Women teachers and their students were honoured at a recent award ceremony for the highest achievers in last year's Leaving Cert and Junior Cert business exams. Students were presented with achievement certificates and gold medals for the highest marks in their subjects.
The presentations were made in Dublin earlier this month by Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Noel Tracey. Students, families, teachers and friends attended the ceremony along with representatives of the world of business.
The ceremony was hosted by the Irish Bankers Federation. The awards have been made for the past 12 years by the Business Studies Teachers Association of Ireland (BSTAI), which has almost 1,000 members.
The highest scoring students were Donal Boyle, the Rosses Community School, Donegal (accounting); Mairead Bacon, St Brigid's College, Callan, Co Kilkenny (business organisation); Sarah Louise Meredith, Kings Hospital, Dublin (economics); and Orla Patricia Donnelly, Ballyhaunis Community School, Co Mayo (Junior Cert business studies).
On the same day, the BSTAI launched a teachers' information pack aimed at promoting business subjects in schools. It contains information sheets on business studies, accounting, business, economics, LCVP, LCA and NCVA.
"As teachers, we wonder why business studies is not included in the core curriculum," said BSTAI president Rose Mary Lynch at the ceremony. "To do so would ensure that all students are taught basic lifeskills such as money management, banking, consumer and IT."
Rose Mary Lynch (centre), president of the Business Studies Teachers' Association of Ireland, with teachers who were presented with certificates: from left, Cara O'Donoghue, King's Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin; Josephine Loftus, Community School Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo; Brid Boland, Rosses Community School, Dungloe, Co Donegal; and Mary Campion, St Brigid's College, Callan, Co Kilkenny.
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