Should the Irish Education system be reformed

there is a huge problem in primary schools with Irish - not enough of it is taught and that impacts on secondary schools.

Introduce some kind of computing-related subject at Leaving Cert level. It would help to reduce the huge dropout rate from the first year of many technical courses.

I also think the LC maths syllabus needs to be restructured - tbh I think way too many people take pass that could have taken honours, but at the very top end most A1 students (myself included, back in the day) are bored out of their skull. Make ordinary level easier (aiming at the B/C/D in OL), introduce an intermediate level (current C/D at higher level and A at ordinary level) and have some kind of super-honours paper (to keep the A1 students awake in class).

I would also agree that Irish should not be compulsory for the Leaving Cert. Honestly, it was pointless. I don't think religion should be an examination subject at all, and I think that PE should be available as an examination subject.

Humanitarian class - AFAIK there is a Leaving Cert CSPE (Civic, Social and Political Education) or something like it in the pipeline , think there were pilot projects done in it

As for languages, you look abroad and for example Germans are taught German and English from the time they are 4 in schools, whereas here English is taught. I was reading a study about languages, and according to it, it is nearly impossible to learn a language after the age of 13. But Irish in primary schools isn't really properly taught, students are only taught in from about 3rd class up (in my experience).

5318008! wrote: »

There's way too many work-hours in a school say for primary school, they should be playing and developing skills other the acedemic. I don't see any reason why primary school can't be more fun.

I'm in Froebel Teacher Training college and there is a massive emphasis on play in terms of learning, this is based on the philosophies of Frederich Froebel.

Children at a young age learn though play and at least an hour a day should be allocated in the primary classroom to discovering learning through the methods of play.

On the topic of Irish, in alot of primary schools now, Irish is taught through Irish with no English spoken at all in a lesson. In this way children are emmersed in the language. If a teacher says a sentence in Irish and then in English what translation will they remember? English

The problem is with the dedication of some teachers to teach Irish through Irish and to foster an appreciation of Irish in the children in primary and secondary school. There should be an emphasis on relating the language to everyday life (as stated in the 1999 primary curriculum) and this is not done in many schools, with an emphasis on writing and grammar, especially in secondary school.
Look at it like this: Where would you learn Italian better: In a classroom, through English with others in the class who can't speak it or in a class taught through Italian with an emphasis on speaking rather than writing the language?

It depends how good your linguistic intelligence and dedication is, how well you are taught and if you are taught though relating the language to everyday situations.

yurmothrintites wrote: »

I'm in Froebel Teacher Training college and there is a massive emphasis on play in terms of learning, this is based on the philosophies of Frederich Froebel.

Children at a young age learn though play and at least an hour a day should be allocated in the primary classroom to discovering learning through the methods of play.

On the topic of Irish, in alot of primary schools now, Irish is taught through Irish with no English spoken at all in a lesson. In this way children are emmersed in the language. If a teacher says a sentence in Irish and then in English what translation will they remember? English

The problem is with the dedication of some teachers to teach Irish through Irish and to foster an appreciation of Irish in the children in primary and secondary school. There should be an emphasis on relating the language to everyday life (as stated in the 1999 primary curriculum) and this is not done in many schools, with an emphasis on writing and grammar, especially in secondary school.
Look at it like this: Where would you learn Italian better: In a classroom, through English with others in the class who can't speak it or in a class taught through Italian with an emphasis on speaking rather than writing the language?

I'm doing a B.Ed in PE and something that we discussed was discovery learning - that the teacher does not tell the students, but instead sets up the environment so that the student will discover the subject topic. And it is something that definately works - Maria Montessori's philosphy was a good line "I watched my children and they taught me how to teach". I heard in France that these types of education are commonplace up to a late age.

The next few lines are bits from a report into Irish in the Primary school - some interesting facts and statemets

mental07 wrote: »

I think it is for Junior Cert

its not technically - the four subjects compulsary for the JC are Irish, English, Maths and CSPE. Some schools make religion compulsary, but it is not

mental07 wrote: »

I think it is for Junior Cert

It's not, I didn't do it for the Junior Cert.