HEA report highlights level of educational disadvantage.

[brenners']

http://www.hea.ie/uploads/pdf/Who%20...0in%202004.pdf

The organisation I used to work for published a report today called “who goes to college” and it makes for very disturbing reading. The figures show that well over 80% of students attending schools in Foxrock are going on to attend 3rd level, while in Ballyfermot the figure stands at a disgraceful 11%. Despite all the promises from the Fianna Fail government and in particular Noel Dempsey it appears that the levels of disadvantage are remaining stagnent.
But there is no point criticising the government with out saying what should happen. There needs to be a large increase in the funding for the national education welfare board. While they did get an increase in the budget, and I welcome that, it does not even come close to the amount the director of the board has said is required. This group needs the tools to do their job. I also feel the access group in the HEA is not working and root and branch examination of its work needs to take place immediately.
The government needs to increase the number of VTOS places for adults and those who missed out on education and also fully implement the McIvor recommendations on post leaving cert education. They must also reverse all the cuts they made a few years back in the BTEA and also crèche payments for mature students.
The government must stop paying the wages of teachers in fee paying schools and instead this money should be invested in early intervention programmes.
The government needs to take a long-term approach to education and the budget. Investment in education has the greatest return of all government spending, but there is also terrible waste. If a child leaves without any official qualifications they are likely to end up on the dole, sometimes in prison and generally costing the state even more funds. Early intervention and the provision of holistic services have been proven to be cost effective. If we invest in education and stop people falling through the net we will reap the benefits for the economy and society in general.
People in Blackrock are not 8 times smarter than youths in Ballyfermot, the fact is the youth in Ballyfermot is not given the same opportunity. We need to change the whole culture of education in this country and it needs to happen now, if not we will end up with more people falling through the net. Sin è.

[iceman]

Spot on Brenners not much more i can add to that.

[St Disibod]

The government must stop paying the wages of teachers in fee paying schools and instead this money should be invested in early intervention programmes.

I agree witht the sentiment brenners, but unfortunately the maths does not add up. By cutting private school teaching salaries many of those schools will instead opt to become public schools, and rather than saving money the education budget will just be further squeezed. Most private schools are not Blackrock College or St Andrew's, they are smaller outfits that struggle to keep in the black.

I certainly agree something drastic needs to happen. I was reading the Irish Times in the pub the other night, I think it was Jack O'Connor in a letter that mentioned that only 67% of students complete second level education. We cannot look at these as statistics, they should read as a kick to the stomach to all of us. But the problems are dreadfully complex and the solutions elusive.

The problems start right at the outset in primary school, and feed right the way through to the top of the education ladder. The entire focus of our education needs to be addressed, at the moment the entire senior-cycle secondary level course seems geared towards getting kids into college. What use is that to the 33% who will never finish? What use is fifth year if you're not going to finish sixth? It's plainly obvious that the middle class have stacked the deck, and that it's stacked entirely in their favour.

I gave some grinds through one of the University disadvantaged-school schemes. Even there the middle class have it sown up. I ended up given tutorials to some bloke who's parents earned more than mine in a school that was better funded than the one that got me to college, and for UCD he can get 20% carved off his CAO requirements. It's a run of the mill gravy train.

Tweaking around the edges is not going to do. We need reforms of substance and I honestly believe there's not a TD in the current Dáil with the vision and skills required.

[Carrier]

I gave some grinds through one of the University disadvantaged-school schemes. Even there the middle class have it sown up. I ended up given tutorials to some bloke who's parents earned more than mine in a school that was better funded than the one that got me to college, and for UCD he can get 20% carved off his CAO requirements. It's a run of the mill gravy train.

I was going to add to brenners' post a sugguestion that the likes of the New Era programme in UCD, which is supposed to provide support for disadvantaged kids looking to attend the college, be given better funding but it doesn't sound like a great idea if that's how it's being run.

[St Disibod]

I was going to add to brenners' post a sugguestion that the likes of the New Era programme in UCD, which is supposed to provide support for disadvantaged kids looking to attend the college, be given better funding but it doesn't sound like a great idea if that's how it's being run.

For the kids who genuinely need New Era, it's not nearly enough. One of the lads was a real eye-opener for me. His level of written English was somewhat a par with my written Irish. He could communicate orally fine, but when it came to writing he could only concentrate on one word at a time and so his pronouns and tenses were utterly inconsistent.

There are three explanations for this: 1) The lad is not the brightest. 2) He has a learning difficuty. 3) He never received any form of adequate/standard education. Or some sort of combination of these.

Now, the fact that he was partaking in the New Era Programme means that it was not for lack if interest or effort that he had these difficulties. But they cannot be ironed out in eight two-hour installments by an untrained college student. The education system failed him, and no investment of resource can help him now. He needed help years and years ago.

At the moment, schools can only send X number of students for special needs testing, even if they suspect X+1 students have special needs. That is utterly ridiculous. Also, the waiting lists for these tests are expansive. Some people can afford to cut down the red tape by going privately. You don't need to know much about education to realise that this set up is completely daft and corrupt.

He is one of the 67% who get to the Leaving Certificate- this is one of the "successes", a person who never learned how to write basic English. Others have parents who can afford upwards of €5,000 a year second-level education. New Era is like shooting a potato-gun at a freight-train.