An insider's guide to education
• Remember the halcyon days of Teachers United and the close bond that existed between the three teaching unions? You could say that things have changed.
Relations between the ASTI and its sister unions, the TUI and the INTO, are now creaking at the edges. Many senior figures in both the TUI and the INTO see the ASTI as an ILDA-like union that has lost the run of itself. They feel great sympathy for Charlie Lennon, a very popular figure in the trade union movement, who remains the public face of the union.
In normal times, the three teachers unions would now be planning a joint response to the benchmarking pay review due in June. But many bridges will have to be rebuilt before any kind of Teachers United Mark II is feasible.
• TP is often accused of being too hard on his friends out in UCD's Belfield campus, particularly their habit of trying to keep even the most innocent morsel of information under wraps.
However maybe TP's gentle mockery may be working. Word reaches us that the great and the good at UCD are to put the agendas and dates of their governing body meetings on the web in the not too distant future. Previously, this information was off-limits to pesky hacks like TP.
TP says hooray and a great victory for democracy and free speech!
• TP has to admire the bravery of his friends in the NCCA, who are planning to review the position of Irish in schools.
The new chief executive there, Anne Looney, is heavily involved and is not going to do anything rash. She wants the language supported in schools and is clear that the NCCA has no role in examining its Constitutional position.
However, even this innocuous review has been given the red card by the Gaelgoirí already. They say níl, níl, níl. So no change there then.
• TP congratulates the ASTI on its latest issue of Astir, the union's internal newsletter.
The current special issue is devoted solely to reflections on the recent OECD report which poured praise on the education system here.
The pages of the newsletter are bulging with compliments for our teaching friends and there is much self- congratulation on view. And who would begrudge them?
However, one finding of that particular OECD report which does not merit inclusion is the enormous amount of time Irish students spend at grind schools. Is that why our pupils are doing so well or it is the ASTI? Maybe its both, says TP, diplomatically.
If you have any education gossip please e-mail teacherspet@irish-times.ie
