TEACHER'S PET:While the education sector braces itself for another round of Budget cuts, it was fascinating to watch President Obama's address to the American people last week. The most striking feature of the address was how Obama repeatedly identified investment in education as the key building block toward economic recovery.
Let us hope Batt O’Keeffe was tuned in. After the cuts imposed in the September Budget, the desperately underfunded Irish education system cannot bear much more pain.
By investing heavily in third-level research, the Government acknowledges that education can be the engine of economic growth.
But investment in our primary and second-level sectors would also bring substantial dividends over the medium and long term. Is the Government ready to take a lead from Obama and end this slash and burn approach?
Now there’s a change. The highlight of the recent ASTI Gala Centenary Dinner was, apparently, a warm embrace between former president Bernadine O’Sullivan and former general secretary Charlie Lennon.
The two were the best of enemies during the ASTI strike, which closed schools and sparked an internal civil war in the union seven years ago. Observers were delighted to see the rapprochement; clearly time is a great healer.
In their own very separate ways, both O’Sullivan and Lennon made an important contribution to the union.
What’s the best education content to be had online (apart from on irishtimes.com, of course)? Certainly, the daily blog by DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has become unmissable.
Written with great gusto, it provides an eclectic mix of education analysis, plus musings on everything from Blondie and Newcastle United to the banking crisis. Check it out at http:// universitydiary. wordpress.com/
For English teachers and anyone with literary interests, the site of the English department of St Columba’s College, Rathfarnham, Dublin is a terrific resource. The site currently offers a range of podcasts and reflections on a dizzying array of writers. See www.sccenglish.ie/
