An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta

Department of Education and Science

 

Subject Inspection of Gaeilge

REPORT

 

 

St Fintina’s Post-Primary School

Longwood, Enfield, Co. Meath

Roll number: 71970L

 

Date of inspection: 17 May 2007

Date of issue of report: 17 January 2008

 

 

This subject inspection report

Subject provision and whole school support

Planning and Preparation

Teaching and Learning

Assessment

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

 

Report on the Quality of Learning and Teaching in Irish

 

This subject inspection report

 

This report has been written following a subject inspection in St Fintina’s Post-Primary School. It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning in Irish and makes recommendations for the further development of the teaching of this subject in the school. The evaluation was conducted over one day during which the inspector visited classrooms and observed teaching and learning. The inspector interacted with students and teachers, examined students’ work, and had discussions with the teachers. The inspector reviewed school planning documentation and teachers’ written preparation. Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal and subject teachers.  The board of management of the school was given an opportunity to comment on the findings and recommendations of the report; the board chose to accept the report without response.

 

Subject provision and whole school support

 

There are two Irish teachers in St Fintina’s Post-Primary School and the subject teaching is nearly equally divided between them. One of them is a newly-appointed Irish teacher and both have a wide experience of teaching the subject. Planning for the subject is done in collaboration and neither is officially regarded as subject co-ordinator but there is an arrangement that each of them will take responsibility for departmental duties in alternate years. From discussion with the teachers and principal it was clear that there is collaboration and co-operation between the two teachers in the Irish department – an arrangement which benefits the subject in the school.

 

Subject meetings are held usually when the two teachers have a common period free from teaching and records are kept of the proceedings of these meetings. The record of meetings showed that about five such meetings are held during the school year. It was reported that additional meetings are held on an informal basis among themselves as required at the time. The subject planning arrangements are good.

 

The context of the school regarding Irish was presented, which illustrated the challenge in making the subject attractive to the students. These included a number of first year students with limited ability in the language on entrance to the school as well as a certain indifference among parents regarding the importance of Irish as a subject. Proof of this challenge was to be seen in the statistics provided regarding the students’ participation at the various levels in the subject in the certificate examinations. However, the teachers’ showed a positive attitude in their efforts to present Irish to the students as an agreeable subject in itself. The students were also informed that their attempts to study Irish would be rewarded at the certificate examinations.

 

The teachers’ dedication was commended for promoting this positive attitude among the students and, accordingly, among the parents. The analysis presented, together with the teachers’ positive attitude observed with students in the classes, showed that the Irish department was committed to raising the status of the subject and that attempts were being made to guide students to the highest level in the subject commensurate with their ability in the language.

 

The teachers expressed great interest in the Second Level Support Service project for Irish and it is recommended that early contact be made with the Service to make the most of recommendations to promote Irish in a school context such as that in St Fintina’s.

 

The amount of class periods provided for Irish on the timetable is limited enough in the junior cycle – four periods per week for each of the three years. There is a particular challenge in promoting the speaking and practising of Irish with such a limited amount of class periods per week. In contrast, there is a good allocation of time available for Irish in the senior cycle - six periods per week and five periods per week for fifth and sixth years respectively. It is recommended that the number of class periods for Irish in the junior cycle be reviewed and that an attempt be made, if possible, to provide an extra period in at least one of those three years. It is recognised that the school management must take account of all timetable requirements in any such review.

 

There are appropriate arrangements in place for Irish by which classes are held simultaneously, year by year, from second year onwards. This means that there is the opportunity to conduct classes equivalent to the various levels in the subject and that students can access the level of their choice. Since there are two classes per year, except for one class in first year, classes are mixed ability in each case. One higher/ordinary level class and another ordinary/foundation level class is organised in each year from second year onwards. The figures relating to second year indicated that there is a conscious attempt to increase the number of students attempting the higher level. A significant number of students are studying higher level in that year and both the teachers’ and students’ efforts are to be commended in this respect. 

 

One of the Irish teachers has control of a classroom in which resources can be stored and easily accessed. There was also a computer with internet access. Funding was provided recently to provide a supply of dictionaries. Students were using these dictionaries in the class as they were distributed among them at the start of the lesson as a facility for them to find words. It would be worth also informing the students about the electronic dictionary www.focal.ie and encouraging them to make regular use of it.

 

County Meath Vocational Educational Committee supports encouraging students to visit the Gaeltacht by funding two part-scholarships for summer courses. It was reported that it was difficult enough to encourage students to avail of the scholarships for economic reasons. Reports were given of a significant number of activities organised during the year – especially during Seachtain na Gaeilge – as support for Irish and to promote cultural awareness outside the classroom such as a quiz as part of Féile na Mí, a visit to a production of the play ‘An Triail’ in Dublin, an Irish-language lunch for the students and learning Irish songs. The teachers’ efforts in this regard are highly commended.

 

 

Planning and Preparation

 

Subject planning documents relating to the Irish department and to the individual teachers were reviewed. These documents contained worthwhile material which clearly showed that the aims and objectives of the Irish syllabi had a central role in the planning work. It would be worth providing an Irish version of the titles in the first document of these– ‘Department of Irish Aims and Objectives’. In the two documents which followed on from this regarding the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate programmes there was a summary account of the learning outcomes expected of the students on completion of those courses, commensurate with the various levels in the subject as regards the principal language skills – listening, speaking, writing and reading. These accounts were commended.

 

Individual teaching schemes were provided which showed great thought and great work done in gathering printed material for use on the class which would achieve the general aims mentioned above. These resources related to the compilation of prose, poetry, conversation, reading comprehension, aural comprehension and grammar materials which would be suitable for the various levels. In addition, individual work schemes were provided containing accounts under the following headings – the lesson content, text to be used, the amount of time to be spent on the subject, the resources to be used, the teaching methods and the type of assessment. All of this material was of a high standard.

 

As part of the review planned for the department’s schemes it would be worth including an account of the current state of the subject in the school which would provide a general view of students’ participation and achievement in the subject at the various levels in the junior and senior cycles. All that is required for this is to register these details that were provided as an integral part of the Irish department’s plan.

 

It would be worth clarifying the reference to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resources as contained in the Irish department’s plan as that reference was on an aspirational level. it was understood that ICT resources were in limited use in the subject. Good use was made of ICT for Irish with certain students in order to provide an account for the school newsletter at Christmas. This project involved cross-curricular work, a commendable objective which was registered in the Irish department’s plan, in that use was made of the display of statistics under the guidance of the mathematics teacher as support for an account written in Irish on the students’ own lives.

 

It would be worth building on these attempts in order to plan for giving the students hands-on ICT experience in the context of Irish. There was access to broadband and a personal computer in each classroom. The teachers themselves had ICT skills and the school was supportive in promoting ICT. It would be worth planning to give the students practice at the websites relating to Irish as well as writing e-mails under the guidance of the teachers. As an ICT policy is being drafted for the school, this is an ideal time to include ICT matters more for Irish.

 

A record was provided of the Irish teachers’ meetings during the year – this record is provided to the principal. This showed evidence of the teachers’ added efforts to promote Irish among the students – including organising Irish debating teams. These efforts are another illustration of the diligence of the Irish teachers in this school in helping the students to tackle the language in a challenging manner. This dedication was highly commended.

 

 

Teaching and Learning

 

Four lessons were observed during the inspection – two in the junior cycle and two others in the senior cycle. All these classes were mixed ability. The first year class was a completely mixed ability class – the only class-group in that year. In other years there were two Irish classes run simultaneously on the timetable. This arrangement allowed the establishment of a higher/ordinary level class and an ordinary/foundation level class in all those years. In each case with those classes the teachers were focussing on encouraging the greater amount of students to attempt the highest level of ability, These attempts were commendable.

 

In all classes observed the presentation was stimulating and the students’ efforts were praised in each case. The students made every attempt to respond to this encouragement and to take an active part in the work which was ongoing. There was a positive quality to the dialogue which followed between the teachers and students and the students did not hesitate to continue with this dialogue even when an incorrect answer or answers were given. This was due to the positive response of the teachers to the students’ efforts. The teachers were to be commended for their care in developing the students’ self-confidence to participate in the Irish class especially in the case of those students who showed limited ability in the language.

 

All the lessons had a clear objective and good preparation was done in advance to this end. This was clear from the structure of the lessons, from the manner in which the lessons’ objectives were achieved within the time allocated and from the extra work prepared in advance to distribute handouts to the students as support and clarification on the work of the lesson. The two teachers were confident in their presentations and they managed the teaching and learning activities effectively.

 

The teachers were especially well organised in their approach to differentiated teaching in the lessons and in the manner in which they set out tasks to be performed by the group at one level while other work was being undertaken by students at another level. The teachers moved from one group to the other without detriment to the quality of work done by the group working by themselves. There was a positive atmosphere in the classes and it was obvious that the students were used to working by themselves and with each other while the teacher was busy with students of a different level.

 

The inspector spoke to various groups who were working like this while the teacher was occupied with another group and it was clear that the students were used to working independently like this within the Irish class. A co-operative learning atmosphere could be observed in the class work – thanks to the efforts of the teachers to serve the needs of all students. There were on average twenty students in all the classes observed and the teachers used this favourable ratio to serve all the students and to encourage them to participate.

 

Good use was made of a series of pocket dictionaries distributed to the students at the start of a lesson to encourage independent learning in a class in the junior cycle. A list of words was shown on the screen, taken from a prose story which was being revised for the Junior Certificate examination. These well-chosen words offered a good challenge to the higher level group which would enable them to discuss the prose story and which would greatly increase their vocabulary and language. The students had already read the word list. The students were told to compose sentences and to illustrate the meaning of the words shown in those sentences. The pocket dictionary was recommended as a reference book and a period of time was allocated for the completion of the task.

 

The teacher moved among the ordinary level group assisting those individually and as a group while the higher level group were at work. Some of the higher level group worked together and others on their own. There was never any lack of control or lack of diligence with the work allocated.  The atmosphere among the ordinary level group was the same when the teacher returned to the higher level group. The whole lesson was an example of a well-organised class and of the practice of differentiated work in a mixed-ability class. The teacher saved a great amount of time by showing material she had prepared in advance on the laptop computer on the screen and the teacher displayed a mastery of information and communications technology. The administration of this class from start to finish was commendable.

 

The various language skills were integrated in all the classes – a highly commendable approach. This was ably illustrated in a junior cycle class in which very good practice was made of conversation with the students about normal daily activities at the start of the class. The students were asked later to write a short account of what they had said earlier. It would be worth building on this and asking various students in the conversational work about the answers given by other students. In that way the students would not just be waiting to speak their own pieces, but would also have to listen to what other students had to say.

 

There was a very good variety in the work of this class. When the written work was completed the whole class was set singing an Irish song – a version of an English pop song arranged by the teacher. It was clear that the students enjoyed singing the song itself and also the break it offered from other activities.  After that, there was good practice in composing a diary account based on pictures distributed in a handout. This involved a photocopy of a page from a textbook containing a word store in English and Irish at the bottom of the page. Some of the students showed that they did not have to keep to that vocabulary while other students relied heavily on it. It would be worth trying this with the English translation held back or not provided at all – especially at the start.

 

The subject matter of the classes observed in the senior cycle related to the Leaving Certificate literature course. In one of those classes there was a good revision of one of the prose extracts with a ‘PowerPoint’ presentation of the story. A handout of the presentation was distributed to students which allowed them to add notes. As a result, no time was wasted in writing down material during the lesson – except for additional material or explanations.

 

By far the majority of the class activities were in Irish and limited use was made of translation to English as an additional guide to students undertaking the ordinary level and who were greatly challenged by some of the material presented to them. It would be worth including more differentiated material here for those students who faced too great a challenge in the material presented to them.

 

In the case of another class in the senior cycle conversation was also practised at the start of the lesson – this is to be commended. It would be well worth while extending this talk gradually and also practising talk about ordinary daily activities. This would be a better approach instead of regular revision of questions about the student’s immediate environment only – the sort of questions that might only be expected at the start of the oral examination, such as,  ‘How are you?, ‘Where do you live?’, ‘What school subjects are you doing?’.

 

There was good revision of a poem from the literature course with the aid of a questionnaire distributed as a handout. The questions helped the students to show their understanding of the poem as they clearly had a limited ability to express themselves about the poem of their own accord. It would be worth reconsidering the merit of the work involved in translating the English summary of the short film into Irish as a task. There would be a greater benefit in practising a simple summary in Irish.

 

On the whole the standard of teaching and the approach of the Irish teachers was greatly commended.  

 

Assessment

 

Students undergo tests regularly when particular units of work are completed and the results are recorded in the teachers’ results book.  The school has a homework policy which sets out a clear guidance regarding assignment and correction of homework. The copybooks observed demonstrated that this guidance was being followed and that there was an appropriate range in that work as well as the teacher’s recognition to be seen in the copybooks.

 

In some cases the copybook work showed that translation from English was a regular part of the work. It would be worth reviewing this and attempting to lessen the amount of work to be done with the aid of translation and doing more oral work instead. It would be good if the teachers could agree a policy regarding the appropriate place of translation in classwork and homework. There was very little English altogether in use in the class but there was a significant amount to be seen in certain copybooks.

 

Formal in-house examinations are conducted at Christmas and in summer for all classes as well as mock examinations in the spring for classes undergoing certificate examinations. All the language skills are included in these examinations with the exception of the spoken language in the junior cycle.

 

It is recommended that assessment be commenced of spoken Irish from the start of first year focussing on the objectives of the revised Primary Curriculum relating to the promotion of communication skills in Irish. It would also be worthwhile considering the possibilities of entering the students for the optional oral examination in the Junior Certificate Irish examination with effect from the year 2010 onwards – in which forty per cent of the total marks will be allocated to the oral Irish aspect. It would be worth making a decision on this matter soon regarding which students would be entered for this oral examination. If this decision is taken the teachers will have a better opportunity to promote the spoken language from the first day in first year and to spend more time practising it.

 

The analysis provided of the certificate examination statistics in Irish showed the extent of the challenge facing the teachers in raising the level of participation at higher level and lowering the level or participation at foundation level. By their preparation and class practices the teachers showed that they were facing these challenges effectively.

 

 

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

The following are the main strengths identified in the evaluation:

 

 

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

 

 

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the teachers of Irish and with the Principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.