Education – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

Is my education system better than your education system? Finland vs the world.

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 31, 2011, 3:13 pm

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Depending on who you ask, Scotland has a world class education system, a Northern Ireland grammar school education is the envy of the UK, and pupils from Anahilt primary school go on to dominate the head girl and head boy posts in local post-primary schools (according to a leaflet in Lisburn Library). Idly browsing through some tweets this morning I noticed a link to an article in The Atlantic about the Finnish education system which has been at or near …

GCSE results … and 9,000 sixteen year olds

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 8, 2011, 7:15 pm

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Jonathan Craig - MLA and chair of the board of governors of Laurelhill Community College

(Blog posts are better when they cover one idea at a time. This follows on from the previous post about the Belfast Telegraph’s coverage of Laurelhill Community College’s inspection report.) The front page of the Laurellhill Community College website links to a news item from August which – while omitting any figures – explains: the number of pupils being awarded the highest GCSE grades A* to C has risen again in Laurelhill Community College. It was particularly pleasing to see …

Which hat is a politician wearing when they speak? Readers need context.

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 8, 2011, 3:45 pm

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Jonathan Craig - MLA and chair of the board of governors of Laurelhill Community College

An article in Wednesday’s Belfast Telegraph [not online] (that made it onto the front page by the evening edition) drew attention to the latest Education and Training Inspectorate report on Laurelhill Community College in Lisburn. Lindsay Fergus reported that: A sixth secondary school in greater Belfast has been placed under special measures after being found to be inadequate by Government inspectors. Laurelhill Community College was criticised for “inadequate” standards achieved by key stage four pupils. The percentage of pupils achieving …

Peter Robinson tactics, strategy and Stranmillis

Turgon on November 30, 2011, 10:16 pm

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Mick has a blog on Alex Kane’s latest column looking at Peter Robinson’s conference speech below as has Chris Donnelly. One line in it struck me that Robinson was a master strategist. I have in the past described Robinson as a good tactician but a poor strategist. However, more recently I have begun to think I was wrong and that the tactics had become so long term that they had become a strategy. Indeed the vision sketched out by Robinson …

Northern Ireland youth and the critical importance of mobility…

Mick Fealty on November 24, 2011, 2:35 pm

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There’s an interesting longitudinal research just published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the problems faced by 18 young people growing up in Northern Ireland. Each were interviewed up to seven times since the research began back in 1997. They’re all now aged 25 to 33. It tells a series of stories (without pretending it is the real and definitive story) about the first generation to grow up in a largely trouble free society. But it’s work in trying to …

The not-so-elitist grammar school education (with the exception of Lumen Christi and Rathmore)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 23, 2011, 10:28 pm

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An article in today’s Belfast Telegraph [some detail now online] contains the results of this year’s Freedom of Information trawl around NI grammar schools to find out about their Year 8 entrance policies for the 2011 intake. With two different exam systems (AQE and GL assessment), varying degrees of using the overall scores or grades/quintiles, and some schools , the results are even more difficult to compare than last year (which I posted about in September). The chart below shows …

“Nonsense, Minister.” – Redux

Pete Baker on November 18, 2011, 4:54 pm

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Sinn Féin’s ideologically driven campaign against grammar schools continues, and it’s the Northern Ireland Education Minister, SF’s John O’Dowd, who’s making the strange claims. When the Association of Quality Education (AQE) tests were being sat this year the Minister labelled them “a clever marketing device”. For the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) of schools, who will use a separate assesment test this weekend, he has claimed there is an anonymous “private donor” paying for it. From the BBC report “We have a private donor …

Robinson: “shared education is the way forward”

Patrick Corrigan on November 15, 2011, 6:35 pm

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I was fortunate enough to catch the end of an event in Newcastle last night when children from thirteen maintained, controlled and integrated primary schools ‘graduated’ from the Shared Languages, Shared Cultures programme, run by the town’s Shimna Integrated College. The programme, supported by Queen’s University’s Sharing Education Programme (hats off to Prof Tony Gallagher) and funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and businessman Gerard O’Hare, recently picked up the TES Outstanding Community Partnership Award. The TES judges’ commented: “The main hope for …

Hutton: the future in Belfast MUST be flexible

Mick Fealty on November 10, 2011, 3:01 pm

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We’ll be coming back to the Creating a Good Economy conference several times over the next few days… Between Alan, Geoff and Ivor we’ve a shed load of content to share. There was lots of good stuff. Two things stand out: one Arlene’s insistence that the late arrival of the programme for government would have an negliable effect on confidence in Northern Ireland; and two Will Hutton, for many years the imaginative genius behind the Work Foundation, bluff call to …

“You’re not being taught to think outside the box, to think differently from other people…”

Mick Fealty on October 18, 2011, 10:53 am

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Great to see Eamonn dip his toes in the Audioboo waters, not least using that great address book he has… in this piece he talks to the Northern Bank economist Angela McGowan… Skills base deficit hurting economy here (mp3) A good way through, Eamonn invites Angela to comment on educational deficits, at which she notes the real problem with NI education is the general capture by rote learning (cramming for examinations), which is killing innovation… Would have liked to have …

GCSE reform: “It is unlikely that the Minister’s decision on this issue would stop the current position…”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2011, 5:25 pm

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In June this year the UK Government’s Education Secretary, Michael Gove, welcomed Ofqual’s proposals for making changes for GCSE courses and, on 27 September, a consultation was launched on changes to the current GCSE specifications in England. Today the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, launched a consultation on on making the same changes to current GCSE specifications here. In England the consultation ends on 4 November, here it continues until 30 December. According to the Northern Ireland consultation document [pdf file] It is …

“A considerable element of this will be financed by charging higher fees to students from England, Scotland and Wales.”

Pete Baker on September 12, 2011, 5:41 pm

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With the headlines grabbed on Thursday, and the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers off to Hollywood [USA], the only thing left for Employment and Learning Minister, Stephen Farry, to do was to inform the NI Assembly of the details on tuition fees. According to the BBC report “These decisions are a clear indication that the executive is working for Northern Ireland,” [Stephen Farry] said. “For our future students, for our graduates and indeed for their families and the economy. “A considerable element of …

One School of Thought Campaign launch open letter calling for Integrated Education

Turgon on September 7, 2011, 6:58 pm

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The One School of Thought Campaign has sent an open letter to our MLAs calling on them to reform education here. The group is pro integration: they call on the Education Minister to: To establish a Commission in this Assembly term. This Commission should be charged with: • Bringing forward recommendations to resolve all the outstanding issues in education; • Ensuring that these recommendations shape a system fit for the 21st Century in which all children learn and are taught …

Grammar school intake – hoovering up pupils at the expense of local secondary schools?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 3, 2011, 9:15 am

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Chart showing which how pupils at each grade and quintile that were accepted in by each Grammar school in 2010

Having posted about and charted the recent GCSE results, my thinking turned to that old chestnut of grammar school intake. While some grammar schools manage to fill their First Form Year 8 places with pupils achieving the top grades/marks in transfer tests, others fill up with local students right the way across the academic spectrum. The Belfast Telegraph normally splash with them in mid-October when they have been collated (ie, FOIed). The 2011 figures aren’t yet available, so the charts …

What’s the real story behind today’s GCSE results?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 25, 2011, 10:31 pm

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GCSE English results

Much of the mainstream media’s reporting around this morning’s GCSE results has focussed on the highest grades. The clipping to the right (from a BBC News online article) is a typical example. Not much mention of any grade below C. Mick’s post from earlier today has already started some discussion. The disparity between male and female results is very noticeable in a subject like English. This year 24.5% of girls opened their envelope to discover they had been awarded an …

What do the GCSE Results tell us about employment propects?

Mick Fealty on August 25, 2011, 2:54 pm

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The truth is, probably not a great deal. The trend in Northern Ireland is pretty established: best top end performances in the UK; and the worst record of students leaving with no qualifications at all. Education Minister John O’Dowd has been questioned several times about a .5% drop in the NI performance; which, to be fair to the Minister, is probably neither here nor there. The real problem is that after four years of Education being devolved to Stormont we …

Farry’s dilemma over variable tuition fees deepens…

Mick Fealty on August 25, 2011, 11:11 am

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Good piece from Liam Clarke noting that the Scottish First Minister’s cunning plan to close the funding hole in his Higher Education budget by charging non Scotland domiciled students up to £9,000 pa whilst delivering it free to local students is facing a legal challenge, creates further problems for Higher Education minister Stephen Farry… It’s a particular problem for Queens – a member of the prestigious Russell Group of Universities, many of whom will have the freedom in England to …

Platform for Change should go to ground

Brian Walker on June 8, 2011, 10:11 pm

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Following on from Gladys’s post, some thoughts about Platform for Change from a well-wisher. Robin Wilson’s powerful analysis of the party manifestos in the recent election reached the predictable conclusion: “It is clear on the one hand that the ‘unionist’ manifestos tend to uphold ‘traditional’ Protestant-communalist positions on issues like parades, which can only continue to antagonise Catholics and others committed to human-rights norms. On the other, it is equally clear that the ‘nationalist’ manifestos adopt Catholic-communalist positions resisting governance …

Local democracy, a Big Idea for the new Assembly

Brian Walker on May 14, 2011, 8:03 pm

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What chance now for more normal politics after the smash victories of the DUP and Sinn Fein? The pessimistic answer is that with an even firmer grip on their electorates, deadlock in government will tighten further, as a natural consequence of a system that insulates each party from the wider interests of the community as a whole. That may be so. And yet there are reasons for hope. Their rhetorical unity in the face of the dissident republican threat was impressive. There is every …

Alliance go back to college and work – what did their manifesto say about DEL?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 14, 2011, 7:23 pm

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stephen farry alliance

In the end, I never got round to reading the 150 page Alliance manifesto before the election. On Friday night, the five main parties informally ran d’Hondt to select their ministries – and announced the informal selections via the Executive’s twitter account, controversially some suggest – allowing them to spend the weekend making informed choices about suitable ministers from their elected MLAs. With nine ministries selected, Alliance had no option but take the remaining Department for Employment and Learning as …