On survey finding that 60 per cent of teachers are “continuously stressed”
It is the useless and time wasting administration and nonsensical paperwork that is the problem. If we weren’t doing that we would have more time to teach. Frank Barr, irishtimes.com
Any job dealing with the public is increasingly challenging. Demanding Rights rather than giving Respect are now imbalanced in societal interaction. Tom Newman, irishtimes.com
On sex education in irish schools
Why are people objecting to cranks going into schools to deliver talks? It is an essential part of an Irish education. Kim Bielenberg, twitter.com
Parents definitely need to get their act together. There’s a feeling among some that sex ed means teenagers will start shagging all around them. So they leave it to schools who also can’t handle it. I actually got quite good sex ed in school, backed up at home. Lazygal, boards.ie
On criticism that the new Leaving Cert science syllabus will “lower standards ”
As a scientist working in the field, the leaving cert science course did me no favours during my years at uni or in my career. Everything I learned in the leaving cert I had to forget once I started a science degree. Imogene Blignaut-O’Brien, journal.ie
I have no idea what the new syllabi introduces and what the problems are with it, but I can safely say that the old one didn’t really work either. Aideen O M, journal.ie
Do we still really have a ‘high standard’? High numbers of students getting As in exams only means they achieve above the level set, not that they do well in an objective sense. Or, as a retired teacher I know says ‘It is not that the standards have been lowered, it is just that the norms have been adjusted’. Sheila, journal.ie
On financing Irish higher education (recent Grant Thornton Report)
Overall this is a decent effort. It is strongest in its plain facts. It is weakened by a set of semi coherent suggestions that are internally inconsistent and display a worrying lack of nous about the sector. It’s worth reading.
Brian M Lucey (TCD finance professor) blog
