DEAR MINISTER: As we come to the end of another academic year, you know what it is like in the staffroom. Being a teacher yourself, you will be aware of the final preparation of exam classes, the setting and correcting of class tests and evening events such as prize night, graduation masses and open days for the parents of incoming first years.

It has been a long time since the staffroom has been so unsettled. Your letter to us re "Time in School" did not go down well at all. It made for a bad start to the year - and if teachers do not get off to a good start they can remain disgruntled for many months.

Many of the older teachers had their minds set on a retirement package. They are finding teaching difficult for a number of reasons with which you are all too familiar. So, they want to retire with dignity, having made their contribution at the chalkface.

These teachers have been very quiet since the Easter conferences. They feel let down. They may not have set their schools alight but they were the ones who could always be relied upon to deliver the good exam results. Their best friend may have been the photocopier, but their experience was invaluable to successive generations of students.

Morale fell to an all time low among teachers taking extracurricular activities. Your idea of an extra 15 hours' productivity turned them off. You cannot legislate for productivity among teachers - so if this proposal should fall off the back of the now famous Department lorry, please do not search the bogs of Roscommon for it.

Promotion on merit will be a hard nut to crack. Consider for a moment if three committed teachers are going for the same post.

What contribution do you think the two disappointed candidates will make to the school?

Will each post advertised give rise to an increasing number of malcontents in the classroom?

You are well aware of the influence such people have on general staff morale.

Staffrooms on the whole are happy places. There is always a good mix of characters who give the rest of us our ration of humour. A large percentage of the kids we teach are honest to goodness types who enjoy school and develop a healthy relationship with teachers through extracurricular activities.

What makes life difficult for teachers is a small minority of students who do not want to be in school and whose home situation goes from bad to worse. They need help, but we do not have the back up services to ensure that they do not impede the progress of other children. Clever children have rights too.

We are off now for three months, during which we will supervise and correct your exams. We will also attend in service courses to refresh us for the new school year. We hope that you, too, will have a well earned rest. All we ask is that you have no surprises for us on our return in September.