The Cedar Lounge Revolution

DEIS and other Education Cuts January 15, 2012

It looks that thankfully the proposed cutbacks to DEIS schools may well be reversed, however as of yet there is nothing concrete.  Minister Ruairi Quinn was on Pat Kennys radio show during the week and to me sounded as if he didn’t fully understand the role of DEIS schools and the DEIS schemes.

In the long run schemes like this are to tackle educational disadvantage. Needless to say as part of the schemes there is a lot of onus on school staff, part of that lazy public sector. In primary schools on the DEIS programme the children will get their breakfast, which in many disadvantaged areas is reason enough to send the child to school. No guess as to who feeds the children, those lazy public sector teachers.

As most families can not afford school books, teachers create a curriculum and produce materials so that the children can be taught using handouts and other facilities. In some areas many of the parents would have had drug problems which leads to behavioural difficulties in children. For example ADD and ADHD are far more common in disadvantaged areas than elsewhere.

I could go on, but the idea of these being cut , when there are so many other cuts that would be of less harm  , such as building grants to private schools, is sickening, especially from a Labour Party Minister. The long term impact of cuts to the DEIS schemes would cost far more than any cuts now.

(According to the Sunday Business Post)

“In the fall-out from the controvsery,  Labour TDs privately voiced criticism of the party’s leadership and advisers for not “politically proofing the budget cuts.”

So maybe they’re not Worth it!

Elsewhere though there are plenty of education cuts being done on the sly. You May have read or heard about some of these, except they are not classed as cutbacks.
The Department of Education is withdrawing separate funding for career guidance posts, leaving schools to find the money themselves.
This will lead to dedicated Career Guidance hours coming out of the general teaching hours. Which will mean two things, less teacher hours and less career guidance time. Which in turn means less teachers and less career guidance teachers.
So bigger class sizes and a few more teachers on the Dole.
Its rumoured too of chaplaincys going the same way. Many in these roles are actually Lay people and along with Career Guidance teachers play a vital role within the school. They are very much part of a support structure for pupils that goes well beyond advice on careers and filling out CAO and other forms. They provide counselling services for the mass of problems teenagers face today, be it depression, suicide, sexuality, family issues, bullying and so on.

This month another tidy sum will land in the pockets of unsecured bondholders, next month another bunch of promissory notes will be paid off too. I’m no financial expert but I gather that once these Anglo promissory notes get paid off next month (€3 billion plus) the money will be destroyed. Its fairly sick that all these cutbacks are to pay off money that will be instantly destroyed. Madness…….

Class and Sizes December 8, 2011

During the Summer Ed Maloneys Broken Elbow Blog had an excellent article on the links between Class and Diet in the US which is well worth reading.

He makes the observation that

Nine of the ten fattest states in America are in the South and it is no accident that they are also the poorest states in the Union. Being poor does not just mean that people are not well educated and therefore ignorant about which food is best for their health. It means they just can’t afford to buy decent, healthy food or don’t have the opportunity to access cheaper, high-quality produce because they live in places where farmers’ markets exist only on TV shows.

Then last week whilst browsing through my free Irish Independent in work I saw the catchy headline of “Expert warns we’ll be fatter than Americans in 20 years“

Yet there was nothing about one of the main findings of the report. That Children’s weight is directly linked to social class. Needless to say that this story wasn’t the one that made the headline. Instead it was hidden away in the paper.

Children’s weight is directly linked to social class. 5pc of three-year-olds from professional family backgrounds were classified as obese compared to 9pc from disadvantaged families.

The Report ,the Latest research report from ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ is available to download here in both full, by section, in summary form and also other material related to the report. Its well worth spending a while reading it.

Amongst its recommendations

Worse health behaviours (worse diets and less physical exercise) and higher levels of obesity among working-class children suggest that resources for interventions should be heavily targeted at lower socio-economic schools and communities. However, interventions to promote behavioural change will have limited effect if the structural reasons for the higher levels of risk factors among lower socio-economic groups are not also tackled. This will require a far larger effort across a number of different agencies that would be facilitated by leadership from a core government department such as the Department of the Taoiseach, in a similar manner to that adopted for ‘poverty proofing’ under the National Anti-Poverty Strategy.

In the Supermarkets the less healthy foods are generally much cheaper and more processed. For those on lower incomes, due to prices the choices are limited. another problem shown was the distance to supermarkets for those living in less well off areas. If you are relying on public transport it makes sense to go to the local shop for a few bits a pieces rather than going to the supermarket.
Even when you do go to the supermarket it may involve the added expense of getting a taxi home with your shopping. Compare the taxi queues in The Square with those in Dundrum.

Its a huge topic (which I won’t expand on) but one we know to be at the core of the well being of society.
Its hard to see any of the budget measures making the situation any better.

Only 3% of jobless better off on the dole October 13, 2011

Given the recent coverage to the cost of Social Welfare, the ‘lifestyle choice’ and so on there is an interesting article in todays Examiner Only 3% of jobless better off on the dole. Its based on an ESRI report due out today.

Only 3% of unemployed people would have more money if they continued to claim social welfare than rejoining the workforce, the ESRI found.
The think-tank’s report, which will be published today, finds that the vast majority of unemployed people would see their income at least double if they took a job.

The study authors have exploded the myth — created, it says, by “non-typical examples” — that most people would be better of containing to claim social welfare than taking up a job. The research shows that while the recession and the crisis in the public finances have seen unemployment rise sharply and taxes increase, this has not weakened the financial incentive to work.

“There has been concern that this combination may weaken the financial incentive to move from unemployment into employment, and selective examples have been used to support this argument,” it said.