Sir, – From September of the current academic year, schools are mandated to provide a programme of 400 hours of classroom-based “wellbeing” over the three years of junior cycle. This prescribed area of learning should include learning opportunities to enhance the physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing of students.
All over the country, teachers in schools are rising to the challenge of these difficult times. In our own school, teachers (many of whom have their own children at home to care for at the same time) are continuing to teach students remotely, following the normal timetable of the school day. Students log in and are taught in almost all of their subjects, at the normal timetabled times for each subject.
There is a lot of uncertainty about how students’ work will be assessed this year. Already, the orals and practical examinations have been a casualty of the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in.
What is certain, however, is that we all have to find ways to overcome the isolation, anxiety and lack of routine that we are experiencing at the moment.
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The work that teachers are doing to maintain a sense of normality and routine for students is invaluable. It reinforces the belief that all of us who work in education have held for many years. Wellbeing of students, in its truest sense, is alive and well in the hands of the teachers of Ireland. – Yours, etc,
EILEEN O’DONNELL,
Principal,
St Raphaela’s
Secondary School,
Stillorgan,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Some students do not have the broadband access or equipment needed to access some online forms of teaching.
Would it be possible for Department of Education in conjunction with RTÉ to broadcast classes for the Leaving Certificate?
Nearly every child has access to RTÉ, and I feel sure that other people would willingly accept being deprived of their own favourite programme to help these students in their time of need. – Yours, etc,
LYDIA GILLEN,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.