Jewish Studies

sitstill

This subject was examined for the first time this year at Junior Cert. From doing some research, I found out that only Stratford College entered students for the exam which seems obvious enough, given that it is a Jewish school.

But is there a need for this subject? What was the rationale behind developing a national sylabus and setting up a support service etc for such a minority subject?

I understand why it would be important for students in Stratford College to learn about Jewish history, culture etc -- but could they not have devloped an-house arrangement as schools do for other subjects to support their ethos.

If we have Jewish Studies as a Junior Cert subject, why not for example Islamic Studies?

evolving_doors

sitstill wrote: »

This subject was examined for the first time this year at Junior Cert. From doing some research, I found out that only Stratford College entered students for the exam which seems obvious enough, given that it is a Jewish school.

But is there a need for this subject? What was the rationale behind developing a national sylabus and setting up a support service etc for such a minority subject?

I understand why it would be important for students in Stratford College to learn about Jewish history, culture etc -- but could they not have devloped an-house arrangement as schools do for other subjects to support their ethos.

If we have Jewish Studies as a Junior Cert subject, why not for example Islamic Studies?

Atheism Studies too...and shur Satanism just to be balanced..yikes.

Seems like a favour done there in the dept. for someone.

bashir300

A large chunk of the Jewish Studies exam is history based around the Shoah and Roman civilisation. Most students will learn about these periods in the mainstream history class anyway.

The more pressing question is: on what grounds do you object to there being a Jewish Studies exam? How is it affecting you what other people study? (Catholic) religion was forced down the throats of many non-believers when I was a student, myself included. I personally think it's fantastic that nowadays students can now spend time learning about their own religious faith, if they have one.

spurious

I would imagine Islamic studies and similar will be options under the new JC. They certainly should be.

sitstill

bashir300 wrote: »

How is it affecting you what other people study?

It doesn't affect me. I just thought that as a teacher, on a forum for teachers, I could raise a discussion about one aspect of the curriculum and seek the opinions of my peers.

rainbowtrout

sitstill wrote: »

This subject was examined for the first time this year at Junior Cert. From doing some research, I found out that only Stratford College entered students for the exam which seems obvious enough, given that it is a Jewish school.

But is there a need for this subject? What was the rationale behind developing a national sylabus and setting up a support service etc for such a minority subject?

I understand why it would be important for students in Stratford College to learn about Jewish history, culture etc -- but could they not have devloped an-house arrangement as schools do for other subjects to support their ethos.

If we have Jewish Studies as a Junior Cert subject, why not for example Islamic Studies?

According to Wikipedia from the 2011 census there are 1984 Jews in Ireland. I was vaguely aware that the population was small, I didn't realise it was that small.

I'm going to guess that the Jewish community put in a proposal to the Dept of Ed/NCCA and were heavily involved in the development of a curriculum that met their needs and wanted to have an examination without bias that was on par with every other JC subject.

Given that Hebrew Studies is a subject offered at LC level it would be logical to have a JC subject to lay the foundations for it.

Crazyteacher

Does that figure include Northern Ireland ?

rainbowtrout

I don't think so. The figure was given for Rep of Ireland and taken from census which wouldn't contain data for Northern Ireland