Education – Page 23 – Slugger O'Toole

The schools are not the thing…

Mick Fealty on February 22, 2006, 8:36 pm

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Roisin McAuley has experience of the school system in England, and what she sees is an incoherent mess, rather than a system. She has three top tips, based on her experience, on the significance of schooling: Firstly, four things are important in education. Innate intelligence, home background, peer group and school. An intelligent child, with supportive parents and motivated friends at a good school, will rise to the top in any career. A child with any three of the above …

Rates increase funding headlines for Hain?

Pete Baker on February 21, 2006, 6:44 pm

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You wouldn’t know it if you relied on the NIO statement by Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, announcing the £35million Skills and Science Fund today, neither would you be aware of it from the BBC online report [perhaps they’ll update that? – Ed].. although the broadcast version of the report did mention it.. but that £35million is coming from the increase in regional rates of 19%, which Hain announced back in October 2005 – and, …

Honorary degrees for the politicians?

Mick Fealty on February 17, 2006, 2:45 pm

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Interesting piece in the The Gown’s (Queens Uni’s long running student newspaper) new blog which notes the growing trend towards awarding political figures honorary doctorates. Welcome to the blogosphere guys!! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

The Eleven plus, equality and social mobility

Mick Fealty on February 14, 2006, 2:11 pm

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One of the few genuinely political issues abroad in Northern Ireland at the moment is the abolition of the Eleven Plus exams which determine which of Northern Ireland’s Primary students will get one of the 9000 places in its Grammar schools. The last education minister Martin McGuinness brought in the legislation at the eleventh hour of the old Stormont regime, leaving (mostly) Unionist opponents no time to scrutinise his proposal. With direct rule ministers preparing legislation for Westminster next month …

Should the Eleven Plus be abolished?

Mick Fealty on February 8, 2006, 5:47 pm

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Martin McGuinness gets plaudits for the most memorable piece of legislation from the old Stormont Executive – abolishing the Eleven Plus examination. No one can serious argue that the exam was not antiquated, and inadequate for testing abilities beyond the crude aggregate measure of IQ. But as Angelique Christafis points out, this is a step that the British government is reluctant to take in England and Wales. Peter Hain talks about the apparent contradiction. Will it put NI’s high levels …

Integrated education and political outlook

Mick Fealty on January 18, 2006, 4:34 pm

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Apparently, according to a new piece of research published at Queens today, 94% of Protestant children attend de facto Protestant schools. The figure is only slightly lower for Catholics attending Catholic schools at 92%. However, the integrated sector which has grown from one school, Lagan College in 1981 to 57 drawing more than 17,000 pupils or 4.6% of the school population. It also suggests some trends that appear to be moderating political preferences: Particularly striking was: • 80% of Protestants …

On the peril of losing Grammar schools

Mick Fealty on January 16, 2006, 11:46 am

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I’m not sure the headline of this piece on Grammar school education is borne out in the body of the article, or in reality, where nationalists in general have been slow to defend Grammar schools in face of their pending abolition. But the figures quoted by Tom Peterkin are interesting, in that they show greater working class educational achievement in Northern Ireland than in Britain. International studies have revealed that 75 per cent of 17-year-olds in Northern Ireland are still …

Post-primary education changes announced

Pete Baker on December 6, 2005, 6:58 pm

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NIO Minister with responsibility for Education, Angela Smith, has announced the proposed changes to the post-primary education system, more information at the Department of Education website, and detailed in the draft legislation here[pdf file] – draft legislation that makes the supposed consultation period somewhat redundant. There’s also a Ministerial annoucment booklet[pdf file] They are sweeping proposals, but I’ll focus on the most controversial – the new selection procedure to replace the 11 plus. From the Department of Eductaion statement Academic …

Shortlist for specialist schools pilot

Pete Baker on November 21, 2005, 11:49 pm

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The Irish News had an exclusive today[reg req], the 13 post-primary schools shortlisted for approximately 10 places in the 4-year Specialist Schools Pilot and additional funding. A couple points that should, perhaps, be highlighted. On 6th September this year the Department of Education invited schools to apply to be included in the Specialist Schools Pilot stating that “The aim [of the pilot scheme] is to include schools that represent a range of management types; a geographical spread, involving rural and …

Department of Education gets its sums wrong

Pete Baker on November 2, 2005, 11:40 pm

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And over-allocates £1.3million in school budgets. As the BBC have reported, not all schools benefitted from the mistake, more than 500 schools had lower budget allocations than they should have received. It’s been described by the Department of Education as a minor error.. naturally. Oh and, obviously, no-one will be held responsible for the error.. certainly not the Minister with responsibility for Education.. whoever that is at the minute [actually it’s Angela Smith – Ed] and there will definitely not …

Will tuck shops be banned?

Pete Baker on September 29, 2005, 3:12 am

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I can accept that a good balanced diet assists learning, especially at primary and secondary school level, it would appear to make sense – although the actual evidence seems more anecdotal than scientific so far. But is it really necessary to introduce new legislation to force schools to apply that understanding to the food they supply to their students? and are NI schools really waiting until that legislation is introduced? Pete Baker

Parents will have last word on Grammar schools

Mick Fealty on August 30, 2005, 10:34 pm

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Newton Emerson compares the impending reform of the education system – ie the plan to abolish the eleven plus and move towards a comprehensive system – with the coercive integration of black and white children in Kentucky. The Catholic school system, which has already embraced the concept, may be the first victim, as parents move their children to non Catholic Grammar schools in pursuit of the best education on offer.By Newton Emerson: Last November I spent five days in Louisville, …

A-levels getting easier…

Belfast Gonzo on August 19, 2005, 5:00 am

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A YEAR from today, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a front page with the headline ‘100% success for all A-Level students’. Perhaps it’s because the discredited exams are getting easier. Well aren’t they? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Baccalaureate to shake up ‘flexible’ A levels

Mick Fealty on August 16, 2005, 4:41 pm

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It’s always good to see someone taking policy issue seriously. A Yank in Ulster looks at a proposal by Estelle Morris in today’s Guardian, not to abolish A Levels as such, but to introduce a common standard International Baccalaureate-style diploma to run alongside A Levels – and let the schools chose which one to run with. With some of the elite Universities pulling their corporate hair looking for a reliable marker for excellence – it may just catch on. It …

Xam Rslts by Txt

Green Bencher on August 5, 2005, 4:15 pm

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One thing summer in Northern Ireland always brings, if not the sun, is exam results. The Scottish Qualifications Authority is ditching ‘snail mail’ in favour of text to deliver results as part of a new pilot scheme being tested in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. Pupils will receive their results only after replying ‘Yes’ to a text from the SQA. Like most mobile services today, the SQA doesn’t manage to give exact details of how much the service will …

Education’s long term fear of failure

Mick Fealty on July 26, 2005, 5:46 pm

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Alex Kane picks up on a conversation that stopped locally when all ministers packed up their briefs and ambled off into a long hiatus in October 2002. However education is still a touchstone for important ideological divisions. According to Kane, what he see as the liberal tendency to dampen competition is running riot through the educational establishment.“Conference believes it is time to delete fail from the educational vocabulary, to be replaced with the concept of deferred success.” This is the …

Catholic church planning for drop in school numbers

Mick Fealty on June 16, 2005, 2:32 pm

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According to Father John McManus the Catholic Church is preparing for amalgamations of its schools in some areas of Northern Ireland: “There is a projected 16% decline. In the Larne area, that is 23% and in the Moyle area it’s 9% and in the Ballymena area it’s about 5%. So it is against that background that this preferred option is being presented. This is the establishment of a new 11-18 voluntary school to meet the post-primary needs of all of …

Court rules in favour of Autist Child

Ambrose Uprichard on June 5, 2005, 5:18 am

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The Belfast Telegraph this evening carries a report by Deborah McAleese on a “landmark ruling against the South Eastern Education and Library Board.” This strengthens the right of children with special needs to receive appropriate provision of services, and if refused to seek redress through the courts. Autistic boy wins ‘landmark’ case.After it was recommended that a six year old boy receive specialised schooling and as none was available in the area his parents asked for a home based package …

Report shows that education standards in NI slipping…

Bloomsday Girl on May 24, 2005, 10:08 pm

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A report from the chief Inspector of Education and Training Inspectorate shows that there is an unacceptable gap between low and high achievers. Are NI youth being failed by the system???School ‘failing youth of Northern Ireland’ Agencies Tuesday May 24, 2005 Too many young people in Northern Ireland are leaving school without qualifications, according to a report published today. In her second report on education in Northern Ireland, Marion Matchett, the chief inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate, said: …

Lack of accountability in Education Boards?

Pete Baker on April 4, 2005, 7:54 pm

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Let’s see now.. according to this BBC report, a NI Audit Office Dept of Education report into two of the Education Boards here “highlights serious failings in the execution of responsibilities within both boards and makes 49 specific recommendations for improvement relating to each board, its chief executive and chief finance officer” and, reportedly, accuses the two Chief Executives of a “very serious breach” of their responsibilities as accounting officers… but they ‘should not lose their jobs’. The actual report …