I agree but the socialists would be against it. Evil Big Business would be "corrupting" our education system etc.I would like to see more private investment in second level.
The negative slant on the following quote surprised me - surely this is quite a high position for a small country such as ours?
"In terms of output of the current education system, the news looks even worse. On overall quality of post-primary education and training in 2009-2010, the World Economic Forum ranked Ireland only number 20 in the world. "
I'm not defending the education system in Ireland, just surprised how he can say we are "only" number 20 in the world?
I'd agree that there are failings in the education system when it comes to science and maths, I experienced them too, but I'm unsure of just how we tackle that effectively. Will private sector investment help? Not sure, what are they going to do, say, provide, influence? I don't mean I'm paranoid about private sector involvement, but what's the proposal, what's the detail, what is the Resturant Manager of a McDonalds going to bring to education in our schools?
Totally agree, the computing industry is one of the areas I'd say could get involved. It doesn't have to go into detail on the actual maths behind it, just demonstrate how it relates. You could even go further and look at computer animation etc and the application there. It's the usual fair with these things, pharmachem companies and the like. What kid wants to wear a white coat and conduct lab trials on the new viagra when they're 13? Who's really interested in that area when they're 13?
I know for a fact if these companies were approached they'd love to do something with kids. These are perfect examples of the kind of industry that needs people to go into this area to survive. But they aren't asked. Is it up to them to make the approach to a school of the Department, or should the school/Department be approaching them?
The big problem with the Irish education system is that there is practically no science thought in primary school. I agree with Latrade on the curiousity thing - and primary school kids are very very curious about practical scientific stuff.
I believe the reason that no science is thought in primary school is in order to accommodate the Irish language. My opinion, which I'm sure wont go down well with gaelgoirs, is that the several hours a week dedicated to Irish should instead be dedicated to science. This will mean that most of our primary school kids will have a good grounding in the basics before they start second level. Second level can then build on this and the benefits will naturally carry through to third level and beyond.
Maybe private industries should just start paying some appropriate levels of tax, then ALL the schools could get the resources they need.Private investment can take many forms. We can't expect the State to provide our schools with everything they need. There simply isn't enough money. For example, when I worked in London with a financial firm, they sponsored 5 maths teachers each year to receive extra training on the subject. It was a small gesture but apparently it was a huge success with regards to pupils results. They also various initiatives to encourage students to continue studying maths and science in third level. For example, they ran a competition where the winners received guaranteed places in the company's graduate programme dependent on getting a university degree.
Maybe private industries should just start paying some appropriate levels of tax, then ALL the schools could get the resources they need.
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