Furniture Design in Ireland

Just imagine if you designed a chair and it sold for over 22 million and went into the history books as the most expensive piece of design in the world! Well that is what happened to Irish designer Eileen Gray. 23 years after she has died and over 90 years since it was designed. It was in the collection of Yves Saint Laurent which is currently being sold in Paris. (Photo courtesy of the Irish Independent) The National Museum had the foresight to purchase her private collection of papers and furniture from her apartment in Paris. They are now on permanent exhibition in in the Museum. Gray died at the age of 98 yet many of her designs would not look out of place in this contemporary age. If you might like to follow in her footsteps and learn furniture design or study design there are many colleges around the country that run design courses, below is a list while not exhaustive, will help you get started. If you would like a college added to the list please let us know. Photos of the Yves Saint Laurent auction at Christies are on Flickr. COLLECTION YVES SAINT LAURENT ET PIERRE BERGE Catelogue Athlone Institute of Technology	www.ait.ie
BA (Hons) in Design Communications (3yrs ab initio) BA (Hons) in Design (Visual Communications) (4yrs ab initio) BA (Hons) in Design (Multimedia Studies) (1yr add-on)
Carlow Institute of Technology	www.itcarlow.ie
BA in Industrial Design BA (Hons) in Industrial Design BA (Hons) in Product Design Innovation
Cork Institute of Technology	www.cit.ie
BA (Hons) in Multimedia (4yrs ab initio) BDes in Design Communication (3yrs ab initio) BDes (Hons) in Visual Communications (1yr)
Crawford College	www.cit.ie
BA in Ceramic Design BA (Hons) in Ceramic Design Higher Diploma in Arts (Art & Design Education)
Dublin Institute of Technology	www.dit.ie
BDes in Visual Communication BDes in Interior and Furniture Certificate Design Display BSc Product Design National Certificate in Design Studies BSc in Architecture
Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology	www.iadt.ie
BA (Hons) in Animation BA in Design (Model-Making for Film & Media) BA (Hons) in Design (Visual Communication) BA (Hons) in Film & TV Production BSc (Hons) in Psychology Applied to Information Technology BEng in Digital Media Technology Higher Certificate in Arts (Make-Up for Film, TV & Theatre)
Grafton Academy	www.graftonacademy.com
Diploma in Fashion Design (3yrs)
Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology	www.gmit.ie
BA in Art & Design BA in Art & Design (P/T) BA (Hons) in Textile Design BSc in Furniture Design & Manufacture BSc in Furniture Production & Technology BSc (Hons) in Product Design (Furniture) BSc (Hons) in Manufacturing Technology (Furniture) BSc (Hons) in Design & Technology Education
Griffith College Dublin	www.gcd.ie
BA in Interior Design BA in Interior Architecture BA (Hons) in Interior Architecture Diploma in Interior Design (2yrs)
Letterfrack Furniture College (GMIT)	www.gmit.ie
BSc in Furniture Technology National Certificate in Furniture Design & Manufacture National Certificate in Furniture Production National Diploma in Furniture Conservation & Restoration
Limerick Institute of Technology	www.lit.ie
First Year Art & Design BA (Hons) in Product Design (Level 8) BA (Hons) in Fashion Design (Level 8) BA (Hons) in Design (Visual Communications) (Level 8)
Letterkenny Institute of Technology	www.lyit.ie
BA in Graphic Design BA in Industrial Design BA (Hons) in Design Media, Design & Production
National College of Art and Design	www.ncad.ie
BA in History (Art, Design & Craft) BA in History (Art, Design & Fashion) BA in History (Art, Design & Textile) BA in History (Art, Design & Visual Communication) BA in Art & Design Education BDes in Visual Communication BDes in Fashion Design BDes in Textile Design BDes in Industrial Design BDes in Craft Design (Ceramics, Glass & Metals) HDip in Art & Design Education
NUI Maynooth	www.nuim.ie
Degree in Product Design (4yrs) BA/BSc in Multimedia
Queen's University Belfash	www.qub.ac.uk
BSc in Architecture (3yrs) BSc in Creative Multimedia (4yrs) BEng in Product Design & Development (3yrs) MEng in Product Design & Development (4yrs)
Sligo Institute of Technology	www.itsligo.ie
BA in Industrial Design BA (Hons) in Industrial Design BA in Interior Architecture (ab initio) BA (Hons, add-on) in Interior Architecture
University College Cork (UCC)	www.ucc.ie
BSc (Hons) in Architecture (4yrs) Run jointly with CIT
University College Dublin (UCD)	www.ucd.ie
BSc in Architectural Science (3yrs)
University of Limerick	www.ul.ie
BSc (Hons) in Digital Media Design BSc (Hons) in Product Design & Technology BEng in Computer Aided Engineering & Design Bachelor of Architecture
University of Ulster	www.ulster.ac.uk
BA (Hons) in Architecture BA (Hons) in Art & Design BA (Hons) in Textiles & Fashion Design BDes (Hons) in Design & Communication BDes (Hons) for Visual Communication BDes (Hons) in Interior, Industrial & Furniture Design BDes (Hons) in 3D Design (Interior, Product & Furniture) BSc (Hons) in Interactive Multimedia Design BSc (Hons) in Multimedia Computing & Design BSc (Hons) in Technology with Design BSc (Hons) in Technology with Design (with Integrated Foundation Year) PgD/MSc in Computing & Design PgD/MDes in Design Communication Foundation Studies in Art & Design (Diploma) CertHE in Interior Design PhD/MPhil in Arts & Design
Waterford Institute of Technology	www.wit.ie
BA (Hons) in Design (Visual Communication) (4yrs)

Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday - the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. It is so called because it was the day on which people were ‘shriven’ or absolved of their sins prior to Lent.

The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent begins.

Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Tuesday, because traditionally pancakes were made on this day. Many people in Ireland (and elsewhere) still enjoy celebrating ‘Pancake Tuesday’ by making pancakes. The reason for associating pancakes with Shrove Tuesday is that they use up the fresh items from the larder – items which could not be eaten during the period of Lent, as it was a time of abstinence.

Odlums, one of Irelands longest manufacturers of flour run Odlums Pancake Party in aid of The Children's Hospital in Tallaght. You host a party any time between the 20th and 24th February by inviting family, friends, work colleagues, to your home, school, community centre or work place. The idea is to have some fun while raising money for a worthy cause. They have pancake recipes on the website; traditional, easy and easier!

I am the traditional type with sugar and lemons, but there are various methods of pancakes from different countries, maybe instead of traditional you might like to try Griddle (from America) Crepes (from France) or Bellinis (from Russia). Have fun :-)

Nowadays we don't have to use up all the fresh items in the larder but many people still want to atone, offer up, do penance, by giving up something they enjoy for the Lenten period. Be it chocolate, sugar, alcohol or cigarettes. For years in homes around the country many school children brought home the Trócaire Box. The idea being that what you would have spent on chocolate, sugar, alcohol or cigarettes you put in to the Trócaire Box instead. In that way you are helping not only yourself but also people in the Third world.

Trócaire state on their website;

Lent is our most important fundraising and awareness building period. Each year during Lent we highlight particular challenges facing people in the developing world and encourage the public to take action through campaigning and by raising funds through our Trócaire box.

In our home my son has taken to making the pancakes (and Mum gets to clean up after!!) so enjoy Pancake Tuesday and try not to leave the pancake on the ceiling when you have the toss the pancake competition! :-)

A-Z using British Sign Language

British Sign Language:How To Sign The Alphabet Using British Sign Language

Eight Toughest Interview Questions

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins for CareerBuilder.co.uk

Interviews are designed to do just one thing: identify the best possible candidate for the advertised job. And sometimes it may feel that the questions being asked have been designed to deliberately catch you out or make you question whether you are up to the job or not.

But that's not their intention. Some questions aim to establish how well you cope under pressure, others will be to reveal your personality or to see what your career aspirations are. Just remember that there is no need to draw a blank or clam up if you have done your research and preparation beforehand.

If you want to avoid an interview disaster, here are some of the toughest interview questions and their suggested responses.

Q: "Tell me about yourself"

This is perhaps the most open-ended question of them all and is typically used by interviewers as a warm-up question to give you the opportunity to shine. But resist the temptation to start talking about your life history. What your interviewer is looking for is a quick two or three minute snapshot of who you are and why you are the best candidate for the job. So keep your response relevant to the position you are applying for. For example:

A: I started my media sales career five years ago as a telesales representative, rising through the ranks before gaining promotion to sales manager three years later. I am now responsible for training and developing a team of 15 sales consultants that are currently the company's best performing sales team.

Q: "What are your salary expectations?"

You should have done some research into the average salary and remuneration that this type of position will pay. Try to deflect the question by turning it around and asking the interviewer about the salary on offer. Typically, they will start with a lower figure than they are prepared to offer because they want to keep their costs down. So if you are pressed to give a number, its best to give a range to avoid pricing yourself out of contention. For example:

A: I'm sure whatever salary you're paying is consistent with the rest of the market average of £23,000 to £25,000.

Q: "Why should we hire you"

This can be a killer question and can make or break your chances of winning the job. And how you answer will depend on how well you have probed your interviewer about their requirements and expectations. So what the interviewer is really asking you is, What can you do for my business? Your response needs to answer that question. For example:

A: As I understand your needs, you are first and foremost looking for someone who can increase your advertising sales and has experience of managing a sales team. I have a proven track record in successfully managing and developing my territory within this sector, having increased my sales from £150,000 to £210,000 over the last two years alone.

Q: "If you were a car ... tree ... animal what would you be?"

Baffling though it may seem, some interviewers still insist on asking silly questions, such as If you were a car, what type of car would you be and why? There are no right or wrong answers. The interviewer is simply testing your reactions under pressure to see how you will cope with the unexpected in an attempt to gain an insight into your personality and how you view yourself. Don't get hung up on the implications of what type of car you say you would be, just be mindful that you will be expected to explain your choice. For example:

A: I would probably be a 1962 Alpha Romeo Spider -- classy, stylish, driven and fast off the mark

Q: "Why did you leave your last job?"

You know this question will be asked at some stage, so have your answer ready in advance. The rule of thumb is to always remain positive about your current and previous employers because you never know when your paths may cross again. Besides, who are you going to turn to for a reference? For example:

A: I learned a lot from my previous employer and enjoyed my time there. However, promotional opportunities were few and far between and I am keen to advance my career sooner rather than later.

Q: "What are your weaknesses?"

Career manuals abound with ways to tackle this question. And most of them seem to suggest that you should take one of your strengths and portray it as a weakness. For instance, I work too much. But this will actually work against rather than work for you because it may imply that you do not organise your workload effectively, or that you have poor time management skills. Instead, opt for a genuine weakness. For example:

A: I used to struggle to plan and prioritorise my workload. However, I have taken steps to resolve this and now I have started using a planning tool and diary system on my laptop.

Q: "What motivates you?"

Short of telling your interviewer that you are motivated by the prospect of earning a footballer's salary, driving a Bentley or having a holiday home in St Tropez, try and give a constructive answer that will excite your interviewer into understanding what benefit you will bring to his business. For example:

A: I get a real kick out of seeing my team exceed their sales targets and completing the project on time and within budget.

Q: "How would your former colleagues describe you?"

This is a sure sign that the interviewer likes you and is already thinking about contacting your previous employer for a reference. And this is the time when you realise how important it is to choose your referees carefully. So answer this question in the way that you would like to think your employer would respond. For example:

A: I have an excellent working relationship with my manager and we have mutual respect for each other. He considers me to be hard working, dedicated, reliable and able to work well using my own initiative.

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Core Skills and Up Skills - a debate

Thanks to Bernie over at Inside View posting about Core Skills in Ireland. He discusses the post 'Core skills not up skills' by Chris Horn, who says

"There's some considerable debate here in Ireland about the need to "up skill" our economy, in the light of loss of jobs to lower cost economies. I however contend that there is not so much a need to "up skill", but to "core skill" - to get back to fundamentals and thus ensure that we have a solid foundation of lifetime skills."

I feel there is a need to do both. We cannot ignore the fact that many workers now need to gain more skills if they wish to be in demand as ongoing or future employees. I see his point and fully agree that core skills are being neglected in primary and post primary schools. Getting back to basics now will only allow us to see the benefit in our children in 10 years time.

Horn says

" Our young people should be able to reason, to deduce and derive, to correlate and spot patterns, to explore and to be inquisitive, and to be articulate and confident. In my humble view, these are more life centric skills than learning facts and perspectives by rote: knowing something off by heart, but not understanding why, why not, and so what. Skills taught in schools should be for life. There are many things which can be learnt during adulthood, but some skills which are difficult to learn without a solid foundation during the teens and 20s."

Maths and science is where Horn is leading and feels our students are being let down by the education system that fails to take more of an interest in these skills.

In Britain Carol Voderman is being suggested as a Maths czar as a means of getting students interested in Maths, and there is an American TV police show 'Numbers' that is fascinating with the way it shows how we interact with numbers every day of our lives. The site explains the maths in the series and also has a weekly maths puzzle, well worth exploring.

Bernie Goldbach of Inside View states,

I know that many of the asipiring programmers have weak mathematical skills. Many do not program in second level education, so learning programming is like learning another language. Some first year students do not think logically and expect their third level education will remedy their deficiencies. Third level is often too late in the education cycle. Taking a page out of Chris Horn's blog, the primary level is where the skills start--in mathematics classrooms. Then those skills continue into second level, with an expectation that geometry, trigonometry and calculus get sound coverage. From what I see entering third level, I think there are serious core skills shortfalls in Ireland and I don't believe those shortfalls will be remedied during the current recession.

Bernie Goldbach is a lecturer in Tipperary Institute.

Teachers, things can only improve

Despite all the doom and gloom around us our children will still need to be educated and "students should not be too quick to abandon the profession, because of the current shortage of jobs." So says the article in the Irish Independent.

While the start of the article would make you wonder why anyone would go into education as a career following the budget it does go on to say...

Demographic trends suggest that more teachers will be needed in Ireland in the coming years.

The number of school pupils in Ireland is expected to grow by more than 50,000 over the next five years, and unless class sizes are increased dramatically, staff will have to be hired to teach them.

Moira Leyden, the assistant general secretary of ASTI, says: "We are very concerned about the increase in pupil-teacher ratios, and the fact that there will be job losses.

"The long-term trend is an increase in population over the next five or six years, and ultimately there will have to be jobs for teachers coming on stream so that these children can be taught. There are still plans to open new schools, and these will need teachers.''

In the second-level sector, employment prospects also vary according to subject areas.

Those who specialise in English, history and business studies are finding it much tougher than those with degrees in maths and Irish. Aspiring teachers can also improve their chances of securing steady work when they are on placement by showing enthusiasm and dedication, and becoming involved in the school's extra-curricular activities.

Ultimately, the trainee who directs the school play or coaches two hurling teams will be seen as a greater asset to a school.

The full article can be read here

How to treat the mocks - a life saver

An excellent article appeared in the Irish Times by Brian Mooney on how to treat the Mocks. It could be your life saver.

Don't throw it all away - your mock exam papers that is. They can tell you more about the gaps you need to fill before the State exams this summer than anything else.

At the end of the mock examination process, you will have the most valuable resource possible in the form of the corrected scripts returned to you. These will help you to improve your results in the State examinations in June. Many of you will simply deposit these scripts deep in your school bag, where they will never see the light of day again. If you take this course of action, your mocks have been of little real value to you.

Your corrected scripts are a road map to your best possible result in June. They contain within them all of the evidence of what you did well and what you did badly.

YOUR CORRECTED MOCK EXAM SCRIPTS WILL TELL YOU

* Where you allocated time appropriately to each section of each question
* Where you addressed the question asked, or where you drifted into writing irrelevant material which only had some loose association with the question.
* Where nerves and stress led you to answer poorly, when a more careful approach could have paid rich dividends.
* How prepared you are to meet the standard of answering required in June.
* To conclude, how you analyse the feedback you receive will determine whether your mocks act as a catalyst for a greatly improved performance in June or are a wasted opportunity.

HOME ECONOMICS SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC

* Study the following topics in detail: proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates and water.
* Food commodities: alternative proteins (their nutritive and dietetic value), meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk and milk products, cereals, nuts, fruit and vegetables, fats and oils.
* Food labelling, food preservation, food additives, food hygiene, and food safety. National Agencies for food study/food hygiene legislation (HACCP) ISO 9000.
* Household technologies, large and small appliances.
* Consumer studies and consumer laws, components of management (inputs, outputs and throughputs).
* Types of mortgage, forms of credit and savings schemes.
* With regard to your chosen elective, practise past paper questions and check your answer against the marking schemes available on www.examinations.ie
* Finally, practise both short and long questions, on past examination papers.

GEOGRAPHY

* Practise previous examination questions and use the State Examination Commission marking schemes to check the quality of your work.
* Core questions: In answering these questions ensure that you are able to refer to appropriate case studies at both national and international levels.
* Attempt all of the short questions, as you will be marked out of your best eight.
* In physical geography study a “landform question”.
* Study the three topics of rivers, seas and glaciers. You must study one of them in detail and prepare a case study of the human interaction with that topic.
* Memorise regional geography, primary, secondary and tertiary activities.
* Ensure that you are able to identify all surface landforms by name or from a diagram.
* Elective questions: At the beginning of fifth year, you will have chosen either human or economic geography as your elective. If you have chosen human geography, you should revise population as overpopulation is a commonly occurring topic.
* Settlement: Settlement patterns – site, situation, function, map and photograph skills are other topics you should be familiar with.
* Optional geography question: This is an essay-type question for higher-level students. Practise writing a number of appropriate essays in your chosen optional area. You will be working on one of the following topics in your geography class in school: geo-ecology, global interdependence, culture and identity, and the atmosphere-ocean environment. Ensure that you have a clear structure to your work, which deals with three to four aspects of the topic and identify seven to eight significant relevant points on each aspect.
* The written paper makes up 80 per cent of the overall marks. Leaving Certificate geography students have until April to complete their Geographical Investigation, which will be assessed outside the written examination.

HISTORY

* Ensure that you complete your work on the research topic as soon as possible.
* Develop a regular pattern of revision- at least four 40-minute sessions weekly.
* Draw up outline plans for all of the essays you are preparing.
* You should now be at the stage where you can write full essays in approximately 40 minutes, without the use of textbooks or notes.
* Prepare answers for a possible contextualisation question in the documents section of the examination paper.
* At this stage, it is often not possible to revise every topic. Ensure that the topics you do revise are done in some detail. For example if you are revising Home Rule within Irish history, you need to cover every aspect of the topic.

BIOLOGY

Familiarise yourself with the structure of the paper and the application of the marking scheme.

Short questions

Practise the short questions on both past exam papers and on sample papers.

Experiments

Revise all of the experiments you have done in fifth and sixth year, which will be examined in section B of the paper.

Long questions

* Go back over the definitions you have learnt and practise writing them out.
* Always be careful to ensure that you are addressing the question asked.
* Plant biology is a section of the course you should study carefully.
* You should consider answering questions 14 and 15 as they will offer you choices within the question.
* Practise drawing the diagrams you have studied and ensure that you label them accurately.
* Concentrate on the following topics: ecology, respiration, genetics, plant structure and body systems.

PHYSICS AND APPLIED MATHS

There is an excellent website physics students can use in their revision – www.thephysicsteacher.ie. The site also provides excellent revision materials for students studying applied maths.

CHEMISTRY

* Ensure that you are completely familiar with the practical questions you have studied to date.
* The organic chemistry section of the course is regularly examined and should therefore feature prominently in your revision schedule over the coming weeks.
* If you are considering attempting question four, which contains 11 short questions, you may find that this is a relatively easy question if you have a good overview of the entire course.
* You have been accumulating detailed records of your laboratory experiment work over the past two years. Revise this work fully prior to your mocks.

FRENCH

Timing

As with all exams, the mock gives you the chance to fine-tune how long you spend on each question. Practise this by answering a reading comprehension or one of the past paper essay questions and seeing how long it takes for you to finish it.

Aural

Practise the past papers. Go back over sections and identify vocabulary that is repeated. Add this to your notes. Practise the past papers again. If you’re sick of listening to past papers, go to you tube, type in “entretien francais”, and watch a chat with some French celebrities. This helps get your ear in for the oral too.

Oral

Even if your school doesn’t have a mock oral, this is still a good time to revise for it. Remember, it won’t be long before you’ll be sitting the oral proper.

Revise all the topics your teacher has given you and go back through your documents. Remember the more often you read and write the vocabulary, the better your chances of remembering it. Try recording yourself and picking out your mistakes.

Reading comprehensions

Know what the questions mean. Learn off the required vocabulary you’ve got from your teacher. Don’t leave gaps. A guess is better than nothing.

Written work:

Look back over your vocabulary notes. Tenses are important here too. Revise the present, past, subjunctive, future and conditional tenses. Make up sentences to practise the topics and vocabulary that your teacher has given you.

* You might take a look at skoool.ie and read over their study notes. Check out www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/french/writing.html too. It’s for the British A Level, but has some notes that are relevant to the Leaving Cert.
* www.languagesonline.org.uk/ is for A levels also, but will correct your answers for you.

BUSINESS

* Ensure that you read the business pages of the national newspapers so that you stay abreast of the current business environment. This will enable you to draw on examples of current practice from the world of business in your answers.
* Financial ratios, such as profitability and liquidity, are regular question on both mock and Leaving Certificate papers. Revise these, so that in answering this question you will be able to propose a course of action that the business should follow, based on your ability to calculate the correct ratios.
* A question on marketing is a hardy annual on business papers. Revise global marketing, market segmentation, product life cycle and breakeven analysis.
* Use bullet points in all your answers. Take note of the number of marks offered per question. A 20-mark question should have five key points in the answer, supported by relevant examples.
* You should practise answering full questions in 30 minutes so that you can maximise your performance. If you write beyond this time limit, you will not complete the required number of questions.

PREPARING FOR ORAL EXAMINATIONS

The most important aspect of preparation for oral examinations is to be comfortable about a range of topics or issues that an examiner might raise with you or allow you to introduce. The only way you can do this is by practising discussing the issues outlined below in the appropriate language with a fellow student or a person with fluency in the language in question.

Typical topics include:

* Yourself, your family, where you live, your past times or hobbies.
* Sport: your participation in sporting activities, your sporting achievement (real or imagined), your interest in sport.
* Your school, the facilities on offer, your friends, the subjects you are studying and what you like most about your school.
* Things you did during your holidays, over the past year or things you plan to do once you complete your Leaving Certificate in June.
* Your plans for the future, colleges or courses you are interested in or plans you may have to travel.
* Your hopes for the Leaving Certificate, the points you are aiming for and how you are preparing for the exams.
* Current Affairs: It is important, given the current economic crisis to be able to discuss your views on major world or national issues.

PREPARING FOR AURAL EXAMINATIONS

You can improve your performance in the aurals by listening to past papers on the CDs, which are readily available. You need to focus on the key question forms, such as when, how, and what etc.

To enable you easily to identify words that are in regular use, you should familiarise yourself with key vocabulary.

The following are some of the areas you should be familiar with: counties, countries, towns and cities, months, time, numbers, occupations, academic subjects, types of schools and vocabulary relevant to the CAO college admissions process and job applications.

• Acknowledgment: I would like to thank my teaching colleagues in Oatlands College, Mount Merrion, Dublin for their tremendous support, in writing and preparing the subject content of these mock examination articles – Brian Mooney

Health or teaching course applicants must get Garda clearance

Applicants to some CAO courses are surprised to discover that they may be vetted by the Gardai before taking a place on the course.

Garda vetting is a necessary reality for some courses now, although applicants to the majority of CAO's courses are not affected by the procedure. Anyone who is offered a place on a course especially in the areas of medicine, health care, nursing, social work or teaching will require clearance from the Garda Vetting Unit when they register.

Garda clearance is sought only when a person is accepting a place on a course. Students on all of these courses will undertake placements that will bring them into contact in positions of trust with children and vulnerable adults. The Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) are committed to ensuring that only suitable adults are allowed to undertake these programmes.

A list of over 200 course codes can be found on CAO's website, by clicking "Garda Vetting" in the left hand menu. About 80 of these codes relate to nursing. The list of nursing codes is doubled for each branch of nursing or midwifery in any college, because there is one code for standard applicants and one for mature applicants.

Q Is Garda clearance necessary for all individuals being offered places on the relevant courses or does the issue affect only mature applicants?

A Clearance is sought for all those being made an offer, whether they are standard school leavers, or mature or other non-standard individuals.

What normally happens is this: when a HEI is making an offer on a relevant course to an applicant, it will send that applicant a form to complete, where they must give their name, date of birth and all addresses they have lived in since their birth.

They will also be asked to disclose on that form any convictions they may have. Failure to disclose a conviction could do them more harm than the conviction itself might have done, depending on the conviction.

Each HEI submits all the forms to the Garda Vetting Unit for clearance, and the Garda Vetting Unit returns the forms to the college when it has processed them.

CAO's website states that in some cases the HEIs may require applicants to provide more information by way of an affidavit, so an offer of a place on a course would be conditional and might be withdrawn if applicants did not meet the Garda vetting requirements.

Q Supposing an applicant, whether school leaver or other, had come to the attention of the Gardai for something like a minor driving offence, would that be enough for the college to withdraw their offer?

A Any disclosure of a conviction will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and in complete confidentiality by the relevant HEI.

The purpose of the Garda clearance is to satisfy the requirements of the placement provider, that is, where the student would be doing their placement during their course. Some placement providers operate a policy of zero tolerance.

Most of the time, it would depend on the nature of the offence. Anyone can understand that a minor motoring offence might not rank in the same way as an assault or abuse offence of any kind.

Q If an offeree (that is, a person being offered a place on a course) did not meet the placement provider's requirements, and the offer was withdrawn, would that applicant be offered a place on their next highest CAO preference course, if it did not require Garda clearance?

A Withdrawal of an offer is so rare that there is no well-established practice. It might depend on the timing of the withdrawal of the offer, or whether the applicant had applied only to other courses requiring Garda clearance.

Irish Independent

Students to suffer as VECs hit with cutbacks

THE country's 33 Vocational Education Committees are set to lose €13.3m as a result of the Budget, a new study has revealed.

The loss is due to changes in staffing levels, a 5pc cut in adult and further education, an 8pc cut in youth grants and a 3pc cut in VECs' payroll.

Irish Vocational Education Association's General secretary Michael Moriarty last night said the cuts would particularly hit the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

The survey claims that more than 80 posts allocated to disadvantaged areas would be lost.

The schools that will lose out were previously classified as disadvantaged but are not included in the DEIS scheme (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Education).

Disadvantaged

DEIS was introduced four years ago and currently caters for 876 primary and post-primary schools at a cost of €80m this year. But 130 other schools previously regarded as disadvantaged have lost that status.

As well as losing posts they will also lose financial supports such as book grants.

Mr Moriarty said that while it is important to focus supports in DEIS schools it was lunacy to assume there were no children from disadvantaged backgrounds in non-DEIS schools.

"These pupils may now be left to fend for themselves in schools which have considerably fewer resources and less capacity to address their needs. In such cases, it will be the survival of the fittest, and my fear is that the vulnerable will fall away in the absence of the range of supports that are confined now to DEIS schools," he added.

He said two factors alone -- where young people lived and their family income -- could tip the balance in favour of advantage or disadvantage.

The vast majority of the 3pc who left school with no qualifications came from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds, Mr Moriarty added.

- John Walshe Education Editor Irish Independent

Snow and Race Horses :-)

Housebound because of the snow. Am I complaining? Not a bit, have spent a wonderful couple of hours browsing the web doing research and a little bit of shopping :-)

So while it keeps snowing outside my window I thought I would write about horse racing! Yes, a little bit unusual considering no one would be racing on a day like this, but that does not stop the would be jockeys, trainers, grooms all having to work and train.

Did you know that Ireland has its own racing academy? Well it does and it is based in the Curragh. It is a state of the art complex. The purpose-built training facility comprises a 30 horse barn, feed room, tack room, hosing bay, large indoor riding school (60 metres x 40 metres), outdoor all-weather ring, simulator coaching room, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifgymnasium and sports hall. Based outside are the eight-horse walker, two furlong sand gallop, schooling hurdles and paddocks. In addition there is an isolation unit, hay barn and machinery shed. Most of the horses at RACE are ex-racehorses that have had success on the track and have kindly been loaned by their owners.

Currently they are running courses including:

Pre Qualified Riders, this course is for those that wish to go on for their Apprenticeship Licence. To receive that licence you undergo a series fo tests at the Turf Club. This course is to ensure you are up to scratch and have not developed any bad habits. Think of it like a pre driving test course.


Trainee Jockey Course is a year long training for those aged between 15-18. On application you will be invited to take part in a weeks trial. Should that trial prove successful you will be offered a place on the course.

See Racing Academy for further information and details on other courses that they run.

Tips for surviving and enjoying our snow

As I type the snow is pelting down outside my window in Dublin.

It has been a while since the island, particularly Dublin, has experienced this much snow.
So here now are some tips to avoid the perils and enjoy the playful potential of snow.

PERILS

Walking

A good pair of slip-grip boots is your best bet for cutting through the slick slush. A fuzzy lining or double pair of socks will help keep your toes toasty warm.

Take smaller steps and be more aware of traffic. The stopping distance for all vehicles greatly increase in these conditions, more so for larger trucks, so think twice before you dash across the street.

Cycling

A good pair of tyres will keep your rubber on the road. Cover up all of your extremities so the biting wind will not bite your skin.

Be careful when going around corners and make sure you are illuminated as snow on windshields and darker conditions are added obstacles for drivers.

Driving

The car advice website Edmunds.com advises drivers to make the following adjustments when driving on snow and ice:

Slow down: Speed limit signs are intended for normal conditions. In snow and ice, reduce your speed considerably because your stopping distance is greatly increased, particularly if you are driving a large vehicle (or you are driving a small vehicle which would get caught under the chassis or wheels of the large vehicles around you).

If you slide, let it ride: Do NOT slam on your brakes if your car starts to slide. Edmunds says when the wheels are braking, their surface becomes static and they can behave like four hockey pucks on their side and can move multidirectionally. Always brake gently and gradually to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up ease off the brake. However if you were going too fast and started to slide in a certain direction, prepare for impact for there is little you can do.

Corner carefully: Taking a corner too quickly is a common way to skid. Apply the brakes as you approach a turn, but release them before you actually take the turn. As Glenn Frey used to say 'Take it easy.'

Look ahead: Double your stopping distance. An easy calculation for this distance is five car lengths for every 20kph you are traveling.

Steering Safely: Rough, imprecise movements of your steering wheel will cause your vehicle to become imbalanced, according to Edmunds. Once that happens, you'll probably skid.

Know your car: Find out if your car is front, rear or all wheel drive and how that affects its performance on snow and ice.

Skid control: Believe it or not, the best thing to do when your car is starting to skid, go against your natural tendencies. Turn INTO the skid and accelerate. However, how much you accelerate depends on the kind of car you have, so ring a local dealership for more information.

Eating

Do not eat yellow snow.

PLAY

Snowballs

Snowballs can be fun if done correctly and safely. To form a snowball, fill your hands up with snow, pack it into a ball and roll it around in your hands. Wet snow is the best for packing. Do NOT put foreign objects like rocks or glass as this is anti-social and might garner the attention of your local gardaí.

Sledding

Find a good hill or slope near you and slide down. Feet first is the safest. Head first should only be done by experienced sledders. Avoid areas with a lot of trees or obstacles as it is near impossible to steer a sled unless you have the kind on the right. If you do not have access to a proper sled, certain rubbish bin tops turned upside down and long, thick cardboard will do. Try and fashion some sort of handle so you do not slide off the sled while going down the hill.

Snow Angels

The most heavenly of all snow activities, snow angels are easy to make. They are best done with proper winter clothing as you will be rubbing against a large amount of snow.

1) Find a big, untouched patch of snow

2) Flop down backwards onto it with arms and legs outstretched

3) Move your arms up and down and legs sideways 5-10 times

4) Carefully get out of the angel so that you do not create too many footprints

For more on this process, check out this YouTube video





Snow Sculptures

Snowmen are the most common snow sculpture to make.

You will need a large tract of snow to produce one as well as a few household products.

1) Form a snowball and start rolling it around in the snow. Make it as big as you can and place it in the spot where you want to build your snowman

2) Roll two more balls of smaller size and stack them on top of your original snowball

3) Add hats, scarfs, ear muffs, carrots for the nose, coal or other appropriate items for the eyes

For other ideas for snow sculptures, check out the International Snow Sculpture Championships website.

Some content courtesy of RTE

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