0612

My experience as a teacher and principal in adisadvantaged primary school in the NorthInner City has made me determined to dowhat I can to eliminate the underlying causesof educational disadvantage:

30% of children in disadvantaged areas havebasic literacy difficulties and the hugevocabulary gap between children of differentsocio-economic backgrounds is evident fromthe age of three.

Early intervention is the only way to helpcommunities and families combat this issue.

As Vice-Chair of the Education and SocialProtection Committee I am compiling a

report dedicated to identifying strategies tocombat educational disadvantage at theearliest stage of a child's development.

Last July I hosted a one-day seminar inDrumcondra attended by representativesfrom Barnardos, Young Ballymun, NALA andNorthside Partnership.

I am continuing to visit schools and youthgroups across the city to listen first-hand tothose who are most affected by educationaldisadvantage.

If you have an interest in this issue, please feelfree to contact me to help inform the reportthat I am compiling.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT EDUCATION

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TDWinter 2012

Dáil Éireann:Leinster House, Dublin 2t: 01 618 3209

CONTACT AODHÁN

Constituency Office:203 Philipsburgh Avenue, Marino, Dublin 3t: 01 857 4020

e: aodhan.oriordain@oir.ie

@AodhanORiordain

l At present, the state can only interveneto address school attendance problemswhen a child is over the age of 6. If achild aged 4 or 5 is failing to attendschool on a regular basis, the authoritieshave no powers to address the problem.

l On Thursday 17th May 2012, Iintroduced my Education WelfareAmendment Bill to Dáil Éireann.

l With this Bill, I am seeking to change thelaw to include 4 and 5 year old childrenas well – so the root cause ofeducational disadvantage is tackled at amuch earlier stage.

l The Bill is supported by many children’srights groups, including Barnardos.

PROTECTING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AT SCHOOL

EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE REPORT

Dear Resident

Since entering government the Labour Party have a

been working on a series of reforms in the education

sector.

These changes are only possible thanks to the

continuing commitment and dedication of our

teachers, who deserve much greater respect than

they are often afforded by society. I know this

because I worked as a teacher and principal for 11

years in the North Inner City.

As you can see from this leaflet I am also delivering

many educational initiatives locally which may be of

interest to you and your community.

If you wish to discuss any of these issues further,

please do not hesitate to contact me as your new

Dáil representative.

EDUCATION, EDUCATION,

EDUCATION!

The Education and Training Boards Bill is an exciting reform of the Further Education Sectorand one that I am delighted to see passing through the Houses of Oireachtas.

I am introducing an amendment at Committee Stage to have an Adult Learner included as aBoard Members of the Education Training Boards.

The inclusion of an adult learner was a recommendation from NALA (The National AdultLiteracy Agency) and is an important recognition of the respect that those who areovercoming literacy difficulties deserve.

WORKING WITH NALA TO SECURE ADULTLEARNER REPRESENTATION ON EDUCATIONALTRAINING BOARDS

On October 22nd,Whitehall includingKilmore and Beaumontwas chosen as a pilot areato be surveyed as part ofthe diversity ofeducational options forparents iniative run by theMinister for Education,Ruairí Quinn.

I was delighted that myconstituency is one of thefirst in the country to getthe opportunity to take part in this process. The visionfor education is that parents get a choice regardingthe ethos of the school that their children attend. Thesurvey concluded on November 9th and furtherdevelopments will be made known to all stakeholdersin due course.

I am also supporting the new Educate Together NorthCentral movement who are trying to get recognitionfor a new Educate Together School in our area. You cancontact the group at www.educatetogethernc.com

WHITEHALL INCLUDED AS PILOTAREA FOR DIVERSITY INEDUCATION SURVEY

JUNIOR CERT REFORM & STAFFDISCUSSIONS

BACK TO SCHOOL COSTS REPORT -SUBMISSIONS

ACCESS TO TEACHING PROJECT WITHMARINO

AUTISM BILL

ANTI-BULLYING STRATEGY / YELLOW FLAGPROJECT

l For Ireland to be trulydemocratic, I believe that eachcitizen needs to be given theskills of reading and writing inorder to have the chance tofully participate in society.

l Literacy is fundamentally amatter of equality andempowerment. As a DeputyLord mayor of Dublin in 2006 Ilaunched the “Right to Read”campaign which succeeded in achieving increased investment in theCity’s library service and in creating new ‘learning zones’ for school children.

l A recent OECD report revealed that in this country, one in four adults of workingage have problems with even the simplest of literacy tasks.

l The National Literacy Strategy launched last July is a strong statement of priorityfrom Labour in government as to what we want to achieve for our young people.

l I am continuing to work closely with Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn to embedthis strategy throughout all government agencies to create a national movementon literacy that is the responsibility of all to implement.

LITERACY IS THE GREAT LIBERATOR

YOUR LOCAL LABOUR TEAM

Cllr Brian McDowell087 222 1628brian.mcdowell@labour.ie

Cllr Jane Horgan Jones086 837 5219horganjones.jane@gmail.com

Seán Kenny TD01 618 3744sean.kenny@oir.ie

Cllr Andrew Montague087 908 0409andrewmontague@eircom.net

Cllr Paddy Bourke087 286 2558pbourkelabour@eircom.net

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD

Dáil Éireann:Leinster House, Dublin 2t: 01 618 3209

Constituency Office:203 Philipsburgh Avenue,Marino, Dublin 3t: 01 857 4020

e: aodhan.oriordain@oir.ie

@AodhanORiordain

Junior Cert reform was announced in September of this year with a school-basedmodel of continuous assessment replacing the old 100% end of year examstructure.

The new programme will see 40% of examination marks being based on course-work and 60% being based on a final written assessment.

Examination papers will be set by the State Examination Commission (SEC) butwill be administered and corrected by teachers.

However, English, Irish and Maths examination papers will be corrected by the SECfor the first couple of years

The reform package has sparked debate across many secondary schools and I havespent the last number of months speaking to principals, staff and students acrossNorth Dublin, taking feedback and responding to their queries.

I was happy to support my colleague, Micheal McCarthy in the Dáil last month withhis private members bill to provide for a national adult autism strategy. The aim ofthe bill is to ensure that the needs of adults with autism can be met by serviceproviders in terms of access to health services, education, employment and socialinclusion.

It also addresses issues such as a lack of awareness about autism among the publicand the absence of available data on the condition in Ireland, which could make formore efficient future planning.

People in Ireland with autism deserve to live rewarding and fulfilling lives and thisBill is a huge step forward in ensuring a brighter future for those affected by thisserious and lifelong condition.

RESPECTING SNASI was delighted earlier this year to address theIMPACT conference for Special Needs Assistantsin Cavan. It was a valuable experience where Iengaged with some of those working on thefrontline in our education sector. I know as aformer teacher and principal the valuable workdone each day by SNAs across the country andthe delegates were keen to impress on me whatthey really want from school authorities and theDept. of Education is respect.

Since then I have continuously engaged with SNA representatives and I amdetermined to aid them in their development of a sustainable career path in theeducation system.

In October I began a consultation process through the Education Committeerelating to Back to School Costs for parents. Having invited the Management Bodiesof primary and secondary schools to address the committee, I am more convincedthan ever that more can be achieved at a local and national level to curb the costsof sending children to school. I am interested to hear your views on the matter.

Please send your thoughts to aodhan.oriordain@oir.ie and place 'Back to SchoolCosts' in the subject line.

Your submission can deal with any of the followingissues:

� School books & materials

� Book Rental Schemes

� School Uniforms

� Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

� Voluntary Contributions

� Communions / Confirmations / Graduations

� Extra expenditure e.g. Christmas presents forteachers

I am currently working closely with The Marino Institute of Education to devise aproactive plan to encourage more students from disadvantaged students into primaryschool teaching as a profession.

I am convinced that there are hundreds of excellent potential teachers in our moredisadvantaged of areas whose schools need extra support to help them over the line.More information on this project will be made available to individual schools in thecoming months when the scheme is formally launched.

Ruairi Quinn's Anti-Bullying Forum continues to meet and to assess strategies designedto effectively tackle bullying in Irish schools and will report before Christmas. The forumis discussing identity-based bullying such as racist or homophobic bullying, but is alsofocusing on other areas. I was delighted last month to attend and to speak at the awardceremony of the Yellow Flag Project, an initiative of the Irish Traveller Movement aimedat encouraging cultural awareness and tolerance in secondary schools.

I am encouraging Minister Ruairí Quinn's Anti-Bullying Forum to actively engage with theproject as it has potential to have very positive effects right throughout the educationsystem. Bullying, and most particularly cyber-bullying, is of huge concern to parents.Excellent information is available from www.spunout.ie in relation to this importantissue.

CONVENTION IN YOUR CLASSROOMIn September, I launched the Convention in Your Classroom initiative that I am runningover the next several months. I will be travelling to schools in my constituency andmeeting with Transition Year Students, and other year groups, to hear their views on theupcoming convention.

Unfortunately there will be no one under 18 as part of the convention despite the factthat any proposed changes will affect generations into the future. I believe it is importantto engage with young people about this issue so that we create a culture of politicalawareness in our schools.

It is my hope that a representative sample of the students I meet will be invited into theDáil in the new year to finalise a set or proposals. Over the coming months I will bereporting my interactions, with these pupils and I have asked people to like the page Ihave setup on Facebook for this project and to tweet their views to me using the hashtag #classconv.

Cllr Peter Coyle087 283 7160coyle-peter@clubi.ie

Cllr. Cian O’Callaghan086 286 6631cian.ocallaghan@votelabour.ie