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ISLAND CONNECTIONS :: EDITION 712 :: 10/01/2014 - 23/01/2014 Canary Islands H undreds of aspiring teachers who have been forced to obtain a postgraduate teaching qualification in order to be able to get a job in a secondary school have accused the Department of Education of conning them into paying for a course that has done them no good whatsoever. The aspiring teachers say the Mas- ter’s degree they have taken has not fast-tracked them into posts due to the preferential treatment given to current temporary teachers on the Department’s books. “The unions have pressured the authorities into setting aside a substantial number of new jobs for temporary teach- ers, many of whom have never even both- ered to improve their qualifications or sit the mandatory competitive exam for a tenured post” said a spokesperson for the 409 disgruntled laureates of the Master’s degree. “The temporary teachers have a much easier route than us and they can even scrape through with a 4/10 in any competitive exam, due to the excessive weight given to their teaching experi- ence, which is not even assessed in terms of quality. Our full-time qualification was made mandatory in 2009, but is of little use and it is no surprise that the Canar- ies are bottom of the education league ta- bles” he added. E l Hierro’s authorities may argue that the island’s volcanic activity is a tourist attraction, but try telling that to around 30 holidaymakers who were caught out by the earthquake that struck just before the end of the year. Measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the ‘quake triggered rockfalls in hilly parts and forced the authorities to close a number of roads. It was felt not just on El Hierro but on three other islands, includ- ing Tenerife. Among those affected were dozens of tourists on two of the island’s beaches, El Verodal and Arenas Blancas, left incommunicado by the roackfalls. All were safely rescued by the emergen- cy services a few hours later. T he world’s most intel- ligent, not to mention tastiest, cruise could be a caller to Gran Canaria later this year, if an ingenious idea to bring brains from the past and the future materialises. The idea is to have up to 20 Nobel Prize winners and 18 top Michelin-starred chefs travel on board a ship for a “meeting of minds” cruise, which would see them pass on their knowl- edge and expertise to 400 handpicked students from different parts of the world. The unique cruise is being prepared by the Excel- lence Foundation, which has already pencilled in some top names from the worlds of physics, medi- cine, mathematics and oth- er disciplines, along with a EXCELLENCE CRUISE Food for the body and the mind shortlist of award-winning chefs, to spend around three weeks sailing from Germany through Europe and, hopefully, as far down as Gran Canaria, in the company of the young stu- dents. Full details are still to be finalised but cruise com- pany MSC has already committed to making its prestigious Orchestra lin- er available for the trip, which is expected to take place in September. Al- though the Canaries were not on the original route for the unique cruise, there are hopes that the itinerary might change to accommodate a stop-over, to link in with the ongoing University of Las Palmas Campus of Excellence ini- tiative. POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS COMPLAINT TEACHING QUALIFICATION “WORTHLESS” MSC have pledged Orchestra EL HIERRO TOURISTS IN ‘QUAKE SCARE
