An insider's guide to education
What is going on with Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn?
After a sparkling start in Education, he has endured several difficult weeks culminating in last week’s Morning Ireland interview where he struggled to answer questions on school buildings.
Two weeks ago Quinn was also very poor in explaining those cuts to Deis or disadvantaged schools. His defence – that he did not fully understand the implications of the budget cuts – dismayed many within the education sector.
The Minister had been hoping the €1.5 billion school building programme would mark a change in fortune. Instead, it turned into a PR disaster with Quinn accused of “over-spinning” by Fianna Fáil and of spreading “confusion’’ by the powerful INTO.
Some Department officials were less than pleased with the INTO’s intervention in the controversy – particularly some critical comments by general secretary Sheila Nunan (right) on RTÉ’s Six One News. But Nunan – as ever- appeared exceptionally well-briefed.
For the Minister, things may get worse before they get better. He is bound to be the subject of some very robust criticism from delegates at the forthcoming teacher union conference.
His challenge now? Ignore the recent setbacks and focus on his ambitious reform agenda. Quinn still has the capacity to deliver substantial and much-needed reform to Irish education which will endure long after the most recent controversy has faded away.
Farmers resist new student grant test
Predictably, the farm lobby was out in force last week opposing the new Capital Assets Test for student grants. The ICMSA has promised a “tooth and nail” campaign of resistance against the changes to current means-testing arrangements. The group also challenged “urban myths’ about student grants for farmer children, pointing to recent figures from the Higher Education Authority.
But readers might also browse the 1997 de Buitleir report. This concluded the current means test is “defective in that it fails to take full account of ability to pay – particularly since it ignores the accumulated wealth of individuals. Some people with clearly expensive lifestyles obtain grants while others, who are very hard-pressed, lose out”.
De Buitleir reported how one farmer had 122 acres and net assets of £215,000, but his annual income for grant purposes was only £15,000.
Over to you – ICMSA!
Lavish expenses at the Teaching Council
What is it about the Teaching Council – the regulatory group for the profession – which seems to irritate teachers so much?
This column has been bombarded with emails from teachers complaining about the compulsory €90 annual payment to the quango.
Now comes news about the lavish €129,000 in expenses enjoyed by members of the Teaching Council board, mostly drawn from the teacher unions. These were, by some distance, the highest expenses claimed by any education board according to figures revealed by Minister Quinn in the Dáil last week.
Board members at the Redress Board incurred less than 50 per cent of this figure in expenses while those at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment claimed a more modest €16,000 in 2011.
Speaking of quangos . . .
Ireland’s omission from the Times Higher Education list of top 100 universities by reputation was another setback for our higher education sector. But has anyone told the Irish Universities Quality Board, the quango responsible for quality assurance?
Last week, the group rolled out another report on the performance of an Irish university, this time the University of Limerick. As usual, there was scarcely a critical note in the report. Indeed, UL highlighted the good news via its own press release.
It may be that UL deserved the lavish praise. It is a dynamic and much respected college. But higher education in this State might benefit from a more robust approach than that employed by IUQB which is part funded by the universities themselves!
Legislation is in train to establish a new agency – Qualifications and Quality Assurance Ireland.
But why do we suspect nothing will really change?
