Wednesday, December 12th, 2018
thecollegeview.com
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All teachers want for Christmas is a Gaelteacht grant Cáit Caden News Editor @ AreYou_Caden_Me A national campaign to get a Gaeltacht grant for student teachers was launched by the Union of Students (USI) Ireland on December 4th. Following the launch of the #GaelFees campaign, DCU Students’ Union will join the ‘All I want for Christmas is a Gaeltacht grant’ rally outside the Dáil on December 13th, organised by the USI and Conradh na Gaeilge, to oppose the Gaelteacht fee for student teachers. “We already have the second highest fees in Europe,” said USI Vice President for Gaeilge Aoife Ní Dhéisigh, who spoke to The College View about the extra finances some students have to pay on top of this such as placements, work materials and expenses to go to the Gaeltacht which is mandatory for many student teachers. “For primary teachers, you’re talking two terms probably at a cost of €1,500 per term,” said Ní Dhéisigh and added that some secondary school teachers “have to spend two months in the Gaeltacht to register with the teaching council.” Primary teaching students must go to the Gaelteacht in first and third year according to the USI Student Teachers Placement Report. In this report, 89 per cent of current students and 79 per cent of graduates state that the compulsory Gaelteacht fee is too high. In 2012, the Department of Educa-
Media Production Society raised just over €8,000 during this year’s annual DCUtv 24 hour broadcast which was in aid of the Aoibheann’s Pink Tie charity.
Credit: DCU MPS
tion abolished the subsidy for Gaeltacht Placement which eased the financial strain on students. In 2017, 42 per cent of student teachers considered dropping out of college due to financial pressure, according to the above report. The cost of going to the Gaeltacht is “ridiculously expensive,” said final year student teacher on St Patrick’s campus, Katie Breen. For the campaign, the USI created a petition to get students directly involved with trying to bring back the Gaelteacht grant. “I was talking to teachers that graduated a decade ago and they said it
was subsidised so they’d only be paying like €250 for it,” said final student teacher Philip Kiernan about the financial support for going to the Gaeltacht which used to be provided to student teachers. “We’ve done a cost analysis on this. It really would only cost the State €2 million to bring it back so it really is just a drop in the ocean,” said DCUSU Vice President for Education and Placement Craig McHugh. McHugh said the if the government brought in a Gaeltacht grant it would be more of “an investment” instead of “a cost”.
This issue was raised in the past during parliamentary questions by the USI, however the then Minister for Education, Richard Bruton “had no interest in this,” according to Ní Dhéisigh. Ní Dhéisigh added that Bruton said money was not available for the grant. “I’m hoping that we’ll be quite fortunate in that the fact that we have a former minister [ Minister for Education Joe McHugh] for the Gaelteacht in the position now. He really does have a passion for the language that’s quite clear and especially as its Bliain na Gaeilge, it would be absolutely brilliant to see more investment in the lan-
guage,” continued Ní Dhéisigh. Although they are not connected, the campaign comes after DCU’s first Student Appreciation Day. “We got an email there about the Gaelteacht and fees for that, and he’s (Craig McHugh) is telling us all about marches and stuff and everything for student teachers, but it’s a bit late for us cos we’re finished. I think certainly this year, I’ve seen more of an effort put in to looking into the lives of student teachers and really just their place in DCU,” said Kiernan.
AN additional €75,000 was allocated to the DCU Counselling Service budget to contribute to the establishment of a line for DCU students to contact 24/7, 365 days a year, said Director of Student Support and Development, Dr Claire Bohan The new service, launched on November 19th, aims to provide students with the opportunity to call at any hour and schedule an appointment with a counsellor near them within three days. Bohan said the service could also provide “potentially immediate access
to a counsellor” if needed. She said after hours counselling has never been something they were able to do, and weekends and nights were a period of concern. The pilot programme which has been in the making for six months is the first of its kind among Irish universities. “The new service will be of huge benefit for DCU students and will do a huge deal for the waiting times that currently exist,” said DCU Students’ Union VP for Welfare and Equality Aisling Fagan. “This service will also help our students who go out on placement in particular who may be based in a different county and who can’t access services
they might need between the hours of 9-5,” she said. As of Friday, November 30th, 100 of the 170 people that were on the waiting list to see a counsellor have been given appointments. Bohan said that they wanted to ensure those already waiting were seen to as soon as possible. DCU have hired an organisation called Inspire Students, which in turn, hires offsite counsellors, who would have their own practices. The management of the service is through the Head of Counselling, Helena Ahern. “We have a counselling network throughout the entire country,” said Bohan. She said the initiative would be especially beneficial for students on
placement who don’t have direct access to the counsellors based in DCU. “If a student is on teaching placement in Kerry they potentially have a counsellor on their books that they can access in Kerry.” Queens University in Belfast has a similar system, however, its based on outsourcing. Bohan said they were keen to keep the system within DCU. The Counselling Service currently has 12 counsellors on site some part-time, some full-time. Students receiving offsite counselling will receive the same, free service that onsite counsellors offer, said Bohan. “All of them have access to and information about and training about all
of our services here in the institution,” she said. Bohan said GDPR issues set them back by around two months, however, they have completed the process with full compliance. She said other institutions will be watching to see if the initiative is successful in reducing waiting lists. “I can’t but think it has to help,” she said. Bohan said the issues with waiting lists come at “peak” times. “It’s the peaks that we wanted to deal with and that’s kind of the big thing here”. She said the service will aim work around the needs of the DCU student body: “If they need more they will take on more”.
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