Welcome to the latest edition of the Classroom Central digest. Among the topics we cover in this issue we look at the CAO process and how students should approach it, we report on the national roll-out of school-based assessments and the Minister of Education’s recent appearance before an Oireachtas committee where she defended the process under which secondary school students can seek exemptions from studying Irish.
The Central Applications Office (CAO) processes applications for undergraduate courses in Irish higher education institutions. As college applications open this week, Brian Mooney explains that it is vital that students are familiar with how the system works.
Education authorities have paused the national roll-out of controversial school-based education assessments for children with additional needs following concerns among principals, teachers’ unions and campaigners.
The hum of debate over the prospect of a united Ireland is growing louder – but when it comes to the question of how education systems on both sides of the Border might align, there has been relative silence. We examine what it would to align schools and colleges as part of a united Ireland? Recent research provides a clue.
Minister for Education Norma Foley has defended a revised process under which secondary school students can seek exemptions from studying Irish. Critics have questioned the rationale for employing subject exemptions for Irish as a large number of students who secure exemptions go on to study a modern language for the Leaving Certificate.
Children with autism “need to be in their local school and local community. The benefit to the whole school community is huge,” the Oireachtas Committee on Autism was told recently.
Tá an éagsúlacht teanga agus chultúrtha in Éirinn méadaithe go mór le deicheanna de bhlianta anuas agus is tír ilteangach agus ilchultúrtha í sa lá atá inniu ann. Is eol ón taighde nach mbeidh foghlaimeoirí a bhfuil teanga mhionlaigh acu faoi mhíbhuntáiste sa mhórtheanga.
The Secret Teacher: “The dog ate my homework.” Just because I haven’t heard that for a while doesn’t mean the homework is getting done. When a sense of slackness creeps into homework and study habits at a young age, it can be hard to shake later.
Keith Duffy’s daughter Mia, who was diagnosed with autism when she was a young child, said she “just can’t believe” she graduated from university and is in a graduate programme. The 22-year-old, who has completed a BSc in Enterprise Computing from Dublin City University (DCU), said her parents told her they are “the proudest parents in the world”.
