By and large secondary education in Ireland is excellent so it would be pure madness shelling out thousands of euro on private education
I disagree.After 12 years studying Irish most people cannot hold more than a basic conversation. This is not because students are incapable, nor because Irish is impossible. It is because the teaching profession is useless at its job.
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I think you are conflating two issues here. There is no reason why we can't improve STEM subjects while still producing young adults with the capacity to think for themselves and to be fully rounded individuals. Our education system doesn't teach students to think, it teaches them to remember what other people have thought. The subject matter is not the issue, the way in which subjects are taught is the issue.I actually worry that there is too much emphasis on STEM courses in school these days and less on producing young adults with the capacity to think for themselves and to be fully rounded individuals. To me, I think there is a danger of the focus on school becoming more on how to produce workers for the tech sector..
So what's the problem?
Are we not attracting the right people into some areas of teaching?
Are we attracting then but not retaining them?
Are we attracting and retaining them but not ensuring that standards are high enough and that those standards are being met?
Is there an issue here that most teachers are women but most people who study STEM subjects are men?
We we need gender quotas in teaching?
Personally I think it is harsh to say that the teachers are not up to the job. It may be part of the reason but it is far from the full reason.
Starting point should be the curriculum itself. A simple example, the Applied Maths syllabus includes how to convert Irish Punts to Euro. This is because the curriculum has not been updated for years.
Personally speaking, I hated Irish at school and it wasn't always down to the teacher, it was because I couldn't care less about Peig Sayers or obscure Irish poets from the middle ages. Its not taught as a language should be thought.
I actually worry that there is too much emphasis on STEM courses in school these days and less on producing young adults with the capacity to think for themselves and to be fully rounded individuals. To me, I think there is a danger of the focus on school becoming more on how to produce workers for the tech sector.. As someone who has interviewed and employed hundreds of people over the year, I'd prefer to see more effort made on things like communications skills, debating, basic literacy, music, history as well as the solid foundation in a language and maths.
I'm not defending teachers by the way, as a student and now as a parent, I've seen bone idle useless incompetent and sometimes downright dangerous ones as well as some absolutely loving inspiring brilliant ones. The good ones don't get paid enough, the bad ones get paid far too much
I strongly disagree with that.Slightly off topic here, but the work place does not want rounded individuals with a capacity to think for themselves. It wants automatons who will do as they are told. This is the case at all levels.
Both. Most of all they have to demonstrate that the understand the protocols in the broader context of patient care.When a patient dies does a doctor need to demonstrate that they used their skill, judgement and training to save the patient, or do they need to demonstrate that they implemented the correct protocols.
When you say the whole profession that still says that the problem is teachers. They don't set the curriculum, they just teach it.The lesson I take from this is that the management of schools is too weak to promote the best aspects and discourage the worst. Its not the teachers, its the whole profession.
Slightly off topic here, but the work place does not want rounded individuals with a capacity to think for themselves. It wants automatons who will do as they are told. This is the case at all levels.
This is not correct. The Applied Maths syllabus has nothing to do with any type of currency conversion. It is engineering maths, and in my opinion an excellent course.
Slightly off topic here, but the work place does not want rounded individuals with a capacity to think for themselves. It wants automatons who will do as they are told. This is the case at all levels.
Not correct That may be the case in the public sector
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