pc). Comprehensive schools (42pc). Community schools (38pc). Vocational sector schools (34pc). Schools in designated disadvantaged areas (24pc).
Overall, early school leaving is much less of a problem than it was, with 11,498 dropping out of school in 2001/2002. The biggest dropout rate, 3.9pc, was in schools in designated disadvantaged areas, known as DEIS – double the rate of a non-DEIS school and four times that in an all-Irish school. Although followed closely by 3.8pc in fee-paying schools, many of these pupils may have gone on to a grind school. The research shows that more females consistently exit the second-level system earlier than males. This is true both in absolute numbers and in the percentage of the entire male and female school populations. About 55pc of early schoolleavers went on to further education – such as a PLC course, or FAS training – or continued their second-level education in a private institution such as a grind school, as 22pc of them did. Another 14pc were enrolled in further education or training outside the State, while about 6pc were working and 7pc were claiming social welfare.
Emigration
The remaining 17pc fell into the ‘other’ category, which includes emigration. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said the reports “would fill data gaps and enhance the information used by the department to plan for the future education needs of our school-leavers”. Data was matched with agencies such as the Revenue Commissioners, the Higher Education Authority’s Student Record System, FAS, the Department of Social Protection and the Further Education and Training Awards Council.
www.independent.ie
School managers tell Quinn to drop new pupil enrolment laws
May 3, 2013
SECONDARY school managers say there is no need for a law to back up proposed changes in enrolment policies.
They are unhappy with some of the proposed changes and insist that they do not need to be supported by legislation.
The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), representing management in over half of secondlevel schools, is responding to moves by Education Minister
Ruairi Quinn, who will bring draft legislation on the issue to Cabinet within weeks.
Mr Quinn will set out a range of practices that schools will not be able to engage in when enrolling pupils.
One proposal to which the JMB is opposed is Mr Quinn’s intention to curb the practice in many schools of giving preference to the children of past pupils.
Advantage
While the new rules are expected to allow schools give priority to brothers or sisters of an existing pupil, siblings of past pupils will not enjoy the same advantage.
A ban on booking deposits, curtailment of compulsory open days and interviews of children and parents and an end to the use of first-come, first-served as a basis for admissions, are also envisaged.
Mr Quinn, who says the overhaul is designed to introduce more fairness and transparency, says he needs the backing of legislation so the changes can be enforced.
The legislation would allow the minister to impose sanctions in the event of a breach.
About 80pc of schools can accommodate all applications, but the changes are designed for the 20pc of schools that are oversubscribed.
Addressing Mr Quinn at his association’s annual conference yesterday, JMB president Fr Paul Connell said those 20pc attempted to enrol pupils in as fair, equitable and inclusive a manner as possible.
He said that included a commitment to the “family unit”, a reference to the practice of giving priority to applicants with family links to the school.
Fr Connell said legislation was unnecessary, and where there was perceived inequity or difficulty it was open to the Department of Education to approach a school directly.
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100,000 more pupils in our primary schools by next decade
May 1, 2013
PRIMARY school pupil enrolments will grow by up to 100,000 by 2021, according to latest projections from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
It means a jump of 20pc on the 2011 figures, with the number of five to 12-year-olds in the population expected to rise from about 500,000 to 600,000 in the decade. The boom in primary enrolments is expected to remain reasonably stable between 2021 and 2026, before starting to drop.
The surge at primary level will work its way through to second- level, reaching its peak there between 2021 and 2026. The CSO projects a 31-34pc rise in enrolments at secondlevel, ranging between 106,00 and 117,000, in the decade to 2021.
While extra enrolments mean more schools and more teachers, in the current economic climate it also means available funds will be stretched further.
Priority
The Department of Education is adopting a “robbing Peter to pay Paul” approach to cope with extra demand.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said the priority is for every school-age child to have a place in a classroom. The five-year school building programme – which is costing €2bn – is focused on areas of population growth and this year, for instance, there is no budget for maintenance and repairs to existing schools.
The 2013 programme will deliver over 25,000 permanent school places, almost 21,000 of which will be additional, and the remainder will replace temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation.
Professor Alan Barrett, of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), said yesterday that the school-building programme should take account of changing needs.
A department spokesman said that the focus of the fiveyear programme was on meeting the obvious demand at primary level and second level up to 2016.
Recruitment
She said that Prof Barrett’s proposal was an interesting one and that it was worthy of consideration. The rising enrolments also have implications for teacher recruitment and the department predicts that about 660 extra primary teachers will be needed each year to cope with growing enrolments.
That is on top of about 870 new appointments annually to replace teachers who retire or leave for other reasons. But the department has ways of controlling teacher numbers in order to keep within budget.
A series of cuts in recent years in areas such as resource and English language teaching has kept a lid on teacher levels – even though enrolments had started to rise. At second-level, changes in arrangements for the allocation of career guidance teachers, has removed about 500 jobs from schools.
A change in the pupil-teacher ratio can also see hundreds of jobs disappear from the system in the the stroke of a pen.
www.independent.ie
Gaelscoil enrolment
April 5, 2013
It has recently been revealed that the Education Minister Ruairi Quinn intends to review the selection process in schools.
In the near future we will most likely be informed that the planned overhaul is purely intended to end discriminatory selection practices.
However, one has to fear that unfortunately the primary motivation is somewhat less laudable and perhaps more ideological in origin, one which is rooted in the traditional ultra-pluralist socialist agenda of the Labour Party. This is an agenda that appears to believe that multiculturalism is good for multiculturalism’s sake, regardless of whether it has majority support.
The ramifications of this policy for the Irish language community, especially in high-density urban areas, may be quite serious as the vast majority of Gaelscoileanna attempt to enrol students who have at least one Irish-speaking parent.
If the minister prohibits this enrolment technique he will be inadvertently dealing a further blow to the Irish language by making it considerably more difficult for the children of Gaeilgeoir parents to access oideachas lan Gaeilge, thereby reducing the languages prospects by misguidedly restricting its most dedicated advocates.
Paul Ryder
Balgriffin, Dublin 13
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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.”
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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.
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Quinn will announce Church to lose school control
April 2, 2013
‘Clear demand’ for greater diversity cannot be ignored, insists minister
THE Catholic Church is being told to hand over another 23 primary schools in an historic shake-up of the eduction system designed to offer parents more choice.
Department of Education surveys in 43 towns and suburbs over the past six months found that two-thirds of parents wanted a more diverse range of schools – meaning a reduction of the church’s overwhelming dominance of school patronage.
The results of the consultation with 10,000 parents on future control of local schools can be revealed today, with Education Minister Ruairi Quinn pointing out that a majority of areas surveyed had shown sufficient parental demand for wider choice of schools. He insisted: “We cannot ignore this call for change.”
Meanwhile, the fate of 1,000 small rural schools hangs in the balance as they are considered too small to satisfy an “optimum” threshold for value for money. A new report, to be published soon, will recommend that the optimum future size for Irish schools is four teachers and 80 students or more.
Mr Quinn, who will today address two teachers’ unions, has been accused of leaving thousands of pupils and parents in limbo if their school does not meet the minimum size.
Mr Quinn is now overseeing a period of massive change within the schools system as the issues of patronage and small rural schools both come to a head. His department now wants detailed proposals from the bishops on divesting schools within six months, in a significant shift towards multidenominational education. But early transfers do not appear on the cards after a senior Catholic Church educationalist questioned the calculations involved.
Surveys in 38 areas were undertaken in January-February among parents of children under the age of 12. They were targeted at towns and suburbs where there is a relatively stable population and, therefore, little prospect of an additional school being built.
The demand for a change of patronage at 23 of these 38 primary schools is on top of five schools around the country which were previously identified by the department, and where the Church has already been told to transfer control. The department will now be contacting the Catholic patron in each of the newly identified areas to request that they consider the options.
Mr Quinn said he was confident of a generous response from the existing patron – the local Catholic bishop in each of the areas – to “the clear demand for change”. In practical terms, it means that in any of these areas, where there may be several local Catholic schools, mergers will be necessary to free up a building for a school under different patronage.
Where change is favoured, the multi-denominational Educate Together is the top choice and has been nominated as the patron for 25 schools, including in the five areas previously identified.
Two towns will see the establishment of English language, new-style Community National Schools, run by the local Vocational Education Committee. And in one area, an Irish language school under the patronage of An Foras Patrunachta is recommended. Most of the areas surveyed already had a Gaelscoil option for parents deemed capable of accommodating demand for Irish language medium schools.
Paul Rowe, of Educate Together, said the results clearly showed demand for diversity of school type exists across the country.
Conclusions
However, while 10,000 responses were gathered, Fr Michael Drumm of the Catholic Schools Partnership said the participation rates of parents in the surveys were low. He said that within each area the responses only varied from 13pc to 26pc and advised against drawing conclusions.
He said there was a need for much closer analysis of the figures and consultation with communities on the ground For example, Fr Drumm said in Ballina, where the department is recommending an Educate Together school, parents of only 2.2pc of existing primary pupils expressed a preference for an English-language multi-denominational school. And he warned the proposals could involve much greater displacement for pupils in an existing school than those the department is seeking to accommodate.
The Catholic Church controls about 2,840, or 90pc, of almost 3,200 primary schools in Ireland. While the 28 schools earmarked for change represent less than 1pc of this, developments over the coming months will be closely watched as they could mark a watershed in Church-state relations over school patronage.
The department set the minimum enrolment sufficient for a four-teacher school as the benchmark for deciding on whether there was sufficient demand for change. A total of 10,715 valid responses were received during the surveys, and were checked against data held by the Department of Social Protection to ensure that the children listed were linked to PPS numbers given.
It followed the five pilot surveys, which were conducted last October and November – all of which showed a demand for Educate Together schools.
www.independent.ie
Love for Irish language
March 14, 2013
I am writing in response to RTE1’s episode of ‘Prime Time’ aired on the night of Tuesday, March 12.
The topic discussed that interested me most was regarding the Irish language. I was delighted to see that quite a few people still have a great ‘gra’ for our native language and that it holds an important place in the lives of many. However, I was absolutely disgusted to hear the comments from Declan Lynch, who insisted that the Irish language is not part of us. These comments infuriated me, to say the least!
As a native Irish speaker who came from one of the Gaeltacht areas around the country, Irish has been a huge part of my life growing up and has had a massive role in shaping the person that I am today. Irish will always remain part of my life, my culture and my heritage.
I cannot express the annoyance I felt when Mr Lynch had the cheek to dismiss our native tongue. There are many people, young and old, working actively to keep the Irish language alive.
Take a look back over the past two weeks, events have been held nationwide to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge 2013, all of these embracing and celebrating our native language.
I may not use Irish every day as I did when I was a child – working and studying away from home does not allow me to use Irish in my everyday life any more. But I do not intend to lose something so important to me. Irish is part of my national identity and I know that there are a lot of people out there who feel the same.
Katie Ni Leallaidh
Baile Ghib, Co na Mi
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Rugby star Luke lends his voice to Irish call
March 11, 2013
IRISH rugby international Luke Fitzgerald has called for more money to be put into promoting wider use of the Irish language and helping people develop their Irish language skills.
Speaking a day after Ireland’s bruising encounter with France, the Leinster and Ireland winger said he would like to see “a big revival of the Irish language”. A fluent Irish speaker himself, the 25-year-old Dubliner said that despite the tough economic circumstances it was still important to put money into the language as it gave people a sense of Irishness. “To speak our own language sets us apart in a world which feels like it is getting smaller,” he said.
Describing himself to the Irish Independent as “passionate” about Irish, he paid tribute to former boxer Bernard Dunne’s efforts to promote the cupla focail. “He has been fantastic. I met him after one of our games and he is putting in a big push on Irish.” Fitzgerald officially opened a new clubhouse for Loreto Hockey Club in Rathfarnham, Dublin. His grandmother’s sister, Natalie Liuzzi, was the club’s first ever Irish international in the 1940s. He urged girls to get involved in sports as a way of building friendships. “I think one of the most important things for a flourishing life is the relationships you build. Team sports are one of the best ways to do that”, he said.
His views were echoed by RTE television presenter Mary Kennedy. “It is for social interaction as well as health and fitness,” the presenter who has run two marathons said.
Speaking about Seachtain na Gaeilge, which takes place up to St Patrick’s Day, she said: “It is so wonderful to see people like Luke, who is a hero to so many young people, speaking Irish.”
IRISH INDEPENDENT
Quinn is against plan to raise Irish level for teachers
February 19, 2013
EDUCATION Minister Ruairi Quinn has voiced his concerns about a proposal to raise the standard of Irish required for trainee primary teachers.
It is among a number of suggestions from the Teaching Council in a package aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy levels. The council wants the minimum Irish entry requirement for trainees raised from Higher Level C to Higher Level B.
Mr Quinn yesterday echoed concerns expressed by Labour backbencher and former primary school principal Aodhan O Riordain. The minister said that setting a very high standard for Irish would exclude students from disadvantaged areas which have lower Leaving Cert performance levels from going into teaching.
Diversity
“Raising the threshold of competency in Irish is not going to facilitate those kind of people becoming teachers,” he said.
Mr Quinn was speaking after a conference on teacher training organised by the Teaching Council and being held as part of Ireland’s EU presidency. He said a diverse society needed a diversity of teachers, not a “one size fits all” approach which “streamlined a particular cohort into teaching”.
The minister said there was a problem in some communities where there was a disconnect between the teacher and the pupils that led to low levels of performance and dropouts. He added that it was a complex area, and he would await with interest the analysis of submissions made to the council consultation process.
Mr O Riordain has told the council that secondary schools in disadvantaged areas are rarely in a position to offer Higher Level Irish to their students.
“Poorer families do not have the resources to pay for grinds or to send their children to the Gaeltacht on summer courses,” he said.
He added that while the requirement for teachers to have the ability to teach Irish was a cornerstone of education policy and must be preserved, those skills could be provided during the training years.
As well as higher grades in Irish, the council has also proposed raising the minimum entry requirements in English and maths.
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