An insider's guide to education:The annual round of teacher conferences were expected to be a final lap of honour for Mary Hanafin. But they proved to be more difficult than anyone could have imagined.

There were clear signs that the unions are getting restless on pay, while the INTO continued to highlight the broken promises on class size.

For such a gifted communicator, Hanafin sounded strangely ill at ease during her interview on RTÉ's News at Onelast week. Seán O'Rourke grilled her brilliantly on the class size issue and those new promises on primary school funding.

It all begs the question of whether this Minister is comfortable with the latest round of auction politics on education. Over the winter she said all those promises on class size could have been met, but for her decision to give priority to special needs and newcomer children.

It was a persuasive case. She had opted to help the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, she was signalling to the INTO how she would deliver on class size.

Hanafin held this line until the Taoiseach's sudden announcement of 4,000 teachers at the Ardfheis changed everything. It made it look as though the Minister, under pressure from the successful INTO campaign on class size, had caved in.

Given her record, Hanafin should be gliding into the election as one of the star turns of this administration.

But those teaching unions are awkward, quick on their feet - and powerful.

•Bernard Lynch, the enfant terribleof the ASTI, lost out in his battle to become vice-president of the union. But he accepted his defeat with good grace.

Lynch, once expelled from the union for allegedly threatening behaviour at executive meetings, is back in the fold. He likened himself to the Prodigal Son returning to a dysfunctional family!

•That effusive tribute paid by INTO boss John Carr to Mary Hanafin had some INTO conference delegates shuffling nervously in their seats last week.

In what is seen as a rare lapse of judgment, Carr appeared to declare for Hanafin as the next minister for education!

In fairness, he did not mean his personal tribute to be seen in a party political way; it was an honest personal tribute.

That said, it will confirm the suspicion in some quarters that the INTO is the Fianna Fáil branch of the education sector. Privately, the INTO leadership is already preparing for another Fianna Fáil-led administration.

But there's many a slip . . .

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