@Bernard Sweeney: Perth

@Bernard Sweeney: apologies, perhaps all the books for 3 children?

@ash doyle: because tax payer s are expected to continue to provide for all these areas while parents take zero responsibility. That what happens when you’ve a soft system that keeps giving

@ash doyle: this term disadvantaged is derogatory and takes away from the true problem, under resourcing of education. The notion of free education is bull when people pay for what are called extra curricular activities designed to enhance the child’s education cost an arm and a leg and should be part of the education syllabus. This is more waste and openly discriminates between public and private education which is available to the better of and also funded by the state. Education is not a luxury and should value all children equally as the constitution says

@Dangling Damo: In Germany extra curricular activities like music lessons are provided for all children. In Ireland it costs about 800 euro for a years tuition.

@ash doyle: are you implying the parents of deis schools are all claiming social welfare? That’s not clear in your comments.

Yes the middle is squeezed. But Socio economically disadvantaged areas are squashed. Nobody is saying other people aren’t struggling but they are saying that the people who are struggling most are in these areas and with the funding available (and it is only a pilot project) they are starting there

@ash doyle: cos there are levels to struggling. Gotta draw a line somewhere.

@Alan: so DEIS schools and the supports they provide shouldn’t exist?

@ash doyle: Wait till they go to college, year one cost us 11k. Not including the extras like travel expenses, books and so on.

We also paid over 500 for books for two at secondary school.

@Jude: 800 euro that people should not have to pay. These activities should be funded through peoples taxes and delivered by the department of education or what ever its called now.

@Jude: In our school , every child from senior infants up learns a musical instrument , in school hours . This is in addition to choir / concerts / musicals.

@ash doyle: Why not lobby to reform the whole system, and not just the local schools that you know of? To me, it makes sense to start with the schools where people are struggling most. Everyone knows it’s a sacrifice to support children. It would be great to have extra money to spare, and maybe the Children’s allowance isn’t keeping pace with inflation?

@ash doyle: the school books should be published by the state and supplied by the state, just like the UK. Our system is a money pit for the politically connected publishers who change their books often to increase profits at the expense of hard pushed parents.

@Stephanie Fitzgerald: The government keep changing the syllabus. A new syllabus means a new set of books. We are currently on our 3rd Junior Cert Maths syllabus in the last 12 years. That is three sets of books.

@gm_cmanning: Spending time Infront of screens would only be a negative thing though if the content was negative right? Or possibly the sendentry nature of it but the same would be true for books. E-learning tech has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade, adaptive learning/intervention techniques alone are worth investing in. It’s been broadly ignored by the dept ed to date.

@Adam J: in my local primary school, parents were asked did they want the children to use tablets or old-style books.

Most parents voted for books because they thought the children spent too much time looking at screens already.

@Chin Feeyin: yes many people are ignorant and make foolish decisions. Printed media is going to seriously decline. There are no inherent problems with using a screen instead of printed pages. There are inherent problems with print media such as requiring an entirely new book to update a section which is often just a minor change. A licensing system makes much more sense.

@Bilbo Baggins: not necessarily. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/books-better-than-screens-for-students-study-finds-1.3772618

@Craic_a_tower: see link above, maybe not so foolish?

@Adam J: have you considered the cost of the equipment that e-learning would be utilized on?? In my sons school that type of equipment cost 700 euro and remember this grant is aimed at DES schools

@Craic_a_tower: my sons school was fully iPad based when it opened. 5 years later they are reverting back to books because the children do not learn as well on a fully tech based style plus its a distraction As a parent I found it very difficult to support him in how to organise his study for the junior cert because everything was online from different sources. I’m studying computer science si it’s not like Im computer illiterate. . A combination of both is best. That being said the primary school workbooks should be abolished because they are just a money racket , now that’s the type of thing that should be moved to online sources as the waste is phenomenal

@Liam Higgins: But if the money was invested into eLearning, it can be applied across most schools, not just disadvantaged, I’m not saying it should replace books altogether, I’m saying that money would be better spent pushing for reusable and scalable eLearning platforms that can be updated on a whim.

“Kids are too much in front of screens” isn’t an excuse, that’s the parents fault, they should be sent outside after school, I was when I was a kid, interactive learning is much better for kids as it challenges them more than a list of questions in a book.

@gm_cmanning: For purely reading text, yes books are the better option, but if the eLearning content is engaging and challenging, the student will learn faster.

@LittleBee: Obviously the content being presented to the kids was not engaging enough, using iPads was the first mistake, they really use desktops in a classroom situation, a full classroom using virtual infrastructure wouldnt cost too much to implement and the software can be updated as often as they want and would be scalable to all schools

@Adam J: primary schools have been using interactive white boards for about 15 years. They are no outdated and beginning to be replaced at about 15k a go. A combination of both is the key. Sometimes you just cant beat a really book.

@Adam J: Most primary schools have very poor broadband and constantly have to fundraise to get even the most basic of devices .

@Adam J: not in my experience.

@LittleBee: apologies is 3k a go

@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala: this is true weve used a large portion of our last fundraising to boost the broadband so the wifi and iPads can be used in all rooms

@Aoife Mac Cana: disadvantaged schools are mainstream schools. And they’re a DEIS school cos their catchment area is socio-economically disadvantaged therefore a significant number of the homes their students come from are similarly disadvantaged.

@gm_cmanning: as per the article, the pilot fund is for DEIS schools, not mainstream schools.

@Aoife Mac Cana: you are missing the point. Disadvantages schools are mainstream schools. Mainstream refers to the teaching format of the school not the socioeconomic status of the area it is based.

You might actually mean ‘all schools’ or ‘including schools more widely’ but DEIS schools are mainstream schools. They were awarded DEIS status due to specific circumstances that mean they meet the requirement for disadvantaged. But they were set up and continue as mainstream schools. DEIS isn’t a foundational status.

@Aoife Mac Cana: as per previous post. DEIS schools are mainstream schools!

@gm_cmanning: The funding is for DEIS schools .

@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala: I know, where I say it wasn’t? Pointing out that DEIS schools are also mainstream schools

@Jensen Bhroin: It’s the definitions of ‘mainstream’ that is causing ambiguity. DEIS schools meet criteria that sets them apart from other government schools, thereby separating them from the mainstream.

Yes, there are disadvantaged students at mainstream schools and it is unfortunate that they too are not being included in the pilot program. A pilot program, in essence, needs to have a specific sample size in order for results to be studied. If the program is successful and shows benefit to students’ learning, I’d hope that the program would be rolled out nationwide.

@Aoife Mac Cana: your definition is inaccurate. DEIS schools are mainstream schools. There’s not a debate about it. I should know, I work in one.