Holiday Cuts?!

Eccles

Someone told me during the week that they heard on the radio or read somewhere that there were calls to cut our Summer Holidays to be in line with (yes youve guessed it!) the British system.Thats right SIX weeks not the hare brained scheme of a certain major political party to cut "just" a month off our Summer holidays .Anybody hear any of this (if true) horrific news?I know for a fact that the majority of the population would happiliy see us in school all Summer cleaning the toilets /painting and decorating /mowing the lawns !!!!Shower of begrudgers!!!Ah well it will soon be as long as ever to our beloved Summer hols....sigh...

spurious

They would have to move the exams somewhere else and get someone other than teachers to correct them.

gaeilgebeo

Its not feasible to cut the holidays with exams and corrections.

implausible

Not a hope in hell in the foreseeable future. It would be a logistical and industrial relations nightmare, which no govt would suggest with everything else that's going on in the economy.

Your friend was probably listening to some spoofer with no knowledge of education.

It is silly season after all:rolleyes:

gaeilgegrinds

Let them if they like but they need to work out the exam system first! I really doubt it'll happen in the near future. Lots of schools back next week here, madness!

marblesolutions

I'm not saying it will happen but i wouldn't think the exams would be the thing to put the government off if they wanted to extend the school year.
They could copy the English system and keep the non exam classes going until July with the leaving an junior cert taking place as now but teachers supervising during free classes. They would extend the school year and save money on supervising the exams.:rolleyes:
I don't think they will but in these ever changing times it is possible.

spurious

There is no way the exams in their current form could run in centres while classes are still going on.

I know schools that had 18 centres in them for some days of the exams, due to reasonable accommodations.

Euro_Kraut

Probably refering to this article in last weeks Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0814/1224252547253.html

How can Ireland claim to have a world-class education system if it has one of the shortest academic years?, writes ORNA MULCAHY

WE’RE ALL done with the holidays in this household. We’ve been away and had cousins to stay. We’ve sent the children to camp and to Irish college, and welcomed them back with gala barbecues.

We’ve been to the beach, seen Harry Potter and gone shopping for new shoes and pencil cases. The books are covered and in the bag. Now, surely is it not time for them to be back at school? You would think so but no. There’s still almost a fortnight left before term starts officially in the week of September 1st. The older two have been off since the end of May.

It may be that their first week back is shorter than normal as teachers ease themselves into the job. Some reorientation may be necessary for those who’ve enjoyed a full three-month break as information will have been erased. I’m not knocking teachers. After a fortnight away from my own desk, I need retraining.

But the slow start-up to the academic year is baffling, as is the fairly rapid wind-down, with the odd hiatus in between.

Parents can expect gaps in the week for curriculum familiarisation days, staff training, swine flu preparation workshops, and so on until the mid-term break in October and after that, sure it’s nearly Christmas.

My generation grew up being told that Ireland has an education system second to none, but how can that be when children spend so few days in school? We have one of the shortest academic years in the world, with one of the longest summer holidays, designed back in the 1920s to suit an agricultural economy and not given much thought since. The school year is a mere 183 days at primary level compared to an average of 195 for Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development countries and more than 200 for east Asian countries.

It’s even shorter at post-primary level, with schools obliged to open for just 167 days in the year.

According to a recent report in the Economist magazine, long summer holidays and short academic terms are making the children of the West lazy and forgetful. It claims that over the summer break the average child forgets a month’s worth of tuition in many subjects and almost three times that in maths.

No wonder so many of them fall down in higher maths.

American academics have come up with a handy term for the phenomenon, “summer learning loss”. Barack Obama is concerned, as well he might be with two young children going through the system. He has asked school administrators to rethink the school day, in other words, to make it longer.

Meanwhile, management consultancy McKinsey is arguing that the poor performance of American schoolchildren will have a more devastating long-term effect on the US economy than the recession. Before long, the brain jobs will follow the brawn jobs. Parents, it warns, will see their children’s jobs taken by the Chinese.

Frankly, I’m terrified. With a Leaving and a Junior Cert candidate in the house, the issue is sharply in focus. I’m prepared to do what I can. There’ll be plenty of oily fish on the menu and a good angle poise lamp in each of their bedrooms. If I have to, I’ll read King Lear , but I’d feel happier if they were facing into a longer school year with not quite so many random gaps and half-days.

That’s not to be, judging by the 09/10 timetable slipped in between the book list and the fees demand. It runs to two pages, and there are at least three Mondays marked “no classes for junior or senior school”. Why? Call me cynical but it smacks of a nice long weekend for all concerned. “Could be any number of reasons,” a teacher friend tells me. “In-house training. Then we had a ‘dignity in the workplace’ day once and then there are report conferences where we get together to do the reports.”

He’s all for change and wouldn’t mind adopting a more European school year model, with just six weeks holidays in the summer, but says he won’t go on the record in case a colleague slashes his tyres in the car park.

Teachers will tell you the Irish school day is longer and more intense than the European model, and that children are exhausted by March or April, especially if they sign up for extra study periods (at a cost of over €100 per term in some cases).

Parents who can afford it will extend the academic year further by enrolling children in expensive preparation and revision courses, run by private colleges like the Institute of Education, where next week, some of the country’s best teachers will be available for a “get ready for the Leaving Cert” week of tuition.

It’s a lucrative nixer, and what else have they to be doing at this stage of the summer?

Rosita

The school year is a mere 183 days at primary level compared to an average of 195 for Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development countries and more than 200 for east Asian countries.


I realise the journalist has copy to fill but the use of the adjective "mere" (as in a mere 183 days) in the comment above is highly disingenuous given that the average figure (195 days) quoted in the same sentence is so close.to it. "Mere" suggests that the Irish fiugure is miles off the norm but the average suggests otherswise. If the average is 195 days there must be plenty of countries very close to the Irish figure.

That's one of the problems with journalists writing about this sort of stuff - they tend to hide behind 'average' figures largely because they are easily acquired figures and are usually pre-packaged. An 'average' is a mathematical calculation no more no less - why it has achieved such respectability and acceptance beats me given that you are usually not much the wiser on knowing it.

atgate

Wow you'd think the only function of being a kid was to learn how to be an brainy adult. Without the holidays kids wouldn't get to be, well kids. Play, doss and watch telly; not have to worry about homework or tests, not have to get up first thing in the morning. It seems to me that Orna has got a little tired of the kids being around all the time and wants to pack them back off to school so she can have her own holiday.

cabrwab

Well as a non teaching normal tax payer,

i have no problem with teachers having the holidays because its not the teachers that benefit its the students.
Primary, secondary or college. The work a student puts in is long and hard outside the 9-3/4pm day. I imagine teachers are some what similar i don't doubt.

If they are implying it would help students it would be "silly" maybe students just are not studying as hard as they did a few years ago. Higher maths is not the be all and end all of your life! I got an honour in higher maths did an engineering course and now nearly 10 years later have not used it once! add/subtract/multiply/divide.

Sensational journalism at its best!

Would it help if we cut her holidays?!

Eccles

Oh great so now the Times is printing anti teacher dross along with the Indo...What a load of pathetic nonsense !The silly dear begins by insisting she loves her children and has done her best for them over the Summer but would somebody please take them off her hands (well we are glorified childminders nowadays arent we?)She doesnt mention the 'shorter' european school day at all...or less homework etc ...In fact I think the Irish teacher works almost as many HOURS (if not more) as the euro average ...She claims we are taking'long weekends' and goes on to itemise the inservice days that occur on the Mondays mentioned...Nice...(Oh and the 'Dignity in the Workplace' one will have either been proposed by or due to "Management") And are we SERIOUSLY expected to believe that a teacher (source unidentified -very tabloid) would prefer 6 weeks holidays to 12 ???Oily fish and angled lamps ???Get a grip love !Yes we did have one of the best educational systems in the world but if the likes of you have your way it will be in tatters in a decade...Ever heard the old saying, "If its not broke dont fix it..."?

positivenote

surprised such opinionated guff gets printed... a few facts backed up by unanimous quotes accompanied by a few subtle quips at teachers.. truly wondrous journalism by our unbiased media