One of the rules of National Schools that has been causing much debate over the last few years is Rule 68, developed in the 1960s. Last night, the Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan announced she was going to repeal it in January. This announcement sparked a number of radio debates about the role of religion … Read more
The education landscape used to be an easy one to maneuver. Between the 1920s and 1978, you could go to a primary school and it would be easy to identify it: Catholic, Church of Ireland (or some branch of Protestantism) and then there was a Jewish school. Everything changed when Educate Together came along in … Read more
Ask most teachers who the best education minister was and you’ll most likely hear the name, Donogh O’Malley. He has gone down in education folklore most notably for announcing free secondary education in Ireland. The timing of the announcement coincided with Ireland’s 50 year commemoration of 1916 and O’Malley is quoted as saying that the … Read more
It always strikes me as odd the stories about primary education that get noticed by the media. The majority of primary schools are wonderful places and have been through a terrible time over the last number of years with severe cuts to resources for children and yet primary schools seem to be able to achieve fantastic … Read more
Michelle McBride writes about healthy eating in schools in her article called “It is not teachers who sneak chocolate in kids’ lunchboxes.” in the Independent on the 21st October 2015. I agree with her that not every new social concern can be foisted on to the teacher’s desk but there are some issues within her … Read more
I was listening to a debate on the radio about the Angelus last week. The argument comes up every so often in the media and usually goes along the lines of somebody suggesting RTE should get rid of it from TV and lots of people spending their money texting about why it shouldn’t. RTE have decided, … Read more
There were a number of stories in the newspapers and media this week surrounding the question of religion in schools. This topic seems to be rearing its head more and more often. The last explosion of interest from the media were stories about children who had not been able to enrol in schools due to the religious beliefs … Read more
The Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 is the latest attempt by the government to come up with a strategy for the use of technology in education. Its timing is more interesting than the last few because it is accompanied by money. This article aims to summarise what’s on offer and how it’s all going to … Read more
Earlier this week, two army officials came to my school to present us with a copy of the Proclamation of Independence and an Irish Flag, which we will have to raise on March 15th 2016. This is all part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the 1916 Rising. However, should we be celebrating the 1916 … Read more
Droichead is a new model of induction and probation for newly qualified teachers, which has been introduced by the Teaching Council, and is currently in a pilot phase. The model will replace the current probation process where Department of Education inspectors evaluate all newly qualified teachers and deem them satisfactory or not to be a … Read more