Mary Coughlans switch to the newly named Department of Education and Skills left many surprised. I wrote her a letter today with  my views on enterprise education in Ireland. I think this will be a good move for the Irish education system and integrating the training programs of FAS etc under the one department makes a lot of sense. Apart from the obvious concerns, the areas I would like to see addressed in the education systems are:

1. Enterprise Education: Lets follow the UK system of 5 compulsory days for Junior Cycle groups
2. Increase opportunities for newly qualified teachers. It should be compulsory for each school to bring on an NQT in some capacity. This may involve school sharing e.g. 2 days in each per week with an option of additional substitute cover.
3. Create a teacher substitute list similar to the Northern Ireland substitute teacher register.
4. Explore changes to the existing Leaving certificate/ College application program. Why should students make a choice about a course in February without ever experiencing what the industry make be like? Work experience plays a key role in many college degrees but should be brought forward. Wouldn’t it be great as a student to experience working as journalist, a physio and in sales before you decide how you’ll spend the next 4 years of your life studying?

If you can sort the existing issues with the teachers unions, classroom sizes and manage to tackle any of these you’ll be staking a claim for MVP (Most Valuable Politician) in the Dail. The very best of luck to you!

In the run up to leaving cert exams and GCSE/ A leves in the UK, I’m happy to offer one to one online tutorials for Business Studies. All lessons will be conducted via SKYPE at a special price of €10 per half hour if you mention this blog. If you are interested in availing of this then please read the follow steps:

1. Email me: breffni.conaty@gmail.com  and outline the topic you would like covered in the session and the time you wish the lesson to take place. I will reply with the areas we will be able to cover in the session e.g. if you wanted to look at the entire marketing section it will take longer than 30 mins!
2. Create a Skype account. This can be completed by logging onto www.skype.com and following the registration steps. Please ensure you upload the latest version as I will want to screen share to illustrate additional points. Once completed add me as a friend by searching for my username breffniconaty
3. Transfer the payment via Paypal to my email address above once you are satisfied with the plan for the lesson. Note, lessons must be pre-paid.
4. Once payment has been received I will send an advance copy of the session notes which you can review prior to the lesson.

An interesting article appeared in this mornings papers regarding the growing phenomenon of cyber schools. As ExamVillage launches in Ireland hoping to replicate the success of Megastudy in Korea, one must wonder what the potential would hold for cyber schools in the future.  A number of tutors for Megastudy have made in excess of $1 million per year with the highest earner pocketing a cool $8 million for his years work. These teachers really are the celebrities of the teaching world in Korea and dwarf the $40k earnings of those in normal schools.

I love the idea as a supporting tool for students. However I still believe school is more about a social education than what you’ll learn in books and classrooms. If ’home schooling’ in this sense returns it will increase the role of the parent in deciding a childs interests. School allows students to debate, try and ditch various activities until they find the ones that suit them most. And this is why I can never see a cyber school replace the existing system.

I’ve joined Exam Village to find out more and this certainly won’t be the last time I speak about this issue. That  being said, have a look at my following post for the latest way to get Business grinds from yours truly. State that you’ve read the blog and you’ll get the special price too!

As another section of the public workforce begin a ’work to rule’ today, I cannot help but imagine what would  happen if employers took these campaigns as literally as the staff will. In essence a ‘work to rule’ is the removal of additional services which many employees volunteer to each day and eventually become part and parcel of the working week. The Gardai avoided the terminology by announcing their latest action as a ‘withdrawal of goodwill’.

I think many unions who encourage this action need to take out the contracts of work and read again before they choose such action. Does this mean management can now begin punishing the Gardai who have 4 coffee breaks a day (which can involve a 20 minute round trip to collect the coffee at a local petrol station), several cigarette breaks and numerous casual conversations while being paid to work? Having a productive workforce is about giving each side a degree of flexibility. However, the decision to invoke a work to rule, whether by the GRA or a teaching union continues to remove opportunities for employers to do this.

Brian Cowen should get the management of these organisations to ensure they fulfill the threat exactly as they say. Perhaps if they worked hard for the set amount of hours a week they are supposed instead of showing up foran extra two, production would increase and both could be happy.

My Mum called in for a cup of tea this morning and told me how a retired friend of hers is refusing work in secondary schools as he is too busy with substitute work. It drives me crazy to think that so many schools are still relying on old networks (literally) to respond to substitution problems. Our minister for education Batt O’Keeffe made calls to schools and unions to stop this trend but yet the problem remains.

It’s about time that a sub register list is developed and centralised to stop this. Northern Ireland through the Northern Ireland Substitute Teacher Register  provide an efficient system that works and allows equal opportunities for newly qualified teachers who are looking to gain experience. If our minister is serious about this issue he should show it and not rely on the unions who owe him no favours at this time.

Perhaps its my social circles but twittering hasn’t grabbed my attention yet despite hearing the word at least 15 times a day on Newstalk. Anyway, without running the risk of falling too far behind I can not be found tweeting by visiting https://twitter.com/breffniconaty.

I’ve looked around and I really don’t know how companies can get their employees to do the work they should be with all these social networking sites and employee protection laws. Ba humbug!

Keep an eye out for any exam materials published in the national papers. The Independent run a great series (Exam Brief) and can be accessed by visiting their website and entering the code found in Wednesdays paper. Maths is up this week.

”We have both been very successful and have learnt things that we can think we can teach the children”

Breffny Morgan speaking to the Sunday Tribune

What??!! How or when?!! This tool has decided to charge €5 per student for ‘advice’ on career choices and hopes to use his ‘bona fida celebrity status’ to talk about success and stardom. Apparently up to 40 schools have already shown initial interest in this. I’ll gladly pay for these names so I can pass the words to friends not to send their children there. Can’t say anymore as I’m sooooooooooooo annoyed this idiot will charge up to €500 per hour for something which is given for free and to a much higher standard in every school. I’m giving up!

Our secondary education system is again up for criticism with many feeling our leaving certificate and university qualifications are being marked too easily. I agree with no context for argument bar my experience in college where friends of mine, who will openly admit to not doing a tap, got the same degree as others who worked their socks off. To a college they see a difference. One students gets 69% the other 60%. Sadly all an employer sees is a 2:1. It is only natural that a teacher would try push a students grades into a higher category. I’m guilty of it myself.

Where I think we lack is a system that can account for the character of the student. If a degree can also give an indication of the other skills required to be successful int he workplace. For example a college degree of which some grading will be weighted against measurable ques such as attendance & participation in class would highlight not only a students intellectual ability but their committment and independence. As an employer these are the qualities I look for especially when calling a reference so why not have some shining through from college.

This is only one option but could be introduced with almost zero changes to the system but if done may help distinguish our system once again.

For a number of years now the UK government has allocated additional funding to schools to promote enterprise education. OFSTEAD who are responsible for inspecting standards in schools, now look to ensure each school has set aside 5 compulsory days for enterprise education specifically targeted at 14-16 age bracket. Planning for these events in school is taken seriously and as a result a range of enterprise events are delivered both internally by the school and externally through the help and support of local enterprise boards or event companies. When teaching in the UK I always found these events great to participate in. The kids love the break in routine with many getting their first glimpes into business theory while others enjoy applying lessons from the classroom.

In Ireland we have a number of enterprise programs. The Student Enterprise Awards is by far the largest enterprise event run in Ireland with Jerry Kennelly doing excellent work with his Young Entrepreneur and other organsations like NFTE and the ‘Get up and Go’ campaign by the Department of Education.

These are great events and at least provide opportunities for enterprising students. However they all limit the opportunity to capture a greater audience due to the 3- 6 month committment required by the student and school. Consequently schools need to sign up to these and despite paying each school a nominal amount at the end of the program the numbers of active students involved in any of the above programs is too low. While I acknowledge we will need to make changes to the system to make enterprise education more accessible, more needs to be done to make enterprise education a compulsory part of primary and secondary education. Only then can the events above fulfill their potential and produce the kind of students this country needs.