Best of luck in your exams

The Irish Second-Level Student's Union wishes all those sitting Junior Certificate,

Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied exams starting today the very best of luck!

Speaking this morning regarding those taking their final exams, Education Officer David Boyce said "The Leaving Certificate is just one component of the Irish education system, but there are many other important aspects to a student’s education over a period of twelve years; the relationships they have built, the memories they have made and the life lessons they have learned. ""

President Jane Hayes Nally added "The nature of the Leaving Certificate is clear, it is a high-stake, high-pressure assessment method. It’s unfortunate how it affects the lives of Irish students, making the last few weeks of second level education a period of stress and worry. I would advise all exam students to eat healthily, drink plenty of water, to sleep well every night, and remember that exams are not everything, although it may feel like it now!"

The annual ISSU exam blog will start today on www.issu.ie available from 6:30pm on scheduled examination dates.

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For media: Please contact communications@issu.ie / Call 01 443 4461

Bringing Human Rights Education to Schools

OBESSU Study Session 2016

Budapest, Hungary

Jane M. Hayes Nally

On the 24th of April, President Rob and I travelled to Hungary to take part in the OBESSU Study Session “Bringing Human Rights Education School”.We spent a week in the culturally and historically rich backdrop of the city of Budapest, our session taking place European Youth Centre, an amazing venue with a stunning conference room overlooking the beautiful city. The view, over the duration of the week, provided an outlet for me. I used to gaze at the cityscape when we had our coffee breaks and energizers. It was an opportunity to contemplate the new information I had learned, the concepts I had developed, and the ideas I had been inspired by.

 The aim of the session, from an OBESSU perspective, we were told, was to empower school students to be HR advocates by bringing HRE to schools.The objectives were toCreate awareness of HRE and to explore it in practice.To explore current Human Right issues in Europe by linking local, national, European and global levels.To familiarise participants with the COE instruments in Human Rights, (The Charter on EDC/HRE) and how to work with them.Investigate and share participants organizational realities in relation to HR/hre.Analyse the role of SSUs and other stakeholders in formal education in fostering common action regarding HRE.To create a link between Student Rights and HR.To get to know the work and resources of the Youth Department of the COE and how to use the in practice.To provide a space and support participants in planning and implementing HRE actions.On Monday morning we were introduced to our agenda, which was illustrated so well by the “Human Rights Island”. I thought this was such a good idea. The poster hung at the end of the conference room for the entire week, reminding us how much we had learned and how far we had come.We were introduced to human rights, and what the term really meant, but not before we were asked to define it ourselves (also a great idea; asking participants to look at their own understanding before acquiring outside information).The exercise was challenging for sure. My definition is belowThe most basic standards for human beings to achieve physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing and health, and to ensure basic safety and security.During the second day of the Study Session, through a simulation game, we were treated to a very insightful experience on Human Rights and Human Rights. I thought this was such an interactive idea and something we should incorporate into ISSU events if the opportunity presented itself.. The afternoon was dedicated to brainstorming on current violations of Human Rights in our closer communities, in Europe and in the world. We all became “journalists” and shared the stories from different perspectives to raise awareness on the different issues affecting people from all over the world. Groups such as Romas and Refugees came up. I believe myself and Rob used the example of the travelling community in Ireland. During the final session of the day, we explored the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.Here are the posters which the prep-team members used to present on the structures in place to protect human rights. Me and Rob both thought this was amazing! It made a huge difference to not have to sit and watch a powerpoint for 20 minutes, but to listen to a presentation with these really cool stickers and symbols. It personally made me understand the structures a lot more and I can still retain what I learnt on that day!I remember having some reservations about an aspect of this day. I thought the UN Declaration on Human Rights was very open to interpretation. The vast majority of countries have signed it but it isn’t actually implemented in half of those countries. For me this makes the document a little tokenistic. I wondered about how this could be addressed, and have trying to find a resolution ever since.The third day of the conference served to further explore the instruments and mechanisms available to protect and defend Human rights.We were given a document about a clothing factory in Bangladesh which was structurally unfit for purpose. The factory eventually collapsed killing many people. This tragic case led to discussions on where our clothes were produced, and why sweat factories infringed on the human rights of so many people. This was so interesting to me. It shocks me that we are okay with buying our clothes from places like Pennies and completely disregard the conditions of the people who made these clothes.We simulated a case from the European Court on Human Rights and further explored other documents available to them like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. During the afternoon participants were introduced to the concept of Human Rights Education and they reflected on the competences it tries to promote. At the end of the day, we watched Path to Dignity, an inspiring documentary on the power of HRE to change people's’ lives. It served as food for thought to reflect on the importance of providing HRE. This was an amazing exercise! I have attached the links to the video as I really enjoyed them and couldn’t stop thinking about them after dinner.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahE0tJbvl78“I’m partial to a bit of the Iron Curtain myself”-Rob at the Millennium monument, Heroes Square. Turns out it wasn’t actually a Communist monument. Nice one Rob.The fourth day started with a sharing of experiences from each of the organisations and countries represented at the event, when it comes to HRE. We reflected on our activities as school student unions and discussed how our national curricula include Human Rights Education.Myself and Rob presented mostly on CSPE.I found this session sooooooo interesting. It was for sure one of my favourite parts of the week. I just found it fascinating to listen to how other european SUs go about promoting Human Rights Education. Here are some examples;The fourth day of session ended with a midterm evaluation in which participants reflected on their own learning process and expectations. We spent the rest of the afternoon discovering the beautiful city of Budapest.With recovered energies, the fifth day was dedicated to imagining how educational systems could incorporate Human Rights Education and what were the are obstacles and opportunities on the road to achieving this goal . During the afternoon, Domagoj Moric from the GOOD Initiative from Croatia joined the study session to facilitate the discussion on what are the main stakeholders when trying to bring HRE into Formal Education and to share the experience of an initiative in Croatia. He was a very interesting speaker and myself and Rob soon learned that his proposed initiative was very similar to CSPE in Ireland, but much better The last session of the day was dedicated to introduce different resources available to implement and promote HRE in different settings and environments.This was also a huge favourite of mine. It was at this session that Laufey Maria told us about the Manual for School Students, which is an amazing piece of literature. I am currently in the middle of my study of it and I would recommend it to every Irish student. It can be found here; http://www.obessu.org/publicationsSaturday was the last day of the entire event and it focused on the future.We were asked to reflect on how the week changed us personally, and how we would bring everything we learnt homeA final evaluation was carried out, and the conference came to an end.I can say, at the end of the most amazing week in Budapest, that I am so so inspired by everything I have experienced. Firstly, the Prep-Team. I cannot even imagine the amount of work that went into organizing the topics and mechanisms used during the session. I know it would have been so stressful and very tough going, but they did it fantastically. It was completely unlike any event I have ever been at, and by far the best.They were so inspirational, and I will be taking a leaf out of their book when we organize different events this year. Secondly, the subject matter. This conference completely informed me on the European and global human rights structures. It opened my eyes up to the violations of human rights and why bringing education like this to schools was just so important.One aspect of the week really influenced me however. Speaking to the representatives from SUs all over Europe made me remember why ISSU was so vital in Ireland. I came home to Cork on Sunday evening, my head was spinning it was so full of ideas for the year ahead. The ISSU have such an important purpose and we have amazing potential. I am so grateful that I got to attend this OBESSU event and remind myself of all of these things.

Press Statement: Re-introduction of guidance counsellors

The National Student Executive of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) expresses their concern following reports that in over half of second-level schools nationwide, 1 in 6 are using unqualified guidance counsellors. Particularly of concern is the drop in guidance counselling hours being offered in public schools versus the slight increase in fee-paying schools since 2012. Guidance counselling is an essential service for all students and should not be limited or withheld due to students’ socio-economic background or their ability to pay for such a service.However, the National Student Executive also welcomes the pledge from the newly formed government to reinstate guidance counselling hours to all schools. It is vital that teachers assigned to these posts have the relevant experience and qualifications to fulfill their roles so that students receive the adequate support and advice they need. We are advocating for the re-introduction of guidance counsellors to all second-level schools.

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

One year on from the Junior Cert

Saoirse Kearney shares her experience & study tips for the Junior Cert

The Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate are both very important and very stressful exams, but a lot of the time the Leaving Cert overshadows the Junior Cert as there’s hype over the CAO and college. This may be the case but the Junior Cert is important in many different ways. It’s the first time that you experience what a State Exam is like and the amount of preparation that is involved. It’s a very stressful and sometimes traumatic experience for a lot of people. I completed my Junior Certificate in June of last year. I chose The Higher Level paper for all of my 10 subjects, and received a total of 6 A’s and 4 B’s. I am proud of my grades but this bothered me as my aim was to get A’s in every subject.In the final weeks coming up to the Junior Certificate I started to panic as I feared that there wasn’t enough time to study every topic in every book for every subject. The thoughts of having to complete 14 exams which totaled to 32 hours in an exam centre, all in 10 days was terrifying. Listening to other peoples study routines and how much they were studying also worried me, but I realised at the end of April last year that the same study plan doesn’t work for everyone and that you’re the only person that can decide the amount of work and study style that is best for you.Study TipsBy this stage in the year all your language orals should be completed and your practicals should be finishing up in the next week, so now all your attention turns to studying. All through 2nd and 3rd Year we are always told different ways to study and what was the ‘most effective’ way of studying. Some of these included spider diagrams, flashcards, buzz words and memory cheats. But again, it’s up to you to find what study method suits you best. I personally found flashcards useful for subjects like Science, Home Economics, Geography and Spanish. For Spanish and Irish I did vocabulary tests every few days on different topics, for example.    For History I found memory cheats very handy. Let’s take the "People in History" Essay question with the topic of Christopher Columbus, I made a cheat to help me remember key points to use in the essay.• My memory cheat would look something like: Columbus Got Frightened In Norway Cos 33 Sailors Captured Him For AttackingAlthough this cheat has no relevance to the topic of Columbus, it’s catchy and easy to remember. Now I knew that the first letter or number of every word in the sentence stood for an important point so in the exam I could develop each into one or sometimes a few sentences. Below is what the letters really stand for.• Columbus Genoa Ferdinand Isabella Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria Canary Islands 33 days at sea San Salvador Cuba Hispanola Failed to find the spice islands Amerigo VespucciI also used cheats for Business and Science and overall found them very helpful.Breaks, Sleep and EatingI know what it’s like when you feel like you can’t afford to lose time to take a break or other times you feel like throwing the towel in and spending the rest of the year on a permanent break, but it’s essential that you have a good schedule for breaks. Last year I made sure I took at least a ten minute break every hour to an hour and a half, this may seem like a lot of time to be wasting but trust me you’ll feel re-energised by taking a few minutes to rest and by doing so you’ll be able to take in more information.If someone was to ask me “what’s the most important thing when studying”, I would say sleep. Study and Homework can sometimes go late into the night but I think it’s essential that you get at least 7-8 hours uninterrupted sleep each night, especially in the last two weeks coming up to the exams. During the exams I would advise to sleep even longer and to take naps after exams if possible. I’m not going to lie, you will be very tired in the last week before exams and during the exams so try to get as much sleep as possible. If you are waking up sweating with the worry over your exams then don’t worry you’re not the only one, a lot of people have sleepless nights coming up to exams. It’s important to talk to a friend or family member if you’re stressed as this may help to reduce stress.Also food is very important. Unfortunately, I turned to sugary foods like chocolate and cakes last year as do a lot of people, but I wish I had stuck with healthy foods. I would suggest having a good healthy breakfast every morning. This can be a problem for a lot of girls especially as many don’t eat breakfast at all but it’s vital that you have breakfast as you will be more alert and be able to take in more information. Porridge is a good choice as it is a carbohydrate and releases energy slowly, therefore it will keep you energised until lunchtime. In addition to porridge also have at least two pieces of fruit for breakfast.Also, try to exercise every day, go for a walk, get fresh air, practice your favourite sport. Taking an hour or even half an hour every day to do something to take your mind off study will help you in the long term.MathsI think overall Maths can be the most daunting exam for people. It’s not like other subjects where you can memorise definitions or points, people fear maths as the questions are unknown and sometimes you can’t really prepare for certain questions. You can memorise your theorems but chances are a theorem may not come up in your exam. The only thing you can do to prepare for maths is to practice, practice, practice! Even if this means doing the same question over and over again, the only thing you’ll do is improve and become quicker at answering questions. I know I sound like a teacher but practicing questions helps. Most maths teachers choose the Edco examination papers, these are helpful but my maths teacher chose to get exam papers from educate.ie, I found this company’s exam papers incredibly helpful as they not only had the past exam papers but they had many practice papers and they also had twice as many questions to practice than the Edco papers.The MocksMocks can be an eye opener for most people, sometimes you may not do so well in a subject that you are good at, in others you might get a better result than expected. What I will say is not to take your mock results for granted, they are only a tester, they don’t symbolise what you will get in June. For example, I got the highest result in my year for Home Economics in my mock, I won the Junior Cert Awards for both English and Home Economics in my school, and I was also praised for my cross stitch project and my cooking by many teachers. When it came to the final weeks of study, I didn’t spend much time on Home Economics as I thought I already had an A in the bag. When results came out, I got a B and I was certain that whoever was correcting my paper had made a mistake, but after getting my paper rechecked my result remained at a B. To this day I regret not spending more time on Home Economics and for taking my mock result for granted.Tips for the exam day• Have a good sleep the night before• Eat a good and sufficient breakfast• Make sure you have all equipment needed for exam eg. Pen, ruler, calculator, etc.• Remember your exam number• Arrive at your exam centre at least 20 minutes before your exam is due to start• Wear a watch- it’s vital that you’re aware of your timing during the exam• Prepare a rough plan in your head for what order you plan to answer the questions in• Stay calm• Read over every question before you hand up your paper as once you hand it up there’s no going backAt the end of the day, just stay calm and know that there is only so much you can do, we’re only human. We’re not supposed to remember absolutely everything we’re told especially when we’re gaining huge amounts of information at one time like in the Junior or Leaving Certificates, but you can work on ways to remember certain material and ways to look after ourselves during an intense time of studying. Talk to your teachers or parents/guardians if you are worrying or stressed, they’re all here to help you.Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. If you are interested in becoming an ISSU Exam Blogger, contact info@issu.ie with your name, school year and contact details.

Leaving Certificate Irish Oral

Ellen - Higher Level Irish Oral

I was sort of apprehensive going into the exam as a number of people in my year had bad experiences with our examiner, saying she was staring out the window, chipping her nails and yawning in the middle of their exam. Nothing like a bored examiner to throw you off your flow! Luckily I found her to be really positive, nodding and asking thoughtful questions.For the filíocht I got An Spailpín Fanach, which I was quite sásta with (mainly because I got to say "ach glacfad fees o rí na gcroppies" - what a line!) which put me in a good mood for the rest of it. For Sraith Phictúirs I got Samhradh Iontach, which wasn't bad at all at all. (I was terrified I would get one of the ones from Sraith Phictuir Parodies on Facebook, and would start uncontrollably giggling in the middle of the exam!) I invested lots of time practicing sraith phictuirs until they were on point, because I knew if they went well I'd be ceart go leor.By the time the comhrá ginearálta came around, the nathanna deasa and seanfhocail were flowing. The ceisteanna were most of your basic topics, do cheantar, do theaghlach, tar éis na hardteiste, an scoilp, caitheamh aimsire, which I had all prepared. The only things that I had to make up on the spot were a gnáthlá i mo shaol, the advantages of an all girls school and cúpla ceist mar gheall ar student council, which were easy enough if you throw in lots of 'chun an fhírinne a rá' and 'tá fhios agat fhéin'. I managed to avoid some tricky questions when asked if I liked history by saying I also liked languages, which gave me a chance to talk about stádas na gaeilge faoi láthair.Overall, I was happy with how it went and it gives me a bit of peace of mind now going into the exam in June knowing that's 40% done. The only sad part is - that might be the last time I speak Irish ever again, nach mór an trua é. 

Liam  - Higher Level Irish Oral

Now that we’re a few weeks after Irish oral season, we’ve begun to stop worrying about forgetting a séimhiú here or there or forgetting a Módh Choinníollach (trust me, it happens) so here’s some tips and a review of how mine went!In preparing for the oral, I’d suggest writing out things for the beannú and the sraiths and learning them off. The beannú is 5 easy marks. Basically, it’s just telling the examiner your name, your age and where you’re from. You’d be surprised how easily marks are docked from that. “Cad as duit?” - “Is as Cill Airne DOM”, “Cathain a rugadh thú?” - “Rugadh mé ar an gcéad lá de MHÍ Eanair….”. I was conscious of getting that wrong, considering the amount of times that happened to me in mock orals. The sraiths again are something that are worth learning things off for, simply because of extra friotal that could boost your marks, like díltálaire for ‘Tine sa Teach’ or trasrain síogach for ‘Timpiste’. And it’d be handy so you wouldn’t have to improvise the caint indíreach! For filíocht, getting a sheet with all the poems on it, writing in the phonetics, learn it off and bringing it in. BOOM 35 marks! All I can say for comhrá is practice talking in Irish, a lot!Apart from praying the Gods of Westeros I didn’t get Fadhbanna ar Saoire and Spailpín, I just went over my notes on the sraiths outside the exam room. Then I was called in. Beannú went grand, I didn’t forget my name or speak in French which is always good! I ended up getting Géibheann and Gaeilge - Seoid Luachmhar, which meant the praying paid off! Comhrá really went from topic to topic but nothing too difficult. Before I knew it, I was getting a “Go raibh maith agat, Slán”Like everyone, I was overthinking, over analysing and doubting my oral the second the door closed behind me. Did I mess it up? Was my comhrá awful? But at the end of the day, it feels 1000000 times better after doing it! 240 marks, 40% of the Irish course and 45 CAO points done and dusted!Please note: Blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. If you are interested in becoming an ISSU Exam Blogger, contact info@issu.ie with your name, school year and contact details.