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The Institute of Education

2

Comments

  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,072 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    K4t wrote: »
    in the fee paying schools, you can be sure that all the teachers will be to a certain standard i.e. an extremely high one

    Not sure what evidence you could base that on, to be honest.

    Some of the most gifted teachers I have ever met are working in special schools with children who will more than likely never sit a State examination. Churning out notes to enable highly literate, motivated, able and ambitious students to play the exam game better than a student in a school up the road is not that difficult to be honest.

    There are brilliant teachers in all sectors and there are plenty of duffers in all sectors too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 26 catchthepigeon


    eh sorry bitch but im not sad enough to read all the threads


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,225 ✭✭✭JackKelly


    eh sorry bitch but im not sad enough to read all the threads


    Come back in a month


  • Registered Users Posts: 744 ✭✭✭leesmom


    heres hoping you dont have the same attitude when it comes to studying or your on the road to nowhere.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,440 ✭✭✭✭Piste


    Ok calm down everyone lets get this thread back on topic. Caththepidgeon will be banned if s/he keep on acting the eejit.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,362 ✭✭✭K4t


    spurious wrote: »
    Not sure what evidence you could base that on, to be honest.

    Some of the most gifted teachers I have ever met are working in special schools with children who will more than likely never sit a State examination. Churning out notes to enable highly literate, motivated, able and ambitious students to play the exam game better than a student in a school up the road is not that difficult to be honest.

    There are brilliant teachers in all sectors and there are plenty of duffers in all sectors too.
    I don't dispute that there are some great teachers working in special schools. Of course there are. But that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

    I hope you're not insinuating that students in fee paying schools are more dedicated or intelligent than those in public ones. That's ridiculous to be honest.

    I think you'll find that the standard across the board of teaching in fee paying schools is far superior to that in public schools because as another poster said, grind school teachers can be fired for poor performance, public school teachers cannot.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,072 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    I never insinuated anything about the level of intelligence in public schools, but seriously, do you think the Institute are going to take in slow learners who will mess up their 'outstanding' results statistics? It's a business - a successful business based on training people to play the exam game. Candidates with good potential in, good results out.

    How many in the Institute are doing Foundation level?

    Again, I would dispute that much of what goes on in the Institute is actually teaching, so whether it is 'far superior' is neither here nor there, but we may have to agree to disagree on that one.

    As I understand it Institute staff are not employed under the same conditions of work as teachers in schools, so they may well not have the job protection of people in schools.

    It's great that places like the Institute fill a gap in the market, but they are no better or worse than many schools in the country, operating on much smaller budgets.


  • Registered Users Posts: 271 ✭✭gaybitch


    I happen to know of people who have got in the high 100s to 200s in the Institute. There's no doubt they do try to churn out as many high-points students as they can, but they actually do take on such a vast amount of people that the results vary a lot.

    The Institute isn't any better or worse than schools around the country - I mean look at the amount of A1s Cork produced this year - but they do have a higher proportion of really good teachers than your average secondary school. There's no denying that.

    They deliberately take on teachers with a track record of many A1s, and the teachers must continue to deliver a high number of good grades in order to keep their job. So it's not just because a lot of students are highly motivated that the Institute delivers good results. The standard of teaching can't really be compared to anything else around the country in any real way, because it's an apples vs oranges situation.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,231 ✭✭✭Fad


    K4t wrote: »
    I think you'll find that the standard across the board of teaching in fee paying schools is far superior to that in public schools because as another poster said, grind school teachers can be fired for poor performance, public school teachers cannot.

    Whats wrong with what youre saying is: that a fee paying grind school is COMPLETELY different to a fee paying secondary school.

    Teachers CANNOT simply be fired in anywhere other than the more business orientated schools.
    K4t wrote: »

    I still don't think fee paying schools are worth the money and are about prestige in a lot of cases :rolleyes:
    The facilities are generally exponentially better in private school, like having a swimming pool, or gym facilites.
    5 grand a year doesnt really justify having better facilities, but it can explain it partly.

    (There are of course exceptions to this, so please dont waste your time pointing them out to me :))


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,231 ✭✭✭Fad


    gaybitch wrote:
    The Institute isn't any better or worse than schools around the country - I mean look at the amount of A1s Cork produced this year

    Isnt there an institute type thing in Cork?

    [i hit quote on my post rather than edit, sorry]


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    K4t wrote: »
    I hope you're not insinuating that students in fee paying schools are more dedicated or intelligent than those in public ones. That's ridiculous to be honest.
    So you're saying that having your parents fork out thousands for you to go to a special school is not an inventive to be dedicated? I certainly know that if my parents had paid that much, I would be SURE I was going to get the best possible results... value for money and all that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 744 ✭✭✭leesmom


    there are so many students in 6th year there,around 1,000 so is it any suprise that there are a lot of high grades but there are also a lot of low grades which obviuosly they are not going to boast about,i only got 280,i know a lot of people who only scraped 300 points also.your average seconadary school would have about 100 students in 6th year so obvioulsy the number of A1s achieved in the institute is going to be greater as there are ten times as many students


  • Registered Users Posts: 271 ✭✭gaybitch


    Fad wrote: »
    Isnt there an institute type thing in Cork?


    I actually believe it was a Christian Bros school that got lots of good marks this year.

    From the Irish Times site:
    AMBITIONS REALISED: STUDENTS AND teachers in Cork welcomed yesterday's Leaving Certificate results, which revealed six students from the city and county were among the 13 students nationally who achieved eight A1s.
    Principal of Christian Brothers College on Sydney Hill, Cork city, Dr Larry Jordan, was particularly pleased with the results achieved by the school's 131 students who sat the examination. "There's been a lot of emphasis this year on maths and physics and our results have been tremendous, particularly in maths - we had 30 students who sat higher-level maths and 24 of them achieved A1s, three received A2s and three achieved B1s, so we're very pleased," he said.
    "We had seven students in all who achieved the maximum 600 points and three of these received received eight A1s, so there's great credit due to all of them and their teachers and their parents because a lot of hard work goes into achieving those results."

    Just goes to show, I suppose!


  • Registered Users Posts: 362 ✭✭postalservice


    You have to pay to get in there too.

    Public schools all the way!


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,231 ✭✭✭Fad


    gaybitch wrote: »
    I actually believe it was a Christian Bros school that got lots of good marks this year.

    You kinda missed my point, if theres an institute type thing in Cork, theres institute type grinds, some abysmal teachers can have classes with loads of A's, cos half their class can go and get grinds.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 396 ✭✭DanOB


    im currently in 5th year in the institute

    at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's


  • Registered Users Posts: 744 ✭✭✭leesmom


    thats very true,they help you reach your full potential whether that be 200 or 600 points


  • Registered Users Posts: 271 ✭✭gaybitch


    Well, with regard to the school in Cork, I think the facts speak for themselves. Whether or not that class all got grinds doesn't matter - plenty of people in my year of 250-odd students went to the Insitute for crash courses and grinds, and my school didn't get those sort of results. You can't deny they must have a great maths teacher!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 605 ✭✭✭aliqueenb


    DanOB wrote: »
    im currently in 5th year in the institute

    at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's

    ahhhh my friend started there monday and said he had to sit and listen to them talk for like 3 hours and his lunch on one day is his first thing, haha how retarded


  • Registered Users Posts: 271 ✭✭gaybitch


    DanOB wrote: »

    at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's

    Don't get me wrong, I wasn't having a dig at all. I was making the same point you are - some people have this idea that the tute is a magic solution to guarantee high points, and I was just saying I know of people who got 100s and 200s after going there. There's nothing wrong with them getting that, absolutely nothing, but it's just some people have the idea that fee-paying schools don't have students that achieve those points - and they do, just like public schools do.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 744 ✭✭✭leesmom


    when they check through his timetable he might find they change that lunch to study


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭Stev_o


    gaybitch wrote: »
    Don't get me wrong, I wasn't having a dig at all. I was making the same point you are - some people have this idea that the tute is a magic solution to guarantee high points, and I was just saying I know of people who got 100s and 200s after going there. There's nothing wrong with them getting that, absolutely nothing, but it's just some people have the idea that fee-paying schools don't have students that achieve those points - and they do, just like public schools do.

    Well im there currently as of my own choice but the generally repsonse iv got from alot and i mean alot of people going there is that they were FORCED to go and are just going along with it. It's a completely different matter if you said to your parents here i want to go here for the benefit of me.

    It is made EXTREMELY clear by alot of the teachers (in a very humerous way aswell) that just sitting in there wont suddenly cause you to have epiphany and you will be the master of all subjects. It is work incredibly hard work most teachers have already told us that they are giving tests next week

    Personally i like it, for the most part so far its been great bar 7.30 commuter starts for me but hey its a complete shock going into a class and there being total silence and totally concentration on the task at hand you just dont get that at any other schools (went to a local school for 4 years). The environment in classes there is what you SHOULD be entitlted in any school why in fu*king gods name you have to pay 7 grand or so to get that environment is a god damn disgrace.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32 Eternaldream


    It's a completely different matter if you said to your parents here i want to go here for the benefit of me.
    It is made EXTREMELY clear by alot of the teachers (in a very humerous way aswell) that just sitting in there wont suddenly cause you to have epiphany and you will be the master of all subjects. It is work incredibly hard work most teachers have already told us that they are giving tests next week
    its a complete shock going into a class and there being total silence and totally concentration on the task at hand you just dont get that at any other schools

    That is EXACTLY why i want to go to the institute... i suggested it to my mum, not the other way around. i've been to so many schools moving round dublin that i really know that you CANT get that environment in public schools... especially in mixed schools.. (sorry to those boys out there that have a mature attitude to learning) but from my experience, there's not a hope in hell for you to learn if there are a bunch of lads intent on wreaking havok in class...

    The institute provides a mature attitude to learning (based on research and what i have learnt here, i havent actually gone there) and thats why i think its a good school. i also think that its a disgrace to have to pay an immense amount of money to recieve a distraction-free environment in school.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    Maybe you just got unlucky in public schools, but you don't have to pay thousands of euro to get a good learning environment. In my school, alright, I'll admit we had quite a few trouble-makers, but very few of them were in my classes (because I did all HL), so there was a good, positive atmosphere in there. Okay, the school didn't have amazing facilities (some of our physics equipment was seriously out of date), but as far as learning goes, if you put in the work, you could definitely succeed.

    So no, you don't HAVE to pay money to get a good education.

    (Also, working in an environment where there are distractions is a good skill to learn.)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16 daffy-duck


    i go to mount anville and to be honest the teachers there are a bit ****. but every year mount anville gets brilliant results because we can afford to go to the institute and get any grinds we desire. so i think its a bit unfair of you's who dont go or cant afford private schools to be giving out about them because who wouldnt want to go to an elite south dublin fee paying school?? its not like by just going to the grinds that you get brilliant results its if you work hard and use them. so all of you public school paupers go away and leave the institute and private schools alone:P


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,249 ✭✭✭Stev_o



    (Also, working in an environment where there are distractions is a good skill to learn.)[/QUOTE]

    Hold up a minute (not a personal attack here) but iv had my share fair of study talks from alot of different speakers in my old school and they all said that you should study in a place where there is no distraction if thats what they say for studying the my god it has to be the same for learning.

    How the hell are you supposed to learn when you have aload of people either whispering or being a general nuisance.

    You will find it extremely hard to learn in that environment and you ll become frustrated the fact that everyone else isnt taking class seriously why should put the in all the effort in to be the only not talking.

    Im not advertising the institute as i said i think its a f*cking shame that you have to pay 7 or so grand to get the environment thats in there and the fact that you have a right to a education you should have a right to the proper environment in which to learn.

    In my old school teachers wasted VALUABLE minutes of YOUR LEARNING TIME to tell x and y to shut up or to give c and d a note in their journal for not doing the homework. Those are valuable minutes your time being wasted by some idiot not giving a f*ck. In the insitute you go into a class at 9.30 and the class begins at 9.30 there is no stops and pauses no instances of teachers having to drag people out and bring them to principle or whatever is the case.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,440 ✭✭✭✭Piste


    I don't think she meant you should have to put up with people talking around you 24/7,but if all your classes and study are in total silence you might find it a shock if in work you had a task to do and it was in a distracting environment.


    I've really noticed this year in most of my classes everyone's quiet and listens, I think it's finally sunk into people that we have an exam to do.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 208 ✭✭TheJeanGenie


    It's true about learning to work in distracting environments, where I went to school silence was a rare thing, lol. But one important thing to remember about the whole LC is that it does not prepare you for much of anything that will happen in college. They don't hand you out notes to learn or even indicate what you have to know.

    Though I never went to the Institute I've talked to alot of teachers who say they just give students what will be included in the LC on notes and students don't get the chance to broaden their actual knowledge on the subject. And I know friends who went to the Institute who are finding it difficult to adjust to entirely independent study. It's a catch 22 whether secondary level education should prepare you for third level or just get you there?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    Stev_o wrote: »
    How the hell are you supposed to learn when you have aload of people either whispering or being a general nuisance.

    You will find it extremely hard to learn in that environment and you ll become frustrated the fact that everyone else isnt taking class seriously why should put the in all the effort in to be the only not talking.
    How? Here is a skill: ignoring distractions. Concentrating on your work.
    I know that time wasted by teachers telling a class to shut up is extremely frustrating, but tbh, people whispering? Small background noises? Ignore it.

    Also, btw, the Leaving Cert exams themselves are not perfectly silent. People are constantly rustling pages and messing around with those idiotic plastic bags they for some reason bring their pens in, or fidgeting with their feet on the floor. The invigilator messes with their tea, they walk around, people go to the toilet, etc. Being able to zone out background distractions is quite handy.
    daffy-duck wrote: »
    i go to mount anville and to be honest the teachers there are a bit ****. but every year mount anville gets brilliant results because we can afford to go to the institute and get any grinds we desire. so i think its a bit unfair of you's who dont go or cant afford private schools to be giving out about them because who wouldnt want to go to an elite south dublin fee paying school?? its not like by just going to the grinds that you get brilliant results its if you work hard and use them. so all of you public school paupers go away and leave the institute and private schools alone:P
    Thank you for illustrating the attitude that would put me off ever going to a private school. Get a grip, not everyone wants to go to an "elite" south dublin fee paying school.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,231 ✭✭✭Fad


    daffy-duck wrote: »
    Who wouldnt want to go to an elite south dublin fee paying school??

    Had i have known what my year would have been like come 2nd year, you couldn't have paid me to go to a private school. I didn't, and I stuck with it and it was hell but my parents worked really hard to get me into it, and I didn't really want to throw it back into their faces. In the end it was kinda worth it, TY showed me that people do mature, even if its being slightly less of a cúnt then usual, or not coming off as arrogant as they used to.

    [Dunno where i was going with that, in short, while I honestly like my school now, i would have much prefered to go to a non fee paying school and have a pleasant first few years, than go to the so called ''Elite'' school that is full of wánkers etc]


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