The revelation by Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald, in an interview with Miriam O’Callaghan, that he was horribly bullied in school will surprise many. His description of an incident which took place on a bus where bullies pulled the shirt off his back and wrote...
I remember writing to the Advertising Standards Authority regarding a radio ad for Ashfield College which I felt was dismissive of and seeking to undermine Transition Year (TY), a year that has enormous benefits for students by implying it was a wasted year and a...
I grew up in an era when if you made a mistake and realised it, the correct thing to do was to admit you were wrong, seek to correct it, apologise and move on. I continue to be amazed at the media reaction to Minister Quinn’s admission that he got it wrong with...
I was delighted to hear the radio ad from the Institute of Guidance Counsellors reminding the public of their availability in their local school to advise parents and students about filling in CAO forms. Just as the arrival of the first swallows signifies an...
Media comment over Christmas concentrated on the impact on schools, and the effects on pupils, of having to offer a guidance service outside the quota in the next school year, as well as offering a number of articles on the rights and wrongs of fee charging schools. I...
I think the best aspect of the Budget as regards to second level education was the decision to leave the pupil teacher ratio at 19 to 1. As with most budgets, the devil is in the detail and with some changes and amendments to programmes there will be a reduction of...
League tables, as published in Irish newspapers, feed into a mindset which regards a good teacher as one who teaches to the test. Glorifying schools where 100% of students go to third level presupposes that the purpose of our second level system is to filter students...
