Education
Enda Kenny’s Policy on Irish Language
**Note – Previously appeared on http://www.ogra.ie last month**
Enda Kenny’s committment to removing Irish as a compulsory subject at Leaving Certificate level is nothing more than a politician playing to his political base.
The fact that Fine Gael candidates in Gaeltacht areas oppose his plans tells a more important story. Enda will say and do anything to win a vote.
The way Irish has been taught over the decades probably did nothing more than to entrench the language in certain pockets of the country. Having said that it probably saved the language to a certain extent.
Enda’s proposals for Irish are like himself a distraction from the real issue. His inability to see that we need reform of the way Irish is taught rather than casting it adrift in the sea of other optional subjects at Leaving Certificate. An Ghaeilge is not the same as Arabic or Hebrew. It is the national language and as some one who comes from 6 miles of a Gaeltacht and who understands that we all have the ability to speak the language even if it is with the aid of copious amounts of alcohol.
So what should we do instead of Enda’s and Fine Gael’s daft idea??
Let’s be radical!
1. All Playschools to be as Gaeilge giving children a firm grounding in the language.
2. All children to receive one free trip to a Gaeltacht in Junior Cycle.
3. Leaving Certificate to have two seperate Irish subjects.
- Gaeilge mar Theanga Beo
- Gaeilge mar Abhair Acadúil.
All students would study Gaeilge mar theanga beo. It would focus on the spoken langauge, building on prior learning with a goal of creating a bi lingual Ireland.
Gaeilge mar abhair acaduil would as its name suggests focus on the academic nature of the language ie poetry, prose etc allowing students with a flare for the language to study it further.
There we have it. A sensible solution. Pity Enda doesnt do sensible though…
Update: The Irish Language Commission agrees with the idea of splitting up Irish into two subjects.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“On the Origin of Species”by Charles Darwin
On the 24th November, 1859, Charles Darwin published one of the most important books ever namely “On the Origin of Species”. In this work, Darwin’s presented evidence that the diversity of life arose through a branching pattern of evolution with common descent caused by a mechanism known as natural selection.
Prior to this, the scientific establishment had believe that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and had rejected ideas of transmutation of species and of humans being related to animals. The very idea that humans with its direct link to God via Adam and Eve could possibly be connected to monkeys and apes was anathema to Christians.
Over time, Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection was accepted and secular science was soon firmly rooted in scientific naturalism. While there have been many advancements in our understanding of evolution since then and with Natural Selection not being seen as the only type of evolution, it is beyond question that “On the Origin of Species” is one of the most important books ever written. It is important to remember that Alfred Russell Wallace was also prominent in developing this theory but alas for Wallace, Darwin’s name will always be the first mentioned!
This leads me on to an important topic. Most rational, sane and educated people accept that evolution of some description took place and is continuing to take place. For example, why have we an appendix? It serves no purpose what so ever. The simple fact is that as our diet has evolved so too has our digestive system. I suspect in 10,000 years, people will need to revert to an encyclopedia to remind themselves of what an appendix did or didnt do.
So why do some schools in the United States attempt to teach Creationism as being the way humanity evolved. Don’t get me wrong; I believe in God and I am under no doubt that God had a role in creating the Big Bang and allowing for the correct factors to allow life to be begin, but come one; do you seriously expect me to believe the story of Adam and Eve as fact?
The very idea than any school system would allow this to be taught as fact is repugnant to me. As a science teacher, there is no justification for teaching Creationism other than as a story to simply God’s role in the Universe. Evolution is all around us. Evolution is there to be seen. We have no scientific basis for creationism apart from the words of the Bible which to be frank have been rewritten a couple of times over the past 5000 years.
All right-minded people, be they religious or not, must look upon Education in the correct way and not use it to indoctrinate children with ideas which are simply without basis.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )OECD – “Increase the School Leaving Age to 18”
The OECD were in Dublin today to launch their 2009 Economic Survey of Ireland. This is report compiled every 2 years or so and looks at the macro and micro economic conditions in Ireland. It contains a wide number of recommendations. While scanning through it, as geeks like me do, I noticed that it has recommended that the school leaving age be increased to 18.
Does any one have any opinion on this? Personally, I would be in favour of this change as it would allow for a far greater overhaul of the Irish Secondary School system. At present, kids can leave school at age 16 which is usually post the Junior Certificate. The Junior Cert isnt worth the paper it’s written on. Many of the jobs available to kids who leave school at this age are low skilled and dead-end. During the Boom years, many kids left school early to go work on the building sites; where are these people now? By and large, they are either on the dole or emigrating out of the Ireland now.
If we could extend the time spent in school, we could offer a far broader range of subjects, spread out over perhaps 3 years at Leaving Cert level. There would be enough time to incorporate different modes of assessment i.e. continuous assessment, terminal assessment and self assessment. With this extra time, there would be ample scope to allow for some work experience for all students so that when the time comes to choose their college options, they will be, hopefully, far more certain of their career paths. And for those who chose not to go on to further education, they will leave schools with a far higher standard of education, communication skills and word based experience.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Equality…What Equality!!??
The Supreme Court has today upheld the right of Portmarnock Gold Club to exclude women from full membership of the club. Following a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that “Portmarnock was not a discriminating club because its principal purpose was to cater only for the needs of a particular gender”. A section of the Equal Status Act allows groups that cater for only one gender to be exempt under the legislation.
The Equality Authority has welcomed the ruling as it gives clarity to the legislation. It has also called on the Oireachtas to review the Equal Status Act with respect to this section. For more info, please visit RTE.ie.
I think the Government and Fianna Fáil in particular need to look at this issue very carefully and to also address some of the other anomolies in legislation. Did you that at present, a gay or lesbian teacher can be fired from his or her position if the school authorities feel it goes against the ethos of the school? As far as I am concerned, once the salaries of a school are being paid by my taxes, then no one should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. Would it be ok for a school to fire a non white person if the school changed its ethos to reflect that?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )Scrap the Junior Cert??
I read in todays Irish Daily Mirror that the Department of Education and Science have drawn up plans to scrap the Junior Certificate. These plans, which I believe have been discussed at cabinet, would save over €30 million per year in terms of the expense of organising and correcting the exams.
Minister O’Keefe said in September that he is favour of a radical shake up of the Junior Certificate system and that we need to move away from the rote learning style of education that is so prevalent in Ireland today. I have to totally agree with the Minister on this issue. The proposals, as outlined in the Irish Mirror refer to a system of continuous assessment throughout the first 3 years of secondary school. This is undoubtedly better than terminal assessment. It gives pupils a chance to see how they are progressing and allows teachers ands parents to intervene far earlier in a child’s education if there is a cause for concern in his or his learning.
Strange how the Teaching Unions i.e. the TUI and the ASTI are against any such proposals. All educationalists accept that continuous assessment is a far fairer and more exact indicator of a childs educational development. Yet they are against it. Would it be because their members would lose out on the lucrative exam correction fees each summer, or the allowance for supervising exam centres? Or perhaps, they know that many of their members wouldnt be up for working all year-round. Many teachers focus all the attention on to the exam at the end of the Junior Cert. They look at the cycle of exam questions and teach to that level. There is no incentive to go beyond the narrow scope of the exam.
It is important to remember that even with continuous assessment, schools would still be free to set summer and winter exams. Junior Certificates would still be issued but this time based on a child’s endeavours over a 3 year period instead of a week in June.
Minister O’Keefe should bring these new changes in not because of the money saved but because of the better education we will give our children.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Religious Ethos Education
Just saw an article in the Irish Times today where the Church of Ireland United United Diocsesan Synod of Dublin and Glendalough welcomed the support from the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin’s for maintaining funding and services to the Protestant faith schools. If you remember cuts were made last year to various allowances and payments to schools.
I’m not going to get into row about these cuts in this article. What I want to talk about is the very fact that we have religious based education. I’m a Republican. I believe in a secular Republic where the State is completely responsible for Education matters. I do not believe that denominational religious education should be taught in any State School. There should be no Catholic, Protestant or otherwise State schools in receipt of Department of Education funding.
Of course, I accept that children should be taught about the various faiths in Ireland and in the wider world and that diversity is a good thing. They should not be taught one denomination or another. If parents want their children educated in a particular religious ethos, so be it. Let them go to Sunday school. Let the churches teach religion. Schools are there to educate our children to be valuable members of Society.
While this may cause issues in the short term due to ownership issues of schools, it is the best way forward. It is better for children and perhaps better for religion over all.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Irish Education…. Inherently Flawed?
Having graduated last year from University of Limerick with a BSc. In Physical Education and Chemistry, the issue of Education remains an important aspect of my life. In spite of the fact that I’m not teaching at present, I still muse about the Education System in Ireland.
Why we Educate?
I believe that while our Education System has served us well in the past, it is now inherently flawed. Ever since my introductory Education lectures in 1st Year, my philosophy has always been that the primary purpose of any Education System is to create well rounded citizens and to provide them with the social skills capable of engaging to the fullest possible level in Society.
Unfortunately, for the past two or three decades, the Irish Education system has deviated from this ideal. At the core of this deviation is the desire to not mould well rounded citizens but rather to mould our children into competent workers. Come August and September of each year, it is not uncommon to hear Education Ministers or CEO’s of Multinational Corporations on the airwaves extoling the virtues of more pupils taking higher level maths, more pupils taking taking physics or chemistry so that industry can thrive or that we need greater foreign language proficiency to attract foreign companies. One only has to look at the Editorial in the Irish Times from Friday, 4th September to see how this attitude is prevailing amoung general society. While these are not in themselves negative ideals, we cannot and must not allow them to become the primary reasons why we send our children to school. So much more is derived from an Education System than tools on how to work at a higher level of proficiency. The ability to communicate, to understand the world around them, how to work in groups, think analytically, to enjoy poetry or to speak a language. These in themselves are essential to what a human being is. We are not simply machines that go to work and come home again.
How to train our teachers?
Personally I dont believe that a one year Higher Diploma in Education is enough to allow a teacher fully understand the complexities of teaching and to gain fluency in the many different teaching methodolgies. Obviously I am biased but the four year Concurrent Teacher Education model adopted by the University of Limerick and Dublin City University provide the prospective teachers with enough time to familiarise themselves with the teaching profession and to study their subject matter with a view to how to teach it.
These are just two ideas that I have attempted to discuss. The world of education is far bigger than these, of course. I hope to go into greater detail in the next few days.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
An Saoránach 