An insider's guide to education

The decision to appoint 660 new special needs teachers is another example of the very real progress which is being made in education in this State. Yes, there is still much that is wrong. But a huge amount has been achieved. Three years ago, the biggest issues in Irish education were the dilapidated state of Irish primary schools and the neglect of children with special needs. These problems have not been resolved but real progress has been made.

Noel Dempsey was the first minister to secure more than €200 million a year for primary school buildings and Mary Hanafin has continued the good work. The scandal of rat-infested schools may be coming to an end.

Meanwhile, special needs education has seen a transformation. The number of special needs assistants has jumped from a handful a decade ago to more than 6,000 this year. In the past year, more than 1,200 special needs teachers have also been appointed.

And who deserves credit for this astonishing progress? Take a bow the INTO executive - in celebratory mood at last week's meeting - which has pushed the agenda. Credit also to Mary Hanafin who has shown, particularly with regard to special needs, that she is a real force in the Cabinet.

The Republic is in a transitional stage as we build the kind of education infrastructure other EU states take for granted. The next frontier? Did someone mention over 70,000 children in classes of more than 30 pupils?

That decision by the Higher Education Authority to give an extension to embattled UCC boss Gerry Wrixon was not unexpected. The president may have plenty of enemies in Cork - a plentiful supply of e-mail is still reaching this column - but he has powerful friends. Mary Harney, for one, is a big fan.

In truth, the HEA had little choice. Wrixon has been in the vanguard of the so-called "reform process" at third level, which the Government so admires. He could hardly be punished for his efforts.

Speaking of university reforms . . . what naughty academic was responsible for that graffiti opposite the careers office at Belfield which read: "You are all Brady's slave children"; a reference to UCD boss Hugh Brady. Happily, the graffiti in large black letters on a concrete pillar has been erased. Disgraceful!

That piece last week about the shambles that is Junior Cert Civics or CSPE has stirred a huge response from teachers. Like us, several teachers are confused by the demands of the so-called Action Project, completed by the students themselves.

One teacher said she could not understand precisely what the examiners are looking for. She wonders how we can expect the average 15 year-old to understand? A fair point. Examiners please note.

Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irish-times.ie