Irish Second-Level Students' Union Launches 2014 Exam Blog
For immediate release:
The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU) would today like to wish the very best of luck to students nationwide who are beginning their Leaving Cert, Leaving Cert Applied and Junior Cert examinations this week.The ISSU annual exam blog will go live on Wednesday the 4th of June, and students from across the country will be blogging throughout the exams, letting us know how they’re finding the exam process, and what they think of the exams themselves.
ISSU President, Craig Mc Hugh said; ‘“Students in Ireland should take care to relax over the next few weeks and avoid cramming, the most important thing is for them to present what they’ve learned over the course of their studies, not in the night before. As a fifth year student myself, I can only begin to imagine the feelings among exam students, but I’d like to urge all candidates to relax and realise that they are only human and can only do their best.”
ISSU Education Officer Joanna Siewierska said; “I wish all exam students the very best of luck for the next few weeks. Exams can be stressful for many students, but I’d encourage them all to remember that this is their chance to show what they have been learning for the last few years. Ninety-nine percent of the work is already done and everyone really is in the finishing straight now!”.
The ISSU will be running a daily exam blog on issu.ie with contributions from students nationwide.
Minister Quinn welcomes report on Transition Year compiled by the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union
For immediate release:
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., has welcomed the publication of a new report on Transition Year (TY) compiled by the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU). The ISSU undertook this quantitative and qualitative study “Transition year: exploring the student experience” at the request of the Minister. The study shows 89% of those surveyed took part in Transition Year in their school and the same percentage were happy that they did so. The overall consensus of students and TY co-ordinators is that the year should be maintained, although there are suggestions on how to improve it. Overall, - 85% of students felt they learned new skills - 85% of students agreed that their Transition Year Programme was well promoted in their school - 83% of students agreed their TY Co-ordinator was good overall - 82% of students enjoyed their experience - 80% of students either agree or strongly agree that their TY year was well organised - 77% felt that it was a worthwhile experience
Minister Quinn said, “This is a very valuable survey and will inform policy in this area. I believe it is important that we hear the voice of students in relation to matters that directly affect them such as Transition Year.”
Transition Year is made up of four set layers: core subjects, subject tasters, Transition Year specific layers (which comprises of classes specifically designed by teachers to fit students’ needs and experiences such as entrepreneurship) and calendar layer such as work experience or An Gaisce. Students surveyed reported that the core subjects, such as English, Irish and Maths are taken very seriously; they believed that less emphasis could be placed on subjects as they already did them in Junior Cycle. Subject tasters were deemed to be helpful as were the specific layer subjects where subjects of interest to students such as entrepreneurship can be undertaken. An Gaisce is perceived as a lot of hard work but the medal awarded at the end is seen as a recognition of that. Some students believe that not enough time is given to work experience (2-4 weeks) and some difficulties are reported in organising it.
Incoming ISSU President, Craig McHugh said, “We were tasked by Minister Quinn to explore the perceptions of Transition Year on a national level. Students embraced the opportunity to share their thoughts on Transition Year. I believe this report provides an objective view about this worthwhile programme.”“Students enjoyed the short courses and dynamic feel of real world learning, which echoes the concepts reinforced in the new Junior Cycle. Young people benefit from the space to mature, and the opportunity to learn and test real life skills. The Transition Year programme is a hallmark success of the Irish Education System, and I am delighted to see a report of this nature supported by the Department, and let it be the first step in real engagement with students as stakeholders in their own education”.
Trips are the most popular element to TY, from day trips to foreign exchanges or holidays. Students claim they are fun and good from an academic and learning basis. Many of the students surveyed request more group work and that they would like teachers to use different teaching methods and styles in the classes. Students also report that TY is an expensive year with the average contribution being €300 but ranging from €150 and €900. The Department gives an extra grant of €95 per student to schools who have a TY programme. Teachers were also surveyed as part of this report.Overall, they perceived the strengths of TY to be the sampling of subjects, changes in assessment to a more student centred approach, the acquisition of new skills and the space for young people to mature. Teachers had a mixed opinion on work experience and also cited lack of funding for TY as a weakness of the programme. Recommendations contained in the report include maintaining the optional nature of TY, introduce information session for third year students, costs of TY to be made clear to students and including students in decision making on activities, trips and classes.ENDS
The full report can be accessed hereImages are being supplied without charge by Maxwells Photography1,323 students responded to an on-line survey and 57 Transition Year Co-ordinator responses were collected.Focus groups were also held in Dublin, Galway and Cork and TY co-ordinators were also interviewed in-depth.
ISSU Supports Bring Back Our Girls Campaign
The ISSU have fully endorsed the #bringbackourgirls campaign. We believe everyone is entitled to an education regardless of their ethnicity, religion or gender, and we are horrified at the recent events in Nigeria where girls were kidnapped for availing of their right to an education.We wish to express our sorrow to the parents and friends of the abducted girls, and will do our best to support the campaign to get them back safe and sound. Craig McHughISSU President
ISSU AGM 2014 - Election Results
The ISSU AGM 2014 took place today. We had a number of exceptional guest speakers, and there was a very productive day of both policy motions and democratic elections.There were a number of exceptional candidates who put themselves forward this year, and we are pleased to announce that the following candidates were elected:[table color="blue" name="National Student Excecutive 2014-2015"]
| PRESIDENT | Craig McHugh |
| DEPUTY PRESIDENT | Robert C. O’ Donnell |
| EDUCATION OFFICER | Joanna Slewierska |
| EQUALITY OFFICER | Alex Fogarty |
| INTERNATIONAL OFFICER | Declan Burgess |
| OIFIGEACH NA GAEILGE | Dáire Murray |
| PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER | Bertie Nesirky |
| SECRETARY | Rob O’ Donnell |
| STUDENT COUNCIL SUPPORT OFFICER | Liam Corcoran |
| WELFARE OFFICER | Shay Mc Ardle |
[/table]Mark Caffrey was returned as Honorary President and will chair the newly formed Former Executive Panel.All motions to AGM were carried. The newly elected NSE will assume office in May. 
Work Experience Blog - Michael
I arrived in Tara Station on Monday at ten o’clock on my first day of two weeks of work experience with the Irish Second-Level Students Union. I went up to the 9th floor in Liberty Hall and introduced myself to Charlotte. I started with doing the TY survey on the ISSU website. Unfortunately I could not complete all of the survey as I’m not finished TY let. I then started a survey for those who have completed TY to see student’s opinion on TY and see how it can be of higher quality for the students involved. Tuesday I arrived in and met Isobel I was told to go on twitter and follow any secondary schools in the country that were on twitter. When I first looked at the list of schools I was a little stunned as there were 722 schools in the country. In the first fifteen schools seven were on twitter. Around eleven me and Isobel went to Mount Carmel Secondary School were she was going to give a talk on Student Councils, how they should be run and what the different roles are. I found this talk beneficial for myself as I am a member of the student council in my school. When we went back I continued with following more schools on twitter with some success. On Wednesday I resumed following secondary schools on twitter. It was a bit difficult to find some of the right schools as some schools had similar names with schools in Britain and the U.S. Later on in the afternoon I tweeted all of the schools I had followed since Tuesday asking if they had registered for our Dublin regional seminar. On Thursday I was calling schools in Co. Dublin asking if they had received a letter from us about a Dublin regional seminar we were holding with the Department of Education about TY students giving there feedback on the programme. Some schools that I called had no knowledge of the letter or of the event so after talking to the secretaries I emailed the schools that I had connected. I could only hope that most of them would register for Monday. Friday I started calling schools from Co. Kildare asking the same as yesterday but I got the same response. One of the members of the Board of Directors came in and helped me and Isobel with contacting some schools. After lunch I was putting a cover letter and two posters in envelopes for schools in Connacht for our regional seminar in Galway City on the 18th. We decided to address the Letter directly to the TY Co-ordinators of each school to make sure they received them. On Monday morning I went to the Department of Education & Skills instead of Liberty Hall. (I did get a bit lost trying to find the place) It was the first of a two day event we were holding with the Department in the clock tower on the grounds of the Department. My task on the first day was to observe and participate in the seminar. We were split in to groups of about 4/5 and were asked different questions of how we liked and disliked TY and if we had any changes for TY. After lunch we had a talk from Mark the president of the ISSU about student councils and student voices. There were then elections for the education panel, welfare and equality panel and regional representatives. I was elected for the education panel. Tuesday I was assisting Isobel and Charlotte with the seminar. My role was to give out paper, pens etc. and walk around and help the groups if they needed anything. I stayed with one group in particular as only one of the four in the group was in TY. I tried to persuade the other three about doing TY but they didn’t really seem keen. On Wednesday I was looking at the CSPE Curriculum to see how it can be reformed and how it can be more appealing to students. After searching up on ideas and coming up with some myself there is a demand for a greater look at politics and rights and to make it optional for Leaving Cert. I looked up other countries in Europe to see if they had any thing similar to CSPE in there own countries. France has ECJS which is quite similar to CSPE. On Thursday I was contacting schools in Co. Galway, Westmeath and Clare for our Galway regional seminar and asking if the TY Co-ordinator had received the letter and if they were planning on registering for Monday’s event. Most Co-ordinators couldn’t come to the phone as they had class but I passed the message about the seminar onto the secretaries. Now it’s Friday and I’m glad I choose to do my Work Experience with the ISSU I have learned a lot over the past two weeks and every one in the office has been great. I would recommend everyone to at least do one week of work experience here.
TY Work Experience with the ISSU
This week I have been doing my TY work experience here in the ISSU. The week has be great. More interesting than I expected. On Monday my train to Connolly arrived early so I had the chance to stroll around the city. While queuing for coffee, a man asked if I was in college. This was one of the high points of my year because I am 5' 1" and I'm usually been mistaken for a 12 year old. When I arrived at the office on that first day I was greeted by Isobel. I was quickly given a desk and a laptop. The first task at hand was to write to schools asking them to join the union. When the letters were ready we made labels and swiftly packed them into envelopes. We continued to the post room to send them off. There the staff who work in the post room who are quite friendly and funny. After lunch I looked at the results of the recent project maths survey and began to write a report on the results, which were interesting to say the least. On Tuesday I started at 10 am as opposed to 10:30 am the previous day. The morning started off with finishing the report on project maths, which took until lunch. After my usual panini, I arrived back in the office. That afternoon I had the wonderful joy of working on excel all afternoon. Updating member lists and all that stuff. My previous experience with excel was limited so I was quite pleased when I didn't break it or delete important data. Wednesday was more fun. When I came in I was given access to the website and told to basically improve it in whatever way I saw fit. This was like being let lose in a sweet shop because I love computer programming. After breaking many things on the website and spending hours in a frustrated mess, it was finally lunch time. On Wednesdays it is office tradition to buy chips and chicken from the local chipper. I was all but happy to partake in this tradition. The storage room at the back of the office gets set up as a small dining room and the staff head back to enjoy the food. After the break and the laughs, it was time to return to work and back to the frustration of web development. Finally the day was over and I could go home and relax. Thursday was a fun day. In the morning I was updating power points and using every social media platform I had access to to try and get people to fill out the survey for the TY review.At 11 am there was a coffee morning. This consisted of a lot of women I didn't know trying to force me to eat cake. I think this could be one of the causes of the childhood obesity epidemic! Around 12 pm Mark (Mr. President) called into the office. I knew Mark from CTYI so it was great to be able to catch up with an old friend. We went for lunch together and has a big rant about TY and teachers unions. In the afternoon Isobel we out of the office so I was left the task of calling all the schools we wrote to on Monday, asking if they received our letter. 6 out of 32 people answered. 3 of them turned out to be insurance companies, 1 garage, 1 person who thought I was an insurance company and the only school secretary that answered didn't open the post. With the list of calls made I was able to head home early and get the express train. Now it is Friday and it's hard to believe the week is almost over. The time flew by. Its been a great week and I have definitely learned a lot. I will be sad to leave today, knowing I won't be back. Every has been so nice to me over the past week and I really enjoyed it.Finally, to anybody interested in work experience here, go for it (click the contact button to enquire). It is a great place to do it and I promise you won't regret it. Yours Shauna