What's the talk of education?
REVIEW OF CUTS TO DISADVANTAGED SCHOOLS
Last night in the Dáil Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn said that he would be reviewing the cuts to disadvantaged schools on a school-by-school basis. What will this mean? If you have a local Labour TD will your school be saved from cuts? This is the same minister who says that he wants to be the best minister ever. Sounds like gombeenism to me. Why did he attack disadvantaged schools in the first place and leave private schools and schools in well-to-do areas like his own alone? – greengreen, politics.ie
Surely it is better to have a Government and a minister who engages in debate in the national parliament, listens to that debate, considers what members say and responds positively. The alternative is the so called "Social Partnership" approach where it was the vested interests who were listened to and the elected representatives of the people ignored that led us to where we are. – cllr, politics.ie
Ruairi Quinn looking for report on the impact of the DEIS cuts is a bit like running someone down in your car then asking for their x-rays – @dynamoshels
Min Quinn wants report on impact of DEIS cuts? Surely any report should have been done before he announced cuts! Reverse the cuts – @JOBrien
CAO POINTS SET TO RISE
Irish colleges should pay more attention to the students they take in. Forget CAO. Focus on quality not quantity. Potential not points. – @aofarre
I wish after the results and CAO offers come out you could gift your points you don’t need to people who do need them. – @NiamhChinnOir
Do you need CAO points to be a drag queen? :) – @thedeadone
FINDING GRADUATE WORK/ EXPERIENCE
I was talking recently to a consultant whose job it is to analyse and advise on labour market trends, and what he told me might look worrying to some. The jobs of the future, he said, will go to graduates whose studies prepared them most closely for the work they are hoping to get. So does that mean that unless you want to teach it, you should not study (say) philosophy? Perhaps, he said. But on the other hand, what he suggested really matters is work experience. If you go through your education without any employment-related work, you probably won't get it when you start to look for it more seriously. – Ferdinand Von Prondzynski, universitydiary.wordpress.com
My university made an effort to find my Engineering class work experience. They also asked us to clear any work placements we found ourselves with them. However, only half the students found places, the rest of us did project work with an external consultant. The problem was that employers were cutting back on everything, including work placements. I question whether it's fair to discriminate on that basis, when students can't find placements through no fault of their own. – brian t, universitydiary.wordpress.com
As my school didn't provide practical experience I sought it out as a research assistant. Sometimes starting off as a vol. This was especially of value in statistics and research methods, which I was failing in second year. By mid-third year I was supervising in-the-field social science research projects and was able to land a post-grad emplyment opportunity being TA [teaching assistant] for stats in the school. After a year and a half I had enough experience and confidence to set up my own at-home biz and, to apply for other contract jobs. – Char Paul, universitydiary.wordpress.com
