Hello and welcome to the Classroom Central email digest. In this issue we look at instances where families have been left without school places; Carl O’Brien talks to Diarmuid Hegarty, founder and president of Griffith College; The Secret Teacher on AI; A surge in parents taking children out of school for holidays has been detected - but not everyone is happy; A slight dip has been detected in CAO applications this year and more...
‘We’ve been failed by the Government’: Families left without school places: Nikolai, a 12-year-old boy from Clane, Co Kildare, should be well settled into the first year of secondary school by now, surrounded by friends and classmates. Instead, he spends each school day in his grandmother’s home.
No secondary school places for some first-years amid enrolment ‘crisis’: Parents in part of Kildare, Wicklow, Dublin, Galway and Cork have been unable to secure first-year secondary school places in their local areas in advance of the coming academic year.
More students to avail of ‘game-changing’ degree courses outside CAO system: More students will be able to secure degree courses outside the CAO points race under an expansion of alternative pathways into higher education from next September.
The Secret Teacher: ‘Many in our profession wonder how they ever managed without AI’ I had known when Louisa put her hand up that we were in for a memorable answer, but even by her standards this was a remarkable feat in taking as long as possible to get to the point and answer the actual question.
‘We don’t serve the elite’: How Diarmuid Hegarty built Ireland’s largest private third-level institution: Back in the 1970s Diarmuid Hegarty was in high demand among aspiring accountants. Failure rates for the chartered accountancy exams were incredibly high – seven out of eight students flunked them – but the quality of Hegarty’s grinds was legendary.
‘The savings are huge’: Surge in parents taking children out of school for holidays - but not everyone is happy: Families taking their children out of school for holidays isn’t a new phenomenon, but it is a fast-growing trend.
CAO 2024: Slight dip recorded in number of students applying for college places: Latest figures show there were a total of 77,049 applications following the CAO’s February 1st deadline, a drop of about 1.4 per cent compared to last year.
Social media is 20 years old. How are we still getting so much wrong?: Burden of protecting children online cannot fall exclusively on parents – Big Tech must stop prioritising profit over child safety.
I’m not sure my disorganised son has registered for the Leaving Cert exams. How can I double check? My son is hopelessly disorganised. As a first-time parent, I’m worried that he might not have properly registered to sit the Leaving Cert. Is there any way I can help him, or double check that he has done all he needs to?
TUI members vote for industrial action over establishment of technological universities: Members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland working in third level have voted for industrial action in a dispute over the establishment of technological universities.
Unclaimed tax refunds: How to get some of your tax back: Irish taxpayers are losing out by an average of almost €300 each by not filing a tax return each year and claiming credits they are due.
