Nov
15
The director general of the statutory body charged with funding basic science research has expressed his concern at proposals to abolish funding for postgraduate students. Dr Graham Love was speaking at the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Summit in Athlone, an …
Aug
29
Irish schools should abandon textbooks in favour of online educational content, says Fergus O’Dowd, FG education spokesman. “Texas and California are investigating the use of ‘open source textbooks’, providing approved digital texts online, written by educational experts such as retired …
Mar
07
Mark Coughlan does a good job outlining the events of the past week, with reports in the papers apparently confirming grade inflation. Coincidentally, I was googling on the topic around the same time Mark was writing his article. My working …
Jun
09
I had an interesting conversation with some (mostly Fianna Fáil, some Labour) local activists at the Kildare County Council election count yesterday. We started with the BNP results in the UK, and I mentioned that it seemed to be due …
Apr
15
Yesterday I posted edited extracts from a review of ‘Chaos and Conspiracy’ in a shameless bid to promote the book to anyone who happens to be reading out there. The review appeared in last Saturday’s edition of the Irish Independent, …
Sep
23
The hijab non-controversy continues, this time given oxygen by the announcement that the minister for education does not intend to regulate the non-issue. Beverly McKenzie, head of the Irish Hijab Campaign, formed to combat the well reported but rarely seen …
Sep
02
Among cynical observers of the political process, it’s known as getting your retaliation in first. Create the perception of a threat to something you cherish, declare your support with fervour, issue rallying cries against the strawman you have carefully built, …
Jun
11
I was educated by the State. The State paid for to build the schools I was taught in, designed the curriculum, paid my teachers’ salaries. But the first school I went to wasn’t a State school. It was owned and …
May
27
Pat Kenny hosted a discussion on school uniforms and the hijab today. The most interesting part of such discussions is often the feedback from listeners. There were a few unusual opinions, to say the least. There’s something odd about a …