Whilst we wait to see the details of any arrangements connected to the suggested Executive meeting on Thursday.. Some actual politics. UUP MLA David McNarry succeeded in getting his private members bill - Community Use of School Premises Bill - onto the Assembly’s agenda. But, as he notes in the clip, the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, had been lobbying other Executive Ministers to oppose it. It would appear that, in exchange for parking the bill, he’s secured a pilot scheme....
From today’s Politics Show, BBC NI Dublin correspondent Shane Harrison reports on one particular measure contained in the Republic of Ireland Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s debut budget - the €2.8 million cut in State funding to 21 Protestant fee-paying schools. Church of Ireland reaction, as reported at the time....
Not, apparently, if you’re the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane. Given the rare opportunity of the Education Minister actually in the studio, Jim Fitzpatrick asks, a number of times, whether the “awful prospect” of de-regulation by default, that the Minister has been threatening to press ahead with, will be a worse scenario than retaining academic selection.. [Nevermind the detail, onward! - Ed] Interestingly, along with co-opting the Churches intervention onto her side of the argument, she does seem to concede that post-primary transfer is part of the “wide range of issues” being discussed between Sinn Féin and the DUP - “we won’t negotiate through the media”. That...
After last week’s tense interrogation of the First Minister, one could be forgiven for expecting the Deputy First Minister to proffer his case to the fierce scrutiny of Noel Thompson. But no, no sign of Martin. Or Gerry for that matter. Maybe next week, when they’ve figured a way to sell their flip flop over that letter? However, the subject of politically induced policy vacuums (or should that be abysses? - ed) did come up when Bishop Donal McKeown was highly critical of an impending de-regulation of the education system by the Minister (about 3 minutes in):
“There is a widespread recognition, not just from us but across the community that the current system cannot work through indefinitely into the future. Changes have to be undertaken, but they can...
In the Irish Times the DUP’s Mervyn Storey, Chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee, expounds on his personal belief that young-Earth creationism should be taught in school science classes as an alternative theory to evolution. This is old ground by now, but it’s worth pointing out again that his argument ignores the 150 years of scientific scrutiny which the theory of evolution has been subjected to, and survived, whilst elevating the 17th Century Archbishop Ussher’s tally of the number of begots in Genesis to the status of a scientific theory. Gavin Conant, Assistant Professor of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, rebuts Mervyn Storey’s argument in the same article.Storey seems to believe that students must choose...
Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd and the DUP’s Edwin Poots were on Hearts and Minds tonight discussing the vexed issue of post-primary transfer. The recent Catholic Heads Association [CHA] statement featured heavily with John O’Dowd claiming that the Association are now “opposing the Catholic Bishops” [Excommunicate them! - Ed] - I suspect he had Bishop Donal McKeown in mind. But here’s a question, with the Education Minister threatening to press ahead into the vacuum in the absence of political consensus on the way forward, why describe the degree of consensus that apparently exists between the DUP and the CHA as “a wee bit startling, if not shocking”? And I’d suspect that consensus could include the...
Despite the quoted reply from the Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane, it’s clear that the reported statement from the Catholic Headteachers Association is in response to the minister’s threat, in the absence of political consensus, to press ahead into the vacuum..
What the minister had said.
“I have repeatedly said I want a sound legislative basis for the proposals. If I do not receive the support for this legislative approach, then transfer in 2010 will be unregulated.”
The CHA’s reported statement
“Until the appropriate legislation is in place, we propose that academic selection will continue to take place, preferably using the CCEA test which the minister has commissioned,” they said in a statement....
The Irish News summarises the Education Minister’s message to the primary school principals featured in a Belfast Telegraph article last month - “My way or free-for-all” [subs for now]. The Telegraph covers the story here and from the ministerial letter“I was surprised, and a little disappointed, to read the comments relating to my proposals for changes to transfer arrangements attributed to you in the Belfast Telegraph. I have been very clear in all my public statements that I do not believe we need to subject our 10 and 11 year old children to a selection test
“I have said that I expect every primary school principal and teacher to deliver the statutory curriculum and not be diverted by any post-primary school’s particular admissions...
Nice first round up post on the budget from our new southern blogger, Paddy McEvoy. Welcome on board Paddy! On the same subject, here’s an early round up on how the blogs saw it. Conaill was out of the blocks early (barely before the speech had ended, with a line Labour Party spokeswoman used shortly after in the Dail, On yer bike, a dig at the Greens, over the scaling back of some infrastructure projects and a Norman Tebbit inference. El Blogador follows that with a more detailed reference to some of the tightening in government spending: not the least the relaxing of teacher pupil ratio from a targeted 21 from the current 24 and out to twenty five.
Suzy with her tremendous eye for telling detail has spotted which quangoes are being axed from poring over the Book of...
Having expressed concern yesterday [see end of clip] that Stormont Live might fall foul of the Trade Descriptions Act, no wonder Jim Fitzpatrick and Mark Devenport played the introduction of UUP MLA David McNarry’s private member’s bill twice. It’s his second [scroll down] and the Community Use of School Premises Bill passed its first stage today. On the show he makes the case that other MLAs, and Assembly Committees, should follow suit. The discussion does throw up a great line from Mark Devenport [3min 37sec in].“This makes the McNarry kitchen table the main legislative factory here for Northern Ireland..”
Indeed.....
A tie-in with Brian’s previous post noting the 40th anniversary of the events at Duke St on 5th Oct 1968. There’s a bit of a false start due to technical problems at the BBC but, after a brief extract from tomorrow night’s documentary The Day The Troubles Began, Oxford academic Simon Prince makes some reasonable points on his thesis [subs req] - or, as Brian called it, a “glorious piece of revisionism”. As Simon Prince says at the end, on the current battle over the legacy of the civil rights movement, “Unfortunately for me it’s still present politics, rather than past history.” And, after all, “history is like a knife..”...
And then there were three:
Given that the Minister for Education and the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee has not, as yet, agreed the arrangements for Transfer to Post-Primary Schools in September 2010, the Board of Governors of St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick, has decided that in the absence of any definitive and agreed plan and pending legislative clarity, the school will continue to admit boys to Year 8 on the basis of academic selection.
This decision has been taken in order that primary school principals and teachers, and the parents of present P6 pupils will be aware of the academic requirements for entry to this school in September 2010.
It looks like the Minister’s fillibustering tactic of talking out the opposition over the ending...
A second Catholic grammar school has said it intends to run an independent entrance exam. St Michael’s Boys College, Enniskillen, joins Lumen Christi in Londonderry in apparently rejecting advice from Catholic bishops - as the Derry Journal reported - although the bishops have previously expressed concern at the lack of clarity from the Department and the Minister. From the BBC reportPrincipal Eugene McCullough said they made the decision in the absence of any definitive and agreed plan. However, the school has not given details of what sort of test it would run. The principal of a local primary school confirmed that the grammar school had written with news of the plan and said the Department of Education “needs to get its act together”.
Any sign...
The report in the Sunday Tribune on the Oireachtas Select Committee on Education and Science report on teaching modern Irish history contains a compelling argument.History teachers said they avoided Northern Ireland because it “can raise discriminatory attitudes in class and name calling”. There was little support for introducing it in the classroom, they said.
Other reasons given by teachers for avoiding the subject were they felt they lacked knowledge of the subject and believed they could not compete with the information the students got from their communities and families. [added emphasis]
But the report warns this will have to change. “If students do not learn about modern Irish history in a school context, will they be skilled enough to interpret what...
Obviously it’s good news to hear that Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has attempted to learn what the Orange Order’s actually traditions are by writing, some months ago, to Orange Grand Master Roberts Saulters requesting information on the Order - and it’s also good news that the Order has just met in the Republic of Ireland for the first time since partition. According to the BBC report, “Mr Saulters said he had replied, sending Mr Adams some literature on the traditions of the institution.” And that, “Mr Adams wrote back confirming he had received Mr Saulters correspondence.” But shouldn’t Mr Adams have informed himself of the Order’s traditions a long long time ago? Rather than spend so much time...
The principal of St Colm’s High School, Twinbrook, Imelda Jordan, has rejected the criticism from local Sinn Féin councillor Sam Baker [no relation] of the visit to the school by three Royal Navy officers, presumbaly from the Navy’s Royal Marines Visiblity Team, who took part in a team-building and leadership event - criticism which, I’d suggest, was the political equivalent of a scene from 1978 sci-fi paranoia classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. From the statement Cllr Sam Baker issued earlier today.“I was approached last night by a number of parents of children who took part in an exercise with the British Army’s Royal Marines in St. Colms School last Monday. “The parents informed me they knew nothing about this secret visit...
I had suggested that the elevation of DUP MLA Mervyn Storey to Chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee could see “more skirmishes ahead in the battle against The Un-Enlightenment.” And Lo! It came to pass.. The NewsLetter today carries his comments on his “personal” belief that“Creationism is not for the RE class because I believe that it can stand scientific scrutiny and that is a debate which I am quite happy to encourage and be part of. The issue for the current Education Minister (Caitriona Ruane] is that she tells us she’s all for equality – surely if that is the case, you can’t have one set of interpretations being taught at the expense of others.”
Time for the introduction of those guidelines, in...
UUP leader Reg Empey is predicting an autumn summit to try to address the issues bundled together with the one issue he has identified as being at the core of the Northern Ireland Executive power vacuum. Meanwhile, as the metaphorical tumbleweed blows through Stormont, in the Irish News Patrick Murphy is particularly critical of the bundling of education into that “package deal”.Education is only one of a number of topics on which the DUP and Sinn Fein disagree. But while policing, justice and the future architecture of Long Kesh are important, they do not rank with education in terms of the long-term impact on individuals, families and society. These other contentious issues have existing administrative systems. The political argument is about if and when...
It’s certainly a fascinating discovery, although I’m not sure why the BBC are so startled by the revealed seabed off Rathlin Island. The somewhat breathless report suggested “some [unknown] cataclysmic event” was responsible. Except that there’s already evidence that, over 6000 years ago, a rapid rise in sea levels transformed the landscape elsewhere on the archipelago “in a relatively short period of time”. Surely that could account for these findings? I know there are some geologists out there, any ideas? The survey is supported by the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency [MCA] and the Marine Institute of Ireland and the MCA have released a video of the Rathlin results. [Windows media file]...
As noted on the BBC’s science section. A simply ingenious combination of YouTube and short videos on the elements in the periodic table by a team at Nottingham University has produced this informative online resource. They have a few more to add but among the elements they’ve already noted is the unique element Ununseptium. Professor Martyn Poliakoff’s introduction to the Periodic Table is here [and below the fold] and here’s the trailer for the project.
Professor Martyn Poliakoff on the Periodic Table
To which I can only add this.....
Not only is there no political consensus on Northern Ireland Education Minister Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane’s proposals “as they currently stand”, but there’s no consensus between the political parties on the Assembly’s Education Committee on their response. As the BBC reportsA series of meetings was held in private to allow frank discussion but the chairman has admitted that it was difficult to find areas of agreement. Instead, each of the five political parties has produced its own individual response....
There’s a lengthy interview with Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, in the Irish News today [subs req]. But, as she said in a carefully presented pre-recorded interview on Tuesday’s Stormont Today, “I don’t believe most of what I believe in the papers” [sic]. Despite the Catholic Bishops’ concerns the minister is adamant that she has “brought forward very clear proposals” and that her critics “now have clarity”. The point emphasised in the Irish News was the apparent threat to by-pass the Legislative Assembly [subs req] - in the clip below, “I want to legislate for my proposals. If that doesn’t happen, well then I have to look at other...
It looks like some of Catriona Ruane’s external consensus building is paying off. Both the major teaching Unions in Northern Ireland are forming up against any proposals to run Grammar School tests and charge parents for their cost. ...
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is due to go fully online in late August and, whilst legal concerns about the experiment rumble on, to celebrate that fact the Guardian has an avalanche of articles - part of a special supplement to today’s paper. They include, among others, an introduction by Steven Hawking, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees on the building blocks of the universe, Simon Singh on WIMPs, MACHOs and DUNNOs, even philospher AC Grayling has a go, and on a lighter note Chris Morris on a “zone weaponised to boggle” - complete with podcast.. full cerncast here. As an aside there was a fascinating interview with physicist Peter Higgs earlier. Brian Cox has been visiting and working at CERN for over a decade, and it’s he who Slate’s...
Interesting snippet from yesterday’s Irish News, although I’m not sure the Sinn Féin Bulletin can be accurately called a newspaper.. ANYhoo.. Apparently the Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, is hearing voices.. [scroll down]“Look at who controls the media and in whose interest the media works,” Ms Ruane said. “There is, and I am putting this in inverted commas, the old boys’ network and I think that is what you are seeing.
“The voices that we are hearing are the voices of the establishment. What we need to hear are the voices of the people who are pro-change and I am meeting them every day. “I don’t know if I would call it a witch-hunt. What I do know is that there are many...
It’s not the first time the Northern Irish Catholic bishops have called for greater clarity from the Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, about her vision for the future.. The BBC picks up on an Irish News report about a statement from the Catholic bishops. [subs req for now]Catholic bishops have accused education minister Caitriona Ruane of creating “fear, uncertainty and instability” by a lack of clarity on proposals for school selection. The northern bishops say they are disappointed that, as another school year ends, key aspects of the minister’s plans remain unclear....
On his blog, the BBC’s Mark Devenport tells us that they “had been given a heads up” for this afternoon’s Assembly debate. Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was to warn of potential meltdown.. again. He is off to London.. again. But then the DUP’s Peter Weir intervened on a point of order.. Let’s hope they have the footage..
Then, as Gerry was about to get to his killer quote, Peter Weir jumped to his feet. Was the DUP member going to fight fire with fire? Well not quite. What the North Down MLA wanted to check with the Speaker was whether Gerry should be wearing a tie. Puzzled looks all around. The Speaker Willie Hay confirmed that the Sinn Fein President, wearing a jacket but no tie, was not breaking any dress code.
Mr...
The Sinn Féin spokesman on education John O’Dowd’s response was “Opinion polls vary..”, but I’m not sure there have been that many other polls on this.. Anyway, the Belfast Telegraph reports that a poll of 876 adults in Northern Ireland, commissioned by the Conservative Party, carried out by YouGov, on post-primary education - the issue which “could define the executive” - produced the following results.The main question was: “The Minister of Education Caitriona Ruane would like to see the current 11-plus system scrapped. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this proposal?” A total of 58% of the sample disagreed, compared to 36% who agreed.
Interestingly there’s also a break-down of those figures by...
Whilst Sinn Féin education spokesman, John O’Dowd, sets out his party’s opposition to the Association for Quality Education plans for post-primary academic selection the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, has reportedly written to all post-primary grammar schools warning them of the “legal difficulties” involved with such tests - a continuation of what a Belfast Telegraph op-ed has referred to as, “the wrong approach to what could be a laudable objective”. The Minister has resorted to claiming concern about legal matters before.. Meanwhile the new Chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee, the DUP’s Mervyn Storey, has said the publication of the plan was...
The new Chairman of the Assembly’s Education Committee, the DUP’s Mervyn Storey, was on StormontLive today dispelling any suggestion that, with Sammy Wilson ensconced as Environment Minister, there might be a change in DUP policy.. [Don’t mention young-Earth creationism.. - Ed]...