An insider's guide to education.
•Now that the dust has settled on school league tables for another year, isn't it time to examine how they can be improved - so parents are given the best possible information?
Everyone bar the Luddites in education now accept that the debate on the tables themselves is old hat. The genie is out of the bottle there is no going back to a Soviet-style ban on school information.
Part of the reason is that third-level colleges love the lists; they provide free publicity and convey the very positive message that third-level is good for you!
But more could be done to tidy up the lists. To their credit, the council of directors of the 13 institutes of technology formally release their feeder-school lists and stand over their accuracy. But the universities still act alone, responding individually to media freedom of information requests. Some release figures on all feeder schools, others provide information only on schools who have sent four or more students. It is an unsatisfactory situation.
Here's an idea. Why don't the seven university heads - through their representative group, the Irish Universities' Association - formally compile and circulate official feeder lists? Or maybe there is a role here for the HEA.
Either way, it would be good to see one set of official figures published.
• This just in. Remember last week we were wondering about the reclusive National Parents Council (Post-Primary) who never phone and never write?
Now comes news that the council has spent much of the last month condemning those vulgar Ballydung bachelors Podge and Rodge.
Would anyone tell them to lighten up? Some 400,000 punters - including many parents - actually enjoy the dynamic duo!
• What is going on between Mary Hanafin and her advisory group, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), headed by Anne Looney?
Hanafin won't be top of the Christmas card list at NCCA headquarters.
The NCCA is still nursing a wound after Hanafin brushed aside their radical Leaving Cert reform plan as the "Rolls Royce" option. Then, last month she had a cut at their plans for change to Irish in the Leaving Cert.
Happily, the Minister actually likes the NCCA plan for a new maths exam. That's a relief!
Got any education gossip? E-mail us at teacherspet@irish-times.ie
