Minister accused of stealing €10m from schools in Ireland

Flúirse Education Solutions calls on Minister for Education and Science to give back some 10 million euro lost to schools in the continued delay to release any funding from the 252 million euro, promised before last year’s election, for investment in ICT and computers in Irish schools.

Teachers, children and parents across Ireland should call for further funding for investing in computers, broadband and software in Irish classrooms immediately, according to Tomás Finneran, co-founder and Director of Flúirse Education Solutions, a company based in Kerry specialising in providing tailored educational resources for parents, teachers and children of primary schools throughout Ireland. By continuing to withhold the 252 million euro promised before last year’s election, for investment in ICT in Education, the minister has saved the substantial figure of 10 million euro when the rate of annual inflation is taken into consideration. In other words, the long awaited investment is already worth 10 million euro less in real terms.

“We have waited patiently for over a year and still Irish schools have not received one penny in funding from the 252 million euro allocated to them under the National Development Plan,” explained Tomás Finneran. “The minister was very quick to announce this funding 13 months ago as we edged closer to a general election. Once the election was over, she managed to buy some time by shifting the responsibility to a working group, charged with the task of suggesting how best to allocate the funding. We then had the crazy situation whereby the findings from this group were not published, even though they had concluded their work last summer. Now that their findings are finally available, thanks to a leak of a draft copy of their report, the Minister cannot make any further excuses.”

The reports findings, according to yesterday’s Irish Times, broadly echo what Flúirse and many other organisations in the education sector have been stating consistently since the announcement of the investment as part of the National Development Plan 2007 – 2013. “We were one of the first organisations to acknowledge that this funding was inadequate and that it would fail to bring our education system even close to the EU average.”

Funding for ICT in UK schools averages over 100 euro per child and this investment has been sustained for many years, as the UK government joins most other Education systems in neighbouring countries in embracing technology to enhance education and teaching. Finneran believes that Ireland will continue to lag far behind these countries. “It was clear to us before any report was published, that the 252 million euro allocated so sparsely across both the primary and secondary levels would equate to little more than 40 euro for every child. We’re not looking for funding to sustain or improve the ICT infrastructure in our schools, we’re actually looking for investment to establish this infrastructure.”

Flúirse is in existence for less than 3 years and yet has managed to be at the forefront of ICT in Education in Ireland. The company has consistently campaigned on behalf of the primary school sector for increased investment from the government, to fund the introduction of an ICT infrastructure in each classroom in the country. “We certainly believe that the private sector has a duty to support our education system. Just before Christmas we donated almost €200,000 worth of educational software to disadvantaged schools. We’re providing one of the largest programmes of summer courses for primary school teachers this July to assist teachers with little or no experience, to gain valuable skills in computing, website design and many other essential skills that are not available to them anywhere else. But companies like ours alone cannot be responsible for bringing the Irish education system into the 21^st century, we need leadership and backing from this government immediately”

Finneran highlighted what he sees as a growing legacy of failures to deliver on promises by the current Minister for Education and Science. “Minister Hanafin laughed last year when it was proposed that laptop computers be given to secondary school students to assist them in their learning. Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Department of Education delivered 20,000 laptop computers to every school in the North. She reassured our teachers before the election about their fears of over-crowding in our classrooms, yet she now accepts that reducing the average teacher-student ratio is not possible in the foreseeable future. It is time for this Minister to start delivering on her promises, to start listening to the genuine cries of help from within our creaking education system and it is time for this Minister to start to value the most important part of any country’s future: its children.”

Flúirse's Post Budget 2008 Reaction

Flúirse disappointed in Minister's lack of vision in Budget's Education spend for School Infrastructure.

Commenting on the Budget 2008, Tomás Finneran, Director or Flúirse Limited, states, “Whilst we welcome the announcement by the Minister to allocate €828 million of the total education budget of €9.3 billion to schools’ capital investment, we are disappointed that once again this government has failed to take any measures to address the continued lack of investment in, and support for, Information and Communications Technologies in our primary schools. Whilst this Government is starting to address the obvious physical infrastructure inadequacies, they are ignoring the increasingly outdated and inadequate ICT infrastructure.”

The current spending on ICT for primary schools equates to less than €45 per child. This compares to over €100 per child in the Northern Ireland and UK Education systems, which are well established following sustained investment over the past decade and more.

Tralee native Kristian O’Donovan established Flúirse with Tomás Finneran back in 2005. The company provides tailored educational resources for parents, teachers and children to enhance the learning and teaching experience. The company has been active since its launch, in campaigning on behalf of primary schools, teachers and children.

Tomás appreciates the necessity for capital investment but believes there is a need for further vision. “Naturally, Flúirse would be one of the first organisations to welcome the Minister’s funding of additional schools and capital projects. However, there is much more to education than four walls and a roof, and this budget fails to recognise this.”

Approximately 20% of primary schools are classed as “disadvantaged” in Ireland, a startling figure considering Ireland has the third fastest growing economy in the world. The welcomed government announcements of broadband access to all schools and €252 million for ICT in Education as part of the revised National Development Plan were seen by many as the first steps in finally addressing the second-rate and vastly under-developed ICT infrastructure in Irish schools. However, when the NDP allocation was scrutinised, it equated to less than €45 per child. Meanwhile, the broadband rollout has lacked any joined-up thinking with no supports, maintenance or content provisions.

Tomás points to a missed opportunity. “After the wealth that this economy has delivered and was available to this government over the past decade, it is clear that we have missed another opportunity to establish an effective ICT Infrastructure in our primary schools. Primary schools have always required that initial investment to establish this infrastructure. Now, as we hear the Minister talk of a ‘challenging economic backdrop’, it seems less likely that we’ll get this investment anytime in the near future.”

Flúirse wins Seedcorn award for "Best venture stemming from university spinouts and platform programmes"

Great news for the Flúirse team with the news that the company won the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn award for "Best venture stemming from university spinouts and platform programmes 2007"

The special award recognises the company's remarkable progress since their participation on the Genesis Enterprise Programme and Shannon Development's Venture Start Programme.

The All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition was initiated by InterTradeIreland in response to the continuing gap for early stage/start-up funding on the island of Ireland and building on the success of previous years competitions EquityNetwork.

Flúirse will receive the award with a cash prize of €10,000 at the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn finals which will take place at the Croke Park Conference Centre on Thursday, 28th November 2007.

For more information visit: http://www.intertradeireland.com/index.cfm/area/information/page/SeedcornCompetition

Disadvantaged schools to receive “flúirse” software valued at over €200,000

Flúirse Education Solutions donates its Anois children’s interactive titles with unlimited site licences to over 600 disadvantaged schools nationwide.

Kerry – 12^th November 2007 – Teachers, children and parents across Ireland will be welcoming an early Christmas present this November as Flúirse continued their commitment to enhancing the learning and teaching experience for parents, teachers and children by donating software with unlimited site licences valued at over €200,000 to some 600 disadvantaged primary schools throughout Ireland. The software will be selected from Flúirse’s Anois series of titles, which were developed last year by the company and were the first interactive titles based on the Irish curriculum.

Approximately 20% of primary schools are classed as “disadvantaged” in Ireland, a startling figure considering Ireland has the third fastest growing economy in the world. With little sign of any change in this Government’s policy on investment in education, Flúirse Education Solutions, a Kerry based company, decided to take a proactive approach.

“Like many of the schools in Ireland, we are tired of waiting for the government to step up to the mark and provide schools with adequate funding, so we decided to be more proactive” explained Kristian O’Donovan, co-founder of Flúirse. “Even though over 600 schools are classed as disadvantaged, the reality is that the majority of schools are disadvantaged. Teachers are clearly lacking the support and training necessary to effectively use what limited ICT resources are available to them in the classroom. Our donation is relatively small considering the sustained investment that is required, but at least it proves our commitment in tackling the issue.” he added.

Kristian O’Donovan, together with Tomás Finneran, established Flúirse in 2005. The company has grown steadily since then delivering educational software, supports and online courses for primary school teachers.

Flúirse has consistently campaigned on behalf of the primary school sector for increased investment from the government, to fund the introduction of an ICT infrastructure in each classroom in the country. The government responded earlier this year with the announcement of €252m specifically for ICT in the Education sector as part of the National Development Plan 2007 – 2013. However, many organisations, including Flúirse, were quick to point out that this was effectively a token investment and a fraction of what children in UK and US schools receive annually.

“We welcomed the announcement last month that €3.3m from the dormant accounts fund would be used to assist disadvantaged schools in developing an ICT infrastructure. However, even combined with the commitment by this government to allocate €252m for the use of ICT in schools as part of the National Development Plan, it remains largely inadequate at less than €45 per child.”

Tomás Finneran outlined Flúirse’s budget submission. “We’re calling on the Minister for Finance to once and for all address the lack of funding in our primary education system. Schools require a substantial once off investment to kick-start a functional ICT infrastructure in classrooms. More importantly, this ‘catalytic’ investment must be succeeded with sustained investment in training, support and maintenance where necessary. Whilst every sector, from health to justice will be looking for an increased share of the budget, it’s time this government started taking education seriously. Surely an investment in our future is the most sensible investment of all.”

Flúirse is no stranger to success with nominations for Digital Media Awards and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. More recently, Flúirse have been short-listed for the Munster Emerging Company Category final of the InterTradeIreland All-island Seedcorn Competition.

With big plans for the future and a clear vision on ICT’s role in primary education, O’Donovan concluded. “We have spent the past few months planning a major initiative to benefit the primary school sector with support from Enterprise Ireland. Last month we launched our B.E.S investment opportunity and so far we have had great interest. We intend to truly enhance the learning and teaching experience for parents, teachers and children with this investment.”

Education / ICT News and Events

The Cork College of Commerce and Cork Institute of Technology, as
participants in the European SLOOP program on e-learning technologies
(Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective) are jointly hosting
a free workshop for educators in the Cork College of Commerce,
Morrison's Island, on the 26th. All schools are welcome to attend. For
more information and registration contact Ian Spillane at the College
353-21-4222100 (fax 4275075) or by email at sloop@ccoc.ie.

Topics will include using learning management systems (Moodle),
creating online materials, and for those interested in the technical
side, a hands-on afternoon workshop on installing and administering a
school's Moodle server from scratch (installing Ubuntu Linux with
Apache, MySQL and PHP).

Cork College of Commerce and Cork Institute of Technology aim to
introduce Cork schools and colleges to the free technologies that
exist for teachers and provide hands-on assistance to teachers and
schools in setting up and administering their own systems.

----------------------------------------------
Ian Spillane
Cork College of Commerce
Morrison's Island, Cork, Ireland

http://www.corkcollegeofcommerce.ie
p +353-21-4222100 f 4275075

Nothing in particular...General Discussion for Teachers

For those of you who just want to discuss all matters ICT and Education related, this is the blog for you. Click on "Comments" at the bottom of this post and get blogging with Flúirse's Flog!

Free Software For Schools

We are constantly receiving requests from Teachers to compile a list of software that is available for free for schools.

We would encourage anyone who can suggest a free software product to post it here with a short discription and suggested use if possible.

Let's hope we can have the ultimate list here for schools within a few months!

Thanks!

Tomás

Suggestions for Summer Course Programme 2008

Hi Folks,

after a successful 2007 programme, we're keen to really make improvements for 2008 and deliver the most effective, relevant summer course programme for Primary School Teachers.

Firstly, thanks to all of you who have participated on the 2007 programme, your suggestions and comments from both the forums and end of course questionnaire were most useful, and we promise that each and every comment will be read and all suggestions taken on board.

We would invite you to use this blog post to submit any further comments or suggestions that you have regarding our Online Summer Courses.

For those of you who did not participate in the 2007 Summer Course Programme, please feel free to add any comments, suggestions and perhaps course that you would like to see added to our 2008 Online Summer Course Programme for Teachers.

Thanks,

Tomás