Gaeilge éigeandála ar fáil do thuismitheoirí agus d’fheighlithe
September 7, 2011
High failure rate in maths and science mark Leaving results
August 17, 2011
HIGH FAILURE rates in maths and science – and relatively poor results in business subjects – are the most striking trends in this year’s Leaving Cert results.
The results also highlight the two-tier nature of Irish education. While ordinary level students registered high failure rates, higher level students achieved record results, raising renewed fears about grade inflation.
The percentage of students gaining an A, B or C at higher level is at its highest ever level (77 per cent) and up from 64 per cent in 1992. Some 43 per cent of students scored an A or B at higher level, up from 27 per cent in 1992.
The increase in grades will raise renewed questions about the nature of the Leaving Cert examinations. The most recent ranking from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed an alarming slippage in Irish literacy and numeracy levels – but this trend is not reflected in exam results published yesterday.
In a now familiar trend, 10 per cent of students failed maths at ordinary level. Overall, 4,367 students failed maths across all levels, making them ineligible for many third-level courses. Results were marginally better among the 1,900 students who took the new “user-friendly’’ Project Maths course in 24 schools. But the Government will be disappointed by the poor take-up for higher level maths in these schools. Only 16 per cent took the subject at higher level, the same number who took the mainstream exam.
Failure rates were also high in physics (8 per cent), chemistry (9 per cent ) and biology (8 per cent). Business (7 per cent) and accounting (6 per cent) were also among the minority of higher level subjects with relatively high failure rates.
Among high achievers, 10 students achieved nine A1s, while 141 students secured the so-called “perfect” Leaving, with six A1s or 600 points.
Other features of this year’s results include:
* Only 70 per cent of higher level students secured an A, B or C in biology, one of the lowest honours rates for any higher level subject;
* The number of students taking Irish in the exam (44,300) is down over 1,200 since 2009; it is now at record low levels. While the subject is compulsory, increasing numbers are gaining exemptions or not showing for the exam;
* The honours rate (those gaining A, B or C at higher level) remains very high in Art (82 per cent) and music (94 per cent).
Last night, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, which represents more than 600 US companies in Ireland, criticised the absence of “discernable improvements” in science subjects.
Irish Times
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
Students’ views on junior cycle
July 15, 2011
A chara, – The article on the recently published Consultation with Young People on Reform of the Junior Cycle was headed “Make Irish optional and cut Junior Cycle”.
The report itself, however, paints a very different picture of students’ attitudes towards Irish, which are predominantly positive. Under the heading “Most Enjoy Learning Now” one finds the following “other subjects young people currently enjoy learning in school are science because it is practical and has experiments; Irish because it is easy to learn”. Elsewhere one reads that “those students who learned Irish in the Gaeltacht or French in a language college agreed that learning languages in a practical and engaging manner made them more enjoyable and easier to learn”.
The headline “Make Irish optional” is not at all the main message in the report; in fact one struggles to approach that conclusion even based on the minuscule statistical sample of 88 students (just 29 from Junior and 59 from Senior Cycle) for which there is no evidence of measures to ensure that they are statistically representative of the relevant cohort.
It is a matter of great concern then to find that the consultation “would have an impact on policy decisions in education” as reported in the article. – Yours, etc,
(Dr) SEÁN Ó CEARNAIGH, Programme Manager, Corporate Planning
SEOSAMH Ó COINNE, Programme Manager, Education,
Foras na Gaeilge,
Cearnóg Mhuirfean,
BÁC 2.
The Irish Times – Litir chuig an Eagarthóir
Make Irish optional and cut junior cycle, say students
July 12, 2011
THE JUNIOR cycle at secondary school should be cut from three years to two, and the only compulsory subjects should be English and maths, according to young people asked about the future of the cycle.
A report on the consultation process and its conclusions was published by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn and Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald yesterday.
Some 88 young people aged from 12 to 18 from around the State were consulted in a day-long forum in Dublin last November.
Asked what changes they would make if they were minister for education for a day, the young people said they would change the junior cycle to two years, change the senior cycle to three years, have fewer exams and a wider range of subjects.
They would also place more emphasis on practical subjects and social and life skills, encourage new teaching methods, assess teachers more effectively and consult students more.
The older students in the consultation said they would have liked “taster” subjects in their first year of the junior cycle, saying it would give them the opportunity to try subjects for about six to eight weeks to see if they liked them and those teaching them.
“Many felt the role of teachers was most important. Often students liked a subject because of who was teaching it or how it was being taught.”
Many also felt there could be improvements to the way several subjects were presented and taught, including physical education, religion, science and social, personal and health education.
Mr Quinn said the report would have an impact on policy decisions in education.
“I believe that we all learn most effectively when we experience issues for ourselves, through investigation and research, project and practical work and group discussion,” he said.
“These are skills for independent learning which will serve us well over a lifetime.”
He added that reforms of the junior and senior cycles at secondary were already under way.
“If the reforms go ahead as they are currently envisaged, 50 per cent of the work at Junior Certificate [level] will be examined through continuous assessment of their portfolios.”
Ms Fitzgerald described as “interesting” the finding that the majority of young people did not want Irish to be a compulsory subject.
“What’s really important is to ask young people, to hear their views and to involve them.”
Irish Times
An Ghaeilge sa Dáil
June 1, 2011
Minister wants modern method for Irish
May 31, 2011
Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Dinny McGinley has said that technology used to teach foreign languages must also be used to teach Irish in schools.
The Minister was elaborating yesterday on a Dáil statement last week on plans for the 20-year Irish language strategy, introduced in 2006, which aims to increase the number of people speaking Irish on a daily basis from 83,000 to 250,000.
Irish Times
Roinn Féin
May 18, 2011
Group calls for parental choice over school patrons
May 3, 2011
THE DEPARTMENT of Education should take all reasonable measures to ensure parents have a choice of school patron, according to a new report by an expert group.
The report on the procedures for establishing new primary schools says it is no longer practical for “every student to be provided with access to a place in a school operated by a patron of their choice”.
It says patrons must in future be able to show clear public demand for their proposed schools, possibly involving a parental survey.
Gaelscoileanna have raised concerns about this recommendation. In an appendix to the report, they say if schools are to be established on the basis of parental demand, it will be difficult to establish an all-Irish school, as only a minority of people will seek all-Irish education in preference to education through English.
The report of the Commission on School Accommodation comes as the Catholic Church, which controls 90 per cent of primary schools, prepares to hand over some schools to other patrons. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has expressed the hope that 50 per cent of Catholic schools can be divested as part of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism.
In their submission to the department’s review, Catholic Church groups say the criteria for recognising new schools “must respect the continuing demand for denominational education”.
The report says proposed new primary schools must signal readiness to be part of a development with other schools in order to gain recognition by the department.
They must also “confirm their willingness to enrol children for whom the department has identified the need for a school”. This follows controversy last year when immigrant children struggled to find places in some north Dublin schools.
The commission, comprising senior department officials and education partners, proposes a radical overhaul of existing informal procedures for recognition of schools. At present, schools can be established with a minimum of just 17 pupils. The new report says schools should have capacity for up to three streams, or about 75 pupils. It proposes the establishment of a patronage advisory group.
The report says prospective school patrons must confirm their willingness to be part of a “campus development” with other primary or post-primary schools as identified by the department.
These education campuses, comprised of schools operating under different patrons, would be cost-effective and offer good synergies, the report says.
The proposal will be seen as part of a wider move by the department to reduce the number of schools, currently 3,200 at primary level and more than 700 at second level.
Other proposals include:
The use of vacant spaces in existing school buildings, where there may not be a demographic need for a new school, should be examined;
An existing English-medium school may change to become an Irish-medium school or vice versa in order to create linguistic diversity;
Spending on new schools cannot be justified in areas where where there is not a demographic demand.
The report estimates that each primary school place in a 16-classroom school costs the taxpayer more than €7,000 per pupil.
The report predicts enrolment in primary schools will surge by 64,000 to 570,000 by 2018.
Irish Times
