HEA data shows drop in non-progression rates
HEA latest data, for 2019/20, shows that non progression rates fell in that year. This is a measure of the overall rate of non-progression of students from their first year into the following academic year and enables identification of particular cohorts of students with a high risk of non-progression. The data reveals that: • In…
Education Magazine
World’s first printed audio magazine for visually impaired children
Audio Mag Media has created The Fact Factory – the world’s first printed audio magazine for visually impaired children and other marginalised readers – readers with dyslexia, reluctant readers, EAL readers etc. It has been created in collaboration with the National Council for the Blind, Ireland and the Dyslexia Association of Ireland. Due to be…
Arts-in-Education BLAST gets lift-off for the 2022 season
The 2022 Arts-in-Education BLAST Residency Programme, which will enable up to 425 new Arts-in-Education residencies in schools each year has been launched. The aim of this scheme is to give students in schools all over the country the opportunity to work with a professional artist on unique projects to be planned and developed between the…
Arts Council awards €500,000 to 20 Next Generation Recipients
The Next Generation bursaries are awarded to promising emerging artists across all disciplines at an early but pivotal stage of their career. The award allows artists to buy time to develop their work and to be able to show their potential to advance and strengthen a distinctive and assured creative practice. The successful recipients have…
66,000 primary pupils in supersized classes say INTO
The Department of Education’s new report on class sizes in Ireland, titled ‘Statistical Bulletin – July 2022, Overview of Education 2001 – 2021’, provides a damning assessment on the size of Ireland’s supersized classes, according to the INTO. The union says that there was a one-point reduction in class sizes across the last two budgets…
TUs awarded €19m under the national recovery plan
A consortium of Technological Universities in Ireland has been awarded an initial allocation of Ä18.81m under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to support teaching and learning reforms arising from the experiences of digitally enabled education during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the first tranche of Ä40m in NRRP funding which will be made…
Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland office launched
The Government has announced the new Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland office. This new Office will play an role in Ireland’s transition to zero emission vehicles. It will work across government, industry, and society to support this transition. Its operations will include – supports for the uptake of zero emission vehicles, – infrastructure delivery through funding…
Sustainable insecticide and soil enhancer reduces aphid numbers significantly
Maynooth University and Irish SME Hexafly BioTech have pioneered a sustainable insect-based soil enhancer that boosts soil health and significantly reduces greenfly on cereal plants. Prof Kevin Kavanagh, of the Department of Biology at Maynooth University, and Hexafly, are pioneering the use of insects and insect-based products for inclusion in feeds and as plant nutrients….
One third of Ireland’s electricity supplied by wind this year
Wind Energy Ireland has released its July Wind Energy report, which shows that wind energy provided 21% of Ireland’s electricity in July 2022.The latest figures mean that wind energy has supplied 34% of Ireland’s electricity demand to date this year, as a result of record figures in recent months. The report also shows that wind…
Ashling Murphy Scholarships presented at Fleadh Cheoil
The first ever Ashling Murphy Scholarships were presented by members of her family at the Fleadh Cheoil na h’Eireann in Mullingar. The Scholarships are in memory of the 23 year old teacher and musician who was tragically killed in January, and will support those pursuing educational projects in music and arts. The loss of the…
Minister Josepha Madigan announces significant increase in Special Education Provision in Dublin
Press release from Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion, Josepha MadiganTD: I’m delighted that we have made significant progress over the last few weeks in terms of additional special classes being sanctioned in Dublin. Since I announced that I would be using the section 37a process to compel schools to open classes across…
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Proposed Leaving Cert changes more reform than revolution
Continuous assessment component main bone of contention In March Education Minister Norma Foley announced plans to change the Leaving Certificate system that will set the agenda for reform over the next decade. The changes aim to reduce final exams to 60 per cent of overall marks and to spread the exams over the two years…
Non-progression rates among first year students continue to trend downward
Non-progression rates among first-year students in Higher Education into the following academic year are continuing to trend slowly downwards from 16% almost ten years ago to just 9% among new entrants in 2019/20. New data, released by the Higher Education Authority, shows that in the last year alone, the non-progression rate had dropped from 12%…
€20 million school library book grant for primary and post-primary schools
The Government has announced that €20 million will be provided to recognised primary and post-primary schools for the purchase of books, audio books and other media for the purposes of improving their existing literacy resource banks.This €20 million fund will be paid to schools in the coming weeks and is additional to that already given…
New initiative to provide a new postgraduate upskilling programme for post-primary SPHE/RSE teachers
Funding will be provided for a new postgraduate programme to upskill registered post-primary teachers teaching social personal and health education/ relationships and sexuality education (SPHE/RSE) according to the Department of Education. This programme will provide a pathway for progression for post-primary teachers interested in developing their skills in teaching SPHE/RSE and in so doing build…
School patron groups unhappy at pilot transfer plan for catholic schools
An Foras Pátrúnachta and Educate Together have raised concerns that they will be excluded from a pilot programme to transfer some catholic schools to a multi-denominational models. The two groups fear that the Community National School model is the only option that will be provided to parents. These schools are run by local Education and…
Integrated Education Bill passed in Northern assembly
A Law to encourage the Northern Ireland authorities to promote integrated education for protestant and catholic school pupils has been passed in the Northern assembly. The law was proposed by the Alliance Party and supported by the non-unionist parties. The Ulster Unionist Party opposed the bill but refused to back the ‘petition of concern’ mechanism…
Labour launch bill to end single-gender school admissions within 10-15 years
Labour education spokesperson Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has published a bill to end single-gender school admission policies. Deputy Ó Ríordáin said the time has come to bring Ireland’s education system more in line with international norms. “The fact that so many of our schools are still separated by gender sends the wrong message to children at…
Leading the new Atlantic Technological University (ATU)
Dr Orla Flynn is the President of ATU, and was appointed in April 2022. She was president of the former GMIT since March 2020. The new university was officially opened on April 4th .Atlantic TU sees the dissolution of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Sligo and Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
People attached to their pets more likely to be lonely during lockdown, study finds
People who are strongly attached to their pets were more likely to suffer mental health problems during the Covid-19 lockdown than those who are less attached, new research from Queen’s University Belfast has revealed. Researchers from the School of Psychology at Queen’s surveyed 143 pet owners and 103 people who did not own pets, to…