Leaving Cert student diary: ‘I'm proof there's an alternative to incredibly stressful exams'
I'm only young, so it's fair to say I don't follow the ins and outs of education policy. But I do hear, from my friends and on the news, about how incredibly stressful the Leaving Cert is and how it needs to be reformed.
I and the other 4,512 students sitting the Leaving Cert Applied [LCA] are living proof that there is a different way.
The LCA means students like me, who prefer practical and vocational approaches, are not left behind. I know Ireland is trailing other European countries in terms of offering this vocational option, although the numbers sitting the LCA are growing every year.
The LCA offers entry routes to college too. I am hoping to get into a post-Leaving Cert course: nursing studies at Moate ETB [education and training board]. It gives us a foundation in nursing, includes practical experience and a work placement, and is also linked to a general nursing course at TUS [Technological University of the Shannon].
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Over the past few years, I decided to learn sign language. I'm not doing it as an examined subject, but I felt that it would be a really useful skill for a nurse to have, as it means I can communicate with more people. I'm not fluent, but I can hold a basic conversation and I hope to improve.
As for the exams? It's a case of so far, so good. I appreciated the layout of the papers and they haven't been as difficult as I expected.
English and communications was probably my best so far, as a lot of the topics I studied appeared.
Hotel catering and tourism, however, was probably the most challenging, although still achievable. In this subject, we learn about restaurants, tourist sites and we work on menus for parties and for people with food allergies and intolerances, such as coeliac disease.
LCA students have already done a lot of projects and continuous assessment throughout the year, so that relieves the pressure of a single, high-stakes exam.
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Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle: Record 140,000 to sit State exams
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I can't believe the end is in sight, as I finish up on Tuesday with an exam on construction and graphics.
I'll miss my classmates in school. There's only been eight of us in the entire LCA programme, so we became tight-knit.
I currently commute for over an hour every day to and from school. This is because we moved a few years ago but I wanted to stay in the same school. I wish there was better public transport, particularly for rural areas, as there's currently only two buses a day. It's safe to say that I won't miss this commute.
– Amy Cox is a Leaving Cert Applied student at Athlone Community College
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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
The Sunday Independent's View: The Leaving Cert is the least of young people's worries
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Irish Times
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Frustration in Government over continual revelations from CHI
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Health Service Executive (HSE) chief Bernard Gloster also said he was unaware. But in recent days CHI told Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill that its content had been 'discussed' at performance management meetings with a senior HSE executive. READ MORE The report said a doctor, identified only as Consultant D, had been paid €35,800 for seeing patients at special clinics paid for by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). The report questioned whether the special NTPF clinics were needed and suggested the children could have been treated using other capacity in the public system. [ Audit of CHI waiting lists ordered to ensure productivity in public hospitals, Minister for Health says Opens in new window ] The report was devastating on several levels. Taoiseach Micheál Martin is a champion of the NTPF, which forms part of Government initiatives that have seen €1.6 billion spent in recent years trying to curb hospital waiting times. 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More importantly, the report raised issues about patient safety. In the Department of Health there was concern that architecture put in place in the health service to deal with issues regarding the safety of patients had apparently not been utilised. [ Hip surgery audit: Almost 70% of operations in two children's hospitals 'unnecessary' Opens in new window ] The HSE is understood to have pressed CHI to refer the report to the Medical Council, the regulatory body for doctors. It warned that it would make the referral itself if the CHI did not. Last Thursday the HSE said it would bring the issues to the Medical Council, as well as to gardaí. The NTPF suspended funding to CHI pending an investigation. The report also deals with rows between staff in a particular unit. 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It said this contributed to the undermining of care and treatment for sick children. Challenging behaviours regarding one particular part of the organisation 'appear to be the norm', the report stated. It revealed one that consultant had taken a defamation action against another and stated that it was reasonable to assume this could only arise as a result of fraught relationships within this particular unit. In a statement issued at about 9.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday, CHI said the issues raised in the report had been addressed 'and the team in question are working well'. Effectively congratulating itself, the group said: 'This is an example of taking action when issues are identified in line with good HR practice.' 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[ CHI unable to move in to national children's hospital due to continued delays Opens in new window ] Still, frustrations remain in Government at the succession of crises involving the children's hospital group. And a further report on spinal surgery is awaited.
Irish Times
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Ireland's plan to weaken legal protections for waterways will push many of them beyond recovery
If I went to my doctor with a cancerous tumour that was treatable and curable, and he shrugged it off and told me to accept it – knowing that without treatment, it would eventually kill me – I'd think he had lost his mind. Yet this is how the Irish State plans to treat some of our most treasured rivers, lakes and estuaries. According to a proposal from the Department of Housing , certain iconic stretches of waters on the likes of the Shannon, Boyne and Blackwater rivers will no longer be viewed as needing restoration. Instead, they will face a future as engineered channels. In the 1980s and '90s, Europeans began to recognise that their rivers were in severe decline due to decades of neglect. Naturally meandering waterways were straightened, drained and dammed; chemicals, pesticides and untreated sewage poured into them unchecked. The problem was cross-border: the Danube, which flows through 10 countries, became saturated with pollution. In 1986, a fire at a chemical warehouse near Basle, Switzerland, caused the Rhine river to turn red with mercury and dyes, as vast amounts of toxic waste flowed hundreds of kilometres downstream into Germany and the Netherlands. Drinking water supplies were shut off, and aquatic life, such as European eels, was decimated. What was clear was that Europe needed a unified, legally binding approach to water protection that set out common rules, clear responsibilities and shared goals. By 2000, a plan was in place that aimed to safeguard waterways not only for aquatic life but also as a source of drinking water, transport and leisure for humans. This law, known as the Water Framework Directive, has a clear objective: to ensure all waterbodies reach at least 'good status', meaning they are clean, healthy and safe for swimming and drinking. Built into the plan is a legal recognition that some waterbodies, especially in highly industrialised countries such as Germany, have been altered so extensively that returning them to their natural state would be impossible or potentially harmful to human interests and security. These are placed in a special category, called 'heavily modified water bodies', and are legally exempt from the requirement to achieve 'good' status. They include reservoirs supplying drinking water, canals designed for navigation or drainage, urban rivers confined within concrete channels or culverts, ports, harbours and rivers drained for agricultural use. READ MORE While they cannot be used as dumping grounds for pollutants, the law accepts that these waters will never be restored or naturalised. For that reason, the principle guiding 'heavily modified' designation should be balanced and factor in whether it serves the widest possible interest: their number should be kept to a minimum, and where ongoing engineering and management is necessary – for example, in a reservoir or port – they must deliver significant benefit to the public. Ireland has 33 heavily modified water bodies, including Poulaphouca reservoir, which provides drinking water to Dublin; Cork Harbour for industrial activity; and New Ross Port in Wexford, run by the council as a transport route. But under the department's proposal, released in March, this number will increase by 1,312 per cent. It includes 122 waterbodies that run through some of Ireland's unique natural areas. It includes stretches of the Nore, Brosna, Maigue, Liffey, Fergus, Mulkear and Carrowbeg rivers; lakes such as Lough Corrib and Lough Derg; and estuaries like Lower Suir. [ Pollution on the Liffey: Algal blooms at Blessington a threat to Dublin's drinking water Opens in new window ] Why does the State want to all but give up on these waters? The problem stems from a law dating back to 1945, the Arterial Drainage Act, which gives the State sweeping powers to carry out large-scale drainage works, such as deepening, widening, dredging and straightening. Eighty years ago – when we knew nothing about climate warming – the law was viewed as progressive; today it clashes with the Water Framework Directive because this extent of drainage causes severe damage, irreversibly stripping rivers of their natural life and course. Ireland cannot abide by one law with the other. As long as these waters are drained, they will never meet the standards set by EU water law. Reservoirs, ports, canals and harbours must be operational, and as such, designating them as 'heavily modified' is in the public interest, as their functional demands cannot be fulfilled while simultaneously attempting restoration. But in the future, who'll benefit from the continual dredging of the Clare river in Galway, once one of our most natural rivers and now, in many parts, a canalised channel? Or the river Brosna, whose waters followed a meandering course through Offaly before its curves were straightened and its channel deepened? And how is it justified in the public interest, given that drainage makes our towns and cities more – not less – vulnerable to flash flooding? Instead of reshaping drainage policy so that it's fit for the critical challenges we face – not least, the chaotic mix of water shortages and drought, extreme weather events and rapidly warming waters – what's proposed is simply remove these waters from any hope of being restored to full health. Never before have our waterways needed climate and nature-proofed policies more. Our waters are warming at levels never seen before – for example, in Lough Feeagh in Mayo, the heat in the water has been above the long-term average (recorded since 1960) since January. Sea temperatures have soared. This is the future for which we need to rapidly prepare. Under the Nature Restoration Law, we're required to restore at least 20 per cent of our land and sea areas by 2030, increasing to 90 per cent by 2050. That includes rewetting organic soils, like those at the headwaters of the river Boyne, which are currently drained. Instead of giving up on our waters and relegating them to a lower standard – all for the sake of an outdated, 80-year-old law – now is the time to put energy into nature-based solutions, which are proven to be effective and cheap as a way to reduce flood risk, improve soil health and meet climate, nature and water goals without abandoning the land. We can't ignore the facts: our waterways are facing immense pressure, and some are already critically ill. Even if our only concern was water security, the urgent need for restoration is clear. This proposal to weaken their legal protections will only speed up their deterioration. Across Ireland, communities are volunteering to revive the life in their local waters. If this legal loophole is allowed, their efforts will be in vain. In effect, the State would be like a doctor unfit to practice – turning its back on the patient instead of providing care. As a result, many of our most treasured rivers and lakes will, without question, slip beyond recovery.
