It's funny how the atmosphere in a staffroom can change, even if it is ever so slightly, when the prospect of new appointments to posts of responsibility is in the offing. The PCW has ordained that the number of posts in a school will no longer be based on the ages of the students but on the number of teachers allocated to that school. Because of our relatively high dropout rate before students reach the senior cycle, this means that we are due four or five new posts whenever the final details have been worked out between our union and the Department. This should be all good news, but it isn't. Good friends of nine or 10 years' standing now see one another as rivals. Readiness to co-operate, especially with those thought to be favoured by the principal, is somewhat less forthcoming. Why should a few be singled out when everyone (or almost) has worked hard in very difficult circumstances to build up a successful school in an area with no tradition of second-level education? People always feel disappointed and rejected if their application is not successful, but if it is generally agreed that there has been fair play that sense is usually short-lived. However, over the years people have come to the conclusion that the interview is not the determining factor in who gets a particular post. Neither does it seem to be a particular aptitude for whatever duties are required of the post-holder.

Word gets out that "so and so's" hour has come (even before the interview takes place) and more often than not "so and so" is appointed. Many believe that whoever is "well in" at that time will be promoted regardless of any other factor. Hence, suspicion runs deep. However, these will be the first appointments under the PCW, which has ordained that the interviewing process be more transparent and that the interviewing board will have greater expertise. Maybe this time faith in the appointments system will be restored.

Meanwhile, the weight of new courses is beginning to take its toll. Good-humoured banter is being replaced by people proclaiming that they have had enough. In our school over the last number of years we have introduced the Junior Cert, new syllabi in some subjects in the Leaving Cert, the Leaving Cert Applied, the Leaving Cert Vocational Programme, the Transition Year, Post Leaving Cert courses, VTOS, and CSPE at junior cycle. With all of this innovation, how is one to find time and energy to do all the ordinary things as well? What was it that esteemed columnist wrote in that Sunday newspaper? Oh yes, we are the spoiled brats of the public service. We are indeed!