MINUTES OF THE LCANA AGM NOV. 11TH 2016
Present: TR,SJ, JC, MC,PC,TC,CF,MP and Joanne Cullen(New member)
Minutes of 2015 were circulated. No matters arising.
CHAIRPERSONS REPORT: Chairman’s Address.
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for remaining on for the AGM. We had a very busy conference and we hope to be finished on time. Your presence is greatly appreciated. Hopefully today was enlightening, rewarding and worthwhile.
In the LCAP, there are several important issues that still have to be resolved. Some of which are:-
- The high turnover of teachers. School management need to get commit more fully to the programme and build capacity within their schools.
- The lack of progress in revising and modernising the modular descriptors. Some tentative steps taken, but still a long way to go.
- The decline in the number of pathways of progression for LCA graduates.
- The profile of the programme in the media.
I would ask all coordinators and teachers of LCAP to take a critical look at the LCAP section of their school/centre website. Some of our winning schools today have excellent LCAP sections on their websites. A well-constructed and informed LCAP section on their site indicates a school’s commitment to the programme, and sends out a powerful message to parents, students and the general public.
The Association needs people who are actively involved in the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme. Do consider putting your name forward to serve on the National Executive. If possible we would like see: a better Geographical spread, good Gender balance, and representation from School/Centre’s offering Leaving Certificate Applied Programme.
Every organisation needs new ideas, new methods, and new people if it is to grow, to expand, and to survive. So please give it some thought, and do consider putting your name forward.
The stronger our association the greater our chance of achieving these goals
This year sees a revamp of the LCANA “Feargal Quinn” awards. The awards are now determined on a regional basis; this ensures a good geographical spread and helps to raise school standards throughout the whole country. Our sincere thanks to the ladies in the SEC for all their help in the process.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all the members of our Executive Committee, each year requires a big effort to plan and organise a conference; everyone did their part and spent countless hours perfecting the event.
I have to single out a few people for individual praise:-
Firstly: - Sandra Joyce, our extremely hard working and efficient secretary, who keeps us all on our toes reminding us of deadlines, things to be done etc.
Pat Cashman, our treasurer who has put a huge amount of work into the association finances and keeps us afloat and also thanks Pat for your work with the website.
Maureen Casey, our new Membership Secretary who has done a wonderful job.
To everyone who has worked tireless on the Newsletter, Brochure, sourcing speakers and doing hundreds of never ending tasks to make the Conference one of the best we had to date.
A big thank you to all the other members of the Executive past and present who contribute so much by their hard work.
I also to thank the staff in Dublin West Education Centre for all work they do for us and for their kindness and willingness to help. Particularly Angie Grogan who circulates the information to schools on our behalf.
Big thanks to former Senator Feargal Quinn and his family for their continued sponsorship for the awards.
Finally thanks also to the DES for the TPN grants and to the SEC for their assistance with notifying the schools/centres about the awards.
Thank you for your attention,
Tom Rodgers (Chairman LCANA)
SECRETARY’S REPORT:
1.This has been a very exciting year for LCANA. It began with the 20th Anniversary conference on Nov. on Nov. 21st. 160 delegates attended the conference. The conference was opened by Mary O Rourke, who gave an excellent speech on inclusion in Education. There were inspiring talks from LCA principals , past pupils and LCA teachers. Mirium Horgan gave an informative talk on LCA inspection . Pat Coffey and Amy Kilcline gave all delegates details on the support given by the PDST and USB keys and learning tools for the classroom. Shane Martin gave an inspirational talk on how to manage stress in our lives.(Further details of the conference are in the newsletter)
2.On Dec. 7th there were 2 workshops held in Navan Teachers Centre and Blackrock Teachers Centre on’ the role of the LCA coordinator’ and’ LCA School Plan and inspection.’
3.On May 10th members of the LCANA(MF,MC, TR, JC, SJ), met Majella O’Shea in the NCCA, 35 Fitzwilliam Sq. TR gave an update of the work the LCANA is doing. He outlined our proposal re. Maths. Maths needs to be reviewed as it was introduced in 1998 and still refers to TFA certs etc. Our proposal is that 3 teachers and a project Maths group review the Maths syllabus . A pass in Ord Maths is now required for some courses and some apprenticeships. LCA Maths needs to be updated with the possibility of some students doing Ordinary level Maths in the Traditional Leaving Cert.
Majella said that LCA was very much embedded in the system and that the review of senior cycle would take place in early 2017. She said she would relay all our suggestions internally in NCCA.
We also made the point that there are a lot of Special Needs students in LCA and they need to be catered for.
Teacher Training colleges need more information on LCA as at present most Higher Dip students don’t know anything about LCA.
It was a very positive meeting and Majella will meet the LCANA in early 2017.
4.The LCANA Review of LCA Exam papers and IT training took place on June 18th . Reports on most LCA papers were forwarded to the Dep. of Ed .
5. MEETING BETWEEN LCANA AND THE DEP. OF EDUCATION
LCANA members met the following in the Dep. of Education on 25/08/2016.; Eamonn Moran –PO Curriculum and Assessment Section of the Dep., Rita Sexton –works with Eamonn since August, Sinead Middleton- Administration officer working with Eamonn ,Paul McClean from the Teacher Education centre PDST, and Mirium Horgan Senior Inspector with the Dep. of Education
Mary Farrell introduced the LCANA team and outlined our main function: Organising the Task workshop in Athlone in September for all tasks, regional workshops , Planning and publishing our annual newsletter, reviewing the LCA exam papers, the Annual awards and conference in November and providing ongoing support for teachers and coordinators . The LCANA has been supporting the programme for 18 years on a voluntary capacity.
Issues that concern the organisation include: Lack of publicity for the programme and the falling number of students over the last 5 years, lack of support for the programme by the Dep. of Education, No programme advisor for the programme for the last year and that the modules haven’t been updated for 20 years.
Paul responded that the PDST have 11 advisors who support LCA and other programmes and a number of associates who give inservice throughout the year. Last year the PDST supplied a tool kit of resources to all those who attended inservice and who attended our 20th annual conference in Nov. 2015.
Eamonnrasied the issue of high turnover in LCA teachers. This happens for a number of reasons- difficult class groups, Management prioritising other groups before LCA and putting younger teachers into the programme who have little support. LCANA stressed that it is vital to the programme to have a strong coordinator and the support of school management to ensure success in LCA in schools.
The LCA modules have not been updated for 20 years and still mention tax free allowances, floppy discs etc. It is an excellent curriculum and would take a small number of teachers a short amount of time to update the programme. The LCA maths needs to be upgraded in line with project Maths and also the option that students could do Leaving Cert ordinary level maths if they had the ability to do so. The LCANA met the NCCA in May and they have been in touch with the Dep. of Ed to put Maths on the agenda for early 2017.
LCANA raised the issue of Apprenticeships following on from Minister Brutons comments on the day of the Leaving Cert results. More apprenticeships need to be made available as less LCA students are doing PLC course but would love the opportunity to take up an apprenticeship. Some LCA students don’t see much progression from the PLC courses at present.
The issue of no training for Student teachers in Teacher training colleges on LCA was raised. At present new teachers arrive in schools without any prior knowledge of the programme. This does not help to raise the profile of the programme.
6. The LCANA annual Task workshop took place on Sept 9th in the Hudson Bay Athlone. Approx 50 teachers attended the workshop and gained huge insight from our Executive on how to prepare , organise and deliver all of the 7 LCA tasks.
7.The annual LCANA conference and Fergal Quinn awards will take place on Nov. 25th in the Hudson Bay Hotel.
8. Dates for the Diary:
LCANA workshops Feb. 7th 2017-Navan and Blackrock teachers centre on ‘The role of the LCA Coordinator’ and’ LCA school plan and Inspection’.
TREASURERS REPORT
ANNUAL GENERAL FINANCIAL REPORT 2015/2016
1ST SEPTEMBER 2015– 31STAUGUST 2016
INCOME:
ITEM / AMOUNT / TOTALBalance on 1st September 2015 from previous year / € 1095.58 / € 1095.58
Membership /workshop fees / € 1697.25 / € 2792.83
TPN / PDST Funding / € 18016.40 / € 20809.23
Feargal Quinn sponsorship / € 1000.00 / € 21809.23
Grand Total / € 21809.23
Teachers Professional Network (TPN): This Network was set up by the Department of Education and Skills to assist the various Teacher’s Associations with supplementary funding. We use the TPN grant for Executive Administration and Activities.
EXPENDITURE:
ITEM / AMOUNT / TOTALAnnual Conference/Student Awards Expenses / € 5656.26 / € 5656.26
Administration (mail shots/Promotional material ) / € 1715.21 / € 7371.47
Teleconference /phone / broadband /Group text/postage. / € 1091.22 / € 8462.69
Resource Development/Printing / € 2115.42 / € 10578.11
Bank Fees / € 208.35 / € 10786.46
Website Maintenance / Graphic design of electronic newsletter / € 1980.00 / € 12766.46
Travel and subsistence Lcana members / € 4787.06 / € 17553.52
Travel and subsistence for Lcanaexecutive / € 2875.83 / € 20429.35
Workshop Expenses / € 2754.81 / € 23184.16
Grand Total / € 23184.16
Deficit of expenditure over income on 31st August 2016 = € 1374.93
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Pat Cashman (Hon.Treasurer) 22/11/2016
MEMBERSHIP: There are 33 fully paid up members of LCANA. Maureen is sending e receipts to all members .Brian will send out reminder e- mails to all Coordinators. More members joined at todays conference.
MOTIONS: The conference was extremely successful this year with excellent evaluations from the delegates. We will build on this success for the coming year.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Chairperson-Tom Rogers, proposed by Sandra and Maureen.
Secretary- Sandra Joyce , proposed by Tom and Caron
Treasurer- Pat Cashman, proposed by Brian and Tom
Membership Secetary- Maureen Casey, proposed by Caron and Margaret
Executive- Caron, Margaret, Jerome, Brian, Mary and Joanne. Harry is stepping down from the LCANA.
EXECUTIVE MEETINGS 2017: Jan. 21st, April 1st, June 17th with conference calls to plan all meetings beforehand .
AOB: Everyone needs to send on their bios for the next newsletter. We will encourage coordinators to send on articles by offering a prize for the best article as this worked well this year(voucher for Pennys )
LCANA workshops will take place on Dec 7th in Castlebar, Feb.7th in Blackrock and Navan Education centres on the theme: ‘The role of the Coordinator in LCA and LCA school plan’
There will be a new e mail for the magazine