Meet Our Officers: Kate Lehane

 My name is Kate Lehane and I am proud to be representing the students as Student Council Support Officer. I come from Malahide, Co. Dublin and attend Malahide Community School. As a student in TY I thought that now would be the perfect time to become an officer as I can dedicate myself to the position. I ran for this position as I am very passionate about student voice (not just providing the voice but allowing students to learn what that means, how to use it, etc). I want students to be aware of how important and beneficial their voice is. As we are the future law makers, politicians, legislators, workers I believe we should all be educated on the issues that affect us now.  Outside of the ISSU and NSE I love watersports and volunteer work. In the summers I volunteer at my local sailing school and am training to be a sailing instructor. As Student Council Support Officer my main aim for this year is to increase membership, represent the union and obviously promote the student voice. I hope to meet as many interested students and teachers at events, training days and meetings in the coming year as possible!

Regional Councils

Imagine a series of events held all around the country that were entry free but filled with such valuable information. Imagine a day in your province where you could connect with students from all the counties around you and share stories and experiences. Imagine a day aimed at not only students on a schools’ student council but any student interested and passionate about student voice. Imagine a day that could open so many new opportunities for you and introduce you to endless possibilities. That day is your local Regional Council. That day is about ISSU.The ISSU’s annual Regional Councils are a series of events that are incredibly inspiring. Often in school it can be hard to express your thoughts about school life but more importantly it can be difficult to find people that actually care and want to make a change. Regional Councils are a gathering of second-level students in each region around Ireland that are interested in Student Voice and who want to be part of making changes. Attending your local Regional Council can be incredibly refreshing and can really show you how much students can get involved in the world around you and open up lots of possibilities for your future.Prior to the event students can nominate themselves to the National Council of Schools which is an operational structure of the ISSU and is composed of 8 of the most reliable, hardworking and passionate students from around Ireland, 2 from each region. The National Council of Schools (NCS) work alongside the National Student Executive (who take care of the daily running of the ISSU) by raising issues from each region and by meeting during the year.The events are held in Munster (Cork), Leinster (Dublin), Dublin, West (Galway) and Donegal so that students around the green isle can connect locally. This is especially important because local issues can be discussed, for instance issues affecting students in Galway may be very different to those in inner city Dublin and so by Galway school students discussing issues on a separate day it is much much more effective.In essence, your local Regional Council is an amazing, educational and inspirational day while also being so much fun and a chance for you to meet some of the best people. It’s a day that young people around Ireland who are interested in student voice should attend, it's sure to be an unforgettable and unmissable experience!If this sounds like your cup of tea you can register here to join in on your local regional council and make a difference in your province! http://Click Here To Register! https://form.jotform.com/63133597556969

Blog: Transition Year Work Experience

Saoirse reviews her Transition Year Work Experience in the ISSU Office.

Every Wednesday from April 6th to May 11th this year I worked in the ISSU office in Liberty Hall as part of my Transition Year work experience. During my time in the ISSU office I got to do a wide range of administration and secretarial work which I found very interesting and beneficial. I worked closely with the ISSU's General Secretary, Rebecca Dempsey, along with members of the NSE (National Student Executive).Walking up to Liberty Hall on the first day I was unsure of what to expect. I didn't know a lot about the work that the ISSU and National Student Executive did on a daily basis. I signed in at the front desk of Liberty Hall and was told to go to the 9th floor where the ISSU office is located. As I opened up the door to the office, I was greeted with a friendly and welcoming hello from Rebecca. I was first brought to the desk that I would be working at for the following few weeks, then I got a tour of the office and was given a brief but informative overview of what work was done in the ISSU and the type of work that I would be involved in.From the first day I completed many different types of office work and I personally found that my computer skills were developed greatly. I developed my computer skills by using the various databases, using Excel to make tables, and using Microsoft word to write blogs and creating lists. Other work included typing, printing and sending letters out to Student Councils throughout the country, and proof reading letters and documents. One of my main tasks whilst working in the ISSU was writing a blog piece. I really enjoyed writing my blog piece on the topic of the Junior Certificate as it was something different that I had never done before and I also enjoyed hearing feedback from people who had read my blog and had taken something useful from it.Writing the blog was one of them things that I only expected to be a small project but it turned out to be something much more. The blog was not only on the ISSU website but SpunOut.ie posted it on their page and have asked me to write for them again. In addition to that, my school uploaded it onto the school website where it got lots of attention from exam students. Because of this, I have been asked to tutor many Junior Cert students in a number of different subjects. If I wasn't asked by Rebecca to write the blog piece, none of these opportunities would have been opened up to me. That's why I think Transition Year is a great course to take part in, so many opportunities are opened up to you that you never thought would be.I learned so much from working in the ISSU and out of all the places I did my work experience in this year, the ISSU was no doubt one of my favourites. The people involved in the ISSU are some of the nicest people I have ever met, especially Rebecca who I worked closely with. I felt so comfortable working and talking with them. I was only in the ISSU for 6 weeks but in that short space of time I learned so much and developed as a person.I would definitely recommend working in or with the ISSU for work experience next year or any year after that to Transition Year students. You'll learn a lot of valuable skills and get to work in a new environment with lovely people. It was sad to leave the ISSU as I finished my work experience module but I've gained so much from it and would definitely work with them again if the  if the opportunity came up.Note: Saoirse attends Ashbourne School in Ashbourne Co. Meath. You can read her article on getting through the Junior Cert here: http://issu.ie/2016/05/one-year-junior-cert/Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie

Officer Blog: OBESSU Convention on Education and Work

Joanna reviews her trip to Brussels for the Convention on Education & Work.

Thank you to the Organising Bureau of Student Unions for organising this convention!

 OBESSU - What is it again?The Organising Bureau for European School Student Unions (OBESSU) is an organisation which connects and supports student voice on a European level. It was set up in Dublin 30 years ago and today OBESSU is a 22 member strong body, which works tirelessly to advocate for student rights and bring European student unions together for training's, conventions and study sessions to discuss various topics relevant to them. OBESSU is best defined by its political platform, a document which sets out the main objectives and stands of the Bureau, available on their website. It’s a vibrant and super engaging organisation which does amazing work for students. Find out more here -  http://www.obessu.org/  #EduWork The OBESSU convention on Education and Work ran from the 24th to the 28th of May in Brussels. This convention brought participants from countries such as Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to name a few. I represented Ireland through the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU).We came together to discuss recent developments and reports regarding the discourse and actions that EU institutions are adopting on the topic of education and work… Basically we brainstormed and explained situations in our own countries, what we believed in and what we wanted to see happen. Then we investigated what EU bodies are saying on these topics and how we want to respond to them.These conventions are brilliant for really getting to understand a topic and for me, it showed me how EU debates and decisions influence Irish politics on the topic of education and its’ links to work. So, what did we do in Brussels? The week began with getting to know each other and getting to know statistical information from different countries, as well as chatting about our experiences and attitudes towards education and work in our countries. There was an online phase before the convention, and some of the research that we carried out there was used to make a map of youth unemployment and NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) young people.To be honest, I found it difficult to focus just on the unemployed group of young people and their experiences of education, when in my opinion NEETs are a group with much bigger issues. Also, it quickly became evident that when it comes to living in poverty and difficulties in accessing both education and work, there are particular groups in society who face this problem more than others. Migrants, and especially migrants from non-EU countries are the most vulnerable group. But, this convention dealt with education and work on a European level and national level within our countries and organisations. So from day two, we focused on this theme. Some of the highlights :) It was great that during the week we got to talk to a panel of MEPs and a panel of stakeholders, representing EU institutions, trade unions, youth and corporations. Both panel debates were very interesting and gave us a real chance to engage with the European discourses and get good insights into the topic.We had sessions on work of national institutions, OBESSU and other youth organisations who lobby on a European level, discussing skills for the labour market and many discussions on links of vocational education to work and shaping curricula and attitudes in schools towards providing pupils with skills needed for work.Different student unions had very different things to say about how vocational education is regarded in their countries and how curricula are either incredibly outdated or re-designed in favour of the  needs of the labour market. I also found it interesting how much emphasis the EU is putting on the ‘skills agenda’ or what’s called ‘skills mismatch’. These terms are used to explain why our schools need to change how they teach in order to prepare students for the labour market, because currently the ‘mismatch’ occurs for some graduates from school/college and it means that students have skills that don’t suit the needs of the labour market… Which I 100% disagree with!!Education is for life, not for labour markets. Skills should be adaptable. School should focus on producing creative, critical and healthy individuals who have the abilities necessary to face challenges of life. Students should be taught to manage and organise themselves and most importantly, engage in life-long learning beyond formal education. This ‘mismatch’ is not an issue of student knowledge and skills, it’s an issue of the labour markets adaptability and being able to make the most out of the potential of the graduates that we have. And, it’s also an issue of some school systems still being based on an old-style industrial model of learning material off by heart, without any continuous assessment or critical thinking skills. We need education reform and for labour markets to adapt for students, not for students to adapt for labour markets.It drove me crazy to look over the EU research in this field! But what’s important to remember, is that at OBESSU trips I am representing the students of Ireland, not my personal beliefs, so I tried my best to focus on the discourse in Ireland and what we have been hearing from students at various events and our AGM on this topic. OMCs and other interesting things to research! For anyone interested in how EU education policies are formed and how they influence national agendas, I highly recommend looking up the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) group on Education. These groups don’t make binding laws, but their discussions influence politicians from around Europe, who then bring what they discussed and learned in the OMC back to their home countries to continue the conversation. The conversations around education and work are based on different perspectives in the OMC - not just education to fill labour gaps, but also education as something that is our human right and that is necessary for life, not for work.So, after many discussions, which went on long past the dedicated session times and really opened my eyes to the topic of education and work, it was time for conclusions and drafting plans for our home organisations!I brainstormed a bit with friends from the Czech student union and got a lot of inspiration from the Finnish reps. I  then sat down to write my plan. There was a ‘local phase’ aspect to the convention. This means that all of the participants will try to incorporate the topic of education and work and the learning that they have gathered over the week into the work plans of their organisations. This is a bit tricky, because as a representative of ISSU I couldn’t make decisions on behalf of the whole union. However, I could brainstorm ideas and learn from the other organisations and form a proposal to the National Student Executive (NSE).I thought that a blog outlining the event was a must, but I also considered actions such as writing letters to the minister for jobs, commenting on the skills-agenda in Ireland and encouraging education for life discourse, and not education for work language; for example there is a lot of incentivising done to Irish students to take STEM subjects, not because there is a boom in interest among young people in maths, science and technology subjects, but because there are jobs in them. This encouragement to get an education with the goal of getting a job in a field is not right. Education should be for life. When students are  making choices about what fields of study to go into, they should have the freedom to chose the topics that they feel most passionate or concerned about and which they enjoy. We want students to be happy and fulfilled by their studies, not to get caught in a course because they feel forced into it, or like it is the only option in order to make money some day. We can see the negative effects of this in the high dropout rates of students who took up STEM, when it wasn’t right for them.Effective guidance counselling, work experience programmes and tasters/shadow opportunities to experience what different education paths and fields are like are so important for students to help them make the right choices for themselves. And most importantly, students must have the freedom to chose what will make them happy and fulfilled as a person. No one should be setting an agenda for education. Human rights are not debatable.I feel strongly about this topic and I would be more than happy to work with the NSE on designing workshops on this topic for use in student council meet ups and our Regional Councils in September/October. It would help us reach out to students with this topic and make them aware of it, as well as empowering them and our organisation in order to take an active part in the discussions with Irish politicians about it.My plans are drafted in my learning notebook from the week and ready for proposal at the upcoming student executive meeting. Also, if anything in my blog sparked your interest or you have any questions and the link between education and work, about OBESSU or how ISSU engages with other second-level students’ unions and then with our own grass root members in order to shape policies and action plans - drop us an email at info@issu.ie or joanna@issu.ie :) I’d be happy to answer!Then it ended… Time for the next project! The week in Brussels ended super emotional, as always. But, I was lucky because less than 48 hours later I was back in the European capital! I am currently a part of the 6-person prep team for OBESSU's Summer School ‘Democracy and Active Participation’ which will take place in Kosovo this July! The prep team met for 2 days and it was a very intense yet interesting experience. For more updates on the summer school and what I learned while sitting on the prep team, keep an eye out on the ISSU social media and follow myself and our President Jane on Snapchat from July 2nd, and see for yourself what the summer school will be like! Snapchat @issu4u Photo Credits: OBESSU http://www.obessu.org :)Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie

Leaving Certificate Applied Maths

Liam - Higher Level 

Questions that I did: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10Applied Maths. The last exam. The end of LC'16. This finale could not have come sooner in my opinion. The exam was okay, some questions needed more time than the exam permitted, other questions were grand!I stared off with 8, just to get the moment of inertia proof out of the way,  it was for a rod so it was reasonably simple and the following question was good too! 10 took a few minutes to comprehend, and I took my normal maths teacher's advice, if you don't understand, draw a graph. And so I did! The questions weren't the worst, but then I got onto question 1.I usually love question 1. Usually. It was one where I kept coming back to it , don't even know why! It was tricky out.  3 was okay too. The first part I thought okay , but again, timing out me off getting it properly. 4 and 5 were okay I think. I got them so that's good… right ??Overall , it wasn't perfect my any means, but long live attempt marks… eh?Thanks so much for reading my and every one else's blogs over the course of LC 2016, hopefully we helped you get closure over the exams after them and now we can forget ALLLLL about them. Live long and prosper folks! 

Cárthach - Higher Level 

Okay, so this was an extra subject. Glad to be done. I found it extremely difficult.Forgetting my calculator was a first mistake, but it was only outside the door so my examiner allowed me to go get it! So despite being off to a bad start, I managed Question 1. (I) but the rest, I thought, were questions that were challenging and very tricky to understand, and almost misleading.After speaking to a few people, nobody was a fan of the paper...and the different style question 4(a) and tricky 'a' parts all around.It was an extra subject for me, but overall, it's main benefit was that it helped with honours Maths!Congrats on everyone who finished today! As I'm writing this from the sesh; I have walked a long road to freedom, and added a good few miles by choosing this subject, it was a painful pleasure!-Cárthach Ó Faoláin out!Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie

Leaving Certificate Japanese

Klara - Higher Level

Japanese, my last exams and possibly one of the better ones!The minute the exam started I went straight to the last section to see what essay titles came up. I was most worried about the essays as you never know what could come up. However, over the two years of the course the amount of vocabulary you build up really helps to deal with any essay title that comes up - even if you've never written about it before.  The short essay was a choice between writing a diary entry on a hiking trip or on a film festival. For both you had to talk about how the event went and what you did straight afterwards.  The long essay was the first email you would send to a Japanese pen pal in which you would describe your family, Irish weather, food, your area, your daily routine in school and what they they should bring with them if they came to Ireland.The reading comprehension were easy overall, however, it took me a long time to work out some of the katakana readings. I had to read them over and over in my head to try and understand the meaning.The grammar questions were actually pretty good too; changing into the positive and particles came up. The kanji that came up were also pretty easy and there was no obscure kanji compound.The listening was also quite easy but I found parts of the last section challenging to understand.Overall, this was a great exam and I can safely say that my Leaving cert has ended on a high note! 

Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie