Comments for Education Matters

Comment on Review of Special Needs Assistants scheme by O'Brien

O'Brien — Mon, 01 Mar 2010

It is with dismay that I hear on the airwaves that the Special School St. Joseph’s in Tallaght is to have 12 SNA’s cut, following their recent audit. If this is true, it is so unfair to that community. It was reported that the Auditors did not engage with the Teaching staff and based their findings on the Clinical reports of the children - many of which were years out of date. I would think that the cost of updating such reports privately would be outside the range of most of the parents of the pupils. Its possible too that parents would think that if their child’s needs were being met in St. Josephs, there was no need to seek any updated reports. It is also widely known that NEPS is over subscribed. So those parents and children are being doubly hit - such an easy target.
It was a Government Policy some years back not to build any further Special Schools, therefore parents must send their children to a local school who will agree to accept the child, with supports. Without adequate supports, the children will not learn and thrive.
What will happen to those children who “fall out” of school if they cannot cope? They will become even more vulnerable targets in the community for drug gangs etc. Everyone deserves a good start in life, with at least a primary education suitable for their needs.

Comment on Almost half of second level maths teachers are ‘out of field’ by Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010

I agreee with the last post.
I think we are missing the most important part of this article.
“ASTI general secretary John White said the union would be happy to enter into discussion with Engineers Ireland on issues relating to the retraining of unemployed engineers as teachers”
Sorry but doesnt that contradict the whole issue been raised here?
Yes engineers do alot of maths, but the issue is “out-of-field” degrees.
And lets be frank, the person who said science(!!!!) is an “out-o-field) degree to maths is a moron!
I am currently in 2nd year of my degree, Science Edcation, and my majors are physics and chemistry, but we also HAVE to do maths, just last semseter we covered project maths!
This survey is highly bias and worse of all contradicts itself!!
If you want in field maths degree students, dont look at the engineers, my suggestion is try the students WITH maths degrees.
Finally, John white saying he would be happy to retrain unemployed engineers, is a load!!!
If he proposes to do this in (Say) a year then what of the students like me who spend 4 years of their lives doing a degree in maths and science with a H.Dip?? We wont be able to get a job!
This is a perfect example of act first ask questions later. Anyway i think the fact that some teachers cannot ( for the life of them ) teach maths is more the issue rather than degrees, and lets face it, if you bring unemployed people into a field which they are not used to, the sitution is going to get worse.
look at the “politicians” Some of them have NO relation to what their doing, and yet we let them run our country.

Comment on At last! A boost for teacher morale by Brendan

Brendan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010

I have to agree with the previous entry. Last term it was all about standards, denigrating teachers roles, qualifications and basically working on knocking teachers and the teaching profession. What has caused this change??? Is it that teachers are the ones that actually respond to this email syatem?

Comment on At last! A boost for teacher morale by mwalshe

mwalshe — Wed, 24 Feb 2010

It’s strange to see Educations Matters celebrating what you describe as a morale boost for teachers. You didn’t seem too concerned about teacher morale in the past when you published stories with headlines such as ‘Move to out boring teachers’ (January 2009)! Spinning this ‘morale boost’ story in the way you’re doing is also highly ideological: teachers are in fact feeling very DEmoralised by the constant attacks on our profession in the media which culminated in the recent Government actions cutting our pay by an average of 14 per cent. Your message is a simple one: “Don’t feel too bad about the pay cuts, console yourself with this survey.” It’s the same old, same old from Education Matters.

Comment on Almost half of second level maths teachers are ‘out of field’ by Tommy

Tommy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010

I have a number of queries in relation to this study: Is the research purely based on a survey of teachers and principals? Were these “out-of-field” teachers of Maths observed teaching in their classrooms? Were Maths degree-holder teachers observed? Were both groups compared? If they were not, then how can the report conclude that: “One reason for the poor quality of mathematics teaching is the high proportion of teachers of mathematics in post-primary schools that have no qualification in mathematics teaching”? Have DES inspection reports also come to this conclusion? If so, fine but if not, then it could be a case of making assumptions!

Comment on No enthusiasm for full-scale strikes by jayflan

jayflan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010

I think union leader thinking is spot on. I detect no enthusiasm for strike action; union leaders seem to have got out of step with the membership. The emphasis should now be in ensuring that that is the last time that public servants’ pockets have been picked. What’s gone is gone!

Comment on Dealing effectively with student-student conflict by emily ni riain

emily ni riain — Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Having read the article I do have difficulty understanding how a vulnerable victim could possibly face their aggressor after a bullying incident for fear of further intimidation. Also, the youth of today are reluctant to acknowledge responsibility to authority for any act of aggression for fear of sanctions. I would be very interested in your approach to dealing with a bullying incident and the outcome for both the victim and the bully. An excellent article - very informative.

Comment on Greg McInerney discusses ‘Conflict in Education’ by Jacinta

Jacinta — Mon, 11 Jan 2010

This is a fascinating and very important topic which, in my opinion, is not examined nearly enough. I remember hearing psychologist Maureen Gaffney telling Gay Byrne on the radio, quite a while ago now, that the single most important element in a successful marriage is a couple’s ability to resolve the many conflicts that inevitably arise between them. Unfortunately, too few of us have the skills to guide a ‘row’ towards a positive outcome and all too often both parties end up feeling alienated and lost.

Your article touches on several important strands of the topic: (a) the need for young people to develop skills that will enable them to deal with and resolve conflict themselves; (b) cyber bullying among young people; (c) the importance of involving students in drawing up a school code of behaviour; (d) dealing with misbehaviour – presumably of students – in a restorative manner.

Conflict arises in education on a number of different levels: between managers and principals; between principals and teachers; between teachers and teachers; between parents and principals; between parents and teachers; between teachers and students; between students and students. I look forward very much to future articles on Conflict Resolution which may deal with these different relationships and explore in a practical way how conflict can be resolved and goodwill restored in different contexts.

Comment on A better way to resolve conflict by ronan

ronan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009

This is a highly interesting article, which highlights the need for mediation. In a time where the dignity of the teacher has suffered much, the role of the mediator seems crucial for harmony between teacher, princicpal, parents and students. Greg speaks of a win-win situation, which although common to negotiations in the business world has yet to enter the school system.

Ronan-Gearoid O Domhnaill, Cathair na Gaillimhe

Comment on Too much focus on misbehaviour, says expert by Scoil

Scoil — Thu, 03 Dec 2009

You report Dr. Paul Downes as saying that “the focus in schools was all too often on
misbehaviour by students rather than the students’ experiences”. This is hardly
surprising given that ongoing misbehaviour by some students is the single greatest
factor in denying the majority of students their right to an education.

Dr. Downes’ research also uncovers the finding that “a quarter of first year students
were not treated fairly by teachers”. Did Dr. Downes ask teachers and students if they had
been treated fairly by the most disruptive pupils in their school?
Daniel