John O’Dowd – Slugger O'Toole

“It would be somewhat hypocritical to turn round and support strike action…”

The Firemen on March 13, 2015, 10:14 pm

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listen to ‘Sinn Fein Flip Flop ’ on audioBoom On Talkback today, Will Crawley played this recording of Sinn Fein Education Minister John O’Dowd to remind Declan Kearney of his party’s disapproving stance of the strikes today, just last week: But this [strike] is part of an opposition to the Stormont House Agreement, and I think that’s a mistake. There is a fundamental mistake in the strategy of the unions that are being opposed to the Stormont House Agreement. I …

Has Martin McGuinness blocked John O’Dowd’s proposed abolition of the Catholic certificate?

Mick Fealty on February 10, 2015, 9:53 am

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This is the story of two Ministers, John O’Dowd and Martin McGuinness. They’re not brothers, but political comrades in the same party. In this episode of Stormont Soap the Sinn Fein Education Minister protests that he wants to remove Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies. The Catholic Certificate in Religious Education also just happens to represent a key argument in the continued independence of St Mary’s College, where almost all new teachers for the Catholic maintained schools system are trained. At the same time, the Sinn Fein …

St Mary’s: Accommodation or Integration?

SituationNI on January 27, 2015, 4:20 pm

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At the heart of the debate on the future of St Mary’s College is a wider one about the future of education in Northern Ireland. How do we want our children to be educated? Do we want a system that prioritises parental choice between different sectors or one that maximises opportunities for children from different backgrounds to learn together? A number of recent developments highlight a lack of unified education planning by the Executive. Last Friday the DUP launched its …

“that’s the trojan horse of the entire republican strategy…”

Pete Baker on November 25, 2014, 8:07 pm

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From his reported comments, it would appear that Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, the Northern Ireland Education Minister, has, at best, a flawed “understanding” of his party president’s comments last night – and, hence, a flawed “understanding” of his party’s entire strategy. From the UTV report Mr O’Dowd added that his understanding of Mr Adam’s ‘Trojan horse’ comment was that it was about overcoming bigotry, sectarianism and homophobia. He added: “There are very well fortified positions which people are protecting against …

O’Dowd invite to prize giving rescinded

David McCann on October 28, 2014, 3:34 pm

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Simon Doyle has an interesting story in today’s Irish News. The Education Minister, John O’Dowd was invited to be the guest of honour at Parkhall Integrated College at their annual prize giving ceremony. I remember when I was in first year, my school scoring David Trimble as First Minister to come in and chat to us and it really is a real coup when any minister comes into recognise the work being done by students and teachers. Back to the …

Listen back to West Belfast Talks Back – Gaza, LGBT rights, lights out, #indyref & Haass #wbtalksback

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 6, 2014, 10:56 pm

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Noel Thompson swapped the comfy chair in the Good Morning Ulster studio to be ringmaster at West Belfast Talks Back this evening with Danny Kennedy (UUP, Minister of Regional Development), Fr Tim Bartlett (Catholic Church), Rev Dr Leslie Carroll (Presbyterian) and John O’Down (Sinn Féin, Minister of Education) in front of an audience of three hundred. You can listen back to debate in two halves [two MP3s]. listen to ‘1/2 West Belfast Talks Back at @feilebelfast’ on Audioboo With no …

O’Dowd banking on Donegal students to keep tiny border secondary off ‘the green mile…’?

Mick Fealty on June 27, 2014, 5:18 pm

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So good news for the people of Belleek. St Mary’s High School in Brollagh, near the village on the Fermanagh border have a reprieve from closure. The tiny secondary school has just 121 students, and attracts about half the pupils transferring from nearby primary schools. From the BBC report: Simon Bradley, the acting principal of the school, said the news it would not be closed came as a shock. “I think, like most people within the education community, were quite stunned …

All early redundancies are cancelled until SF Education Minister regains control of its budget

Mick Fealty on June 24, 2014, 1:38 pmComments Off | Readers 1959

So, here’s a little detail that seems to have slipped off the agenda of the Minister for Education in the Assembly yesterday… Maggie Taggart reports… One hundred and twenty school staff, including teachers, who thought they were getting redundancy deals have now been told they must stay on next term. Schools had applied for a total of 167 redundancies. However, the only ones approved by the department are those in schools that are closing or amalgamating. Even 28 redundancies which met …

Wales gets its Barnett boost as O’Dowd’s decision on common funding formula is ‘reversed’…

Mick Fealty on February 17, 2014, 4:41 pm

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So, here’s John O’Dowd trying to explain why the money he threatened to take away from schools will no longer be taken away. He explains that he knew all along that he had an extra set of contingency cash of up to £15.8 million to fill the hole his proposals make. There were 15,000 responses to the proposed changes. Afterwards Sheila Davidson called it political playacting: The fact remains that an awful lot of school resources went into responding. It seems to …

NSMC: “Ministers re-affirmed that a final report on the results from the survey and proposals on the way forward will be available for consideration no later than their first NSMC Education meeting of 2013”

Pete Baker on December 11, 2013, 5:19 pm

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As the BBC reports, the Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee, the DUP’s Mervyn Storey, wants the NI Education Minister, Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd, to publish the findings of a “joint attitudinal survey to inform cross-border pupil movement and school planning”, which was conducted a year ago for the North South Ministerial Council. From the BBC report The Stormont minister for education has been challenged to publish the findings of a survey of attitudes to schooling in the border counties. …

Gove calls for a split with Wales and NI on GCSE and A Level reform…

Mick Fealty on May 21, 2013, 11:18 am

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Here’s one to put on the long term forecast. Michael Gove was over last week (not that our Education Minister was very forthcoming on what they actually talked about)… and now he has announced there is such a gap between his reforms in GCSE and the way it is done in Wales and Northern Ireland that there may have to be a split. John O’Dowd has said that he has no principled objection to the change. But that’s not been …

OFMdFM panic move was “like a funding application where the Secretary of State had cracked the whip”

Mick Fealty on May 16, 2013, 1:52 pm

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Well, here’s a bit of a YouTube Smorgasbord of comment on OFMdFM’s Towards a United Community… It’s telling that the joint tactics of the representatives of the OFMdFM parties used a lot of shouting, jeering and intervention to smother what was in aggregate a decent three pointed challenge from Alliance, the UUP and the SDLP… First word to the two boys, starting with the history of this document going right back to Des Brown’s launch of the Shared Future consultation …

“But we’re still part of the UK…”

Pete Baker on April 10, 2013, 10:02 pm

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The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, and Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey, MLA, appeared separately on UTV Live this evening to give their thoughts on the 15th anniversary of the 1998 Agreement. Apparently Alex Maskey hadn’t arrived at the studio in time for the first segment… Whether by accident, or design, it was left to presenter Seamus McKee Paul Clark to ask the obvious question to Alex Maskey’s opening assertion. Here’s what the Sinn Féin MLA claimed The fundamental difference between before the …

Schools Common Funding Scheme Review: “with close monitoring and intervention when outcomes are not satisfactory…”

Pete Baker on January 21, 2013, 4:15 pm

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The BBC’s Martina Purdy has a short report on the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Common Funding Scheme, as appointed by the NI Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, on 12 June 2012. The ministerial welcome for the publication of the review is here. From the BBC report The panel examined the Common Funding Schemes and found that it was outdated, too complicated and failing pupils. The gap between the best and worst performing schools was wider than other …

Education Minister refuses to provide colleagues with a breakdown of £2 Billion of funding for schools…

Mick Fealty on May 21, 2012, 10:36 am

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So there’s been a little addendum to the sudden, and last minute, reappearance of £72 million in funding in the Department of Education just before the minister was expected to explain his spending patterns to the Finance Minister. It seems the Finance Minister is not best pleased [Ahem, well we did suggest he mightn’t be – Ed] On the Radio Ulster lunchtime news bulletin on Friday, Martina Purdy noted this little number (which seems not to have made it to …

Without a new approach to Education, the Minister is condemned to micromanaging micro outcomes…

Mick Fealty on May 10, 2012, 1:53 pm

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Well, I didn’t hear it, but apparently the Education minister John O’Dowd let rip this morning on the Nolan Show (42 minutes). But some time earlier, his party colleague Daithi McKay gave a fairly calm account of the Department’s request to school inspectors to report primary schools found to be giving special tuition to pupils sitting grammar school entrance exams: listen to ‘John O’Dowd urges school inspectors to report schools preparing for transfer tests’ on Audioboo I know of no …

“I believe that schools are best placed to make decisions in light of what they believe is in the best interests of their pupils.”

Pete Baker on March 12, 2012, 3:58 pm

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So sayeth the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd. He’s not, however, speaking about academic selection… Following a 12-week public consultation on GCSE reform, which ended on 30 December 2011, the NI Education Minister has decided to give no direction on whether schools should use unitised or linear GCSEs. [Let the market decide! – Ed] Indeed. From the ministerial press release Following a 12-week consultation the Minister has decided not to follow England where, following a decision by Secretary of State for …

“all schools in the Catholic sector should move to an alternative form of transfer as soon as possible and by no later than 2012…”

Pete Baker on February 13, 2012, 11:12 pm

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Six years in the writing, the Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education (NICCE) has published its Post-Primary Review Strategic Regional Report. It’s a mixture of proposals of limited school closures, amalgamations… and wishful thinking. As the BBC reports, Catholic Church representatives have been focusing on one issue in particular. Cardinal Brady was speaking at St Mary’s College in Belfast when he criticised continuing academic selection by schools. “It is totally unacceptable that some Catholic schools are, in effect, becoming all ability …

John O’Dowd: the education debate is “continuing in a better atmosphere” but it’s not yet time for all-party talks

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 3, 2012, 8:50 am

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John O'Dowd on East Belfast Speaks Out panel

I grabbed a very quick interview with Education Minister John O’Dowd as he headed down the corridor in Ashfield Boys School to go home after last night’s East Belfast Speaks Out community hustings. In the past few months he’s announced reductions in school budgets, given a partial reprieve after finding extra money for his department, and most recently announced a shake up of SEN/statementing. I asked whether this was all not a lot for school principals to have to deal …

“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 …