An insider’s guide to education
The Ruairí Quinn Revolution is continuing apace at the Department of Education.
The new Minister is at his desk every morning by 8am, relishing the task of transforming Ireland’s education system.
Despite his age (Quinn celebrated his 65th birthday recently ) the new Minister is a man in a hurry. He has let it be known he has only two and a half years to achieve real progress – before the mid-term Cabinet reshuffle.
Last week Quinn finalised a strong management team, with the appointment of Deirdre Grant as communications director.
A former broadcast journalist with an intuitive understanding of the media business, Grant will be a key figure in driving perhaps the most ambitious agenda ever set by an education minister.
Within the department, Quinn sees secretary general Brigid McManus and much-lauded assistant secretary Martin Hanevy as key allies in the battles ahead.
Quinn himself has been encouraged by the response to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. The expected fire and brimstone from the hierarchy never materialised. And Quinn’s tactic of setting ambitious targets (a 50 per cent transfer rate for Catholic schools) helped to concentrate minds.
Now it’s onward to the next frontier: how to boost standards in our schools.
The big issues at the Teachers’ Union of Ireland conference this week was: who will be the next general secretary? The word from the union’s Rathgar bunker is that deputy general secretary Annette Dolan and assistant general secretary John MacGabhann are battling it out for the lucrative post. A decision is due next month. At the ASTI, newish general secretary Pat King has made a very strong impression. His next task? Ensuring that this week’s conference in Cork portrays the all new ASTI in a positive light.
Remember those days when your parents warned about the potentially malign influence on pop stars in your life?
All has changed. Singer Jessie J (left) is under ferocious attack on Twitter after criticising the drunken antics of so many students at the recent Trinity Ball. Jessie J, who is a non-drinker, explains she was upset to see so many crying girls being squashed in the drunken heave. Our view? She deserves credit rather than criticism for highlighting the madness.
As if to confirm her fears about Irish drinking, the latest University Observer reports how 78 per cent of UCD students have suffered recent memory loss as a result of heavy imbibing.
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is under the spotlight again for its lavish spending.
The Irish Examinerreported recently how the college spent more than €20,000 on furniture, fittings and security for the office of its president, located in a new building completed just three years ago. The story relates how WIT boss Prof Kieran Byrne had been in hot water before, after it was revealed in 2009 that a staggering €157,050 was spent on an office and boardroom, including two individual kitchenettes that came in at €6,250 each.
The report has attracted huge interest on boards.ie and other websites. Understandably, many hard-pressed students are wondering how this spending can be justified.
Got some education gossip? E-mail in confidence teacherspet@irishtimes.com
