Exploring horse welfare in Ireland

This article struck a note with me especially as I am surrounded by horses and we have recently lost my son's first horse who sadly had to be put down as he as in increased pain.

It is so important that we look after these wonderful creatures who are so giving, loving, affectionate, playful, and downright stunning.

The Irish Times in conjunction with UCD state;

Conditions for horses at unregulated gatherings, including fairs and races, and the treatment of horses towards the end of their productive life, may pose the highest risks to horse welfare in Ireland, according to a new study.

The findings are part of the mid-term results from a review of horse welfare in Ireland from 2007-2009 that were presented at a seminar in University College Dublin last week. The review by researchers at University College Dublin explores horse welfare in Ireland in light of recent and proposed legislative changes.

“The imposition of regulations was considered by respondents as the most likely effective method of improving horse welfare, followed by information and education campaigns and fiscal measures,” says Joe Collins, from the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, who is conducting the report.

“Over the past 12 months, we have seen the publication of several statutory instruments which strengthen the requirement for owners and keepers of horses to acquire and carry documentation for them, and bring horses within the scope of legislation designed to protect ‘farmed animals’,” he says.

“In 2009, an EU Regulation will be introduced which will make it a requirement for all horses to be identified in a permanent fashion - probably by microchip. And a current Animal health and Welfare Bill is being drafted to replace legislation which dates back as far as 1911.”

According to Collins, the Irish people have an unsurpassed tradition of horsemanship, with many people owning, breeding or keeping horses out of a genuine pleasure for their company.

“Many people ride, lead or drive. And many others take great pleasure at one step removed by attending, or by simply watching equestrian events on the television. But do we always pay due heed to the care of the animals which are integral to this sport and industry of ours?” he asks.

This study addresses this question and investigates what we mean by animal welfare: what is considered to be ‘good’ rather than ‘poor’ equine welfare. It also examines the appropriate standards that should apply to horse husbandry and the duty of care owed to horses.

“The opinions of forty-four informed experts from equestrian associations, government, equine industries and welfare charities were canvassed for the report,” says Collins. “And they highlighted what they considered to be the most significant horse welfare issues in Ireland today.”

“They also expressed their opinions on what motivates people to compromise horse welfare, and how solutions could be developed to improve current standards.”

Collins hopes that the final report, once complete, will lead to a consideration of policy and practical remedies for selected horse welfare issues in Ireland.


This report is set against a background of increasing production of horses, high profile sales and athletic performances within some sectors of the equine industries but a growing unease amongst organisations active in animal welfare, rescue and re-homing. The question to be addressed is whether the health and welfare of the horses which comprise the raw material for the industry are being adequately safeguarded.

The first objective of this project is to profile the equine industries, where the horses are, and what roles they fulfil. The second objective is to assess the common perceptions of equine welfare across these equine industry sectors and heighten awareness of the importance of this topic. The third objective is to conduct a review of the actual welfare issues that exist currently in the Irish horse population.

The report is sponsored by the International League for the Protection of Horses.

Writing is on the wall for spelling

In the Education section of today's Irish Independent

If you are a fuddy-duddy traditionalist, upset that 'doughnut' is now commonly spelled as 'donut' by young whipper-snappers, then look away now.
Standardised spelling, if such a thing ever existed, seems to be in decline in Irish schools and colleges. And some people want to dump old-fashioned English spelling completely.

Martin O'Grady, lecturer in psychology at Tralee Institute of Technology, says the standard of spelling and grammar of Irish students at third-level colleges now leaves a lot to be desired.
Recently he has come across students referring to corporal punishment as 'corporate punishment', bonfire as a 'bombfire', and many students don't know the difference between 'their' and 'there'.

Last year the Department of Education's chief examiner lamented the disintegration of basic grammar and spelling skills on display in Junior Cert English papers.
Recent surveys in Britain suggest that around half of adults are unable to spell commonly-used words such as 'embarrassed', 'liaison' or 'millennium'.
More than a quarter of those surveyed struggled to spell 'definitely', 'accidentally' and 'separate'. One in three was not confident enough to fill in an application form without resorting to a dictionary or spell-checker.

There is no reason to suggest that we are any more literate here.
So, is it time to make spelling simpler? Should the English and Irish simply follow the example of Portugal, which recently simplified its spelling system.

Back in the 19th century, an American dictionary compiler, Noah Webster, set out to simplify the spelling of certain English words. His revisions led to American spellings such as 'color', 'center', 'favor', and 'traveler'.

Now there is more talk of reforming the complicated spelling system of the English language. This time, the reformers are mostly English.
A group of teachers and scholars has called for an end to difficult spellings such as 'receipt', 'through', 'cough' and 'scissors'.

The Spelling Society estimates that €25m is wasted every year in Britain teaching archaic 15th century spellings to 21st century schoolchildren.
Dr John Gledhill, secretary of the Spelling Society, told The Guardian: "If we simplified many of the difficult current English spellings by letting them follow basic English spelling rules, the English language would not change in any way, but English spelling would become easier to learn and easier to teach.
"More people would become literate and confident about writing, and children would have more time to learn many other useful things -- and to play.''

The Spelling Society is merely following the example of the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, who claimed that the retention of archaic English spellings was merely a wicked plot to keep the poor illiterate. Shaw highlighted the absurdities of English spelling by explaining how the made-up word "ghoti'' should be pronounced "fish''. Why "fish''?
- The "gh'' as in laugh,
- The "o'' as in women,
- The "ti'' as in motion.
The Dubliner left £1m and the royalties from his plays to the cause of rationalising English spelling, but somehow his new alphabet (or alfabet) never caught on.

Shaw was also dismissive of those who insisted on proper punctuation. Referring to the use of apostrophes, he said there was "not the faintest reason for persisting in the ugly and silly trick of peppering pages with these uncouth bacilli''.

Textspeak is commonly blamed for a perceived decline in standards of spelling and grammar among youngsters. The Chief Examiner's report for Junior Cert English, published last year, said: "The emergence of the mobile phone and the rise of text messaging as a popular means of communication would appear to have impacted on standards of writing as evidenced in the responses of candidates."

The Chief Examiner argued that textspeak was causing Junior Cert pupils to become "unduly reliant" on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary.
He said text-messaging posed a "threat to traditional conventions in writing" because of its use of phonetic spelling and lack of punctuation.
The harrumphing BBC presenter John Humphrys was more blunt in his denunciation of text messagers, describing them as "vandals who are doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbours 800 years ago''.

Text messaging may be an easy target, but recent research suggests that it may actually improve literacy rather than reduce it.

In a study for the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, researchers at Coventry University found that 12-year-olds who used textspeak improved their "word reading, vocabulary and phonological awareness''.
There may be much hand-wringing about spelling and grammar, but John White, General Secretary of ASTI, says there is no such thing as standardised English spelling.
"English spelling is changing all the time. The spelling of words is quite different now to what it was during the time of Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift. There has been a big scare about text messaging, but the important thing is that language is appropriate for the setting.
"You would not use legal language in a love letter, and text language may not be appropriate for certain types of writing, but that does not mean that it is wrong.''
John White, a former English teacher, says it should be acknowledged that the way we spell words changes. But he says any attempt to reform the current spelling system would be doomed to failure.

Sean Byrne, lecturer in Economics at Dublin Institute of Technology, says the major problem is not poor spelling.
"Many students do not know how to express themselves clearly. Pupils at second level seem to spend to less time writing essays and reading.
"Instead they are giving factual answers to questions in exams. That is regrettable, because good writing is a skill that is needed in most workplaces.''
- Kim Bielenberg

Learning to Drive

We dream of getting behind the wheel of our parent's car. Independence! Music at a volume WE love! Picking up our friends and heading out to have fun and enjoy ourselves. Ah, yes.....that was my dream. It is fast starting over again as my son is learning to drive and thinks my car is just there waiting for him to come in and take it!

I love driving, always have done. I de-stress (yes,I did say that.) but only when I leave the streets of Dublin behind me. I love getting out onto country roads with my window open, wind in my face and music either gently playing or the sounds of Meatloaf ringing in my ear, '....you took the words right out of my mouth..'

I have passed on my love of driving to my son along with the lessons my Dad taught me as he took me out for my first driving lessons way back when...!

Driving today is a different ball game and while teaching my son I found myself looking through the eyes of a learner driver which was an education to me.

I am passing on some great hints, tips and advice that I have sourced that I hope will be of some help and have you driving safely in no time at all.

As a learner driver using a car on public roads you must:

• Be at least 17 years old.
• Hold a provisional licence (a category B licence with a vehicle which does not exceed 3,500kg and having passenger accommodation for not more than 8 persons.
• While on a first provisional licence you must be accompanied by a qualified driver at all times. If you hold a second provisional licence, at present the law allows you to drive unaccompanied. For the third and subsequent provisional licences you must revert back to being accompanied by a qualified driver. A qualified driver is a person who holds a full licence in the vehicle category being driven by the provisional licence holder.
• Have at least the basic minimum insurance cover.
• Ensure that the car is in a roadworthy condition, taxed and if the car is over four years old has a current NCT certificate.
• Display L-plates on the front and rear of the car. (Recommended positions are (a) top of the windscreen on the passenger side and (b) on the top of the driver’s side of the rear window).
• Not drive on the motorways.

Provisional Licence

Car drivers (category B) with a provisional licence must be accompanied at all times by, and under the supervision of, a person with a current full driving licence to drive a car. (The only exception to this, is where the driver holds a second provisonal driving licence to drive a car).

Motorcyclists (category A, A1 or M) and work vehicle drivers (category W) with provisional licences, don't have to be accompanied when driving. (In other words, you don't need to have a fully qualified driver accompany you).

All other drivers with provisional licences must be accompanied by and under the supervison of someone with a current full driving licence for the relevant vehicle category.

All provisional licence holders, must display L-plates to the front and rear of the vehicle they are driving at all times.

If you hold a provisonal driving licence, you can't drive a vehicle drawing a trailer, drive on a motorway, act as an accompanying driver or carry other people for reward.

Since the commencement of the Driver Theory Testing Service on 11 June 2001, a theory test certificate must be obtained before a first provisional licence is granted. You may not apply for a third provisional licence unless you can provide evidence that you have (a) undergone a driving test in the two-year period prior to the application or (b) evidence of a forthcoming test date. A two year provisional licence will be granted if you provide evidence you have undergone a driving test, and a one year provisional licence will be granted if you submit evidence of a forthcoming test date.

If your provisional driving licence expired 5 years ago, then you must undergo a Driver Theory test before a new provisional licence can be issued.

Courtesy of the Department of Transport www.transport.ie

The Theory Test

Sample questions can be found on Irish Motoring.ie for;

Cars

Bikes

HGV

Bus

Passing the driving test

One of the main aims of this website is to help the learner driver prepare for the Department of transport driving test so that he or she will be both proficient and confident when the time comes to actually take it.

Driver testing in Ireland is carried out directly by the Department of Transport to a standard that complies with the EU Directive on Driving Licenses. There are 54 test centers throughout the country with waiting times ranging from 20 to 55 weeks depending on the area you choose.

A driving test is a compulsory requirement for motorists who have been issued with two 2-year provisional driving licences. It's important to be aware that you may not apply for a third or subsequent provisional licence for any category of vehicle unless you undergo a driving test. The waiting times vary from county to county; so it is advisable to apply for a test about 10 months before your second provisional licence is due to expire. It is a set standard test and all test centers use the same testing procedures.

A driving test is designed to determine that you:

1. Know the rules of the road

2. Possess the knowledge and skill to drive competently in accordance with those rules

3. Drive with proper regard for the safety and convenience of other road users

Prior to your driving test you should study the Rules of the Road to refresh your memory. It is also a good idea to practice as much driving as possible on all types of roads and in all types of traffic situations. This will help to improve your driving techniques and build your confidence.

On the day of your test, give yourself plenty of time to arrive at the test centre with a few minutes to spare. When your name is called and you are brought into the examination room, your test officially begins.

Driving test examiner:

Driver examiners want learner drivers to show that they know the rules of the road, have reasonable control of the car, and can follow the correct procedures when carrying out basic manoeuvres such as turns, lane changes and parking. They do not expect a perfect performance, and they know that a beginner will be nervous, but they do expect you to be able to read the road environment (signs, signals, junctions etc).

The Driving Test:

The test will be straightforward and the examiner will not try to trick you and contrary to popular belief has no quota for passing or failing. Do not waste your time or the examiners time by not preparing properly for the test. Contact a reputable driving school and take a pre-test driving lesson. You may have to take a couple of these as any bad habits you have developed will have to be worked on. On your pre-test your instructor will take you around the various routes as well give instruction and advice on how best to sit and pass the test. After your lessons if you wish to further prepare, down load the sample driving test routes on www.irishmotoring.ie . These routes will help you become even more familiar with the town and it's surrounding and will help gain further confidence in your own abilities.

On a typical test route will be expected to complete some the following manoeuvres:

• moving off

• driving in traffic

• stopping

• reversing round a corner

• turning about to face in the opposite direction

• starting on a hill

• parking

Aspects of your driving assessed will include:

• road positioning

• overtaking and passing

• anticipation and observation

• use of mirrors and signals

• progress

• speed

• compliance with traffic lights, road signs and markings

• Use of the vehicle controls (accelerator, clutch, gears, brakes and steering)

• Use of secondary controls such as wipers, demisters, etc

Quite often you will have to turn right/left at a busy crossroad or at a junction controlled by traffic lights. Somewhere on the route you will be asked to turn the car in the road (turn about) reverse round a corner.

Drive in a common sense manner at a reasonable speed, and do not carry caution to a ridiculous length. In built up areas a speed limit of 50km/h applies , and if you enter an area with a different speed limit increase or decrease your speed accordingly. Do not exceed the speed limit or you will certainly fail.

Some of the more common causes of failure are listed below. These should help you to recognize the things the examiner watches for. If you drive in a manner that demonstrates to the examiner you are safe, know the correct driving methods and can drive in accordance with the rules of the road you should pass your test.

Some common causes for failing the test:

The following are the most common faults which give rise to candidates failing the driving test:

• inadequate observation moving off, at junctions, at roundabouts and when changing lanes

• failure to anticipate the actions of other drivers

• Incorrect road position on the straight, on bends, turning left, turning right, at roundabouts, and when overtaking

• inadequate progress at junctions, roundabouts, on the straight, and when overtaking

• incorrect or inadequate use of mirrors and signals

• non-compliance with traffic controls, e.g. road signs and markings and traffic lights

• incorrect inadequate or inappropriate use of vehicle controls, including gears, clutch; accelerator, steering, handbrake, footbrake, and secondary controls

• excessive speed for the road or traffic conditions

• failure to yield the right of way to others

• lack of competence in the reverse and turnabout maneuvers

Test Results

If you pass:

You will receive a certificate of competency to drive. This enables you to apply to your local Motor Taxation Office for a full driving licence. The certificate is valid for two years. You should take out a full licence within that period or you will be obliged to pass the driving test again in order to obtain a full licence.

Remember, passing the driving test is not the end of the learning process; so continue to drive carefully and build up your experience in different traffic, weather, lighting and road conditions.

If you fail:

You will receive a detailed report on the faults which occurred during the test. Pay particular attention to these when preparing for your next test without, of course, neglecting other aspects of your driving.

A person aggrieved by a decision of a driving test may appeal to the appropriate District Court under Section 33 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961. The District Court may either refuse the appeal or if satisfied that the test was not properly conducted, direct that the applicant be given a further test without payment of another fee.

The proper preparation will be evident during your test and your examiner will recognize someone who has or has not prepared properly after just a few minutes. Do not worry about being nervous examiners can usually differentiate between mistakes due to examination nerves and mistakes due to incompetence; a few minors errors caused by nervousness will not cause you to fail. Take the time to examine the driving test score card as this will give you an indication of the various maneuvers and possible problem areas you should work on.

Remember, the Irish Driving test only covers basic driving situations. Passing it does not make a driver safer or competent in dealing with all the different driving situations he or she will meet in a lifetime of driving.

Courtesy of the Dept of Transport www.transport.ie

Education Enterprise Entrepreneurship

From the Irish Entrepreneur

Minister's for education and enterprise come together with industry leaders for the first time to talk exclusively to Irish entrepreneur about the role of eduction and enterprise in further developing entrepreneurship in ireland.

The attainment of a high level of churn in Ireland’s exporting sector has been cited as a good barometer of our ability to move up the value chain at the foreign direct investment level.

Our educational system has contributed greatly to Ireland’s success in attracting higher quality multinational technologies and jobs. Will it now play a similar or even greater role in the development of our entrepreneurial sector? Dympna O’Callaghan places this question centre stage and examines the role of education in stimulating and developing an entrepreneurial culture, mindset and skills.

Entrepreneurship has come of age in Ireland. It is now the subject of editorial comment in the New York Times which cites entrepreneurs as ranking just below rock stars in popularity! True, we are witnessing a culture shift in our perception of entrepreneurship as a way of life. Is this something new? Perhaps not if your forefathers were business people and grafted a living from self-owned businesses. Perhaps they too were risk takers, innovators, alert to and exploiting opportunities, possessing all the attributes of an entrepreneur such as need for achievement, locus of control and desire for independence.

The difference today is that business start-ups operate in a much more dynamic and competitive environment. While a high percentage operate on the domestic market, the truly sustainable have international market aspirations and technologies that go beyond the ‘me too’ scenario. These entrepreneurs’ capabilities have been shaped by education. It is no surprise therefore, that, in a drive to transform this economy into an entrepreneurial one, the development of an educational system to support start-up undertakings is regarded as paramount to Ireland attaining its goal of becoming one of the most entrepreneurial in the world.

THINKING SKILLS

Where does or should this educational process begin?
Mary Hanafin T.D., Minister for Education and Science believes that education for enterprise revolves around the type of active learning which now permeates throughout our educational system at all levels - primary, secondary and third level.

“Education today is about encouraging higher order thinking skills and equipping students with the ability to analyse and absorb. A curriculum should enable students to gain experience in a wide range of programmes, technologies, languages and assessment methods. While there is no special subject called entrepreneurship in our early stage curriculum, education is about giving skills, not subjects, and once these skills are acquired, students will know how to use them.”

ENTERPRISE INITIATIVES

Citing enterprise education initiatives such as Junior Achievement, Transition year, Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) Enterprise modules, Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) Enterprise Education Link modules and the Exploring Enterprise initiative - recently launched by the City and County Enterprise Boards and the Second Level Support Service (SLSS) of the Department of Education – as being designed to give students practical experience in the elements and practicalities of setting up a business, the Minister emphasises that the skill of teaching entrepreneurship has also been catered for with the incorporation of a DVD (within Exploring Enterprise) of eight case studies on entrepreneurship to act as a ‘Teacher Resource Book’.

“There is evidence that enterprise has caught the imagination of our second level students,” adds the Minister. “Almost 40% of Leaving Certificate students now take a business option while 28,000 students take enterprise education as part of the LCVP, and twenty-seven thousand opt for Transition year. The curve will move upwards with more schools being encouraged to offer Transition year. I am also awaiting a response to my proposal for developing a short course on enterprise for delivery to fifth year students as I feel this might speed up the process of bringing enterprise to an even wider audience.”

A lot is also being done to encourage entrepreneurial thinking in disadvantaged areas too, particularly through the Schools’ Business Partnership Programme. “This is a very useful initiative as it links employees in some of our major companies with pupils and teachers; advantages flow in both directions,” says the Minister.

FOSTERING COMMERCIALISATION

The value of teamwork across disciplines at all levels in the education system enables students to cross fertilise ideas and technologies. The fact that the patents office now attends the BT Young Scientist of the Year competition is evidence that the youth of today are developing patentable technologies; this augurs well for future entrepreneurial flow.

A key priority for the Government is to develop links between researchers in third level Colleges and Institute of Technology with industry. “The benefits to the economy of doing so are immense,” adds Minister Hanafin. “This is why we have invested €230 million in the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions. We need to encourage the move from researcher to entrepreneur and to equip researchers with the skills to commercialise their research. We need to facilitate their stepping from the world of academia to entrepreneurship.”

And, much is being done is this regard. A quick read through the Forfás report ‘Towards Developing an Entrepreneurship Policy for Ireland’ highlights the many initiatives introduced by third level colleges in the area of enterprise education. It cites the fact that we now have four professors of entrepreneurship in UCD, DCU, UCC and UL; 77 undergraduate and eleven postgraduate courses available; centres of enterprise/innovation and incubators in all third level campuses; an Enterprise Platform Programme run by all Institutes of Technology with support from Enterprise Ireland; Technology Transfer offices facilitating the commercialisation of research into new ventures and an exhaustive range of Enterprise Awards and campus enterprise programmes.

This activity, whilst doing great work, lacks cohesion according to the Forfás report which also calls on educators to introduce entrepreneurship to the curriculum of all students, business and non-business alike. This, it says, will lead to ‘a culture of entrepreneurship and develop entrepreneurial mindsets’ at all levels on campus. It will instill confidence, develop skills and cultivate an environment for creativity mixed with learning.

CULTIVATING A NEW MINDSET

If we are to use education to its best advantage in our entrepreneurship quest it has to lead to the development of entrepreneurial mindsets, a goal which the European Commission is clearly focused on. Education will play a key role in this regard, according to Paula Fitzsimons, co-author of the annual GEM, Irish report. “Many good things are being done in the educational system at the moment; what is lacking is a policy to pull it all together and guide all stakeholders involved in its implementation; a clear direction to shareholders and policy makers to deliver strategy. While we are developing a culture of entrepreneurship in Ireland, we still need to focus on creating the right mindsets, stimulating individual thinking and creativity; the softer sides of entrepreneurship.

“We also have to measure and absorb the effectiveness of what we are doing. We need to have total regard for the value of education; you will find a very clear correlation between education at all levels and entrepreneurship activity, particularly amongst women – as women become more educated, they also become more entrepreneurial. We need to do more to kick start this; to make it happen. Mindset and skills development are paramount.”

Fitzsimons believes the time is right for Ireland to make a concerted effort to fly the entrepreneurial flag. “The demographics are just right for entrepreneurship; our population is growing with a large proportion in the appropriate age group, between twenties and forties. Entrepreneurship has gone up the Government agenda; its importance to the economy is now recognised; the time is perfect for a coherent policy which incorporates an educational strategy,” adds Fitzsimons.

STRATEGY FOR CHANGE

Any future strategy on entrepreneurship will take note of recommendations made by the European Commission in its Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurial Education in Europe which presented a menu of proposals for adoption by Member States engaged in promoting entrepreneurship in education. The Forfás report takes this into account particularly areas such as: ‘the need for political support for entrepreneurship education at the highest level; the need to integrate entrepreneurship programmes in all schools’ curricula; use of practical teaching tools; adoption of innovate methods to train teachers of entrepreneurship; associate students to real companies and to business people; offer entrepreneurial education to disadvantaged people and most importantly, encourage students, graduates and researchers with commercially viable business ideas to develop them into companies.’

BRINGING RESEARCH TO LIFE

At this stage Colleges and Institutes of Technology throughout Ireland don’t need to be prompted by the Oslo Agenda to understand the value of research commercialisation. Take NUIG for example. Its Director of Technology Transfer, Daniel O’Mahony knows his clear remit is “to identify and protect intellectual property (IP) developed and researched in NUIG. With a PhD in Bio Chemistry, a Business Degree in Technology Management and industry experience through time spent with Elan, in management consultancy and venture capital structuring, O’Mahony is well placed to promote the IP assets of the College.

Since 2005, and with a new team experienced in this realm, he has been busy commercialising technology in 2007 and has seen the number of patent applications increase from 3 to 30, 2006 on 2007 with a similar increase in the number of licenses agreed. “In the past ten years, we may have structured two license agreements, whereas in 2007, we had 24, with four stand-alone start-ups established,” he explains.

“It’s all to do with having the right team in place,” he adds. “You need people who are skilled in understanding key research projects and are dedicated to the cause of promoting research yet retain its value for the College. Many researchers don’t want to leave College so you have to identify an external management team who can lead a start-up to commericalise the research and make it work. In some instances, the researcher will be retained as scientific advisor to the start-up; that’s the key link between education and enterprise.”

Entrepreneurship education is now included in Masters and PhD programmes at NUIG so that researchers at that level spend time exposed to an entrepreneurial curriculum and can also collaborate with colleagues in other Colleges, including TCD and UCC.

“While PhD or Post Doctoral researchers are great at developing technology, some just don’t know what’s required to transfer their IP to the start-up arena; they benefit therefore from short courses on business topics such as finance, law, business negotiation, marketing and license agreements. That’s where our Campus Company Development Programme helps and it’s paying dividends: we now have fifteen people across the College exposed to campus company development. Some will progress to enterprise development, others with license on,” adds O’Mahony.

With significant projects in regenerative medicine and expertise building in its Digital Enterprise Research Institute, NUIG is building up an international reputation for developing leading edge technologies in stem cells and semantic web technologies.

LEARNING BY DOING

Enterprise Ireland is well versed in the practicalities of bringing a new business to life; its very successful four-year long Enterprise Platform Programme (EPP) was specifically designed to take entrepreneurs through all stages of business establishment.

“Traditionally, a lot of HPSUs over the years have been started by people in industry, quite a number from multi-nationals. These companies do well if the senior management team is experienced and ready to go. Some, however, may be good on technology but weak in general business and need to bring themselves up to speed; in this instance EPP is useful, it’s learning by doing,” says Michael Brougham, manager, Enterprise Preparation, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development Division, Enterprise Ireland. “From 2003 – 2006, sixty HPSUs or 20% of our top line target emanated from this programme; it’s a programme that’s proving its worth,” says Brougham.

Despite the fact that the EPP is answering a key need at business development level, Brougham feels it would be most beneficial to have enterprise modules in all third level colleges as mandatory, rather than optional. “We’d also be interested in seeing more people from PhD and Post Doctoral level coming through to business start-up. Our prime focus is on helping to generate projects with scalability in export markets; projects coming from the research stream present this ability. We need to look at third level colleges as power houses for creativity and capitalise on that. When support is available in this environment, you move to a new, higher level of entrepreneurship. That’s what Ireland needs now,” he adds.

GROUNDED

The Forfás ‘Towards Developing an Entrepreneurship Policy for Ireland’ points to a need for educators within third level to ensure that entrepreneurship ‘is part of their curriculum for students from ‘non-business and business courses alike’. The benefits, it says, will accrue.

Prof Frank Roche, Deputy Principal of the College of Business and Law and Prof of Entrepreneurship at UCD is someone who understands this thinking. “We started our journey in educating people for entrepreneurship in 1975,” he says.

When asked to elaborate, he answers, “when you spread the gospel to a broader based audience, you get a bigger impact at University level. Most people will not start-up a business as soon as they leave College; it could take anything from two to ten years to do so. Many who get into enterprise are not prepared and wish they had been able to take on board and learn more about it at the start. People vote and elect to take a course because they are curious about it, so we need to empower them to go on that journey. That’s why we introduced our New Horizons programme - to bring enterprise to all faculties as an elective in some instances and as a core subject in others. It’s taken a while to bed in as it’s not normal to step outside the normal curriculum box.”

New Horizons is a practical course and covers a cross section of subjects. “In any College where entrepreneurship is incorporated in a module, you can expect 10% to leave and run a business; this is pretty much on a par with international and US studies. That’s why our modules are opened up campus-wide; you have to spread the net. We have included entrepreneurship at undergraduate and post graduate levels. We now have seven elective courses in entrepreneurship at post grad level. And, we spread our reach out to the NOVA incubator too. We are also introducing shorter three-month courses for people who are in employment, are at business plan preparation stage but are not quite ready to leave the employment nest,” says Roche.

Entrepreneurship and start-ups are important for job creation. Ireland now needs to be as competitive in the services sector as it has been in manufacturing. “We need to replicate what’s happened in MIT in Boston; develop a map of Ireland dominated by red dots which signify technology spin-outs. That’s the new industrial development; that’s why education for entrepreneurship is needed; that’s what will generate our competitiveness in the years ahead,” he adds.

A FRESH START

The objective of embedding innovation and entrepreneurship across faculties and at every level enables colleges to develop a culture of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindsets on campus. NUIM’s Dr Robert Galavan, as Head of the newly-created Business and Law Department, may well have read this in the Forfás report but he was well on his way to setting up the structures needed to mainstream innovation in all his Department’s programmes. As the former Head of Executive Education and Strategy at the Irish Management Institute he is fully conversant with the drivers of industry.

As the final University in the country to have a Business Department, Galavan’s aspiration is to develop his new area of responsibility into a major school of Business and Law in the country. Galavan’s core focus will be on innovation rather than specialisation; taking, creating and helping entrepreneurs to spot opportunities and enabling them to being innovation to life.

Galavan is clearly focused on developing a culture of entrepreneurship on-campus; he wants his students to get excited about it. “Teaching it at every level gives students an ability to gain exposure to entrepreneurship; so many are missing out at the moment,” he says.

R&D

While NUIM’s business department may be new its involvement with leading edge research is not. Through its Innovation and Value Institute, a joint venture with Intel and a consortium of global companies, it works with companies to address challenges presented by IT. “The value to the College of being involved in research at this level is immense,” says Galavan. “We can take the modes and frameworks back into the classroom and present students with the latest thinking in the field. Some researchers, who are working with the Institute on research at the highest level, also teach entrepreneurship at undergraduate level. That can only be beneficial,” he adds.

While Galavan would also like to see undergraduates gain entrepreneurial experience in a proactive way he feels it’s just not practical. “Time is the issue at start-up and most companies don’t have the structures in place to give students work experience. However, we should not confuse entrepreneurial with small; seeing what’s happening in larger companies prepares them for post start-up stage, which is just as critical for the growth phase. Students gain a rich experience from job placements; they learn about finance, cash flow, scalability, international markets and most importantly about human resources.”

Galavan feels very strong about the people side of entrepreneurship. He would put this high on his list of essentials for all start-up enterprise; the ability to choose the right people, the right team to take the embryonic company through all phases of its development. “They will only learn this from exposure to real life entrepreneurial environments; they need to make the human connection with great role models,” he adds.

GOVERMENT COLLABORATION

Role models in all strata of entrepreneurship will be important if Ireland is to attain its entrepreneurial status goal. Micheál Martin, T.D., Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is hoping to do for entrepreneurship what he did for a nti-smoking in Ireland; revolutionise our thinking.

His determination to position Ireland as a leading entrepreneurial economy is clearly evident; he sees education ‘reinforcing a strong culture, supporting and enabling men and women to develop the skills and confidence they need to start and develop businesses. “We have undergone a significant mindset change to ent repreneurship which has enabled us attain a high position among the EU 25 and OECD countries,” he says. “Innovations to promote business start-up activity including: Innovation vouchers, the Tech-Check programme, Business Campus Scheme and innovations in venture capital funding are assisting the process. We are building up a good entrepreneurial infrastructure at all educational and incubation levels with incubators such as the National Software Centre in Cork, the Digital Hub in Dublin and Webworks making an impact.

The very comprehensive Forfás report signals the way forward. Framing an Entrepreneurship Policy document, recommended initially by the Small Business Forum and currently underway, will chart a new direction for entrepreneurship in Ireland. “Education will be a key component of this policy; most importantly integrated education in schools where business will not just be confined to Transition year but permeate at all levels. My Department works closely with the Department of Education and Science on educating for business. We will refine and take tangible applications to enterprise and see how we can use the curriculum to more effectively promote enterprise, Minister Martin explains.”

Education is central to stimulating an entrepreneurship culture in Ireland. Embedding this culture requires cross Government involvement and calls for input from all eight Government Departments as happened when developing the very comprehensive Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Strategy for the country as a whole. “We now operate in a globalised world. We must equip our entrepreneurs and our business leaders with the skills to operate in that world. Education is the key,” adds Minister Martin

Record demand hits college points hopes

Todays headline in the Irish Independent on the eve of the Leaving Cert Exams

A RECORD number of applications for college places has hit hopes of a dramatic fall in entry points for major courses.

A total of 68,300 students are chasing about 40,000 places in the autumn, according to new figures from the Central Applications Office (CAO).

The figures were disclosed as more than 50,000 students prepare to sit their Leaving Certificate examinations on Wednesday.

The final total will represent an increase of 2,500 on last year and will sharpen competition for some high-points courses such as law, medicine and dentistry.

The numbers taking the Leaving are up by more than 1,000 on last year and most have applied to the CAO for college places.

Apart from more Leaving Cert applicants, there are also extra applications from adults this year. And more students are applying from Further Education colleges with Post Leaving Certificate qualifications. There is also a small rise in the number of overseas applicants.

But John McGinnity, assistant registrar with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, said students should not be alarmed by the effect on points of the 2pc rise in Leaving Cert applicants.

"It's hard to predict," he said. "But the increase is a reminder to students not to take it for granted that points will be lower this year. They should put in the effort and do the best they can."

The CAO reports 67,810 applications to date and a further 500 or so are expected by the end of the 'offer season'.

These will come from existing college students who want to transfer to another college course and from new applicants for late vacancies which inevitably arise in hard-to-fill courses.

The CAO system has been operating since 1977 and the previous highest number of applicants was four years ago, when 66,222 people applied for places.

Older

Among this year's applicants is a high number of older adults, including people who have retired. Statistics obtained by the Irish Independent show that last year there were 265 full-time and 474 part-time students in our universities and teacher training colleges over 60 years of age -- up from 236 and 418 the previous year.

In the Institute of Technology sector, there were 84 full-time and 81 part-time students in the 60-plus age bracket. While many are in their 60s, there are groups of students in their 70s and even into their 80s taking courses at present.

The most popular subject choices tend to be history, fine arts, archaeology, religion and English. The Higher Education Authority said that there are 10,500 people aged 30 and over studying full-time in our higher education institutions. Many are returning to education to boost their career prospects.

- John Walshe Education Editor

June Bank Holiday Week-End

Hi Everyone,

We are taking the opportunity of this weekend to carry out essential maintenance to the our site, www.courses.ie. The site will be down between 1pm - 4pm approximately today.

We are delighted to be carrying out this maintenance to improve certain functions of the site, thanks to you making it such a part of your information searches :-)

Probably you won't even notice as many of you will be heading off to enjoy the holiday weekend.

As the song says,'Summers here and the time is right for dancing in the street...'

Have a great time and mind yourselves,

See you soon,

Courses.ie

How do I become an ISTD Teacher?

As a worldwide examinations board, the ISTD provides teaching qualifications to ensure ISTD teachers are fully trained and supported in their teaching vocation from a teaching, health and safety, psychological and dance genre specific perspective.

Depending where you are in the world, and which dance genres you plan to offer, the ISTD has the teaching progression route for you, as detailed below.

If you have further questions after reading any of the information listed, please contact the Education and Training Department who will be able to assist you.

How do I become a Theatre Faculty Teacher within the EU?

The ISTD's teaching qualifications for Theatre Faculty teachers within the EU (including the UK) are as follows. (Please click here for the progression route for Theatre Faculty teachers outside the EU)

Please note, this is only a brief outline and there are some requirements not listed below. For further details you will need to read the appropriate Faculty syllabus outline obtainable free from Education and Training on edugeneralassistant@istd.org

Foundation in Dance Instruction

Candidates must be 17 years of age or over within the academic year they start the qualification and hold the Intermediate qualification from a QCA approved awarding body in the genre in with they wish to teach. For further information on this qualification please see our article on Foundation in Dance Instruction per the guidelines of the ISTD.

Certificate in Dance Education

Candidates must be 18 years of age or over within the academic year they start the qualification, hold the Advanced 1 qualification from a QCA approved awarding body in the genre in with they wish to teach and hold the Foundation in Dance Instruction. For further information on this qualification see our article Certificate in Dance Education

Licentiate

Candidates must be 23 years of age or over, hold the Certificate in Dance Education and have been teaching for 5 years

Fellowship

Candidates must be 28 years of age or over, have passed their Licentiate, have achieved their Advanced 2 qualification in the genre concerned, hold their Applied Anatomy and Physiology Parts 1 and 2 (for Fellowships being taken before 31 August 2006 only), and have been teaching for at least 8 years .

Ten easy ways to alleviate stress - by Ann Bracken

Lowering our stress levels helps us feel healthy and have a positive outlook on life.

• 
  Organize your time and write a list. By keeping a wall planner or diary, you can prevent double booking appointments.


• Do unimportant routine tasks when you have less energy and the most demanding jobs when you are more energetic. Do not over plan and allow yourself time to complete tasks.


• 
  Dedicate some daily time to ‘being’ instead of ‘doing’. Many of us feel guilty for taking necessary time out.


• Surround yourself with Mother Nature. Taking a 30 minute walk at lunchtime clears the mind and all exercise releases natural endorphins, which lifts the mood. Other tension taming exercises include yoga, swimming and pilates.


• 
  Visualisation is a very effective self-help technique for stress. Find a quiet space where you know you will not be disturbed. When sitting comfortably or lying down, close your eyes. Breathe slowly and visualize a calm, beautiful scene. Use your senses to make it real. Imagine the sounds you would hear and the smells you would experience in such a place. Repeat to yourself “I am relaxed and happy”.


• 
  Aromatherapy can be used to relax the mind. Burn a few drops of a relaxing essential oil, or add four drops to your bath. Bergamot, Camomile, Clary Sage, Jasmine or Lavender are all calming oils. Juniper, or the citrus oils, such as orange and lemon uplift the spirits and get your day off to a good start.


• 
  Use colour therapy daily. Wear blue or black to feel relaxed, green to promote harmony, red to feel energised, orange for happiness and yellow for concentration. Not altogether of course!


• 
  When you experience muscle tension or headache, ask a friend or work colleague to massage you head, neck and shoulders. Ideally, allow yourself to benefit from a relaxation therapy weekly. Reflexology, massage, shiatsu and reiki all relax the body and balance energy flow.


• 
  Drink plenty of water. Still water, stills the mind. It is recommended to drink a litre of water per day. Tap water can contain high levels of copper, iron, chlorine and fluoride (which contrary to widespread belief is harmful in excess) and other pollutants. It is advisable to drink bottled or filtered water.


• 
  Adding foods with a high source of Iron is an excellent way to avoid physical exhaustion. Lentils and Soya beans contain a high source of Iron. Wholesome grains are very grounding such as brown rice, oats and millet. Cut down on your intake of coffee, white sugar and processed or refined foods. Apart from having no nutritional value, stimulants create mood swings.


• 
  If you find you are a ‘yes’ person, try saying ‘no’ sometimes. It is impossible to be all things to all people and actually not agreeing to every request of your time and energy allows you time to relax and focus on your own needs. When you are rested, your outlook will be positive and once again you can reach out with the hand of friendship.


• 
  Laughter helps to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol - so as John Cleese so famously sang, “always look on the bright side of life”.

Courtesy of Irish Institute of Nutrition & Health

Meetings to help families at exam time

Parents can learn how to keep their child and themselves calm during the stressful exam season, thanks to a free public meeting in Dublin tonight, May 13th.

Child psychiatrists Prof. Fiona McNicholas and Dr. Therese Thornton will give their expert advice.

The meeting will be held at the lucena Clinic, 59, Orwell Rd, Rathgar, Dublin 6. It runs from 7pm to 8.30pm.

Register by phoning 01 499 9349 or online at www.lucenaclinic.ie

Time for Tennis

Ireland is still waiting to find her answer to Borg, Connors, McEnroe...Ok, OK, I am showing my age.

Tennis Ireland remains ever hopeful though! Every year Park Tennis coaching is carried out for those aged between 6 to 17 and this year it kicks in again.

A Tennis Coaching programme takes place this Summer at various venues around the country.

Hourly classes are divided according to age and standard.

This is a low cost programme subsidised by various sponsors.

The only cost is a small once off registration fee - and that's it.. All equipment supplied, racquets and balls - Free T-shirts for all.

Get going and enjoy this fun programme with your friends while learning tennis. Dates and times vary according to locations but are mostly during July or August. The full 2008 Timetable.

Quoting an interview with John McEnroe for the BBC Sports

Tennis does have a stuffy image.

That's not just here, but everywhere, even the United States.

But I can tell you tennis is one of the best all round games that I've been lucky enough to be part of.

It combines a lot of strategy and the mental part of the sport is huge because you're out there by yourself.

It can be difficult being on your own, I know this myself.

When you lose you feel really naked out there and it's difficult to accept it but that's part of the process.

Tennis is one of the most difficult sports to learn, but when you do master it, it's so enjoyable because things happen without you even thinking.

You can win points in lots of different ways and be totally creative on the court too.

People talk about attitude and in the UK it seems very important to be a good loser.

While in America you are taught to win at any cost. I personally feel that somewhere in the middle of that would be ideal.

I always say that the greatest match I was ever part of was the 1980 Wimbledon final which I lost to Bjorn Borg.

Even though it sounds corny, I felt like I came out of that match a winner.

My respect level among players and fans went up by 20 or 50 times more and that's the match people always ask me about.

It's a lot harder to go out and fail or lose than to try at all. I give automatic respect to people who are willing to get themselves out there.

You should take great pride in giving 100 per cent effort.

Maybe you don't always win but you'll be amazed that a lot of good things will happen.

Never give up!

BBC Exposes Facebook Flaw

According to the BBC's Technology site Facebook has some security issues regarding the privacy of your own information and that of the people you link to.

Career Doctor: What qualifications do I need to become a legal secretary?

We sourced this interesting question on the Irish Independent....

Q

I am 25 years old and work in retail, but something about the job isn’t right for me. For a long time, I’ve had a huge interest in the legal profession. I would like to know what qualifications I’d need to become a legal secretary and how to look for work experience. I would appreciate any advice you could give me about my career prospects in this area.

A

In relation to your first question, I would suggest you check out two websites: www.careerdirections.ie and www.fas.ie.

The first gives a comprehensive list of courses that will help you qualify as a legal secretary. The second outlines the details of the FÁS legal secretary traineeship.

Many of these courses are full-time day courses, typically lasting one year. When investigating courses, you should ask whether they include work experience. Would a full-time day course be an issue for you? FÁS offers a legal secretary traineeship, which is a full-time day course, but only lasts 29 weeks. This may be a better option.

Something you didn’t ask about, but I’d suggest is very relevant to your decision, is salary expectations. This depends on where you are located and the size of your potential employer’s business. Entry salaries range from €18,000 to €25,000, but good legal secretaries with more than five years’ experience typically earn up to €35,000.

In terms of the second part of your question, the good news is that legal secretaries are in demand, and the prospects of getting work, once qualified, are very positive.

Therefore I’d suggest you keep an eye on the appointments pages in both the local and national press. There are also some recruitment companies that could help you out.

Finally, consider the work you will do as a legal secretary. Do you like this type of work and does it make the most of your strengths? For example, you will need strong communication, planning and organisational skills. In addition, you will be expected to work well under pressure and meet deadlines.

It is a brave but not too daunting move you are contemplating. Best of luck with it and bear in mind, when you find work that you love, you will never work again!

Terry Judge is a career coach with Mind Solutions.

www.mindsolutions.ie

Guest Authors In Conversation with Dermot Bolger

I have read novels by 5 of the guest authors who will be in conversation with Dermot Bolger at a series of readings over the next few months.

What a joy to hear treasured authors read and discuss their work. I for one will be getting some tickets.


The Irish Writers’ Centre is delighted to announce an exciting new series of fortnightly readings by leading contemporary authors at the Irish Writers’ Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

This unique and intimate series of hour-long public readings has been curated by leading novelist and poet Dermot Bolger. In conversation with Bolger, writers will read from and discuss their work in the beautiful surroundings of this Georgian building in Parnell Square in Dublin overlooking The Garden of Remembrance.

The series kicks off on 20th May with acclaimed author Jennifer Johnston, followed by Roddy Doyle and Colm Tóibín in June and Joseph O’Connor, Claire Kilroy and Glenn Patterson in July. Anne Enright is among the authors due to read during the series in the autumn.

The programme for the first series (May-June) is as follows:

May
20 Jennifer Johnston

June
3 Roddy Doyle
17 Colm Tóibín

July
1 Joseph O’Connor
15 Claire Kilroy
29 Glenn Patterson

Tickets available two weeks prior to the reading by calling 01 872 1302

For details of how to book, please contact the Irish Writers’ Centre.
Tel: 01 872 1302; Email: info@writerscentre.ie

Google Images soon to get their own Page Rankings

This appeared in The Age Newspaper in Australia

Google algorithm improves image search


Google researchers said they had a software technology intended to do for digital images on the web what the company's original PageRank software did for searches of web pages.

Last week, at the International World Wide Web Conference in Beijing, two Google scientists presented a paper describing what the researchers called VisualRank, an algorithm for blending image-recognition software methods with techniques for weighting and ranking images that look most similar.

Although image search had become popular on commercial search engines, results were usually generated by using cues from the text that is associated with each image.

Image analysis remained a largely unsolved problem in computer science, the researchers said.

So while progress had been made in automatic face detection in images, finding other objects such as mountains or tea pots, which were instantly recognisable to humans, had lagged.

"We wanted to incorporate all of the stuff that is happening in computer vision and put it in a web framework," said Shumeet Baluja, a senior staff researcher at Google, who made the presentation with Yushi Jing, another Google researcher. The company's expertise in creating vast graphs that weigh "nodes", or web pages, based on their "authority" could be applied to images that were the most representative of a particular query, he said.

The research paper focused on a subset of images the giant search engine had catalogued because of the tremendous computing costs required to analyse and compare digital images. To do this for all of the images indexed by the search engine would be impractical, the researchers said. Google did not disclose how many images it had catalogued.

The company said that in its research it had concentrated on the 2000 most popular product queries on Google's product search, words such as iPod, Xbox and Zune. It then sorted the top 10 images from its ranking system and the standard Google Image Search results. With a team of 150 Google employees, it created a scoring system for image "relevance". The researchers said the retrieval returned 83 per cent less irrelevant images.

The New York Times

Email and its Place

Courtesy of Annette over at Interactions, I came upon Matt Moores slideshow about email. As Annette say it is simple yet very sophisticated presentation. It shows how far we have come with our cyber forms of communication.

| View | Upload your own

This presentation uses another handy programme called SlideShare that allows you to share your presentations with the world letting your ideas reach a broad audience. You can share publicly or privately.

More and more people turning to web based programmes. Most are free, and offer a freedom of not always being tied to your own laptop or computer.

The main contender in free web based programmes is Google. The Labs section lists all the programmes that are available, some are still in beta but are worth exploring and having fun with.

A site I found Zoho.com also offers a superb range of mostly free programmes from the main office suite; wordprocessor spreadsheets, presentation and database programmes to email, organisers, invoices, CRM and project management programmes to name but a few.

Education and the Knowledge Based Economy

This is such a good blog posting by Piaras I have quoted it in its entirety.

So the INTO (Irish National Teachers Organisation) held their annual conference a couple of weeks ago. There was back and forth between the teacher’s union and Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin T.D., on a number of points including class sizes, IT in classrooms and education for disadvantaged and disabled students.

What’s of particular interest for me about how the whole knowledge based economy was thrown into the mix yet again. I’ve given my two cents on the topic in the past, but not so much in the context of the Irish education system (and what’s probably relevant to other education systems across the globe.)

We’re at a bit of a crossroads at the moment. On the one hand, we have business leaders, government and teachers talking about how we need to innovate in order for the country to continue on its path of unheralded economic success. On the other hand, we’re staring blankly at the huge waves of innovation taking place in front of us currently and failing to acknowledge how these new creative processes are affecting the current socio-economic environment.

Firstly let’s look at a new White Paper published by the UK government recently. The BBC reports that the UK government’s viewpoint is that “the key to the UK becoming a world leader in innovation is to forge closer links between industry and higher education.” However, when you read down through the article, the Association for Science Education points out that while that is all well and good, the current education system in the UK (like Ireland) stifles innovation when it comes to science. The BBC quotes’s Alan Rhodes from the Association for Science Education, “Our curriculum is so test orientated that children are being taught to pass tests and you do not innovate when teaching children to pass tests. I believe in high standards, but there is insufficient time for creativity in the curriculum from primary school up to the age of 18.”

The main problem facing most education systems is that they are centred on rote learning which by definition avoids understanding of a subject and instead focuses on memorisation. Ultimately this does not instill the type of creativity and free thinking that innovation depends on. The CAO system adds to the problem as it simply incentivises people to study subject like law or medicine simply based on the fact that they require high points. Some commentators are calling for bonus points to be given to maths, but this fails to recognise that the system is the problem. Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, President of DCU, offered some other reasons why the CAO system is flawed in the Irish Times last year (subscription required):

It may be useful to describe briefly what the points system is. In order to be admitted to the third-level programme of her or his choice, a student needs to have the points required for that programme.

The points themselves are, it could be said, a market currency. There is a minimum number for each programme, reflecting the educational attainment thought necessary to succeed in that programme; but the actual points required are the product of supply and demand: where there are more applicants for a programme than there are places - ie where there is strong demand for a scarce product - then you will have higher points. Therefore if a subject becomes particularly popular, the points go through the roof. This does not reflect the intellectual demands of the programme, just its popularity; and the points can go up and down dramatically from year to year without the syllabus changing at all. If you want to buy a scarce product, you need to pay a high price; and if few want it, you can get it very cheaply.

So what is the effect of that in practice? Let us take the case of points required for entry to various subjects in University College Dublin last September.

A student wanting to study architecture or law, for example, would have to have between 500 and 600 points. But if the same student wanted to study chemical engineering, food science or biochemistry, she would need only 300-400 points.
What does that tell us? Nothing at all about the intellectual demands of the subjects concerned; in fact arguably the more difficult ones seem to require the lower points in the above examples (though all third-level studies require intellectual application). Maybe these points reflect national priorities? Certainly not, as the country’s needs in technological studies and life sciences are much greater than its need for more lawyers, for example.

It could be argued that points are a beauty parade of college programmes, reflecting current fashions rather than any assessment of need. But my worry is that they don’t reflect student preferences and aptitudes either. A student with 550 points will tend to look at programmes that require these.

Disproportionately few students with 550 points apply for programmes requiring 300, so that the brightest often shun the less popular programmes, though these in turn often reflect real national needs.

It is also arguable that some of the most popular subjects provide training for the professions, such as the law, accountancy, architecture, the Civil Service, and so on. Social pressures may be pushing students into those professions, influencing the points. But national needs don’t necessarily point in the same direction, since the biggest need for more graduates is not in areas like law and architecture, but arguably in technology-related subjects and life sciences.

If the points system is a market, then it should be assessed like any other market - is it a good distribution mechanism for the resources being traded? I would find the evidence on that count to be fairly damning, and I would fear that we are institutionalising a set of trends that are not particularly good for the colleges, the students and the country.

The other factor in the mix is how sites like Wikipedia are challenging traditional perceptions of learning in the education system. There’s a really interesting post on one of our new Edelman blogs about the difference between colloboration and cheating. Phil Gomes points out that an acquaitance if his, a scientist-turned-business-leader, once said, “In the workplace, they call it ‘collaboration’. In academia, they call it ‘cheating’.” Gomes highlights the case of Chris Avenir, a student at Ryerson University, who “is fighting charges of academic misconduct for helping run an online chemistry study group via Facebook last term, where 146 classmates swapped tips on homework questions that counted for 10 per cent of their mark.” according to an article in the Toronto Star. Gomes simplifies the situation as:

Study group wherein it’s entirely possible that solutions for chemistry and math problems are freely swapped: Perfectly okay.

Study group on Facebook, where it is demonstrably clear that no solution was traded, only helpful tips (as in any IRL study group): Expulsion-worthy!!

Education as we know it is fundamentally changing. We’re operating a system that is around one hundred years old. If there needs to be innovation in any sector, then it’s the education system. The INTO hit the nail on the head in one of the demands of Minister Hanafin at their conference and that was not to reduce the invesment in the education system in the face of an economic downturn. It’s a bit like selling your star player when a sports team gets relegated. It might make financial sense, but when it comes to getting promoted next year, you’ve effectively chopped your own legs off before you’ve started.

The main challenge facing teachers though is that change needs to be built into the education system. How prepared are Irish teachers to be constantly challenging themselves and self-improving. Why do I say this? Let’s look at the whole IT in the Irish education system debate. A number of people are saying that 252 million euro is too little, the government are saying its just fine. They’re both right in a sense.

The problem with most IT investment is that it’s a capital investment. The lifetime of a laptop is 18 months before it’s effectively obselete, but a secondary school student’s educational lifetime is six years so they will have seen four laptops in that period alone.

The big problem with introducing anything new into the classroom is that teachers need to be confident enough to use it. No-one wants to stand up in front of a class of 30 kids and be heckled because they don’t know where the ANY key is. ANY key aside, if a laptop is installed as a bare minimum into every classroom across the country then teachers need to be prepared to know how to use it and commit to further training for hardware and software upgrades.

What really needs to happen in classrooms when it comes to teaching IT is that the concepts behind the applications need to be taught. Focusing on the software is shortsighted as students will be using something completely different when they graduate. Instead they should be learning about collaboration and using the Internet as a research tool, but at the same time realising that they need to investigate a number of information sources, before ultimately offering their opinion rather than repeating what they read on Wikipedia or in a text book.

The big worry however is the resistance to change in any institution, especially public sector. Just look at the health system, everyone admits that there needs to be change, but no-one will implement it. In effect, that’s the complete opposite of what the knowledge based economy should be - the ongoing development of new processes and their incorporation into organisations.

It is all about style

As Mae West famously said

It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it.

is a maximum that could have been said about Geraldine Brand. Gerldine, renowned for her own sense of style and fashion and who ran the very successful Brand model agency has turned her attention to the most style conscious section of our community, our teenage girls.

Geraldine is holding summer style workshops for 16-19-year-olds that begin in June and run weekly until the beginning of August in St. Stephens Green, Dublin.



The workshop is all about learning how to make the most of oneself. How to wear clothes that suit your body shape and colouring, how to achieve a clear skin tone and even skin colour through the correct application of skin care and make-up.
The girls learn how to style their hair, how to walk with ease and grace, and lots more about image and style.

Through her contacts in fashion and make-up, both Irish and international companies contribute to the workshop. a-wear part of the Brown Thomas group supply Geraldine with a range of their summer fashion, allowing her to show practical examples of how to build a wardrobe without spending a fortune. (I can hear parents scrambling to book their daughters on the course for this alone!)

Bobbi Brown an international make-up company based in New York supply the latest in make-up for the girls to experiment with under guidance from their make-up artists. Roc supply skin care especially suited to young and problem skin.

From etiquette to wardrobe planning, from body language to interview techniques, the workshops' aim is that each student will be able to present themselves in the best possible way with confidence.

Geraldine also works with the corporate sector who realise the advantage in developing the image and style of their employees as a reflection of their company.
One to one consultations are also available for men and woman.

Geraldine has her courses listed with Courses.ie

This sounds like a wondeful way to spend a week of the summer holidays and I know many 16-19 year old girls that would just love to do this course.

Tai chi exercises help to fight diabetes

Tai-Chi describes a way of life and a system of healing and exercise which combines physical training (martial art) with spiritual growth and mental discipline. Its history can be traced back to India and the development of Buddhism circa 500BC.

Tai Chi has been practiced in all corners of the world. The most popular style of Tai Chi taught today in the Western world is Yang style, after the family name. Cheng Man Ch'ing (1900-1975) is largely credited as being the greatest master of Yang style in the modern world. Cheng developed the short Tang form, which is a concise, and shortened form. It contains the most basic principles and movements that are of great benefit to health and well-being.

According to an article in today's Irish Independent

TAI CHI exercises could help diabetics control their blood sugar levels, researchers said today.

A 12-week programme was shown to boost the the body's immune system in people suffering Type 2, which is linked to obesity.

Two studies, published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, looked at the impact of tai chi on diabetes.

Tai chi involves moderate exercise using flowing movements and deep breathing using the diaphragm.

The first study, from researchers in Taiwan, compared 30 diabetics with 30 healthy people acting as controls.

Over the 12-week period, those in the tai chi group learned 37 movements under the guidance of an expert, and took home a video to study the correct poses.

Each session was 60 minutes which included a 10-minute warm-up and a 10-minute cool down. Sessions were given three times a week.

The study revealed that, after 12 weeks, levels of interleukin-12, which boosts the immune response, doubled.

Meanwhile, levels of interleukin-4, which suppresses the immune response, fell.

The study also revealed a significant drop in HBA1C levels in patients after the exercise programme. HBA1C is a measure of blood glucose.

The authors suggested that tai chi may cause a fall in blood glucose levels or improve blood glucose metabolism which sparks a drop in the inflammatory response.

Or, exercise may boost fitness levels and the feeling of wellbeing, which may then boost the health of the immune system, they said.

Cathy Moulton, care adviser at Diabetes UK, said: “This interesting new research further confirms that moderate exercise is vital in effectively managing Type 2 diabetes.

- Jane Kirby

Find your Tai Chi Course on Courses.ie

Grinds & Revision

Easter is traditionally a time when we swot, revise and take grinds in readiness for our exams that follow a few weeks later.

Over the next few weeks we will be putting up any videos or links to sites that we come across that we feel may help.

All Honours is a site that has links to the different subject areas for both Junior and Leaving Cert. With notes, news and video sections there is help and advice for all questions. Need more help? There is also a section where you can locate grinds for any subject.

Algebra was never one of my best subjects. I could have done with videos like these.!

Bob Geldof is at it again...this time not for charity..

Did you know that Bob Geldof could have been the owner of Buy & Sell? He had this idea way back when, only the banks would not loan him the money to set it up. So he got huffy instead and went on to form the Boomtown Rats and well we all know what happened then.

But you have to hand it to your man Bob, he not only has a social conscience but he is a dab hand at the 'ol entrepreneurial skills too. He founded Planet 24 the tv company responsible for taking Zig and Zag away from us to foreign climes...Channel 4's Big Breakfast. (Bring back Zig and Zag, they were a gas pair - they could represent us in the Eurovision too. Anyway, he sold that for a cool few million and went on to form a travel dotcom company, deckchair.com, I think. He went on to sell that too...(again for zillions)and now he is back to the dotcom business again.

This time for groups and bands. Youbloom.com is according to his site;

Welcome to YouBloom, designed to help Artists promote their music and meet new fans. Use Blogs, Polls and the Calendar to post concert dates upcoming events and promotions. Friends and music lovers are encouraged to explore the site to find new talent and to build and share Play Lists with their friends.

Artists Upload your music and collectables to make it available for the YouBloom community. In the coming weeks, YouBloom is launching an online store and a sophisticated Email system to help you manage your media and fans.

Friends: Explore YouBloom and find new artists. Build and share your own playlists, keep a blog journal about your favorite bands or anything else you'd like to share with your friends. Personalize your profile pages with our polls, or customize your Profile page with your own widgets.

No better man to give MySpace a run for its money. Should be interesting to watch how it grows.

For those of you with the entrepreneurial touch Courses.ie have a number of providers running Start your own business courses. Find the one that suits you and you never know you may be the next Bob Geldof!