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DrumcondraEducation
Centre
Annual General Report 2007
(This report is a synopsis of the full report published March 2007 - For a complete copy please contact
the Centre directly)
Annual Report 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Management Committee & Staff...................................................... 1
Chairperson’s Address – Tim Hurley.......................................... ..4
Director’s Report – Eileen O’Connor ………………….. ……….. 5
Treasurer’s Report – Brendan Culligan .......................................... 13
APPENDICES:
Reports from Centre based National Programmes
a. Project Development Officer Report …………………… 15
b. School Development Planning Support .........…………. .16
c. Relationships & Sexuality Education Programme.............17
d. ICT …………………..................................................... .18
e. European Studies Programme ………………………….. 46
Charts and Listsa. PCSP In-service ………………………………..……….. 51
b. Post Primary In-Service ……………………………….. .56
c. Local Course Provision ……………………………….. .. 58
d. Centre Opening ……………………………………… .. .119
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Annual Report 2007
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AND STAFFDirector - Eileen O’Connor
Management CommitteeTim Hurley Chairperson St Vincent’s CBS, GlasnevinAnne O'Reilly Vice Chairperson Killester College, Dublin 5.Brendan Culligan Treasurer Froebel College of EducationCora O'Farrell Assistant Treasurer Mother of Divine Grace, Dublin 11.
David Martin Mount Temple Comp, Dublin 3Denis McCarthy St. Malachy’s BNS, Dublin 5Marian Hackett Holy Spirit GNS, Dublin 11Joe Whoriskey St. Mary’s Sec. Sch, Dublin 13Evelyn O’Brien St Brigid’s GNS, Dublin 11Mary Friel Margaret Aylward College Dublin 9Gerry Clerkin St. Patrick’s Sen BNS. Drumcondra
Ms. Eithne Deeney ACCSMr. Tony Healy CPSMA
Administration StaffDee Coogan AdministratorJocelyn Kelly PCSP/Website/Interactive Database/CentreGrainne Haughney RSE/Post-Primary In-service/Centre Valerie Norris Part-time ICTBridget Quigley Receptionist/ Course & Room BookingsChristine Halloran Part-time Centre/ SMEICarmel Curran Part-time Centre/ESAI
Information and Communication TechnologyDavid Kearney ICT Advisor
Professional Development OfficerAngela McGarvey PDO
School Development Planning InitiativeEileen Flynn National Co-ordinatorLinda Gorman Secretary
Relationships & Sexuality Education ProgrammeFrances Shearer National Co-ordinator
AccountsJennifer Norton Book-keeperMichael Lyng Accountant
HousekeepersAngela Donnelly Senior HousekeeperCarmel Donnelly Assistant Housekeeper
CaretakerBrendan Richardson Caretaker
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Annual Report 2007
Chairperson’s Report 2007
On behalf of the Management Committee of Drumcondra Education Centre, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to our Annual General Meeting.
Over the past year the Administrative Staff of the Centre, the Management Committee and our Director, Eileen O’Connor have all worked as a team, a visionary and energetic team to further our services to the development and progress of Irish Education. It has been both a privilege and a pleasure for me to work with all of the team.
From our Director’s Report you will get a flavour of the many initiatives and achievements of the Centre Team during 2007. I trust I will be permitted to highlight just three of these which have in common our efforts to improve our service to teachers in a way that is accessible, innovative and challenging.
The work of Angela McGarvey has brought a new impetus and direction to our delivery of appropriate and relevant services to teachers, which builds on and expands the in-school delivery of I.T. access and use by David Kearney. We appreciate that teachers are very busy people who rarely have the opportunity to access professional development programmes at their leisure, which makes the focused delivery provided from and through the centre all the more valuable.
The ongoing development of the Centre’s Interactive Database has not been without its difficulties and challenges in the past year. I would like to thank the Centre staff for their dedicated and positive approach to these challenges. The service provided by this Database to teachers and their personal professional development will prove significant.
The Interactive WhiteBoard Programme has proven a significant success. The review of the programme by Dr. Miriam Judge has proven what those involved in the programme already strongly suspected-that the use of Interactive WhiteBoard Technology in the classroom can spur a giant leap forward in the effective use of I.T. in schools. It can, and does involve students and teachers in a joint, innovative pursuit of knowledge and learning, involving students in taking the lead and responsibility for their own learning in a way far less frequently experienced in other classrooms.
There are many other achievements of the Centre Team I could highlight. This sample is, however, sufficient to celebrate the many varied and dedicated talents we are blessed with in our centre.
I would also like to record our appreciation of the positive and supportive interest of the Teacher Education Section of the Department of Education and Science in our efforts.
It can at times be a challenge for Management Committee to keep up with the flow of new angles and ideas from our inspirational Director, who constantly strives to enthuse and energise all in the Centre, and I must record my gratitude to each member of Management Committee who give so generously of their time and experience, and who I have again found it both a privilege and pleasure to work with.
It has been an honour and privilege to serve you as Chairman for the past year, and I would like to conclude by thanking our Director and each and every member of staff and Management Committee for their dedicated, co-operative work on behalf of the centre and our service to education throughout the past year.
Tim HurleyChairman27.02.08
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Annual Report 2007
Director’s Report
1. IntroductionI am delighted to welcome you all to the Centre’s 2007 Annual General Meeting. The significance of this annual event is sometimes overshadowed and indeed almost eclipsed by the busyness involved in the preparation of the various reports and the organisation of the evening itself!. However, I think it is essential for us as a Centre Community to take this time out to reflect on what has been achieved, to celebrate successes, to learn from mistakes and to look to the future with confidence and purpose.
As Director, I am deeply grateful for the work of all those associated with the Centre and for their contribution to the wide range of events, projects and programmes that made up its day-to-day business during 2007. The complex and varied work successfully undertaken by the organisation - educational, administrative and financial - is due in no small way to the professionalism and the commitment to excellence of all the Centre Community – Management Committee, Staff, Course Tutors and the many colleagues in outside agencies with whom we collaborate.
2007 presented many challenges for the Centre. The gradual decline in the work of the PCSP particularly in the Autumn term had implications for the Centre in terms of room hire and administration income. The post-Summer climate of national fiscal rectitude and the consequent lack of discretionary funding in the TES militated against the proposed roll-out of the Centre Interactive Database to other interested Education Centres. Furthermore, we have had little progress in getting a financial commitment to the proposed Centre building extension.
However, not withstanding these issues, 2007 was a productive and successful year for the Centre. Apart from the everyday work, a selection of just some of the events during the year listed below - all of them ‘firsts’ for the Centre - illustrates the wide range of initiatives and the areas of development and interest in which the Centre is involved:
The appointment of Angela McGarvey as Centre Professional Development Officer, on a 3-year pilot, in January 2007
The official launch of the Centre’s interactive Database by An Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, on
February 26th
The hosting of a 2-day visit of 50 Swedish Principals to local schools in March
The Seminar for teachers on ‘Becoming a Reflective Practitioner’ by Professor Bruce Barnett, University of Texas, San Antonio on May 31st
The launch, in the Autumn term, of the Leadership Development for Schools (LDS) Pilot Project on Whole-School Leadership. This involved Senior and Middle Management Teams from 15 local post-primary schools working together on whole-school issues.
A Centre-based symposium and launch, on December 3rd, of the first-ever Irish based Research Report highlighting the positive use of Whiteboards as a teaching and learning tool in local schools
The hosting of a Dutch/Irish Bi-lateral conference in collaboration with the Society for Management in Education (SMEI), November 29th- December 1st
The initiation of the training for school Boards of Management: Primary and Post-primary
The piloting of the Centre Interactive Database in Region 1 Centres, Monaghan and Navan, in the Autumn term.
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Annual Report 2007These and the remainder of this report demonstrate the vision and ‘cutting edge’ of the work of the Centre in attempting to meet the needs of its ever expanding and changing education community.
2. Centre Management2.1 Management Committee
The success of the Centre over the past year is a testimony to the vision, work and commitment of its Management Committee, under the able chairmanship of Tim Hurley. I am indebted to Committee members for their wisdom and their generosity of time in attending meetings and in particular to Tim for his experience, his personal support and his ability to see the positive side of all challenges! I am also deeply grateful to Ann O’Reilly, deputy chairperson, for her assistance with note-taking at the Committee meeting each month. Siobhan O’Sullivan, Malahide Community School, retired from Committee during the year. On behalf of the Centre, I want to thank Siobhan for her commitment and work and wish her well in the future.
The work of the Financial and Legal Subcommittee, who meet every month prior to the main Management Committee meeting, is invaluable in terms of ongoing advice and support. I particularly want to mention the work of the Centre treasurer, Brendan Culligan and the assistant treasurer, Cora O’Farrell. Keeping track of the finances for this busy Centre is an onerous task and I want to thank Brendan and Cora for their painstaking attention to detail, their generosity with regard to time and especially their patience in signing cheques! However, the recent introduction of online payment of regular accounts both for the Centre and the SDPS account has assisted in reducing the time devoted to this onerous task. As part of overall Centre governance, Management Committee regularly review Centre policies. The Centre policy on handling cash was recently reviewed in line with Centre insurance guidelines.
Management Committee are encouraged and assisted in their professional development through attendance at national and international conferences relevant to the vision and work of the Centre. This is essential in assisting in capacity building within the management team, in keeping the Centre abreast of current thinking in relation to education issues and in building important links and in the sharing of ideas both nationally and internationally. 2007 was no exception. The 2-day think-tank focussing on Centre future planning facilitated by Dr. David Tuohy, in the Nuremore Hotel, Carrickmacross in February was important in highlighting issues for the future and also in building a rapport between new and more experienced Committee members.
A group of Committee members attended the European Network for International Research and Development in Educational Leadership and Management (ENIRDELM) Conference in Uppsala, Sweden in September.
2.2 Centre Administration
As Director, I am indebted to the ‘can-do’, positive and caring approach of the administrative staff and to the overall spirit of collaboration and teamwork that infuses all aspects of their work. I know that I speak for all associated with the Centre when I thank Dee Coogan, Centre Administrator, and the Centre team: Angela Donnelly, Jocelyn Kelly, Grainne Haughney, Bridget Quigley, Valerie Norris, Carmel Donnelly, Jennifer Norton, Christine Halloran, Brendan Richardson and Linda Gorman for their commitment to excellence and the high standard of courtesy and service they afford to all who visit the Centre.
During the past year, staff have ensured the successful introduction and implementation of a range of initiatives. I am indebted to them for their readiness to take on board new developments in particular the development and the use of the Centre Database as central to overall administration during the past year. The scheduling of regular staff meetings has ensured that they are kept up to date on Centre developments
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Annual Report 2007and also allows for critical feedback and discussion on ongoing plans and initiatives. Staff professional development is of critical importance to the ongoing competitiveness and future development of the Centre and is an area of priority for Centre management. In 2007 there has been staff up-skilling in areas such as finances, website/database development, staff management issues and health & safety.
A sincere thank you to Michael Lyng, our accountant, who with Jennifer Norton, the Centre bookkeeper, looks after the increasingly complex financial business of the Centre. We are also indebted to our auditor Brian Coveney for his ongoing advice and support particularly in the weeks prior to the AGM.
I also wish to acknowledge the work of Carmel Curran who works with us on a part-time basis and the students from St. Patrick’s College, who help out during evening openings.
The work of the Centre in 2007 in terms of local provision has greatly benefitted from the appointment of Angela McGarvey (Professional Development Officer) in January, 2007. In her short time with us, Angela has worked really well with all members of the Centre community. She has succeeded in developing and cementing the Centre’s links and relationship with local schools and national agencies. Angela has been assessing local needs and has initiated a wide range of new programmes for teachers, parents and school support staff (Appendix 1a). Her presence has greatly enhanced the core work of the Centre in facilitating teacher development. I am indebted to Angela for her professional support and endeavour during the past year.
I pay tribute also to the work of David Kearney, Centre ICT advisor, Eileen Flynn (National Co-ordinator, SDP (Primary), Frances Shearer (National Co-ordinator, RSE), Aoife Ruane (European Studies co-ordinator (ROI)). They bring great credit to the Centre by their professionalism and their commitment to high standards and their willingness to be of support and assistance at all times both to me and Centre staff. The evidence of strong teamwork between all members of the staff, both professional and administrative is a testimony to the positive and harmonious culture of mutual respect and professional support which we foster and of which we are very proud.
3. Professional Development
The core business of the Centre is the continuing professional development (CPD) of the education community it serves. This is a complex task given the broad range of school communities, their diverse needs and the expanse of the geographical area which the Centre serves. It is further complicated by how we, as education professionals, view and define CPD - whether it is seen simply in terms of curricular/teaching skills or in a more holistic way. I believe that the definition of CPD needs to move beyond the acquisition of subject or content knowledge and teaching skills.
The economic, cultural and educational context in which we work heralds a need to emphasise the role of the teacher not only as master of his/her subject but also as a ‘lead learner’ in the classroom, with a professional and moral obligation to be continuous learning throughout his/her professional career. It is this vision which challenges and underpins the work of Drumcondra Education Centre. The support by the TES for Teacher Professional Networks at post-primary level, of which the Centre currently hosts 7, and Teacher Professional Communities at primary signals a positive development with regard to teacher pro-activity in relation to their learning. However, while the infrastructure for teacher professional learning in Ireland has improved significantly, with the ongoing development of Education Centres, TPNs etc. and while funding has increased exponentially, it is more difficult to point to particular policy documents which demonstrate that progress has been made in the vital area of providing a more comprehensive, coherent and sophisticated approach to life-long teacher education.
I believe that the Teaching Council in collaboration with the DES and all other education partners needs to engender a debate on what we mean by teacher education today and to embrace a holistic approach to teacher learning provision so that it is relevant not only to the ever changing demands of today but also
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Annual Report 2007that teachers are provided with the skills and attributes to successfully negotiate the challenges they face into the future.
The way forward for the Centre is through an integrated and co-ordinated CPD service with clear objectives, agreed specific targets and a commitment to excellence. I wish to record here the importance of working closely with the other providers, PCSP, SLSS and SDPS (Primary & Post-primary), SESS, LDS and others in seeking to address common issues of concern in the service of schools. As is outlined later in this report, the Centre has collaborated in some very successful CPD projects with these and other professional development providers in 2007.
3.1 National Programmes
ICT
2007 saw significant advances for DEC in the area of ICT. As mentioned already in the highlights (p.2), i t saw the launch of the Centre Interactive Database in February and also the launch of the first ever Clár Bán Idirgniomhacthai (Whiteboard) Research-based Report in December on the use of whiteboards as a teaching & learning tool in classrooms in local schools. The acquisition of 20 laptops to complement the work of the computer room, the use of a projector and whiteboard in each training room and wireless access throughout the building means that the Centre now boasts one of the most up-to-date ICT training facilities on the northside of the City. A key concern is the continuing lack of appropriate funding for this service and the need for the Centre to subsidise it on an ongoing basis. Furthermore the delay in the long-awaited publication of a national strategy with regard to ICT impacts significantly on our ability to plan for the future.
In his comprehensive annual report (Appendix 1b), David Kearney, ICT Advisor, outlines the range of work and breadth of teacher ICT activities arranged and supported by the Centre under the aegis of NCTE. We are indebted to David’s proactive approach in involving the Centre in different initiatives, which provide a rich tapestry of CPD opportunities to local schools and teachers. Finally, I want to especially thank Valerie Norris, for her professionalism and efficient administration of all aspects of the ICT programme in the Centre. SDPS (Primary)
I am delighted with the continued support and funding by the DES for the work of the SDPS team. The Centre is privileged to host this national initiative ably managed by Eileen Flynn and her team. As outlined in Eileen Flynn’s Report (Appendix 1c), the work of SDPI is wide ranging and of enormous value to schools as they plan for continuous self-improvement and the enhancement of teaching and learning in classrooms. This work is due in no small way to the experience, expert knowledge and commitment to excellence of the SDPI team.
I also wish to acknowledge and express my appreciation for the willingness of the SDPI team to co-operate in hosting Centre events and to speak with visiting groups. Finally, I want to thank Linda Gorman, the programme administrator, for her commitment to excellence and her calm and efficient administration of this busy national programme.
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Annual Report 2007RSE
Although Frances Shearer is still based in the Centre, she now reports directly to the SPHE Internal Management Committee. As indicated in Frances’ report (Appendix 1d) the support and work of the RSE programme, under the umbrella of SPHE, continues to be in great demand at both primary and post-primary level and provides a very worthwhile service to schools. Since September the responsibility and administration of the training on the Child Protection Guidelines at post-primary level is being co-ordinated by the RSE support service. This has increased significantly Frances’ work and also the administrative support provided by the Centre. All of the RSE administrative work is undertaken by Grainne Haughney. I want to thank her for her ongoing commitment and efficiency in overseeing the various and complex organisational aspects of the programme administration.
PCSP
Since September the whole-school in-service on the primary curriculum has been discontinued and the main provision from PCSP changed to a Cuiditheoir service for schools. The work and support for primary teachers from PCSP continues in other guises including capacity-building in specific subject areas, workshop provision and also specialised inputs by Cuidhitheoiri for DEIS schools. However, of the 7 workshops offered in different disciplines in Drumcondra, only 3 went ahead due to a low uptake by local teachers. This experience suggests that it might be better for the Centre to know in advance what courses/workshops are planned for the forthcoming term so that notice of them might be included with the Centre’s mail-shot to schools. Currently information is being sent to schools on an ad-hoc basis.
I wish to compliment the PCSP service for its contact with the Centre though regional meetings and in particular the PCSP cuiditheoiri, for their commitment, availability and flexibility in addressing local teacher needs. The facilitators working in our catchment area during the 2007 year have done a splendid job. They include Martina Gannon (Learning Support and DEIS); John Murphy and Vincent Mulvey (PE and SPHE); Siobhan O’Donoghue (DEIS), Eleanor Fahy (SESE); Ian Packham and Edel Giblin (Arts) and Colm O’Breachain (Gaeilge). A sincere thank you to you all. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Catherine Shanahan (Learning Support and DEIS cuiditheoir) on her promotion to Assistant National Coordinator in the PCSP main office and to wish Yvonne Higgins (Arts) every success and fulfillment on her return to school.
The Centre PCSP programme is administered by Jocelyn Kelly. I want to thank her for her ongoing commitment and for her efficiency and organisational ability.
SLSS
The Centre has worked very closely and positively with SLSS in 2007(Appendix 1e). The range of modular courses on offer are especially supportive of teachers in post-primary schools as they grapple with the ever changing classroom learning environment and the varied profile of their students. I am encouraged that the work of SLSS, both locally and nationally, has greatly assisted in underpinning the importance of ongoing teacher learning and professional development in the post-primary sector.
LDS
We were delighted to be chosen to participate in the pilot leadership development programme for post-primary school Management Teams - Senior Management and Middle Leaders which commenced in the Autumn term. This was the first LDS initiative bringing together this group of professional educators to discuss how best to progress leadership issues and in-school development in their respective schools. What was also exciting was the mix of post-primary sectors coming to work and learn with each other in this way. While we initially planned for approximately 6 schools, we were delighted to accommodate the 15 local schools who wished to be involved.
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Annual Report 2007
3.2 Local Courses
The Spring, Summer and Autumn brochures demonstrates the provision of courses to address the needs of the broader education community to include: middle leaders, principals, parents and special needs assistants. What is emerging is the need to target specific issues for specific groups or clusters as opposed to the broad sweep/catch all type course. Finally, I wish to thank the many tutors who supported us in the delivery of our in-house programme in 2007.
In her report, Angela McGarvey outlines the breadth of local courses on offer in the Centre in 2007 and the areas of interest for teachers which included in particular: First Aid, Health & Safety Training, English as a second language and Special Needs. The growth in numbers of non-national children in many of our schools has demanded that we attempt to meet the needs of teachers in the areas of language and inter-cultural issues. This will also be a priority in 2008. Due to the continued expansion of schools in north county Dublin - 8 new schools planned for Fingal - and the difficulty for teachers to travel into Drumcondra for courses or meetings after a long day in school, we will continue in 2008 to outsource a needs-focussed programme for schools in our catchment area in north county Dublin. We are also pleased to find that there is now a very positive response to courses provided between 3.00pm and 6.00pm before teachers go home at the end of a long day.
The national statistics with regard to Summer courses highlight the changing trends with regard to uptake:
Summer Courses 2007Final No. of Applications Approved: 790 Courses Actual Course Sittings: 854 (courses) No. Courses Cancelled: 269 CoursesActual Sittings cancelled: 301 (courses) 35.2% of all
courses
(There were no online courses cancelled)
Total Courses Completed: 521 Courses **Actual Sittings Completed: 553 (courses)
** 521 Courses include both on-line and face to face courses 471 face to face Courses & 50 on-line courses
Course Participants:
On-line courses Males: 1282 Females: 10313 Total: 11595
Regular courses: Males: 1103 Females: 7746 Total: 8849
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Annual Report 2007 Overall totals:
Males: 2385 Females: 18059 Total: 20444
In light of the increasing demand from teachers for online Summer course provision, the Centre plans to pilot at least one online course for local teachers in Summer 2008.
I wish to express our thanks to Bridget Quigley. As the ‘front of house’ face for the Centre, Bridget oversees the booking, organisation and smooth delivery of the Centre day programmes. Her efficiency and her unstinting courtesy and helpfulness to everyone is truly appreciated by all who come through our doors. A special word also for Angela Donnelly, the Centre housekeeper, who provides us all with much needed refreshments and who in conjunction with Carmel Donnelly ensures that the Centre maintains a high welcoming standard of orderliness and cleanliness for all visitors. I also want to mention Brendan Richardson, the Centre caretaker. His early morning presence has greatly assisted the smooth opening of the Centre particularly in the setting up of rooms. He has taken some of the start-of-the-day pressure from Bridget Quigley who used to, and without complaint, carry much of this work on her own.
4. Centre LinksThe wide range of groups with whom we work and interact in different ways. These include: Teacher Professional Networks, Teacher Professional Communities, subject associations, management bodies, unions, subject support groups and national bodies. All of these interactions and connections are invaluable to the Centre in ensuring a broad based clientele, in generating an income and more importantly in ensuring that we have an input into how we might collaborate in addressing the needs of our school communities.
I wish to record here a number of important links with professional development organisations. The Centre is the administrative base for:
The Society for Management Education Ireland (SMEI) for which we also manage accounts. The Centre hosts the Society’s seminars and committee meetings. Seminars for 2007 included: a presentation by Ms Marie Dunphy (LDS) on Improving School Leadership, by Conor O’Brien on Public/Private Partnerships in Education and by Dr. Gerry McNamara and Denis McSweeney on Assessment for Learning & Whole School Evaluation. As current Chairperson of the Society, I am extremely grateful to Christine Halloran who takes responsibility for all the administration and to Conor O’Brien , treasurer for their work.
The Education Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI). I am indebted to Carmel Curran for her efficient administration of this work.
We also collaborate with Trinity College in the roll-out of management in-service modules as part of the Masters in Studies Diploma. The Centre hosted three in-service weekends in 2007.
We are also members of and in ongoing contact with a number of international agencies. These include The Regional Training Unit (RTU) in Belfast, The British Education Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS ) and The European Network for International Research and Development in Education Management (ENIRDEM) of which I am currently a board member. The Centre is also affiliated to the European Experts Network for Education Technology (EENET) which focuses on ICT education policy at a European level.
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Annual Report 2007
5. Seminars /Conferences
The Centre has a strong tradition in hosting Conferences and Seminars and in initiating and facilitating discussions on pertinent education issues and 2007 was no exception. I have already referred to these events earlier in my introduction. I particularly wish to acknowledge the contributions of Centre Professional staff: Eileen Flynn, David Kearney, Angela McGarvey and Aoife Ruane who gave generously of their time to present to different visiting groups during the year.
6. Looking to the future
2008 promises to be another busy year as we strive to build and develop on the work of this past year. With regard to the Centre itself, we will attempt to progress our application to the DES for the funding of the proposed building extension. We also hope, in collaboration with the campus authorities, to address the issue of Centre traffic management and parking.
As part of our core work, we hope to expand our contacts with local and national agencies with a view to establishing a variety of local programmes to meet the needs of school Boards of Management, parents groups, school leaders and teaching staffs at both primary and post-primary level.
The challenge for us is to continue to facilitate school communities in the continuous improvement of the teaching and learning in classrooms. To achieve this we need the national curricular initiatives coupled with the ongoing self–improvement of schools. The Centre’s vision is to assist in the ongoing development of active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented school communities and we look forward to continuing to address this challenge in the coming year.
Conclusion
I am privileged to be entrusted with the work of leading Drumcondra Education Centre. I look forward to the challenges ahead secure in the knowledge that the spirit and commitment of the Management Committee and the staff will assist me in enabling the Centre to develop and grow and to continue to improve its service to the local education community. A sincere thank you to Dee Coogan, Centre Administrator, for her support and commitment. Dee’s attention to detail, her calm approach to issues and events ensures that we all work in a progressive and positive work environment. Mile Buiochas Dee.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the Principal Officer, Alan Wall, and the staff of the Teacher Education Section of the DES for their continued advice, support, and encouragement during 2007.
………………………………Eileen O’Connor Director
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Annual Report 2007
Treasurer’s Report – 2007I am pleased to present the 2007 Financial Report for Drumcondra Education Centre. The statement of
accounts as presented by Mr. Brian Coveney, Centre Auditor, is contained in the Annual Report. The
current state of the finances is testament to the ongoing development of and adherence to the good
financial practices of the finance sub-committee and the centre finance team.
Once again, it was a very busy year of Centre activity and much was achieved in terms of providing
professional development and also improving and updating our facilities. 2007 has seen many changes in
the financial life of the Centre. The facility is now open from 8am to 10pm Monday to Thursday and 8am
to 5pm Friday with most Saturdays open also. There has been a large increase in activity around
Management Support Bodies and Teacher Professional Networks. We continue to manage the Summer
Course Programme. Initiatives were also introduced to generate income targeting specific groups for
courses and a marketing drive to increase room capacity.
However, on a negative note the Centre did experience a fall in income throughout 2007. PCSP finished
ongoing in-service in June 2007 leaving income depleted by €30,000. As may be seen in the annual report,
other sources of income reduced by €10,000. The €44.40 room rate for 2007, imposed by the DES,
severely compromised Centre income where corporate rates were previously charged.
On the expenditure side, light and heat costs increased; depreciation rate increased; and salaries/outgoings
increased due to additional staff member (caretaker) and reduction in recoveries (PCSP); our
legal/consultancy costs and the cost of our database were not reimbursed by the DES. Despite these
negative aspects, I am happy to report that our current financial situation is still healthy.
Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues on the financial sub-committee for their support over the past
year. I would like to record my thanks to the Assistant Treasurer, Cora O'Farrell for deputising when I was
not available. I also wish to pay special tribute to the Centre finance team, Jennifer Norton and Micheal
Lyng. We are indebted to them for their commitment, optimism and unfailing sense of humour in
implementing the many changes outlined above.
Brendan Culligan
February, 2008.
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Annual Report 2007
REPORTS FROM
CENTRE BASED NATIONAL
PROGRAMMES
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Annual Report 2007
Professional Development Officer2007 Report
Upon taking up the position as the newly appointed Professional Development Officer on 29th January 2007, I faced the challenge of building on and developing the work of an already busy and dynamic Education Centre. In order to inform planning in the Centre and organise focused and relevant Continuing Professional Development (C.P.D.), a blend of liaising with local schools and teachers as well as national support services, T.P.N.s and other agencies was undertaken. This included a pilot Needs Analysis, the aim of which was to identify needs and organise a programme of support. Capacity Building is ongoing as needs are changing and busy trainers are busy teachers! Health & Safety emerged as an area of huge concern to school managements and teachers. In response, a number of Certified First Aid courses; Emergency and Occupational have been run in the Centre, also a local course “Health & Safety – the basics” has been designed and delivered “on site” to schools’ staffs.
Courses covering areas of Special Educational Needs proved to be popular with Primary and Post Primary teachers. Short courses of interest to Special Needs Assistants and Parents were organised and separate posters designed to advertise specifically to these groups. These courses were very well attended with a number of courses repeated from waiting lists.
Training for teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages emerged as an area needing support. Teacher training and Tutor training courses were organised and run successfully. As a research basis is important in all C.P.D., a partnership was developed with the Trinity Immigration Initiative (T.I.I.). Post-primary English Language Support Teachers were identified and those who showed an interest in conducting Action Research in the acquiring English as a second language are now involved in the T.I.I. project.
Looking forward to 2008, the growth area is the demand for “on site” (school based) local courses after school to whole staffs. These are time consuming to organise but highly focused, responding to a local demand and meeting immediate needs.
Finally may I thank the Director, Management Committee and Professional and Centre Staff for their support in this my first year as Professional Development Officer in Drumcondra Education Centre.
Angela McGarvey, Professional Development Officer
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Annual Report 2007School Development Planning Support (Primary)
School Development Planning Support (Primary) assists teachers, parents and boards of management in primary schools with their development planning needs.
The initiative, administered by Drumcondra Education Centre, promotes the practice of development planning in primary schools. The service aims to support collaborative planning as a means of promoting school effectiveness and renewal.
SDPS (Primary) supports schools in fostering a culture of planning - engaging in a cycle of internal review, prioritizing curriculum and / or organizational areas of concern and deciding on appropriate follow up action. Planning for implementation and the regular monitoring of the effectiveness of any action are critical aspects of this process.
In the period September to December 2007, educational disadvantage was the area most frequently addressed which is related to the priority given to DEIS schools in this term. With regard to the curriculum, English was, by far, the most requested subject, followed by Mathematics and Gaeilge. The range of organisational topics and curriculum subjects addressed is laid out in the table below.
Organisational Area Curriculum Educational Disadvantage English Assessment Mathematics
Individual Teacher Planning Gaeilge Other Organisational Drama
Special Needs SESE - Geography Parental Involvement SESE - History
Record Keeping SPHE Code of Behaviour SESE - Science
Home-School-Community Links Music Attendance RSE
Physical Education Visual Arts
SDPS (Primary) enables schools to develop this culture of school development planning by offering a range of services:
Facilitation on a School Development Planning day Facilitation for staff meetings Facilitation for In-School Management Teams Facilitation for principals’ cluster groups Topic workshops (where requested by groups of schools) Advice for principals or planning co-ordinators prior to internal planning days/meetings Assistance for planning team Planning advice and materials by phone/e-mail/post Training for Board of Management members (through Education Centres) Regularly updated website www.sdps.ie offering a wide range of materials to support planning for curricular and
organisational areas
For further information visit the SDPS website at www.sdps.ie or contact the SDPS office at 01 8576427
16
Annual Report 20072007 ANNUAL REPORT ON
RELATIONSHIPS AND SEXUALITY EDUCATION
PRIMARY RSEAt primary level the associate team delivered information evenings to parents and RSE policy groups, and evening training courses to teachers through the Education Centre network. Just under a thousand people attended these events in 2007, half of them parents. Schools also contact the office with requests for trainers to work in their own schools.
Stronger links have been developed with the Primary Curriculum Support Programme team of SPHE cuiditheoir. An RSE resource pack for primary teachers was developed in conjunction with the PCSP and RSE associate team. It is available on the PCSP and Drumcondra websites.
St Patrick’s College of Education began the delivery of a Personal Development elective for undergraduate students. The elective has a strong emphasis on SPHE/RSE in the curriculum and was developed in response to a request by the RSE Support Service to the training colleges for more pre-service focus on SPHE/RSE. SPHE lecturers from four of the five training colleges were involved in the development of the module. It will be reviewed in 2008 and may be made available in the other colleges in 2008/9
POST PRIMARY RSEDemand remains strong for post-primary RSE training delivered by the SPHE Support Service. The four training days have been reviewed and will be updated.
In March 2007 a report commissioned and co-funded by the Department of Education and Crisis Pregnancy Agency on the implementation of RSE at post-primary level was launched. The report found consistently high levels of approval from teachers for the programme itself and the quality of the training and other supports provided by the support services. While it found significant improvements in levels of implementation, especially at Junior Cycle, it also found that schools were falling short of their obligation to fully implement Senior Cycle RSE.
As a result of the report an RSE policy template was developed and made available on the Department website. Funding was provided by the Department of Education and Science, the HSE and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency for a dvd and accompanying teaching resource for Senior Cycle RSE. Work on the dvd began in September and was completed by late December. Work on the accompanying teaching materials will began in January 08; it is hoped the resource will be ready for use in the autumn of 2008.
CHILD PROTECTIONIt was agreed in September that responsibility for the co-ordination and administration of training on the child protection guidelines at post-primary level would be taken over by the RSE Support Service. The SPHE Support Service Regional Development Officers will continue to deliver the training.
PARTNERSHIP WORK I am a member of the Education and Prevention sub-committee of the National Aids Strategy
Committee. In 2007 the sub committee developed an Education and Prevention Plan for HIV/Aids. I am a member of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency Consultative Committee I a member of the steering group for the Respect Project Links have been established with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre with a view to addressing the
issue of sexual assault and rape as part of the RSE programme.
Frances Shearer (RSE Co-ordinator)
17
Annual Report 2007ICT REPORT 2007
Sections in this Report
1. Introduction: information regarding schools in our catchment area
2. Teaching Skills Initiative (TSI): information regarding professional development
3. School Support Initiative: information regarding direct and indirect support for schools
4. School Integration Projects (SIPs): Projects supported by NCTE
5. Interactive Software in the Curriculum Initiative (ISC)
6. Scoilnet and Internet and associated Email and Internet Safety
7. Special Education Needs (SEN) and ICT
8. Technology Integration Initiative (TII): information regarding hardware, and Broadband
9. Digital Schools Award (DSA)
10. Support for activities within, and representing, the Education Centre
18
Annual Report 20071. Introduction
Drumcondra Education Centre serves 208 Primary and Special Schools and 67 Post-Primary Schools, with
a catchment population of over 5000 teachers. The numbers of schools change according to
amalgamations (such as the three Ballymun schools into one “Trinity” school) and new additions
(particularly in the expanding North County areas).
With pivotal roles in implementing ICT in schools are our Principals and ICT Co-ordinating Teachers:
86% (down – due to retirements and staff mobility - from last year’s 91%) of our Primary and Special
Schools have an “ICT Co-ordinating Teacher”; while at Post Primary level, the percentage has also
dropped to 92% (from last year’s 95%).
Percentage of Schools w ith ICT Co-ordinator
83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93
Primary and Special
Post-Primary
The vast majority of our schools do have email addresses. Maintaining an up-to-date list of these
addresses is an ongoing activity, as addresses constantly change. The changes can be the result of a
retirement, where a Principal had been using his/her own personal address for school communication, or
where the school address has been compromised by spam. This latter is a major scourge, accounting for
between 63% and 95% of email1. The NCTE webmail solution has been developed, tested and is ready to
roll out – but still (after 18 months) awaits approval (perhaps this will be part of the new NDP rollout?).
1 source: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10189)
In my email communications with schools (i.e. School Principals), I also copy the material to the ICT Co-
ordinators so that (a) the Co-ordinator is equally informed of ICT activities and (b) the workload for the
Principal is reduced (he/she does not have to Forward the material to the Co-ordinator). Not all Co-
ordinators have email addresses, however.
Included among the email content that I have sent this year were the following items:
A call for potential Tutors (for training with/by NCTE) Notices re upcoming course and workshops Announcement of the NDP Links to Freeware resources Notices regarding the CESI Conference Support for Safer Internet Day
19
Annual Report 2007 Opportunities to participate in eTwinning Information regarding NCTE’s online course Applications to join our Kidsmart schools Funding for DEIS schools Invitation to join Discover Sensors Call for Scoilnet SMEs Information regarding Irish Times Digital Archive Information regarding Science Week Purchasing under the ‘Audio Visual Grant’
Many of our schools have designated ‘disadvantaged status’: this applies to over one-third of our Primary
and Special Schools. This is significant not only for the general educational milieu of the schools, but also
specific ICT activities may be made available to such schools. For example, a number of our “DEIS”
schools benefitted from the “Dormant Accounts Educational Disadvantage Programme” announced in
April of this year. I was unsuccessful in my efforts to get an exact listing of our schools from the DES
Regional Office. I established that 215 Dublin schools received an average of Euro 4000 under this grant.
I organised a workshop (which unfortunately did not proceed due to lack of numbers) to provided
purchasing advice and later visited a number of the schools
20
Annual Report 20072. Teaching Skills Initiative (TSI)
A major ICT support for our teachers in 2007 was the provision of ICT training. We are guided in the
design of our course schedules by NCTE who provided us with a list of “mainstream courses which
should form the core of the ICT course provision in Education Centres in 2007”. NCTE equally request
that school-based training and support groups should be prioritised. The following table shows the details
for courses which proceeded:
Title of Course Spring 2006 Summer 2006 Autumn 2006
NCTE-Designed Courses
Primary Phase 1 2
Primary Phase 2 1 3
Post-Primary Phase 1 1 1
Post-Primary Phase 1 1
SEN – Learning Support 1
Internet & Email for Learning
(Online)
1 1
Website Design for Learning 2
Intro Network Management 1 1
Basic Computer Problems 1
Digital Media 2
Digital Video 1
ICT and History 1
Control Tech – Emp. Minds 1
NCTE-Funded Courses
Keyboarding 1
Microsoft Class Server 1
Clay Animation 1 1
Interactive Whiteboards 6 4 2
CAD Modules 2 2
Support Groups-duration 2.5 2 13
Total Courses 23 11 23
Table 1: Number of Courses by Term
In Autumn 2007, we tried to provide a much more varied programme, consisting of many once-off
workshops (“Support Groups”) addressing a number of areas of the curriculum, particularly at Post-
Primary level. The following workshops ran:
21
Annual Report 2007 Workshop for online course Interactive Whiteboard (SMART) Interactive Whiteboard (Hitachi) Microsoft Learning Suite Maths (Autograph) PowerPoint for 2nd Level Maths Maths (Dynamic Geometry) Virtual Physics Lab LCA & ICT PowerPoint Workshop Discover Sensors History Business (this was heavily over-subscribed and will be offered again in Spring 2008)
While the workshop format seemed to meet many needs, the organisation and administration was very
taxing (when compared to the longer format courses).
Courses/Workshops which we organised during 2007 but which did not proceed (due to insufficient prior
bookings) included:
ICT in WSE and Subject Inspections ICT for Beginners Digital Schools Information session Network Workshop SEN Workshops Empowering Minds ICT and Geography 2 Introduction to ICT for Beginners Internet Resources for Geography Teachers Internet Resources for German Teachers Internet Resources for History Teachers Internet Resources for Physics Teachers ICT for Science Teachers Introductory ICT for Maths Teachers Intermediate ICT for Maths Teachers Internet Resources for Gaeilge sa Bhunscoil New Software for Primary School Kidsmart Early Learning Digital Media Introduction to Moodle Workshop for FÍS Schools PowerPoint for Teachers Second Saturday of the LCA course (despite the Needs Analysis which indicated a strong demand,
only two participants turned up for the first Saturday of the course) Intel Physics Interactive Whiteboard (Mimio) Interactive Whiteboard (eBeam) Internet Safety workshop (as part of the MakeITsecure campaign) Internet Safety courses Hardware Purchasing (using the ICT Framework)
22
Annual Report 2007All courses are required to have 10 participants (exceptions being the SEN courses and Empowering
Minds, both of which only require 8 participants) signed up in advance.
We supported and/or courses were hosted for us in the following venues: Malahide Community School (two courses) George’s Hill Primary School (Web Design) Mary Help of Christians, Navan Road (CBI) Maryfield College, Griffith Ave. (PowerPoint) St Brigid's SGNS, Dublin 11 (P Phase 2) St Joseph's NS, Fairview (CBI) Rush NS, Rush (Primary Phase 2) St Cronan's NS, Brackenstown (Primary Phase 2) Donabate/Portrane Educate Together NS (CBI) St Brendan’s NS, Loughshinney (CBI) St Helen's NS, Portmarnock (Hermes) Bayside JNS, Sutton (Internet and Email Workshops) Manor House, Raheny (CBI) Brunswick St Primary School, Dublin 1 (Clay Animation) O’Connell’s BNS, Dublin 1 (Clay Animation) St Oliver Plunkett’s BNS, Malahide (Learning Support) Loreto College, Swords (Post Primary 1) Holy Faith, Clontarf (CBI) St Michael's Secondary School, Finglas (CBI) St Dominic’s College, Sutton (CBI)
We would like to thank these schools, their Principals and Teachers, and Boards of Management for their
co-operation and support. In addition to the Tutors working in these venues, there was probably also a
hard-working ICT Co-ordinating Teacher who ensured that all was in order for the course – to these we
also extend our thanks.
23
Annual Report 2007
TermPrimary Female
Primary Male
Post-Primary Female
Post-Primary
MaleTotal
Primary
Total Post
Primary Total
Spring 2007 142 20 77 57 162 134 296
Summer 2007 115 37 0 0 152 0 152
Autumn 2007 69 28 142 86 97 228 325
Totals 326 85 219 143 411 362 773
Table 2: Participants by Gender, Term and by School Level
The most significant item in the above is that the number of participants has increased to 773 from last
year’s 572 (this compares with a high of 1000 in 2000 and with a low of 378 in 2002). These teachers are
to be commended for their engagement with this ICT form of CPD (I presume that the praise can be
extended to these and other teachers engaging in other forms of CPD!).
Total Participants by Year
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
These figures do not include those Post-Primary teachers who, in addition to their curricular work, also
receive hands-on ICT training in the Computer Room as part of their History, Geography and Science in-
service. A new development in 2007 was the in-service for T4 – while this latter brought ‘hands on’
training to the Teachers of Technology Subjects, a cohort availed of the additional training we provided in
the evenings in conjunction with the TPN (to whom we would like to extend our appreciation for their co-
operation).
The Autumn term was, like 2006, the strongest in terms of attendance (325 participants compared to 296).
The Summer courses were also well attended, with 152 participants.
24
Annual Report 2007
SpringSummer
Autumn
2007
20060
50100150200250300350
ICT Participation by Term
20072006
Our Courses were well received by our teachers, as indicated from the following set of Course Evaluation
data (retrieved from the Online Course Evaluations completed via NCTE’s Survey Monkey system):
Course content was relevant to my work
72%
25%
3%0%
0%Strongly agreeAgreeNeutral
DisagreeStrongly disagree
Course was well structured
69%
27%
4%
0%
0%Strongly agree
AgreeNeutral
DisagreeStrongly disagree
25
Annual Report 2007
Learning objectives were met by the course
68%
29%
3%
0%
0%Strongly agreeAgreeNeutral
DisagreeStrongly disagree
Course discussion and practical exercises helped reinforce topics
76%
21%
3%
0%
0%
Strongly agreeAgreeNeutralDisagreeStrongly disagree
I can see how I could apply what I have learnt in the classroom
74%
23%
3%0%
0% Strongly agreeAgreeNeutral
DisagreeStrongly disagree
26
Annual Report 2007
Overall impression of course was ...
67%
27%
4%
1%
1%
ExcellentVery GoodGood
FairPoor
27
Annual Report 2007Participants were mostly happy with their Course Tutors:
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor
Tutor's presentation & facilitation skills were ....
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor
Tutor's knowledge of course material was ...
Most tellingly, the vast majority are happy to spread the good news, with 99.2% in agreement:
Would you recommend this course to a colleague?
0%
100%
1
2
28
Annual Report 2007In terms of planning for 2008, the following were the expressed wishes for future course content (all of
which we have offered before and will do so again!):
67.7%
53.0%
45.3%
22.4%
28.9%
28.4%
23.3%
34.9%
25.9%
Integrating the Internet into teaching &learning
Using a digital camera in the classroom
Using a digital video camera in theclassroom
Subject-specific use of ICT (post primary)- please indicate subject area(s) below
Designing & maintaining a schoolwebsite
Troubleshooting
Networking
ICT & Special Needs
Other (please specify)
Many of the ‘open comments’ invited via the Online Evaluations are positive in terms of the courses, the
networking with peers, the catering (although more variety was sought for the Summer Courses) etc.
However, I do note the following comment:
Again the Internet provisions in Drumcondra are not sufficient for this course or other internet based
courses. … Even to fill out this evaluation - the internet access in Drumcondra failed and I am forced
to use my home pc.
This is something which we need to look into as a priority: it may relate to Broadband speeds decreasing
in the evening due to ‘traffic congestion’ (and outside our control) or it may relate to our local system
(tests following this comment indicate that our Filtering system – while essential as a policy issue – does
indeed impact perhaps reducing the download speed by 50%).
29
Annual Report 2007All courses are advertised by emails to schools, on my own and on NCTE’s website, and in hardcopy
format.
I would like to thank Madeline Murray and Denise Brennan of NCTE for all their work on the TSI
Initiative. More recently, Fred Boss has joined the NCTE and we look forward to his input also. I would
also like to thank the Administration staff –in particular Valerie Norris and Carmel Curran - of the
Education Centre for all their assistance with this work. Jennifer Norton and Michael Lyng also supported
us in relation to financial matters, while Barry Donn ensured that the technology worked smoothly.
30
Annual Report 20073. School Support Initiative
I continue to provide direct support – by ‘phone, email and visits – to the 275 schools in our area. Indeed,
with the ever expanding population of North Dublin (among other areas), the Department of Education
plans to develop further school sites, and we look forward to the challenge of supporting those schools.
I continue to visit schools in the area to offer direct support and advice, in relation to Internet and email
access, as well as dealing with the pedagogical issues that arise in the use of ICT. I provide comprehensive
monthly reports on these visits to Management Committee.
This year, I have provided direct on-site support during the course of over 100 visits: I supported 77
schools on-site during this year, visiting each at least once and some schools up to 5 times.
School visits are generally initiated by the schools themselves: the school identifies an issue and seeks my
support in resolving it. On other occasions, wherever gaps appear in my diary, I contact other schools to
get feedback on one particular issue, and this often results in an invitation to visit the school to provide
more general support and advice. I have found the schools (their Principals and Teachers) to be very
receptive and welcoming.
The most common area of direct support in schools is that of Interactive Whiteboards (or Cláir Bhána
Idirgníomhacha – CBIs). While our Centre promotes the CBI Project, the question comes from other ‘non-
project’ schools also. CBI queries were addressed during 46% of school visits.
Issues relating to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) were addressed during 35% of
school visits. One impetus that has been suggested is the increasing reference by the Inspectorate during
Subject and Whole School Evaluations (WSE) to ICT. A meeting between the local ICT Advisor and the
Regional Inspectors would be useful in order to further this work.
Queries relating to Hardware, Broadband, Networking and Technical Support (18%, 27%, 20%
and 3% respectively) were also significant. Schools also asked about Scoilnet and Internet Safety (12%
and 14% respectively). Issues relating to Educational software and software licensing accounted for 23%
and 14% respectively. Also important, although not as common, were queries relating to Special
Educational Needs (8%), Website and Hosting (6%), and ICT Planning (4%).
31
Annual Report 2007
Topics addressed during School Visits in 2007
0 10 20 30 40 50
Whiteboard
TSI
Basic Skills
Internet Safety, AUP, Filtering, Searching
Scoilnet
Hardw are(Fixing, Purchasing, Recycling, Donations)
Linux
Broadband
Netw orking (inc Netw ork Admin softw are)
Tech Support + Maintenance
Ed Softw are, Integration
Inspections
Dissolving Boundaries
T4
Digital Stills and Video (inc FIS)
Empow ering Minds
DISC
Hermes
eTw inning
Digital Stills and Video (inc FIS)
Softw are Licensing, Offf ice and AV
Web Design and Hosting
SEN
Digital Schools Aw ard
ICT Plan
In addition to visiting schools on-site, I also provided direct and indirect support to schools: directly by
facilitating meetings/training for them in the Education Centre and, indirectly, by meeting with other
Support Agencies. For this type of support, I include over 60 engagements.
My ICT website at http://homepage.eircom.net/~ictadvisor/ offers continued support to schools, to
teachers using ICT and to teachers who are engaged in research in the use of ICT. I try to ensure that some
update appears on the site on an ongoing basis. Any resource I create for a school is published as a
resource to be shared among all schools.
On those occasions where I am asked to give a presentation to a number (or all of the staff), I make those
presentations available on my website at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~ictadvisor/presentations.htm
32
Annual Report 2007I use the opportunity of direct support (school visits) and/or remote support (‘phone, email) to develop a
picture of ICT infrastructure and integration: I add such features to an internal database of schools. I send
emails on a regular basis to schools.
4. School Integration Projects (SIPs) – projects supported by NCTE
In this section, there are references to
Hermes DISC FÍS NCCA Discover Sensors
The Hermes project involves nine of our schools
1. St. Marnock's NS, Portmarnock2. St. Peter and Paul's, Baldoyle3. Burrow School, Swords4. Scoil Eoin, Kilbarrack 5. Muire & Iosef Senior NS, Bayside6. St. Fintan's NS, Sutton7. Scoil Mhuire, Howth8. St. Colmcille's NS, Donaghmede9. St. Helen's Senior NS, Portmarnock
In conjunction with the Co-ordinator of the project, Mr Tom McFadden, we have supported a Summer
course in MS Class Server, as well as an Introductory course in Spring. Much credit must go to Tom who
continues to bring his talents and energy to the project. Tom has recently brought the Riverdeep
‘Destination’ series of software to the project. Tom’s presence, enthusiasm and support are critical
elements in the success of this project.
We continue to support DISC (the Dublin Inner-City Schools Computerisation project). I have visited a
number of the Northside schools in the project. The DISC team has lost the excellent services of one of its
officers (we wish Aisling Barry well in her new teaching career), but has advertised toward the end of
2007 for a replacement. We supported a Web Design course in Autumn, and Clay Animation courses in
both Spring and Summer. We extend our thanks to Dr Tommy Cooke, Ríona Fitzgerald and Wendy
Gannon for their excellent work on this project.
The Film in Schools (FÍS) project has been extended to most of the remaining Education Centres.
However, we have now reached the end of the three years of the pilot. Our five schools were
1. North Bay Educate Together2. Plás Mhuire BNS, Dorset Street
33
Annual Report 20073. St. Helen’s SNS, Portmarnock4. Holy Spirit BNS, Ballymun5. Bayside SNS, Sutton
As we have done for the previous two years of the project, we again hired a lecture theatre in St. Pat’s in
May and the schools, their teachers and Principals presented their films. We had some lovely animations,
people walking through walls, leprechauns, lots of Simon Cowells, disappearing toys, and singing and
dancing – all made for a very enjoyable show. The National Awards were hosted by NCTE in the Helix in
DCU, where our nominee Holy Spirit BNS, Ballymun won the award for Outstanding Achievement in
Film Making for 'Nature' with their excellent educational resource "The Redwood Tree"
Our workshop in Spring for FÍS Schools did not proceed.
In addition to organising our own local awards, I acted as a member of the Adjudicating Panel of our
fellow Region 1 Centres in Monaghan and Navan.
It is hoped that FÍS will continue – the indications are that the Department of Education is very supportive
of it. NCTE has established an Advisory Committee to examine its format in the future. It is hoped that the
Resource Pack will be disseminated in Spring of 2008. We have nominated one of our teachers to receive
additional training in this area, and we will be ready to extend our support in the next phase of the work.
I would like to thank Anne White and John Heffernan of NCTE and Ciarán McCormack of IADT for all
their work on the FÍS project.
An exciting area of work that was developed during the year saw a collaboration between NCTE and
NCCA. This work focussed on the implementation of the ICT Framework …in a format referred to as the
School Based Development Initiative (SBDI). This SBDI involved a network of schools in Dublin and in
Cork. I provided local support to the following participating schools:
Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch, Ballymun Scoil Mhuire agus Iosaf, (Bayside Junior NS) Our Lady of Consolation, Donnycarney St Eithne’s GNS, Edenmore CRC School, Clontarf
While the latter three schools joined the project at a later date (due to their status as Digital Schools), all
schools produced excellent resource materials. These will be used to illustrate/exemplify the ICT
Framework document. Representing the Computer Education Society of Ireland (CESI), I was a member
of the committee which helped develop the document. Such was the standard of the schools’ work, I
invited the schools to share their work here in the Education Centre – sadly, the deserved audience did not
materialise. The positions of the two Education Officers who were active in this process were not
renewed, the contract having ended in Summer of 2007. I understand that the completed ICT Framework
34
Annual Report 2007document has been approved by NCCA Council, and will/has been submitted to the Department of
Education.
Another collaboration brought NCTE support to the ‘Discover Sensors’ project. This project was initiated
by ForFás, and also has the support of the Junior Science Support Service. Locally, our first group of
school joining this work were:
Ardscoil Ris Sutton Park Loreto College, Balbriggan St. Finian's, Swords
35
Annual Report 2007In the expanding phase of the project (from Summer 2007), I invited further registrations. The ‘northside
team’ also now includes
Balbriggan Community College Belvedere College Dominican College, Griffith Ave. Gaelcholaiste Reachrann Grange Community College Portmarknock Community School Skerries Community college St Dominic's High School, Santa Sabina St Joseph's Secondary School, Rush
Drumcondra, in addition to other Education Centres, has hosted in-service days for this project, and
evening workshops. I have attended our local sessions in order that I may continue to offer further on-site
support to the schools, particularly in relation to the ‘generic ICT skills and applications’ (as opposed to
the specific ‘data logging’ systems).
5. Interactive Software in the Curriculum Initiative (ISC)
I addressed software issues in particular during 26 of my visits to schools. On occasion, this took the form
of demonstration of particular software titles. I also referred teachers to the website
www.softwarecentral.ie
I have posted further photographs for schools to use to
http://www.photobox.co.uk/public/customer.html?customer=1563093
I have also contributed a number of these to the new Image Bank resource, which has been developed by
NCTE under the Scoilnet umbrella at
http://imagebank.scoilnet.ie/
I continue to add information regarding software produced in Ireland to a specific page on my ICT
website: the 2007 additions were Interactive Maths, Flúirse’s ‘ABC Anois’, and EasyReader (Gaeilge).
I would contend that our work with Interactive Whiteboards is essentially providing our teachers with the
skills for multimedia authoring. To this end, the CBI Project Teachers and I have created and shared
resources for each of the whiteboard systems: I have published these on the cbiproject.net website. In
December, I posted the first files which were created by Students in one of our schools.
Support for specific software packages formed an element of a number of our courses and workshops
during the year (I include Learning Support, SolidWorks, introductory courses for Primary, Virtual
Physics Lab, Microsoft Learning Suite, Autograph, Euklid, PowerPoint, Literacy Activity Builder etc.).
36
Annual Report 2007I would like to thank Anne White and Karin Whooley of NCTE for their work on ISC.
6. Scoilnet and Internet
NCTE has continued to develop Scoilnet as an educational ‘portal’. In my presentations to schools, I
continue to draw the attention of teachers to these resources. During my visits to schools, I advise and/or
set browser ‘homepages’ to scoilnet.ie. Scoilnet is becoming the main point of entry and main point of
hosting for a range of educational websites and resources. Autumn 2007 saw the Tendering process by
NCTE for online digital content: we look forward to such resources being available in 2008.
I specifically referenced and/or demonstrated website design and hosting solutions in my presentations to
seven schools.
We organised and ran two Web Design courses in Autumn 2007; we also supported two online Internet
and Email for Learning course by organising face-to-face workshops in Bayside Junior, Sutton.
The number of school websites has changed little in 2007. I check in on these from time to time, and note
updated urls. I maintain a list of all the Northside websites (those that I am aware of) on the ICT website:
in 2007, I added the urls of the nine Hermes school sites for example.
NCTE has indicated that it will be in a position to host school websites in 2008.
I would like to thank Mike O’Byrne and Patrick Coffey of NCTE for all their work on managing the
development of Scoilnet.
I specifically addressed Internet Safety issues, Acceptable Use Policy and ‘safe searching strategies’
during 17 of my visits to schools. Further, I organised and delivered a workshop in Spring: this workshop
was in support of NCTE’s “Safer Internet Day” – however, only 2 teachers attended so we did not submit
any invoice to NCTE. Our planned Internet Safety courses in Autumn (one course scheduled for the
afternoon, the other for the evening) did not proceed due to insufficient prior booking.
We have nominated two teachers for additional tutor training in the area of internet safety.
I would like to thank Simon Grehan of NCTE for all his work on developing resources such as
webwise.ie. One of our Northside teachers (and Tutor), Gráinne Walsh, has joined Simon as Project
Officer
7. Special Education Needs (SEN) and ICT37
Annual Report 2007
NCTE has given particular support to SEN, and this is reflected in our own local activities.
We have organised a courses in ‘ICT and Special Needs – Learning Support’ (Spring 2007) in St Oliver
Plunkett’s BNS, Malahide. Neither our planned SEN Workshops in Spring nor our planned Kidsmart
Early Learning course in Autumn proceeded due to insufficient prior bookings.
We invited applications from our schools and nominated six to be included in the next phase of the
Kidsmart donation program. Four schools were successful, and had their computers delivered in late 2007:
1. Scoil Iosaif CBS, Fairview2. St Brigid's Senior Girls NS, Finglas West3. St Columba's Mixed NS, North Strand4. St Mary's GNS, Fairview
I would like to thank John Rust, Project Co-ordinator, for his support in the Kidsmart work
I included specific references to and advice in relation to SEN on 9 of my visits to schools. I attended and
contributed to a SEN workshop (for Second Level) at the ILSA conference in St Patrick’s College.
With the support of two companies, I can demonstrate both Kurzweil and TextHelp software during
school presentations.
In the next phase of our Interactive Whiteboard Project, we will be looking more closely at the area of
Learning Support
Ann Phelan, the National co-ordinator for SEN, is on extended leave from NCTE. We would like to thank
Neil O’Sullivan, the new Project Officer for SEN, for his work and his support.
8. Technology Integration Initiative
General hardware queries were an important part of my work in schools in 2007. As stated earlier in this
report, queries relating to Hardware, Broadband, Networking and Technical Support (18%, 27%, 20% and
3% respectively) were addressed.
We organised and ran two courses for ‘Introduction to Network Management’ in Spring and in Autumn.
We organised and ran a ‘Basic Troubleshooting’ course in the Centre in Spring.
I have posted information regarding Health and Safety matters relating to Data Projectors on my ICT
website, as well as on the cbiproject.net website
38
Annual Report 2007During my visits to schools, I often record the Broadband speeds at that time (and internet access – with
relatively high contention ratios – is very time and user dependent). I undertake the test by linking my
laptop directly to the broadband router in each case. I use the Speed measuring service provided by
Blacknight (www.irishisptest.com/myspeed.php). Here is a selection of speeds (measured in kbps) to date:
<100
<400
<700
<100
0
<130
0
>150
0Irish Broadband
02468
10
Broadband Speeds in Drumcondra Schools
Irish BroadbandDigiwebSmart
EsatAD eircom
Not included in the above are any recordings from Hermes nor from “AD Irish Broadband breezelight”.
Indeed some of the above schools may been re-allocated to a different provider since my recorded visit.
However, my recordings do indicate at the very least the difference in service being provided. It should be
noted that many of our Primary schools have been awarded a “1 Megabit” service, whereas our larger
Post-Primary schools and colleges are more usually on a “2 Megabit” service. The highest speed I have
recorded was in St. Cronan's Junior NS where the download speed was over 5 Mbps – this school is
serviced as an “Advanced Deployment by Eircom”; this speed contrasts with the lowest of just 80 kbps
recorded in Scoil Íde Girls NS (where the service was “Wireless” by Irish Broadband).
I have also started to measure the speeds directly to the HEAnet Server (test.schools.edu.ie is only
accessible to schools whose IP addresses are registered with the Broadband Programme). The following
shows the number of schools in each category (as measured in Mbps) – I haven’t broken this data down by
Service Provider
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
<.9 <1.1 <1.3 <1.5 <1.7 <1.9
Broadband Speeds via Heanet
39
Annual Report 2007I note that there is continued work by NCTE to address the issues of speed and reliability.
I would like to thank Tom Lonergan and Helen McKeon of NCTE for their continuing efforts to advance
the priorities of TII.
9. Digital Schools Award (DSA)
We are very fortunate in that four of our schools succeeded in achieving the DSA in 2006. To build and
extend this recognition, we organised a workshop in Spring 2007. This workshop was to be facilitated by
teachers from our DSA schools. Unfortunately, the workshop did not proceed due to insufficient prior
bookings. NCTE is still maintaining this initiative (for example, via the website
http://www.digitalschools.ie/). I would like to thank Neil O’Sullivan of NCTE for his continuing good
work. In particular, Neil sourced equipment for our DSA schools who participated in the SBDI (above).
10. Support for activities within, and representing, the Education Centre
Of the more than 60 meetings/workshops I have delivered and/or participated in I note the following:
I have met with and provided advice in the Education Centre to teachers engaged in ICT research; I have attended two days in support of the FIS Project (our local ‘Regional Show’ and the
‘National Awards’ in the Helix) I have made whiteboard presentations to the Junior Science Support Service, to the staff of Froebel
College, and to the members of the School Development and Planning team. I attended the Roboshow, and supported our schools working with the Control Technology ‘Lego’
kits I have attended five meetings with NCCA for the NCCA/NCTE ‘School Based Development
Initiative’ I made a presentation regarding Digital Video to the Maths Recovery Team I have attended six meetings with NCTE to get Programme updates and to provide feedback on
behalf of our Centre and our schools; I have participated in three meetings with fellow ICT Advisors in adjoining/regional Centres in
order to share learning experiences in and from our schools I have made presentations to groups of visiting European Principals, and to visiting Swedish
Teachers and Principals I have supported the T4 in-service team (both during their delivery here in the Centre and in their
meeting for Principals in Marino) and their TPN colleagues I have attended a meeting with NCTE and other partners looking at the possible introduction of the
ePict course.
I have attended the BETT conference in London: this is the largest show of its kind in Europe and
represents an opportunity to see new and revised software and hardware solutions. I also attended a
number of the Presentations at the show, including that of Jim Knight M.P., Minister of State for
Education
40
Annual Report 2007I publish my notes from such lectures on my ICT website
(http://homepage.eircom.net/~ictadvisor/ICT.htm), so that teachers engaged in research have access to
them.
I have assisted in the organisation of the CESI conference: Drumcondra is the official Postal and
Financial-Administration (in the context of the TPN subject-associations) centre for CESI. The bulk of my
work with CESI, as it is for other members of CESI executive, is carried out in the evenings and at
weekends.
As a member of the CESI National Executive, and also as a member of the ICT Advisors’ group, I
contributed to submissions requested by the ICT Strategy Group. This latter, under the guidance of Mr
Jerome Morrissey, was formed by the Minister of Education and Science and asked to provide information
and a shared vision for the ICT planning process. The process was announced as part of the National
Development Plan (NDP), 2007 – 2013. We may get firm guidelines early in 2008.
Drumcondra provides a website for the project www.cbiproject.net (CBI being the acronym for Cláir
Bhána Idirghníomhacha) and I provide regular updates and contributions.
Our Interactive Whiteboard Project continues to provide support to our core of 15 schools. In 2007, we
have received support from an additional number of whiteboard companies. As a result we are beginning
to support an extra cohort of schools (labelled ‘Phase IV’ below):
Representing First-Level: Phase I: St. Eithne's SGNS, Edenmore Phase I: St. Kevin's NS, Greystones Phase I: St. Brigid's NS, Castleknock Phase II: St Joseph's CBS, Fairview Phase II: St Malachy's BNS, Edenmore Phase III: Scoil Fhursa, Kilmore West Phase IV: St Brigid's Infant NS, Finglas West Phase IV: St Oliver Plunkett NS, Balrothery Phase IV: St Fintan's NS, Sutton
Representing Second-Level: Phase I: St. Michael's Holy Faith, Finglas Phase I: Greendale Community School, Kilbarrack Phase I: St. Mary's Secondary School, Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin Phase II: Coláiste Choilm, Swords Phase II: Manor House School, Raheny Phase II: St. Vincent's CBS Secondary School, Glasnevin Phase III: St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Rush Phase IV: Mount Carmel Secondary School
41
Annual Report 2007Representing Special Education:
Phase I: St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls, Cabra
Representing the Gaeilge sector: Phase I: Scoil Neasáin, Harmonstown
In this Phase IV of the project, we are concentrating on the role of CBIs in the area of Learning Support.
We hosted a number of courses for each of the three board types (Promethean, Hitachi and SMART): 6 in
Spring, 4 in Summer and 2 in Autumn. The ‘mature users’ are now training their colleagues. I would like
to thank NCTE for covering the costs of these courses during which the teachers re-visit and re-author
their teaching and learning ICT resources.
I have contributed an article concerning whiteboards for the NCTE website. This and other articles are
referred to as Advice Sheets. The CBI Sheet (with an extra insert not of my creation!) may be found at
http://www.ncte.ie/documents/advicesheets/16InteractiveWBs(June07).pdf
In September 2007, we organised and hosted a Whiteboard Expo in the Centre. This was essentially a
commercial undertaking which provided local schools the opportunity to view 12 different systems under
one roof.
In December 2007, we hosted a Whiteboard Research Seminar in the Centre. Our presenters were
Maureen Haldane of Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Miriam Judge of DCU and Adrienne Webb
of St Michael’s in Finglas. This seminar was attended by over 50 who represented a range of educational
and policy interests. The findings indicate that CBIs are having a significant and positive effect on
teaching and learning. I have disseminated the research findings via the cbiproject.net website
Including the 19 schools in our project, there are now 70 Northside schools using one (or more) interactive
whiteboard systems: this must represent one of the highest concentrations of whiteboards in the country. It
also represents a changing face of activity in our classroom: the NCTE 2005 Census (published October
2006) indicated that whiteboards were to be found in less than 3% of schools, whereas our evidence
suggests the figure is running at 25% or more. A suggestion at a recent NCTE/ATECI meeting was that
90% of schools are actively interested in this technology. As stated earlier in this report, CBI queries were
addressed during 46% of my school visits.
CBIs have become a major medium for ICT integration in schools and this challenge needs to be
addressed on a national basis – before the next wave of technology (which is inevitable given the nature of
the ICT world we live and work in). Drumcondra Education Centre has been a leading support for schools,
and we have invested funding in bringing these resources to the Centre so that Teachers can see them in
action, and so make informed purchasing decisions. To date, we have not received direct project funding 42
Annual Report 2007from NCTE and we would welcome their support as we move into the dissemination phase of our project
work.
I have assisted the Centre in drafting annual ICT Reports and ICT Workplan for submission to NCTE.
Members of Management Committee of the Drumcondra Education Centre also invested much of their
own time in the final formulation of this plan.
I would like to thank the following for their support of the ICT Advisory Service:
Management Committee (and, in particular, the ICT Sub-Committee) of the Education Centre Eileen O’Connor, Director The Principals, Teachers, ICT Co-ordinators, and ICT Tutors in our schools Jerome Morrissey and his colleagues in NCTE
Drumcondra Education Centre looks forward to another active year in 2008 in helping our schools to
progress further down the road of ICT Integration, this road to be shaped by the new NDP and by the
needs of our own schools
David Kearney, ICT Advisor
43
Annual Report 2007
Playground KB/Sec kbits per secondIrish Broadband
123 984182 1456249 1992217 1736173 1384111 888176 1408
1 8193 1544232 1856
Speed (kbps using MySpeed) <100 <200 <300 <400 <500 <600 <700 <800 <900 <1100 <1200 <1300 <1400 <1500 >1500 >2000Irish Broadband 5 4 10 3 3 1 1 1Digiweb 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 4SmartEsat 3AD eircom
Not included Hermes, AD breezelight, schools which have been re-allocated
Other Provider
Speedtest kbpsSpeedtest
kbps132c 900y135c 500w
2550w 1020l300z 703r
1090y 261q160c 802y430a 2520141c 650e
1850w 1050l
i
Annual Report 2007
260z 939
k
1850w 1170m269z 2570
1390p 1070l215z 1420p280z 2850
80v 1840155c 1160m276z 922k233z393a307a140c769p
Playground KB/Sec123 984b Speed in Mbps <.9 <1.0 <1.1 <1.2 <1.3 <1.4 <1.5 <1.6 <1.7 <1.8 <1.9 <2182 1456d Number of Schools 6 2 1 3 3 1 2 1249 1992119 952b217 1736g173 1384c111 888a176 1408d
1 8aii
Annual Report 2007193 1544e232 1856j
40 320a103 824a193 1544e182 1456d222 1776g193 1544v110 880a204 1632f102 816a
iii
Annual Report 2007
September 2006- June 2007 Annual Officer ReportSummary Document
European Studies Programme
Name: Aoife RuaneJob Title: ROI Programme Coordinator
A number of the key activities carried out during the period September 2006-June 2007 are listed below. The key activity areas are highlighted in bold with a brief overview of the activities involved highlighted below. The brief synopsis serves to highlight the range of diverse programme activities engaged in as Programme Coordinator based out of the Republic of Ireland.
School VisitsAll Republic of Ireland schools involved with the programme received an on-site school support visit during the period September 2006-April 2007. These schools are spread across three provinces. (See the attached database for the list of visited schools 2006-2007)For the academic year 2007-2008, a new pilot idea of arranging cluster group meetings for coordinators within close geographical location will be arranged to facilitate meeting each coordinator during the first term. Following each school visit, a report is written up and sent to the school principal and coordinator.
Curriculum Resource Development: Transition Year PackWith specific responsibility for the final editorial work of the Transition Year resource, the following is a list of completed tasks and duties connected to the resource. It has been finally handed over to the European Commisson for final signing-off in June 2006. It is hoped to launch the PDF version of the resource in September 2007. A number of associated tasks with the resource carried out during the year are listed below:
o Final editorial changes to electronic version completedo Fortnightly meetings with Manager, Maxine Judge on progresso Fortnightly/monthly update meetings with the European Commission staffo Correspondence with the Transition Year Support Services to consult with recent TY
curriculum requirementso Tender process for type-setting/ designo Recruitment and corrspondence with an illustrator about designing the covero Handed over to the European Commission for type-setting and publishing
EuroscolaAnother key responsibility this year was to organise the Euroscola competition with special responsibility for attending the senior competition with 72 delegates (60 students and 11 other adults). Activities involved with this task included drafting competition criteria, arranging judges and adjudication meetings, notifying ROI schools, preparing formal letters to be sent to schools, visiting winning schools for briefing sessions, travelling to Strasbourg for 3-days with both the junior and senior groups and preparation of a Euroscola report for the winning senior schools outlining the students’ contributions.
46
Annual Report 2007In-Service TrainingProvided CSPE in-service training to 23 teachers in Waterford Teachers’ Centre with Dolores StinsonCo-facilitation of new coordinator workshops at three annual conferences
NewsletterResponsible for the preparation and design of content and layout for the Autumn 2006 and Summer 2007 newsletter editions.
WebsiteOrganised Irish and German translations of relevant European Studies documentationFamiliarisation with new aspects of the websiteSourcing useful link websites and teaching resources
MeetingsVarious meetings are held throughout the year, either on a regular or once-off basis. Each month, there is a team meeting rotated between either the Armagh or Dublin offices. Each month, a separate face-to-face meeting with the Programme Manager, Maxine Judge, is also arranged. These meetings are successful and very helpful in keeping all members of staff updated and supported. Throughout the year, separate meetings are arranged with various European agencies and organisations such as the European Commission, European Parliament, Leargas etc. During 2006-2007, I attended a number of meetings were arranged with Deirdre Bourke in the European Commission and also with Harry O’ Connor. Every three/ four months, a Citizenship Education Network meeting would take place in the Curriculum Development Unit, Crumlin. This is a useful network to be involved with as work tasks are often complimentary and mutual support can be given by the different attendees.
A number of potential agencies and organisations that I have not had the opportunity of meeting with yet have been identified for 2007-2008. Meetings are currently being organised with the following people/ organisations:
o European Education Networko Ann Barrington, National Forum on Europe;o Leargas staff with responsibility for secondary schools; o Michael O’ Leary, Transition Year Support Services
Conferences/ EventsThroughout the year there are specific requirements to attend educational conferences and networking events. The following is a list of events attended during the academic year 2006-2007.
o Attended CSPE conference, Berkely Court Hotel, Ballsbridge, 22.09.06o Adjudication at the CEWC UN Mock General Assembly, Belfasto Human Rights and Citizenship Education Conference, Kilkenny o ELOS 3-day Conference Romeo SCOTENS Conference, Belfasto Junior Conference, Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, 2-4 Feb 2007o Senior Conference 1, Leuven, 2-4 March 2007o Senior Conference 2, Brussels, 23-25 March 2007o National Forum on Europe, Dublin Castle, 5 March 2007o Attended ASDAN teacher briefing session in Antrim, 8th. March 2007o Attended Mock European Council event, 26th April 2007
47
Annual Report 2007
Promotion of ESPMedia opportunity with Minister Noel Dempsey, Minister of State with Responsibility for European AffairsEuroscola Teachers’ Session in Strasbourg- outlined the programme and the objectives. Handed out 10 folders to interested schoolsCEN Meetings- give regular updates about the programme to the members
ESP DocumentsDrafted a yearly timetable for schoolsListed a number of potential ESP projects Update of school records with mobile numbers and personal email addressesUpdate of ROI schools’ database
Professional DevelopmentAttendance at a Council of Europe Course (25-29 June), 116 th Workshop on Key European
Competences.
Reading and Research for Teaching ResourcesRegular surfing of the web for relevant resources and materials for schools. Continue to update a schools resource pack of useful teaching resources.
Regular Administration Tasks Weekly Reports, Monthly Report, monthly expenses, emails, letters, correspondence with schools etc
48
Annual Report 2007
49
Annual Report 2007
CHARTS AND LISTS
50
Annual Report 2007Primary Curriculum Report
The 2007 year contained the balance of delivery of the 2006 to 2007 programme. This completes the 7 year re-development of the primary curriculum and the support programme's delivery of mandatory in-service.
PCSP programme.
The phase of in-service in the months of January to June 2006 saw the delivery of 261 seminars in the areas of Drama Day 1 and Day 2 SESE, and Assessment. The 261 in-service seminars brought a total of 5,794 teachers in contact with the Centre, broken down as follows:
Subject Number of Seminars Approx. number of participants
SESE 47 1,979
Drama Day 2 115 2,484
Drama Day 1 47 1,119
StandarisedAssessment
8 212
Totals 261 5,794
Venues breakdownThe continued high useage of Sportslink as a venue is due to the fact that PE seminars require a Sports Hall. Some schools elected to have their PE in-service in school and this is reflected in the own school figure. However when possible schools and teachers appreciated the opportunity to be off premises for in-service.
Cuiditheoir Service
From September 2007 onwards the main provision from PCSP changed to a Cuitheoir service for schools. A table is enclosed of the schools requests, it will also have a comparision of 06 V 07 as figures are available from then.
Course provision was limited and offered after school. 7 workshops in different disciplines were offered during the year and of these only 3 went ahead due to small numbers.
From this experience it would be better from the Centres position to know in advance what courses will be offered at the start of a term and include them with our mail-out to schools. Currently we
are sending out information on an adhoc basis.
The facilitators that have been working in our catchment area during the 2007 year have been doing a splendid job. They include Martina Gannon, (Learning Support and DEIS); John Murphy and Vincent Mulvey (PE and SPHE); Siobhan O’Donoghue (DEIS), Eleanor Fahy (SESE); Ian Packham and Edel Giblin (Arts) and Connall O’Breachain (Gaeilge). We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Catherine Shannon (Learning Support and DEIS cuidtheoir) on her promotion to Assistant National Co-ordinator in the PCSP main office. We also send best wishes and thanks to Yvonne Higgins (Arts) who returned to school.Jocelyn Kelly - February 27th, 2007.
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Annual Report 2007
Primary Curriculum Support Programme - STATSJanuary - June 2007 - PCSP in-service ceased June 2007 January to June 2007. VENUE BREAKDOWN
VENUE BREAKDOWN
Month Centre Sportslink Clontarf Castle Bracken Court Ardmore Hotel TotalJanuary 16 8 9 12 6 59February 12 3 4 0 1 23March 11 6 13 0 6 42April 14 9 12 7 6 57May 27 25 21 11 10 119June 4 1 4 2 2 14Totals 84 52 63 32 31 314% of inserviceat each venue 2006 32% 20% 24% 12% 12%
Month Centre Sportslink Clontarf Castle Bracken Court Ardmore Hotel TotalTotals 84 52 63 32 31 0
52
Annual Report 2007
53
Annual Report 2007
2006 V 2007 Venue Comparison
54
Annual Report 2007
Centre Sportslink Clontarf Castle Bracken Court Ardmore Hotel Own SchoolTotals 2006 92 90 76 25 0 13Totals 2007 Jan-Jun only 84 52 63 32 31 0
Requests for help 2007 2006
English Maths LS 51 72
55
Annual Report 2007
Gaeilge/Tus Maith 41 77PE and/or SPHE 40 49SESE 46 68The Arts 63 57Totals 241 323
56
Annual Report 2007
Subject % NumberDrama 10.55 57Music 8.8 48Visual Arts 8.52 46History 7.77 42Geography 7.41 40Science 7.04 38English 8.88 48Maths 8.7 47Learning Support 7.59 41PE 6.67 36SPHE 5.93 32Gaegile 7.03 38Tus Maith 5.11 27
57
Annual Report 2007
100 540
POST-PRIMARY IN-SERVICE – STATS
58
Annual Report 2007
Subject % of inservice per subject Participant No's
Geog InService 11.00% 187
Junior Cert Science 4.00% 70
L.C.A. 11.00% 201
Technology 19.00% 327
Hist InService 9.00% 150
SPHE 18.00% 311
SDPI 6.00% 100
LCVP 0.50% 13
CSPE 3.00% 59
JCSP 2.00% 35
Gaeilge 3.00% 59
Maths 9.00% 161
Child Protection Guidelines 3.00% 54
Biology 1.50% 29
TOTAL 100.00% 1756
59
Annual Report 2007SUBJECT BREAKDOWN POST-PRIMARY IN-SERVICE
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Annual Report 2007
LOCAL COURSE PROVISION - STATS
APPENDIX 1 - LOCAL COURSE PROVISION COMPARISON 2007 V 2006
Description No. of Courses OfferedNo. of Courses
Cancelled % Courses Cancelled Participant Numbers 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006
Spring Programme 31 22 7 3 23% 14% 456 469 Summer Courses 9 8 * 1 0 11% 0% 88 132 Autumn Courses 38 13 8 6 21% 46% 623 163 Total courses 78 43 16 9 20.50% 20.00% 1167 764
Notes
* Summer Course provision for the first time was effected by on-line course provision and this can be seen in the cancellation of a course.
61
Annual Report 2007
62
Annual Report 2007
Description No. of Courses Offered 2007 2006
Spring 31 22Summer 9 8Autumn 38 13Total courses 78 43
63
Annual Report 2007
64
Annual Report 2007
Description % Courses Cancelled 2007 2006
Spring 23% 14%Summer 11% 0%Autumn 21% 46%Total courses 20.50% 20.00%
Centre Opening Weekdays / Weekends between 1st January 2007 and 31st December 2007 - STATS
Weekdays Friday Evening Saturday SundayJanuary 19 2February 20 2March 21 1April 14 1 2May 22 2 3 1June 19July 10August 19
65
Annual Report 2007September 20 3October 22 2November 22 1 2December 15 1 1
Totals 223 4 19 2
Opening Hours:Mon & Wed 8.30am-9.30pmTue &Thurs 8.30am-6.00pm & 7.00pm-9.30pm Fri 8.30am-5.00pmSat - by appointment
66