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i have a big rant why is irish education so laid back i think it ruins kids confidence. i noticed a big difference between the education in canada and ireland
example of this my nephew is younger than my daughter he can spell his name and his brothers he is 3 and half he is in kindergarten.
my nephews have the confidence of a 30 year old to speak in public .they dont shove a page with crayons on there desk when they first start school they TEACH THEM the alphabet and numbers ETC. this even happens in daycare
they have show and tell days from an early age were they bring in someone or something and talk about it to the class so they can build confidence to talk to people.
anyone think the education here should be a little better than it is?
How ironic! I was just talking/ranting about this just this morning with my DH! I spend a lot of time with DD, teaching her what I think she should be getting taught at "Montessori school".
She has a better vocabulary, counting and number recognition competancy as a result vs those of her classmates.
I have been told by many professionals and parents that the focus is on socialization and that they begin learning numbers, etc in junior infants. To me this is not on as I was reading by 5 and this is very commonplace in America.
I feel your pain and am with ya on the lax attitude. However on the flip side, I think they test the sh&* outta poor kids here. Junior leaving cert, leaving cert is such a lot of pressure so young….
i think the junior cert should be phased out its giving them an idea they can leave school when there 15/16.
while i was over there my sister showed me the inside of both the boys schools they have a canteen hot food served twice a day meals like chicken stir fry and vegetables all the good stuff they get better meals than i do.
irelands education is disgraceful.What I don’t get is what is the big rush to get children reading and writing when they are so young. Why is it so important to be able to spell your name at 3, suppose it depends on your name too…a short name being so much easier than a long one. I would have to agree that socialisation skills are more important at 2,3 and up to 4yrs.
My first daughter attended montessori, my second didn’t, my third did, my fourth didn’t and not sure about my 5th. I honestly didn’t see much difference in my children…and thats not because they didn’t learn at montessori but I am always conscious of teaching them through play, fun etc at home. The two eldest are top of the class so to speak and have no problems at school, they are very advanced and always were. They arewell able to articulate their feelings and speak up for themselves. I instilled a love of reading in my children by my own example.
Children learn through everday experiences and play. They learn counting, numbers, colours etc. through simple play with blocks, lego. They develop their fine motor skills that will help them with writing through play as in play dough, opening bottles/containers, threading beads etc. When all my children started school they knew their colours, numbers, counting, could hold a pencil properly etc. and they also had good social skills. My two year old boy has great social skills, is great with a ball, loves to colour and holds a pencil correctly already. I read with him and he has the concept of a book, telling a story from the pictures and he tells me the story back. He may not be reading but he is developing a love of the written word in a way that is part of his everyday life.
I just don’t get the rush, children are so little for such a short time, having fun is so important and learning through play is fun.
Aistear is the name of the early childhood curriculumframework. It explains what is expected of early childhood education in Ireland and gives a good insight for parents on what it means for their child in a preschool setting.
http://www.ncca.biz/Aistear/pdfs/Princi … ng_ENG.pdf
This is the section on exploring and thinking and shows how children learn through exploration and thinking.Hope it helps…..as with so many things in Ireland this info is freely available but its not broadcast so much to parents!!!wonder why. But its good to know what the preschools are following for guidance…montessori would be slightly different as the montessori method is one approach to learning in a preschool setting.
http://www.montessoriireland.ie/index.htm explains a bit about the montessori method in ireland.kids in Finland don’t start official school til they 7
have some of best literacy rates in world
it’s not the naming ofparts that’s important, it’s having a handle on the context. easy for kids to learn by rote to parrotthings off when they don’t have any real understanding. My ds 3 and has known all alphabet, numbers and some word recognition since 18 months (eg Sky cos of logo) but he has autism and wouldn’t have a clue how to craft stuff together to make a word or a sum.
but say what you like about schools and education, to carp on about what they are or aren’t getting is to abdicate your own respoinsibility IMHO. You can’t just punch your kids into an education sytem at ANY age and expect them to come out fully literate, numerate and well-rounded individuals the other end. Biggest influence on their learning and achievement always has and always will be what goes on at home. Hence if u input a la caliGal, you get more skills into your kids at the time you do it. Or you may take another approach and leave the pressure off til they at school and start actively supporting the learning that they do there by stuff undertaken at home.
Biggest thing you can do to advantage your child is get them reading. But that needs understanding. I’ve heard kids reading fluently a million times who then couldn’t tell u a jot about the contents of what they just read – they are so concentrating on pronnunciation that they no space in brains for processing meaning.
I know my spg in this post not the best but doesn’t mean i cant do it perfectly when I choose. i have underdstanding enough to know about purpose and audience of a text, ie this just a post on a thread on a website, not a thesis, so dont have to be word perfect. But I am an English teacher of over ten years experience and mother to one neuro-typical child and one non, so have a slight clue of what i on about
i had posted before but i removed it thinking it would be too harsh, but seeing the responses here, i think i should have left it…
firstly there are plenty other up and downsides to education in USA, CANADA, ENGLAND, IRELAND, AFRICA, AUSTRAILIA, ASIA AND EUROPE, i do however think that parents on the whole have a huge impact on how their child develops, and some expect too much from their kids, there seems to be especially here a compeditive streak in parents wanting their child to be reading writing etc etc before their time. but what’s most important is to remember what is going on with the child how a child develops and how to give that child the best you can…
the child is developing everything including language whether it be verbal , reading or written, it just doesn’t show until it’s ready, being forced is not going to make it come any quicker, however guidance from parents and how the parent approaches it makes a huge difference to the child…i know some see that a baby can’t talk and therefore being shoved in a buggy ignored etc, however that child is learning all the time….
one of the most important periods in a child’s life is from 3 year plus when their inner guide wakes up and say hang on i’m gonna do things now, of what i’ve already picked up…
the child will be from birth have started processing information not able to filter out what’s needed and what’s not, it’s only when he/she reached 3 it starts to filter and connect and use….
so therefore being there for your child encouraging them in every possible way, allowing them freedom to explore, encouraging them, talking to them , reading to them, playing with them, and doing things like caligal says she does and mummy5 does etc does help the child
like hjs kids can read but it’s the understanding of the words and what they mean makes the difference, otherwise what’s words but writing on a piece of paper, understanding them that’s the intelligence blossoming….i have to say teachers can only do so much, they get an awful lot of pressure from parents, and some are deemed crap coz the kids got nothing out of them, yeah there may be teachers that need to reassess their teaching skills but there are also parents that need to reassess their parenting skills too…
education goes hand in hand with parents and teachers, i think it’s important that there’s a healthy balance there, at the end of the day the more you put in the more you get out of them…so i suppose all in all, some schooling stratagies whether it’s pre-school, montessori, primary secondary alot is down to the approach of the teacher and also the back up from parents….
for parents out there too that are thinking my god my kids can’t do that or can’t do this there’s no need to panic either, but always remember the child and how he/she is progressing as each child is different however guidance is essential…
at the end of the day, look at people who have already progressed in education, some may be slower at some things than others but make up for it in other areas, some never finished schooling but have the schooling of life, some mayhave degrees, masters whatever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t make any one person better than the other, or one system flawed… each person will achieve what they can…
that’s my take on it….
sorry for long post….
I have to agree with Nicky and Caligal… my ds is nearly 5 and starting school in September, he can spell his name, he can read a few readers himself and LOVES puzzels and maths we have now moved onto Subtraction. He has maths books and puzzel books that he does in the car and my nephew who is in Senior infants couldnt do them, my sister said they havent done Adding that big yet ie 13 + 5 7 + 13…. Eh hello, what do they do in school.
We got ds’s school books a few weeks ago, we were going through some of his books just to have a look, he went through the whole book in 10 mins!!!! ( not using a pen just his finger)
He isnt a very social child and doesnt mix very well, other then that i would have went with home schooling
I will hold judgement and see how they teach for the first year, but going by the books they dont push kids too much in the first years. I will still do my thing with ds, as its part of our day and its fun…. he is space mad and some of the books we read to him are hard for me to understand 😆 😆 😆
He isnt a super child just a normal boy who likes to learn and know things, i think reading books to your child opens a fantastic world to them….
Nicky i did my leaving cert at 16…. would have loved to have been older, felt very very young to leave schooli think 18 or 19 is a better age i never done my leaving doesn’t mean i have no educational experience but i think i was to young doing my junior as well like 15 and all the stress and family issues at that time didn’t help so i think there should be less stress and only one exam.
I have to disagree with the majority of your comments. I have 2 dd’s (12 & 4 1/2) one in 5th and one who graduated from montessori on Friday. They both went to different Montessori schools and I feel they were both equally prepared for primary school. The primary school they are both in (or will be in September in my youngest’s case) is fantastic and very focused on education. Teachers do get it tough from us parents but i think regardless of how good or bad a teacher is it is down to the individaul child and the support he/she has in the family home. We as a nation are too quick to criticise. Parents should be prepared to work with the schools and in doing so could help improve our "disgraceful education system".
i have tosay montessori if anyone actually looked into the philosophy of what it is and understands it completely will see it’s educational and something that each child should do prior to school, it sets them up for primary and life and yes some is repeated in primary school. i have to agree though it does go hand in hand with the parents…and working with the school rather than against it…
with regards to junior and leaving cert, i heard i dunno how true has anyone else heard this that they are considering getting rid of the junior cert? in one way i think it’s bad as it sets the kids up for leaving cert, but having discussed this with regards to leaving cert, i think there should be continuos asessments and then like you do in college a final exam where throughout the 2 or even 3 years before they finish school there are assesments leading to a certain percentage, where you will find some people just aren’t great when it comes to exams but by continuos assesments gives each person a chance to develop and grow at their own pace, rather than one big panic for an exam which is to reflect what they say their life or future…
too much pressure is placed ion kids to do so well to get x amounts of points, anything less they can’t go on to do what it is they want….sadly leaving a lot of kids taking their own lives and ending up depressed stressed out at such a young age….
each person has a chance to do what they want why should the leaving cert stop a person when at the end of the day it shouldn’t
to this day 10yrs after i did my leaving i still get night sweats in june and feel sick when i hear of kids doingthe leaving and being so panicked about it they freak out, and when some don’t do great they see it as a bad reflection on them, when in reality it’s not…alot get their back up and give up and really guidance and reassurance that just coz they didn’t do or didn’t do great in the leaving doesn’t mean they can’t go on to do what they really want to do….
my brother had a very bad experience the night of his leaving cert results, he did ok, didn’t get what he wanted but thought what now, he was very badly beaten, (nothing to do with his exam results but coz of the whole madness surrounding results night)nearly left for dead on his results night, it messed him up going to college, he dropped out after a few months, and it’s only now 5 yrs later he’s realised the pressure of school getting results seeing how his friends have done, he’s realised he had potential as is going to do a course that no way he would have been able to do with his points he got from his leaving cert but he can now as he’s classed as a mature student so why do they put too much pressure on kids???Footnote re Leaving Cert at 16
Pays to consider these things in context: have no figs to back up, only anecdotal evidence but seems a lot more cultural practice here than UK to continue formal education to Leaving cert year than jr Cert Year. Many kids can’t wait to leave school after GCSE (which u sit at 15/16) IME in UK. Perhaps this is because there has been a systematic reduction in no of schools providing sixth form education there over last 20 years? if u wanna do A levels (Leaving Cert equiv) in UK now, u pretty much gotta do them at a local FE college where all other kinds of studies being done too. ie lack of continuity.
Scole right – far too much competetive parenting driving social comment on kids’ achievement rather than their happiness at an early age. Is this a hangover from the heady days of the Celtic Tiger when everyone’s everything had to be bigger, better, faster than everyone else’s anything?
Kids aren’t trophies and they’re not machines either. Their understanding will develop at a natural rate whatever is done or not done for them at home and to a lesser extent at school. The trick is to support and nurture what is naturally happening to theur understanding cos of events happening around them IMHO ie geography, flags, continents, even apartheid big topics of conv in our house at the moment due to world cup. So learning in context. mkes for a more rounded individual in the long run IMHO, they will pick up all the technical stuff along the way; it’s not the naming of parts that’s important.
Each to their own…
hjs think we’re on the same page there….
i’m happy as long as my child is happy, and introducing him to various things along the way making sure i’m aware of his physical ability, itellectual ability, language articulation and understanding, emotional, social and spiritual development…
all key things to remember regards children, making them into robots and being the trophy child is not the way forward….end of the day if you’ve a happy child then that’s what each parent should strive for, they will develop at their own pace and each parent should be proud of their child rather then adding pressure…
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