Almost all Irish primary schools employed unqualified substitutes in last academic year
Principal says staff shortages placing ‘immense pressure’ on schools
Primary Level
News and advice covering the primary level education system.
Children are missing school at an alarming rate. What is going on?
The number of pupils chronically absent from school has doubled. Experts say making students feel they belong is key to tackling the problem
‘I am worried teachers won’t look beyond test results to see the potential in my 10-year-old’
Ask the Expert: The good news is that there is a lot you can do as a parent to support your child’s executive function
Teacher training to include mandatory placements in special education
Move comes after threefold increase in prevalence of autism in the last 10 years
Culture wars reach the classroom: What is the best way to teach children about gender and identity?
A new primary level syllabus – the biggest shake-up in two decades – is being finalised against a backdrop of polarised online debate and claims of misinformation
Percentage of children diagnosed with autism rises threefold in less than a decade
Increase is posing challenges for education authorities to find appropriate school places for children with additional needs
Children less ‘ready’ to start school and have more emotional problems since pandemic - study
Study finds most junior infants teachers say classroom behaviour is worse and fewer children pay attention
We have seen an increase in school refusals among older children
It’s vital to improve engagement with school, because childhood lasts a lifetime
Schools told to ignore ‘fake’ circular directing them to open for Easter holidays
Move follows closure of schools following storms, snowfall and power cuts
Schools in poorest areas to get extra support under ‘Deis-plus’ scheme
McEntee plans to tackle drop-off in school attendance with supports for at-risk pupils
All schools eligible for free solar panels to help tackle energy bills
Initiative aims to deliver average savings of up to €1,600 a year per school and reduce carbon footprint
Two issues on Helen McEntee’s desk will provide an early clue to her ambitions as Minister for Education
How she proposes to address them – and the extent of her resolve and ambition in managing her new portfolio – will become clear over the coming months
Concern over rise in alleged assaults of special needs pupils
Forty parents planning legal actions over alleged mistreatment, Department of Education records show
Why childcare students are walking away from childcare jobs
‘It’s tough to do a four-year professional degree and then face the prospect of earning the minimum wage'
Competitive parenting in China: ‘School starts at 7.30am and I pick him up at 9.30 in the evening. We usually arrive home around 10pm. Then he studies again’
Fierce competition for places at top secondary schools drives some parents to push their youngsters to succeed, believing they owe it to their children to give them the best start in life
School meals to be made available during summer in bid to tackle ‘holiday hunger’
Many pupils taking part in summer programme will have access to ‘nutritious’ lunches
More than 80% of primary school-aged children have smartphones in their bedroom
Half of children acknowledge they spend too much time online, with 28% saying they could go online whenever they wanted
‘We certainly didn’t cancel Christmas’: What happens when a Catholic school turns multidenominational?
Uniforms are on the way out and teaching staff are adjusting to a new ethical education curriculum
‘The pressure is relentless’: parents voice support for phone ban in schools
€9m smartphone pouches at second level sparked criticism from Opposition parties who labelled it wasteful and unnecessary
Stigma persists that disadvantaged students ‘low-achieving’ or ‘non-academic’
Many poorer schools saddled with sub-standard classroom facilities, research finds
Primary teachers to be trained to teach foreign languages over several years
Pupils to learn French, German or other languages from third class onwards
Irish-language exemptions: ‘It’s all firefighting and band-aids, instead of a sensible approach’
Critics say there is an urgent need to overhaul how we teach Irish following a century of failure
The school’s electricity bill was €3,000 – and some of that was during the holidays
Thirty principals recently published a list of circumstances faced by their students. It includes a parent in prison, suicide in families, neglect of every conceivable kind
What Ireland can learn from Finnish schools in tackling disinformation
The Nordic country is helping students learn about spotting false information. Is there space in the Irish curriculum to do the same?
Mother whose son attended school nine times this year says expecting him in bed before midnight is ridiculous, court hears
Tusla official says he received text from boy’s mother saying view child should go to bed before midnight ‘ridiculous’
Three teachers struck off register as complaints increase by 35%
A total of 45 complaints concerned conduct or behaviour including physical abuse or assault, verbal assault and sexual or intimate contact with a student
Storm Éowyn: Widespread damage anticipated as storm is expected to bring 130km/h gusts
Red weather warnings across Ireland see public warned to take shelter
Students were giddy at prospect of school being cancelled for Storm Éowyn - until the principal came on the intercom
Covid-era remote learning means schools are in a better position to cope with weather-related disruption
Paying travel costs may boost supply of substitute teachers to tackle classroom staff shortages, report finds
Insufficient cover across schools despite large number of substitutes, Department of Education study finds
Storm Éowyn: Schools, childcare and colleges to close on Friday due to red weather alert
Ireland weather: Automatic closure of education facilities triggered by Met Éireann status red warning
‘We’re not going back to a world before AI’: how technology is changing the classroom
Teachers are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence – and navigating its pitfalls – with the help of new courses
‘It’s kind of become our daughter’s cheat meal’: The view on new hot school meals programme
The scheme now covers nearly 2,200 schools, and 345,000 children, but some parents and teachers have concerns about nutritional standards
Plan to introduce foreign languages at primary level could ‘divert time from Irish’
New curriculum for primary schools draws contrasting reactions from teachers, parents and other stakeholders
Gender identity not included in draft primary school curriculum
Body finalising shake-up to curriculum says topic not referenced in new syllabus despite ‘misinformation’
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