MULTI-DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION: in the Irish press

Irish Times, August 10, 2004: Catholic is not the only choice

I am rather amazed that I can still be amazed by this country. I tend to believe that my rueful delight in the joys and follies of Ireland has withstood all the craziness that its often bizarre institutions can throw at it. And then along comes a story like the one Lorna Siggins wrote about in this paper last week and a whole new vista of stupidity is opened up.

A madness I hadn't known about is revealed, writes Fintan O'Toole.

For those who missed it, here's a summary. A couple in a mixed marriage, John O'Donoghue and Catherine Sides, live in the north Clare village of New Quay. They want their daughter Katie to go to the community school in Gort, about 16 miles away, because it is non-denominational. The Gort school has a place for Katie. There is a school bus service from north Clare that serves it and the bus passes their front door. The Education Acts give parents the right to choose the school they think best for their children, so there's no problem.

Except that there is a nasty little trapdoor hidden in the Department of Education's regulations for the school bus service: "Pupils who would ordinarily qualify for transport to another catchment area may be allowed to board the bus provided that (a) no extra State cost is involved and (b) agreement of the management authorities of the school in their home centre is secured."

In effect, since the nearest school in most parts of Ireland is likely to be Catholic, those who control it have a veto on whether pupils in their catchment area can attend another school, a veto they may exercise to keep numbers up and to "protect" the faith. This is what has happened to Katie. The board of management of a convent school in Kinvara, Seamount College, has objected to Katie being allowed to get the bus to Gort.

What's bizarre is not that the school management should have exercised its apparent right to make it practically impossible for kids in their catchment area to get a non-denominational education but that, in a supposed republic, it should have that right in the first place. The real problem is that no one in political power wants to face the awkward but undeniable reality that thousands of citizens are being denied equal access to an education in line with their own values and that the church-based system we have had since the foundation of the State is utterly unsustainable.

That system is based on several assumptions: that the vast majority of parents want a faith-based education; that the same vast majority is Catholic; and that the waifs and strays who make up the rest of the population can be accommodated by their own schools. Those assumptions have always been highly questionable in principle, but in practice they were, for a long time, relatively unproblematic. It's news to no one that all of this has changed.

Catholics still make up the vast majority of the population, but very many of them now see non-denominational or multi-denominational education, with their emphasis on tolerance and respect for diversity, as more in keeping with their personal morality than a monolithic system could ever be. Meanwhile, religious and spiritual variety has been exploding at a rapid and ever-increasing rate, because of shifts within Irish culture and because of immigration.

Between the censuses of 1991 and 2002, the Islamic population has increased by 394 per cent; the Orthodox Christian population by a staggering 2,815 per cent; those belonging to minority religions other than the mainstream Protestant, Jewish, Islamic and Orthodox faiths by 102 per cent and those of no religion by 108 per cent.

Leaving aside the questions of principle about whether it's a good thing for a republic to create a plethora of educational ghettos for a multiplicity of groups, such a policy is now quite simply unaffordable. If the non-Catholic population was concentrated in the largest cities, it might be just about possible to give every faith or value system its own schools. But in fact, there are people who don't fit the current system all over Ireland.

Kerry, for example, has more than 10,000 people who belong to non-mainstream churches, who have no religion or who do not wish to be identified with any religious position. Even Leitrim has nearly 1,500 such people. There are 1,434 Buddhists scattered around the west of Ireland. There are almost as many Jehovah's Witnesses in the south-west as there are in Dublin. Eighty-seven people in the midlands defined themselves on their census forms as Pantheists.

Most of the kids in Co Clare, where Katie and her parents live, are Catholic, but the county's population under 24 years old, most of it in primary and secondary schools, also includes 3,640 children and young people in at least nine different religious categories.

Is the State really going to pay for the 20 or so new schools at each level that would be needed to cater for these kids in just one county under the current denominational system? Are we going to let the resentments fostered by forcing them all into a system controlled by one church fester until we have religious riots in our towns? Or will someone in power have the courage to start building an education system in which children of all religions and none are treated equally?

Fintan O'Toole

Irish Times, May 24, 2004: 1,000 are denied entry to Educate Together schools

John Downes

Parents of 1,000 children refused access to non-denominational Educate Together (ET) schools are to write to the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, demanding that their constitutional rights to such an education be upheld.

In his address to ET's annual general meeting at the weekend, Mr Paul Rowe, its chief executive, said its own research had revealed there were almost twice as many children entering its schools as leaving them. While this proved that the capacity of the ET sector would double in the next five years, over 1,000 children were unable to find a place in ET schools last year.

"We now will offer parents refused places in this way a standard letter to the Minister asking for a vindication of their constitutional rights.

"We must move towards the norm in developed democracies in which the State provides a network of schools that are legally obliged to operate inclusively - and simultaneously allow parents to choose specific religious instruction if they so wish."

If the State did not take action it was "inevitable" that parents would pursue a legal route to ensure that they had a choice in their type of schools.

"We do not believe that this structural issue should be resolved through a lengthy and difficult court process, as did the plight of children on the autistic spectrum. We believe this is a political issue that deserves prudent and timely action in the best interests of society.

"However, let no one be under any illusion that this issue can be skirted around or avoided." Increases in the requirements when applying for new schools, as well as the cost of making such applications, also made it harder for ET schools to be established in disadvantaged areas.

"We can no longer go forward with a system that gives a parent a right to an education that respects their preference and conscience, but only enables that right if they are prepared to find and combine with others in similar circumstances."

He said ET, which has opened three new schools since September, received €39,800 a year in funding from the State. This had not increased with inflation but had, in reality, decreased, as assistance for its education and training programmes had been reduced over the past two years.

© The Irish Times

THE RIGHT TO NON-DISCRIMINATORY EDUCATION: in the Irish press

Irish Times, May 10, 2004: Humanists protest at practices in education

Patsy McGarry

The Irish Humanists Association has written to all Government ministers and TDs requesting that "current discriminatory practices in State-funded education and medical institutions" be removed.

Writing in connection with the Equality Bill, 2004, currently before the Dáil, the association's chairman, Mr Billy Hutchinson, called for amendments to the Employment Equality Act, 1998, and the Equal Status Act, 2000, in line with EU directives. He pointed out that provisions in the 1998 Act allowed "such institutions to employ people only of a particular religion, and permits dismissal of employees for religious reasons", while the 2000 Act "permits primary and post-primary schools, whose objective is to promote certain religious values, to refuse to admit students not of that denomination". Under current legislation, he said, the State was "denying the rights of the many people working in and availing of these services; rights enjoyed by others outside of these sectors. While privately funded institutions have certain rights to control their ethos, we do not believe that the State should actively support these practices with taxpayers' money.

"State services should never be restricted to support the views of any one sector in society, a practice which has constitutional implications, runs counter to numerous international legal instruments to which Ireland is a signatory, and indefensible in the multicultural and diverse nature of modern Ireland, recently highlighted again in the latest census figures."

Mr Hutchinson said the association believed "this new Bill also provides the Government with an excellent opportunity to remove current discriminatory practices in State-funded education and medical institutions, which were enshrined in both Acts".

© The Irish Times

PLANNING FOR EDUCATION: in the Irish press

September 22, 2003

FAILURE TO PLAN FOR NEW SCHOOLS - Letters to the Editor, Irish Times

Madam,

   - The statement by the Department of Education, reported by Kathryn Holmquist in your edition of September 16th, that "it was Educate Together's responsibility to find a site" for its new school in Donabate/Portrane is misleading. It also illustrates once again the abject failure of State planning for schools. Fingal County Council has already reserved a site for a school in Donabate. It is on Corballis Road and was reserved at the bequest of the Department of Education. Educate Together, together with other school patron bodies, participated in this process through a liaison committee set up precisely for the purpose.

So the issue is not to "find a site". The real question is: "Why has this site not been prepared in time to address the needs of the rapidly expanding population in this area?"

The answer to this question will reveal that our Government does not consider it has the responsibility to provide schools for the thousands of families that it is encouraging to move into rapidly developing urban areas. As a result, despite school sites being reserved - sometimes for many years - nothing is done to ensure that they can be used on time.

Your readers may be astounded to discover that the only way that schools can be provided in areas of rapid housing growth is for voluntary groups of parents to combine to set them up and bear the full cost of convincing the State of their need.

I hope they will be outraged to find out that the State then insists that such groups have the responsibility to source accommodation for a new school for "seven to 10 years". This approach has resulted in the majority of the new schools that have opened in the past 10 years being forced to start in scout dens, rugby clubs, hostels, community halls, converted stables, and even the function rooms of golf clubs.

Rarely if ever have they been able to open in appropriate buildings. Such events have made our system of school opening a laughing stock in the developed world. It is this attitude that has caused the emerging crisis of school accommodation in Donabate; and if it is not corrected it will inevitably create similar expensive crises in all developing urban areas of the country. It is time that central and local government took responsibility for the educational infrastructure that is necessary for our future generations.

   - Yours, etc., PAUL ROWE, Chief Executive, Educate Together, Oak Drive, Dublin 12.

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

As Time Goes By: The State continues to fail to provide a 'certain minimum education' to all children with special needs

Breda O'Brien's inspiring review in the Irish Times (October, 2002) of A Mind at a Time, by the American professor of paediatrics, Mel Levine, described his life's mission 'to put an end to the kind of education which fails to see every child as an individual'.

A very worthy goal, indeed.

I was forced to give up my clerical job to teach my dyslexic son at home at home when, despite two educational psychologists' reports diagnosing his fairly severe dyslexia, he received no remedial education whatsoever in the local school.

The low self-esteem and bullying he experienced at that school as a result of his failure to achieve academically gave me no choice but to provide his education myself, as to leave him in the school situation could have had a detrimental effect on the development of his personality.

I feel that to achieve 'the kind of education that sees every child as an individual' in Ireland would require a completely new paradigm: rights-based education. Education based on the rights of the individual child.

But the 'Department of Education wearing its hairshirt for the next couple of years', to quote 'Lost for words' by Wyn McCormack (reviewed in The Irish Times, Education and Parenting, October 29, 2002) could result in fundamental educational deprivation for those Irish children whose learning needs are not currently being satisfactorily addressed.

The 2002 report from the Taskforce on Dyslexia revealed the frequency of dyslexia among Irish children - just under ten percent - and the long wait many children face before assessment by an educational psychologist.

The State continues to fail to provide the adequate remedial education and educational support to which these children have a right. An enumerated Constitutional right.

After children have initially fallen behind in the acquisition of basic skills, it is often very difficult for them to catch up. This failure is sometimes perpetuated for years as the student waits for assessment, or has inadequate educational support after assessment.

Offering statutory remedial education to the "lowest 2% of students only" denies the majority of the nearly-ten-percent of children with milder, but distinct, forms of learning disability their right to an education.

Saving money by finding excuses not to provide for the educational needs of the (approximately) 10% of children that have dyslexia or another type of relatively mild learning dysfunction is a false economy, for later on in the lives of the individuals that these children grow up to be, the State will spend so much more in its efforts to mend their damaged personalities by means of prison, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, social welfare, public information campaigns, and so on.

- Debra James

_______________________________________________________

SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION: in the Irish press

Irish Times, August 23, 2003:

INTO demands overhaul of special needs resources

The Department of Education moved yesterday to halt mounting anger amongst parents and schools by sending out 469 letters regarding special needs children who are about to start school.

A further 231 children ready to start school are still waiting for their applications to be processed. In addition, more than a thousand children who are already in school will have to wait until October for news on whether their requests for special teaching have been approved.

Yesterday's batch of letters will be received so late that hundreds of children starting school will be without the support services they need. This has caused a major "headache" for principals, and is depriving children of resources they deserve, according to the Irish National Teachers' Organisation.

The 469 letters were in response to a backlog of nearly 2000 applications, which have been held in a bottleneck since last February due to the illness of a Department of Education staff member. The INTO has demanded a complete overhaul of special needs resources.

The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has already ordered a review of services, to begin in September. Thousands of children have yet to see their cases addressed by the Department, stated the INTO.

"The reality of this is that schools and teachers will simply be unable to meet the special needs of these children without these resources," stated Mr John Carr, general secretary of the INTO. "Even those schools where resources have been granted are up against an impossibly tight schedule to be ready for next week when the new school year begins," he stated.

Jobs have to be advertised, interviews held and people appointed. This is simply not possible in the time available, according to Mr Carr. The INTO wants to see a new system whereby the provision of resources is based on the numbers of pupils in a school.

Currently, resources for each individual child must be applied for separately. This waiting game means that many schools are in danger of losing teachers who cannot be told if they have jobs or not.

Kathryn Holmquist

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

Irish Independent, August 26, 2003:

Staff shortage could hit special needs children

STUDENTS with special needs may be turned away from school next week because of the delay in appointing the necessary classroom support staff.

The warning has come from second-level school managers and principals who say many schools still don't know what resources they will be allocated by the Department of Education and Science. They say that even though schools have enrolled students they are unable to complete their timetables.

"Schools are unable to advertise, interview or offer contracts to prospective teachers and special needs assistants," according to a joint statement from three management bodies, the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, the Irish Vocational Education Association and the Joint Managerial Body of Secondary Schools as well as the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals.

There has been a delay in processing applications, but the department said it was committed to meeting the needs of pupils with special needs, in accordance with its criteria. There has been an explosion in demand for resource teachers and special needs assistants in the wake of a number of high-profile court cases on the educational rights of children with special needs.

Last year, resource teachers were being appointed at the rate of 100 per month, while special needs assistants were allocated at the rate of 65 a month. Until last June, the department sanctioned almost 2,500 resource teacher posts in primary schools, while the number of special needs assistants, full and part-time, stood at 5,460. At second-level, the allocation in respect of special needs students, was the equivalent of 1193 full-time posts up from 1,137 last year.

Applications have already been made for 700 new primary school pupils for September 2003 along with "a significant number" on behalf of pupils at other class levels. Processing applications involves a review of professional reports by the National Educational Psychological Service.

Katherine Donnelly

© Irish Independent

_______________________________________________________

Irish Independent, September 3, 2003:

Children with special needs are 'snubbed' in schools

SEVERAL Down's Syndrome children have been refused Special Needs Assistants at junior infant level in primary schools, it was claimed last night.

Maree O'Connor, education officer with Down Syndrome Ireland, said this was the first time they had been refused by the Department of Education and Science. "It's unprecedented they would be refused and granted zero hours special needs assistance," she added. She said parents of those refused were very upset as the children needed an ongoing level of support in the classroom and playground.

In one case a parent was sitting in her car outside the school, waiting all day in case the child "bolted." Ms O'Connor added that the majority of pupils were only getting the absolute minimum number of resource teaching hours this year, 2.5 hours per week and some clearly needed more than that. "The children are more than able to succeed in mainstream education with the proper level of support," she said.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a backlog of applications for help for special needs pupils with varying disabilities has been put on "hold" pending a census of special education provision in schools. It is understood the department has received 4,700 applications for special needs assistants, resource teaching hours or other forms of assistance.

Final decisions on the applications will not be taken until after the forthcoming census. In the meantime the INTO has negotiated with the department to allow schools flexibility to meet the needs of children. This can be done through any excess resource capacity in their schools or by operating on a more flexible basis.

John Walshe

© Irish Independent

_______________________________________________________

Irish Independent, September 5, 2003

Parents fume at cutbacks in special needs teachers

THE row over cuts in school support for children with special educational needs mounted last night as the Department of Education said not all Down Syndrome pupils merit the help of an assistant.

"How much Down Syndrome is my child supposed to have?" asked one disappointed member of the family support group, Down Syndrome Ireland. A number of children with Down Syndrome did not start school this week because requests for special needs assistants or resource teachers were not met, or only partly met.

Down Syndrome Ireland said they had been inundated with calls from "bewildered and angry" parents countrywide. Resource teachers provide educational support, while special needs assistants help with care issues, such as putting on/taking off shoes and coats, visits to the toilet and facilitating integration in the playground.

Following an explosion in demand for support for children with special educational needs in the past few years, the department is insisting that certain criteria are met before extra resources are provided. Last year children attending junior infants received between 10-20 hours per week special needs classroom support, but children starting this week have received zero hours.

There has also been a decrease in the number of resource teaching hours from a weekly average of 2.5-5 hours to 2.5 hours. Down Syndrome Ireland president Alan Crosbie said it highlighted a lack of focus and growing disregard for the needs of children with special needs.

"After the hype of the Special Olympics, our concerns about the government's commitment to answering the needs of people with disability are coming home to roost," he said.

The total number of special education posts approved since 1998 amounts to about 2,400 "full-time equivalent" resource teachers and about 5,000 special needs assistants, at an annual cost of €190m.

Katherine Donnelly

© Irish Independent

_______________________________________________________

SPECIAL NEEDS ASSISTANTS

Letters to the Editor, The Irish Times, September 6, 2003:

Madam, - As a clinician working in the field of intellectual disabilities, I am incredulous at the implementation this school year of extraordinary narrow guidelines for the granting of special needs assistants in the classroom.

These guidelines have had a devastating effect on many parents seeking to promote positive learning opportunities for their children. What is absolutely self-evident is the total lack of understanding by the Department of Education of the learning needs of special needs children. This augurs very badly for the proposed Education Disability Bill and is a harbinger of greater restrictions to come.

The Minister of Education, who has flown many political kites, cannot be so politically naďve as not to comprehend the alienating effect of this policy on parents who seek inclusive education for their children.

  - Yours, etc., STEPHEN KEALY, Director of Psychology, Sisters of Charity Services, Moore Abbey, Monasterevan, Co Kildare

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

EDUCATION WELFARE BOARD: in the Irish press

September 12, 2003:

Dempsey caned for failure to appoint education chiefs

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey has angered the boards of two prominent educational agencies by failing to appoint top officials or give other supports. The two are the National Adult Learning Council and the National Education Welfare Board. The council was set up in March 2002 following a Government decision and it brings together all the main adult education interests. However, its first annual report slams the delay in signing the ministerial order which would give the council legal status.

Prof Noel Whelan, who chairs the council, says until it gets legal status and a chief executive officer it is unable to realise its full potential. The confidential report, seen by the Irish Independent, says it has been decided that the administrative offices will be located in Dublin. However, the council is unable to enter into a contract to secure premises in the absence of legal status. It is therefore waiting on the department to acquire premises for the Council's administrative purposes. Mr Dempsey told the Dail last year that the necessary ministerial order was in the course of preparation in his department and that he was anxious to sign it as soon as possible. His reply is included as an appendix in the report.

Meanwhile, the National Education Welfare Board is also furious over delays in sanctioning a new CEO. Mr Dempsey is still "sitting on" a recommendation that he should appoint acting chief executive Eddie Ward to the post. Mr Ward is on secondment from the department to the position but board members are angry over delays in making the appointment permanent, as had been recommended by an appointments committee. The board - which is charged with tackling school absenteeism - has sent several letters of complaint to the minister and is still seeking a meeting with him. It had initially sought €13m for its operations this year but was allocated only €5.4m.

John Walshe, Education Editor

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

RELIGION AND EDUCATION: in the Irish press

Irish Times, July 4, 2003:

'Outrage' at obstacles faced by multi-denominational schools

Christine Newman, Oireachtas committee

Parents who want their children educated in multi-denominational schools felt a sense of outrage, anger, bewilderment and betrayal that they faced so many obstacles, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.

A call for a complete rethink of Department of Education procedures was made by Mr Paul Rowe, CEO of Educate Together, a registered charity, at the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science. Educate Together schools were obliged to respect and actively support the social, cultural and religious identity of all children, he said. It received €38,500 per annum from the State.

Mr Rowe said 99 per cent of national schools were denominational. The State was funding and supporting an overwhelming monopoly. The mechanism for the creation of a new school was inadequate and basically flawed. It was unplanned and under-resourced, and depended entirely on local voluntary initiative.

"The central failure is that it depends utterly upon the ability of a voluntary group of parents to source suitable temporary accommodation," he said.

Of the 28 schools operated by Educate Together in the State 15 remained in temporary accommodation, and the average time taken to access a permanent building was 10 years. This year the viable demand for six new Educate Together schools had been recognised by the New Schools Advisory Committee.

However, the Minister had approved these schools only on condition that they could provide accommodation themselves. "A significant number will be unable to do so, and as a result the constitutional rights of the parents and children concerned will be violated.

"It would be remiss of me not to convey to you the sense of outrage, anger, bewilderment and betrayal that people placed in such a situation feel," he said.

Mr Rowe said they had a programme of comparative religious education which embraced all aspects of identity and celebrated main faith festivals.

Ms Jane McCarthy, development officer, said it cost from €30,000 and €40,000 to actively set up a school, and so the parents had to pay that sum. This also made it difficult to establish a school in a disadvantaged area.

"There is a feeling of anger out there at what is perceived as unfairness because they are exercising their constitutional right to choose," she said.

Mr Rowe said they proposed that the State should create a national network of schools that operated under a legal charter guaranteeing that the identity of all children was respected, irrespective of their social, cultural or religious backgrounds. This network should be in schools owned by the State, developed in the context of the National Development Plan and protected by ring-fenced funding.

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

Irish Independent, July 3, 2003:

School building needs 'still not being addressed'

AN immediate supplementary budget for primary education was called for last night by a dozen organisations representing parents, teachers, pupils and school managers.

The call was made as Minister Noel Dempsey revealed that it would cost €1.5bn over the next few years to address the capital needs in the primary education sector. He told Fine Gael's Padraig McCormack in a Dail reply that he was in discussions with the Minister for Finance to secure a 4-5 year funding 'envelope' for the schools' building programme.

But in a joint statement 12 organisations said there was a national crisis in primary school buildings and facilities that needed to be addressed now. They said money was needed immediately for schools that did not have adequate accommodation for existing or new pupils or for those with special needs. They also called on the Government to implement a comprehensive five-year plan to tackle all school accommodation problems and adequately resource the planning and building section of the Department of Education and Science.

The signatories included Rev Dan O'Connor, Secretary, Catholic Primary School Managers Association, Paul Rowe from Educate Together, Kathryn Sinnott of the HOPE project, as well as representatives of the INTO, the Children's Rights Alliance, and the Islamic Education Board. Meanwhile INTO president Sean Rowley claimed that 2,000 applications for special needs resources had still not been examined by the Department.

© Irish Independent

_______________________________________________________

Irish Times, June 11, 2003:

Schools for all religious persuasions 'cannot open everywhere'

THERE cannot be a series of non-denominational, multi-denominational and single denominational schools "at every crossroads in the country", Education Minister Noel Dempsey said in the Dail yesterday.

He said while the State has an obligation to provide educational facilities, it does not have a constitutional obligation to provide schools of a particular ethos "everywhere they are demanded".

Answering questions on religious teaching in schools, Mr Dempsey said the chief executive of the primary section of the National Parents Council had assured him it had not formally called for a debate on the matter. However, Mr Dempsey said he was aware issues relating to religious education were of real concern to parents.

The increasingly multicultural nature of the schoolgoing population, growing diversity of beliefs, values and lifestyles in Irish society, desire of parents to arrange for education in a school whose religious ethos coincided with their own and the demand for increased choice had all given rise to a focus on this issue, the minister said.

He pointed out that most schools which had been provided in the last number of years have been non-denominational, generally gaelscoileanna and "educate together" schools. Minister Dempsey said he had no objection to anyone setting up a forum on the teaching of religion in schools - but he had no intention of doing so.

Geraldine Collins, Dail Correspondent

© The Irish Times

_______________________________________________________

TEACHING RELIGION IN SCHOOLS

(Letters to the Editor, The Irish Times, May 24, 2003)

Madam,

- We are second-level students currently studying Religious Education for the Junior Certificate and, in the course of our studies, we feel there are some issues that need to be raised.

Neither of us is Roman Catholic nor have we been raised as practising Catholics. We came to our school with little knowledge of Catholic beliefs or those of any other major world religion.

Now, two years on, we have a relatively well-rounded knowledge of Catholic morals, beliefs, sacraments and celebrations. However, in these two years we have not studied any other world religion in half as much detail.

We are not criticising either our school or its teachers and we fully understand that ours is a Catholic school, but we also understand that there are a number of non-Catholic and non-Christian students in the school. As two of these students, we feel that this one-dimensional syllabus neglects other aspects of religious education and even goes as far as treating non-Catholic students with disdain.

- Yours, etc., ANA KINSELLA and T. BRADY, Dartry, Dublin 6.

© The Irish Times

______________________________________________________

Multi-denominational schools -Hundreds 'being left in limbo' on school places

Hundreds of children and their parents have been left in limbo by Education Minister Noel Dempsey's failure to decide whether to recognise new schools

______________________________________________________

May 6, 2003: Religion and Education: Allegations of religious bias in schools increase

______________________________________________________

21st-century Education: Points race stress 'may spark violence in young'

Katherine Donnelly: 'an education system driven by the "points race" may be contributing to growth in random acts of violence by young people', article in Irish Independent, May 16, 2003

_______________________________________________________

LEARNING LIFE SKILLS AT SCHOOL

(Letters to the Editor, The Irish Times, May 13, 2003)

Madam,

- May I respond to Kathleen Long (May 9th), who took exception to Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary of April 30th?

I am sitting the Leaving Certificate this June, and like thousands of other students, I am leaving school without having been taught the most basic life-skills ("mortgages, money management, investments, the law, engineering computers, sexuality, the biosphere, road usage").

This is in no way a reflection on our teachers, who work their socks off to prepare us for the regurgitation of petty "learned-by-heart" information for the exams, but on the inadequacies and poor guidance of the Irish education system.

The main goal of students is to achieve in getting the number of points required to enter their chosen third-level course.

They would love to learn "basic life-skills" but this would mean sacrificing some of the precious time they have to study subjects that will ultimately put points on the board.

One could argue that some of these topics are dealt with in social and scientific home economics; but what about students who have to take science subjects and/or European languages instead because you cannot enter a certain course in a certain institution without an honours grade in these subjects?

This is just one of many faults of our "world-class education system", which leaves us unprepared for the real world and the social obstacles we may face: how best to escape the ever-increasing street violence, or avoid being infected with a sexually transmitted disease, or taking out a sky-high mortgage.

Why should we work so hard (which we do, contrary to popular belief), if we are just left feeling bitter, disappointed, and unappreciated.

Yes, we have "moved on", but to where?

- Yours, etc., BRIAN DALY, Strandside North, Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

© The Irish Times

_________________________________________________

Schools and Responsibility

"The objective of getting all school-aged children to school and keeping them there until they attain the minimum defined in compulsory education is routinely used in the sector of education, but this objective does not necessarily conform to human rights requirements. In a country where all school aged children are in school, free of charge, for the full duration of compulsory education, the right to education may be denied or violated. The core human rights standards for education include respect of freedom. The respect of parent's freedom to educate their children according to their vision of what education should be has been part of international human rights standards since their very emergence."
-Statement by the Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 8th April 1999 re Family H v The United Kingdom 1984 37 DR 105 at 108