(a nossa ministra apanhou esta mania da teimosia autista lá fora… ou lá fora é que aprenderam com a nossa ministra?)
Teachers accuse education body of using 'failed policies'
A leading teachers' union today strongly criticised Northern Ireland's hard-hitting proposed new school improvement policy, claiming it was produced "without one iota of consultation" with teachers' representatives.
Delegates at the Irish National Teachers Organisation's northern conference in Newry's Canal Court Hotel were told that the "preoccupation with testing, data, statistics and league tables" was contributing to the problem of thousands of pupils leaving school every year without basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Mary Cahillane, chair of INTO's northern committee, said: "The preoccupation with trying to improve statistics is not improving and will not improve the standard of education.
"INTO will vigorously oppose the written publication and gradation of schools on a 1-6 performance level basis as proposed by the Education and Training Inspectorate and enshrined in Every School a Good School."
Ms Cahillane described the Government document as "draconian".
"All the worst features of the failed UK policies such as special measures, the blame and sack teachers culture, sacking principals, sacking governors, closing schools are all contained in Every School a Good School. And it contains the double whammy of double inspections.
"Every proposal in the policy document is to be measured in data, comparisons, statistics, inputs and outputs. It is the antithesis of what education is about.
"Schools are not factories, pupils are not products. Teachers are not accountants. Education is not a commodity and it is not for sale at the cheapest price for the crudest, data-driven yardstick. "
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane announced details of the Every School a Good School policy last month. She described it as "a new, pupil-centred policy with equality and improvement at its heart".
Meanwhile, the INTO has also supported the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' call for a pause to the review of public administration process in education. The new Education and Skills Authority is due to replace the five education boards from April 2009.
"We are going too fast," Ms Cahillane claimed. We are not opposed to change but we are opposed to change at breakneck speed and without meaningful consultation. We are confronting massive change, overhauling an entire education system in the space of 18 months, introducing a new curriculum in the space of two years and rationalizing wholesale into the future."
in http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
(18 meses? Que é isso? Em Portugal é aos vinte dias…)