What's the talk of education?
Tweets from last week’s conference on transition from second- to third-level education
R.Quinn. The road to third level education starts at home. simple but true @MikeHoey
1977: students could choose 69 courses in 5 unis. 2011: 1330 in 40 institutions @m_crehan
Rigidity and predictability (in LC) are the enemies of creativity. Leads to poor learning behaviours @sharonlflynn
We’d love to see skills (eg, drama/ communication) gained out of school counting towards college entry for relevant courses @irishboard
Don’t like the sound of a lottery system for 3rd level entry @Dazzlld
We don’t do a lottery system for high achievers in any other area, eg, sport. Why for academics? We should reward excellence @Frazzlld
Response to independent TD Stephen Donnelly’s column on the state of our education system on thejournal.ie
The reforms need to happen at national school level. Smaller class sizes, better trained teachers, European language taught, no compulsory Irish. – Oil Foster, thejournal.ie
Teachers should work in the real world. That would help – jumpthecat, thejournal.ie
“Work in the real world?” If it is so easy working in the “imaginary world” why didn’t you choose to work there? You must not be too clever if that’s the case. And yes I am a teacher. And I did work in the private sector after I finished my degree but I took a pay cut to go into teaching and do something I feel is a lot more fulfilling and rewarding and that will make a positive contribution to our society. Instead of moaning, whingeing and begrudging. I totally agree with the sentiments of this article. We just don’t do reform very well as a nation – John, thejournal.ie
Another problem we have is teachers almost refuse to acknowledge students with a disability, giving no encouragement. A lot of these students are so bright, with a natural ability to think outside the box, but are ignored as they don’t fit into the confines of a classroom. Teachers are the people who hold the lives of young people in their hands and have no problem sleeping at night when they underachieve and all their students follow. They should be fired if they are not willing to follow the remit of their contract. – Deirdre Burke, Facebook
While that may be true of some individuals, Deirdre, I suspect it also has a lot to do with the lack of education and support of teachers. Resources and classroom assistants as well as specific govt guidance would go a long way to enabling teachers to differeniate effectively, and give all the kids what they want. How do you know teachers have no problem sleeping at night? As a teacher, I would have quite the opposite experience. Teachers, more than most, carry their work around on their shoulders most of the time. – Jo Murphy, Facebook
George Hook on private schools
Some proper elitism from George Hook. At least he admits it. I don’t get why everyone needs to pay for private schools @mikedunne, Twitter
