Two Line Tuesday: Happy Summer
As we wind down to the last few days of term in most primary schools, we wish you the very best for the summer break ahead. 2016-17 looks like it’s going to be an interesting year already!
Month: June 2016
What are the best Summer Courses for 2016?
Every year we scour the Summer Course list. This year there seems to be dozens of organisations and individuals offering summer courses and they are all listed on the Drumcondra Education Centre’s web site. Here are a few that caught our eye. Blackrock Education Centre have some really interesting ones that jumped out: Seashore Safari and … Read more
Google Sites getting a makeover at last!
Google Sites must be the forgotten child of Google Apps. While almost all of Google’s services have been given a lovely makeover with nice new functionality, Google Sites has been left in its functional but reasonably outdated state for quite some time. Things like adding galleries or decent blogs or anything remotely modern looking have … Read more
What is the biggest issue for Community National Schools?
The Community National School model is being lauded as the ideal solution for primary education in Ireland as a compromise to the near-monopoly that all churches have on primary education. Started by then Fianna Fáil Education Minister, Mary Hanafin in 2007, the CNS model is supposed to be a “happy medium” between denominational education and multi-denominational (now … Read more
What Vehicle will get us over the Bridge?
With the overwhelming majority of teachers voting to not cooperate with Droichead in its current format, I wonder how the Teaching Council are going to pick up the pieces and try again. I thought I’d use the following analogy to help them out. CEPP was the first incarnation from the Teaching Council. It took the form … Read more
Droichead: The People have Spoken
Yesterday, the INTO revealed the results of the ballot regarding non-cooperation with the Droichead scheme. Despite all the obstacles put in the way from the CEC of the INTO and all the propaganda from the Teaching Council, 91% of INTO members have voted in favour of the ballot, which means that Droichead cannot happen in … Read more
What’s the difference between the CNS model and the Catholic model?
Another government, another disappointing day for education. Jan O’Sullivan has left her mark and I bet Ruairi Quinn is ruing the day he decided to address patronage in schools. Meanwhile Mary Hanafin is probably rubbing her hands in glee. It looks like despite all the flaws and all the secret deals with the Catholic Church that … Read more