Press Statement: Education Reform must be a key focus under Minister Richard Bruton
PRESS STATEMENT 6th May 2016
Education reform at second-level must continue to be a key focus under Minister Richard Bruton.The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) welcomes the appointment of Richard Bruton as Minister for Education and Skills and calls on the Minister to ensure that education reform continues to be the key focus of the second-level agenda during this term in government.Education reform is vital in order to cater for varying abilities and learning styles, to promote critical thinking and real engagement with learning, to address current skills gaps and to ensure that Ireland boasts a knowledge economy in the future. It is, therefore, crucial that Minister Bruton and the Department of Education and Skills builds on the foundation stones laid by his predecessors in revitalising and modernising our education system.We look forward to engaging with Minister Bruton and to our continued work with his Department over the coming years.***ENDS***Contact ISSU Main Office 01 443 4461 / communications@issu.ie
Statement on the Resignation of Ruairí Quinn as Minister for Education and Skills
PRESS STATEMENT July 2nd, 2014 Irish Second-Level Students' Union Statement on the Resignation of Ruairí Quinn as Minister for Education and Skills The ISSU notes Minister Ruairí Quinn’s announcement that he will resign as Minister for Education and Skills next week. Minister Quinn pioneered mainly vital and student-focused reforms to the education system which would likely not have been introduced by others due to their controversial nature but which were hugely important in improving the quality of Irish education and for this, the ISSU is very grateful. Minister Quinn has had a strong working relationship with the ISSU for a number of years both as a Minister, and as an opposition spokesperson before this. Minister Quinn was very supportive of the importance of student voice in second-level education, and much of the progress the ISSU has made in recent years would not have been possible without his support. ISSU Deputy President, Robert O’Donnell said; “I would like to thank Minister Quinn for his service in the Department of Education and skills, including his engagement with the ISSU. He showed great interest in the second-level Student movement and gave us a lot of help and support. I wish Minister Quinn all the best in the future.” ISSU Education Officer, Joanna Siewierska said; “We have really enjoyed working with Minister Quinn during his time in the Department of Education and Skills, and particularly appreciated the opportunities provided for students to engage with the Department on a number of issues, particularly in the past year when we conducted a study on the student experience of the Transition Year. On behalf of the ISSU I would like to wish him all the best in the future.”*****************ENDS *****************
Work Experience Blog - Michael
I arrived in Tara Station on Monday at ten o’clock on my first day of two weeks of work experience with the Irish Second-Level Students Union. I went up to the 9th floor in Liberty Hall and introduced myself to Charlotte. I started with doing the TY survey on the ISSU website. Unfortunately I could not complete all of the survey as I’m not finished TY let. I then started a survey for those who have completed TY to see student’s opinion on TY and see how it can be of higher quality for the students involved. Tuesday I arrived in and met Isobel I was told to go on twitter and follow any secondary schools in the country that were on twitter. When I first looked at the list of schools I was a little stunned as there were 722 schools in the country. In the first fifteen schools seven were on twitter. Around eleven me and Isobel went to Mount Carmel Secondary School were she was going to give a talk on Student Councils, how they should be run and what the different roles are. I found this talk beneficial for myself as I am a member of the student council in my school. When we went back I continued with following more schools on twitter with some success. On Wednesday I resumed following secondary schools on twitter. It was a bit difficult to find some of the right schools as some schools had similar names with schools in Britain and the U.S. Later on in the afternoon I tweeted all of the schools I had followed since Tuesday asking if they had registered for our Dublin regional seminar. On Thursday I was calling schools in Co. Dublin asking if they had received a letter from us about a Dublin regional seminar we were holding with the Department of Education about TY students giving there feedback on the programme. Some schools that I called had no knowledge of the letter or of the event so after talking to the secretaries I emailed the schools that I had connected. I could only hope that most of them would register for Monday. Friday I started calling schools from Co. Kildare asking the same as yesterday but I got the same response. One of the members of the Board of Directors came in and helped me and Isobel with contacting some schools. After lunch I was putting a cover letter and two posters in envelopes for schools in Connacht for our regional seminar in Galway City on the 18th. We decided to address the Letter directly to the TY Co-ordinators of each school to make sure they received them. On Monday morning I went to the Department of Education & Skills instead of Liberty Hall. (I did get a bit lost trying to find the place) It was the first of a two day event we were holding with the Department in the clock tower on the grounds of the Department. My task on the first day was to observe and participate in the seminar. We were split in to groups of about 4/5 and were asked different questions of how we liked and disliked TY and if we had any changes for TY. After lunch we had a talk from Mark the president of the ISSU about student councils and student voices. There were then elections for the education panel, welfare and equality panel and regional representatives. I was elected for the education panel. Tuesday I was assisting Isobel and Charlotte with the seminar. My role was to give out paper, pens etc. and walk around and help the groups if they needed anything. I stayed with one group in particular as only one of the four in the group was in TY. I tried to persuade the other three about doing TY but they didn’t really seem keen. On Wednesday I was looking at the CSPE Curriculum to see how it can be reformed and how it can be more appealing to students. After searching up on ideas and coming up with some myself there is a demand for a greater look at politics and rights and to make it optional for Leaving Cert. I looked up other countries in Europe to see if they had any thing similar to CSPE in there own countries. France has ECJS which is quite similar to CSPE. On Thursday I was contacting schools in Co. Galway, Westmeath and Clare for our Galway regional seminar and asking if the TY Co-ordinator had received the letter and if they were planning on registering for Monday’s event. Most Co-ordinators couldn’t come to the phone as they had class but I passed the message about the seminar onto the secretaries. Now it’s Friday and I’m glad I choose to do my Work Experience with the ISSU I have learned a lot over the past two weeks and every one in the office has been great. I would recommend everyone to at least do one week of work experience here.
Coming soon, national review of Transition Year programme
Irish Second-Level Students’ Union are working with the Department of Education and Skills on a national review of the Transition Year programme.The long-term future of the Programme is up for negotiation as part of the significant reforms to junior and senior cycle education. Our review will focus on the experiences particularly of students, but also of staff about how transition year works for them, how it could be improved, what are the benefits, do finances limit the ability of schools to maximise the benefits of the year etc.Further information will be announced over the coming weeks! Watch this space TY Poster
Irish Second-Level Students' Union Welcomes Action Plan on Bullying
The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) welcomes the Government’s “Action Plan on Bullying”, which was launched in the Department of Education today. The ISSU has been strongly involved in developing this plan, with Equality Officer Mark Caffrey sitting on the Anti-Bullying Working Group which helped to develop it, and he is looking forward to its full implementation. ISSU Equality Officer, Mark Caffrey said; ‘Bullying is something which we know affects our students hugely – around one quarter of students are likely to have experienced some form of bullying in the past couple of months, and I’m delighted that an action plan to tackle this head on has been launched today. Bullying is a serious problem, so it needs to be taken seriously. ‘Schools need to be given the necessary supports in order to manage and prevent bullying in all forms, and we need to make sure that parents are aware of the role they can plan in both preventing bullying, and intervening in an appropriate way where it is occurring. Tackling homophobic bullying and cyber bullying are key focuses of this action plan, and we look forward to working with other partners to see it implemented’. ISSU President, Dylan Grace said; ‘Bullying can have very serious consequences and it’s important that everyone involved in education play their part in stopping bullying. The Action Plan on Bullying is very thorough in its approach and recommendations, and I am very encouraged by the commitment shown by the Department of Education and Skills and our other education partners in tackling the scourge of bullying in our schools’. The Action Plan is available here.
Think B4 You Post
Safer Internet Day is organised by Insafe each year in February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world. The topic for 2010 is "Think B4 U post!".In 2009 Safer Internet Day was celebrated through 500 events in 50 countries all over the world. The NCTE coordinate events in Ireland. Stay safe online, don't do something you would regret. ISSU advises the NCTE in Internet Safety through their Youth Advisory Panel and directly to the Department of Education in our role on the ICT steering and advisory group.[pro-player width='530' height='253' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylh1zzeICDM&feature=player_embedded[/pro-player]