Hello and welcome to the first Classroom Digest of 2024. In this edition, we look at the return to school and if school rules still make sense; meet the private school which dropped its fees; how many secondary schools have been forced to drop key subjects due to lack of qualified teachers; how just one school out of 20 applicants was awarded emergency funding from the Department of Education last year; Norma Foley on gender identity and a principal in a prominent Dublin school has questioned whether relaxation of rules allowing exemptions from Irish is a ‘stealthy plan to kill Irish by slow death’; and more...
Meet the private school which dropped its fees: A decade ago, St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School - the oldest fee-charging secondary school in the State - joined the free scheme. Should others in the private sector follow?
Surge in exemptions from studying Irish: A principal in a prominent Dublin school has questioned whether relaxation of rules allowing exemptions from Irish is a ‘stealthy plan to kill Irish by slow death’.
Headsets, AI tools and remote learning: a glimpse of the classroom of 2030: In classrooms at the end of this decade, students will wear a piece of neurotechnology that will be integrated into a headset or another device and that will use brain waves to indicate their levels of attention or understanding of the subject being taught.
A Government initiative to tackle teacher shortages by allowing secondary schools to share teachers across key subjects has resulted in just a single shared teaching post.
In Norma Foley’s ministerial office, the walls are festooned with colourful drawings sent in by students: Among the handprints and floral patterns is an intricate portrait of the minister by a seven-year-old boy, including her trademark pearl necklace, decorative broche and broad grin.
Uniforms, piercings, haircuts . . . what school rules still make sense? Whether it’s piercings, haircuts, uniforms, leaving the school grounds during lunch break, the manner in which to address teachers, or even when a child is allowed to use the toilet, all schools will have a set of rules that they expect students attending to follow.
More than 20 schools seek emergency funding amid rising costs but only one granted: More than 20 primary schools who reported to be in financial difficulty sought emergency funding from the Department of Education last year in the face of rising costs. However, latest records indicate that just one school was successful in securing additional funding.
Up to €20 million in funds for school sex abuse victims unspent amid ‘restrictive’ terms: The Department of Education is set to surrender up to €20 million earmarked for victims of sexual abuse in schools to the exchequer amid criticism of the “restrictive” terms of a redress scheme.
