The Queen of England and Northern Ireland's Minister for Education Martin McGuinness have something in common. Both of them are the proud owners of rubber sing-a-long fish which belt out soul tunes and wiggle their scaly heads in time to the music.

McGuinness's Billy Bass takes pride of place in his office at Rathgael House, Co Down, where on the street outside tattered Union Jacks flap defiantly from lampposts.

When you pass Billy Bass, a high-tech sensor is triggered and the fish launches into a rousing rendition of Don't Worry, Be Happy. As McGuinness tucks into a sandwich-and-soup lunch, he is relaxed and smiling, looking for all the world like someone who has adopted that particular philosophy himself.

Given his own educational history it seems incredible that for almost a year now, he has held this brief, arguably one of the most important in the Northern Ireland Executive. He left school, the Brow of the Hill Christian Brothers in Derry, at 15; he says his days there were "filled with fear" by his teachers and his only positive memories came from participation in sport.

"The vast majority (of Christian Brothers) were very good and decent people and very keenly interested in the education of young people. Unfortunately there was a tiny minority who in my view were not well suited to teaching at all. They didn't have the right temperament and instilled a sense of fear in many of the young people. "There is no doubt corporal punishment was meted out and worse," he says. "It was enough to actively discourage me in terms of academic life . . . . I couldn't get away from school quick enough, to tell you truth."

He says the civil rights movement in Derry at the end of the 1960s had a highly educating and politicising affect on him and other people of his generation - and that these experiences are of benefit to him in his current position. "Although I wasn't formally educated in university, I was educated in the University of the Bogside. There were people there who were involved in public debate and discussion, people who were keenly interested and politically aware.

"I became politically active in Derry, became very much involved in trying to establish Sinn Fein as a political force all over the island. We did that with considerable success," he says.

Still, the protests that marred the early months of his appointment were not conducted by people who objected to his academic credentials, or lack thereof. For some unionists, the idea that someone so caught up in the IRA's "armed struggle" could now be responsible for the educational future of their children is anathema.

McGuinness dismisses those who object to his position as "Paisley clones" and "rejectionist unionists".

"I don't doubt also that there may be some people within the unionist quarter who are opposed to me because of my history and because of the political struggle, but the question is whether or not that affects my ability to do the job. I don't think it does."

He maintains that the people who voted for the Belfast Agreement weren't under any illusions as to what it meant. "They knew that there was every prospect that we would end up with at least one and possibly two ministers, and so I think that none of that was a surprise to the pro-agreement unionists. "The unionist community have had to come to terms with that. Have they come to terms with it? I think the vast majority have," he says.

Anyway, he adds, the protests have died away. "Of all the education ministers over the last 30 years, I am the most invited to schools," he says. And while, yes, he admits most of these are Catholic schools, "there have been invitations to other sectors".

A key objection to his elevation as Minister for Education has been the fear that he will be biased towards the nationalist community - an idea that, not surprisingly, he rejects. "I am going out of my way to be scrupulous and meticulous in this regard. It is vital to me to show that in no circumstances are we going to get involved in anything that would suggest that any section of the community will be discriminated against - we have heard too much about discrimination in the past. "To inflict that on anyone else would be stupid, it would be wrong, it would be politically disastrous and I would have no part of it," he says.

When he talks about the need to improve educational standards on the Falls Road and the Bogside in Derry he is quick to mention the Shankill and "other working-class unionist areas" too. He says that decisions as to where and what kind of schools are going to be built - one of the first things he did as Minister was announce a £72 million school building package - will be taken strictly in terms of educational needs.

He has already been involved in advancing proposals for two integrated schools to "show the Executive that we were going to be very fair to everybody". What does he think of integrated institutions? "I think they are great, and Catholic schools are great."

Another project he is keenly interested in is the development of Irish-medium schools. "The vast bulk in the Assembly have shown themselves to be respectful to the Irish language . . . . It's about equality. If the numbers are there in terms of parents wishing to have their children educated through Irish then it should be available to them."

His well publicised objections to the 11-plus exam - a selection process which occurs in the last year of primary school - prompted him to establish a review of the system. The idea of such testing goes against his own educational philosophy, he says. "We have to move from the three Rs to the three ens. The three ens for me are encouragement, enjoyment and enlightenment. "If there are aspects of the current system which are discouraging to people in terms of their education, then we have a huge responsibility to address that." Education for McGuinness is about preparing young people for meaningful and productive lives. "You don't only lead such a life if you follow the world of academia," he says. "I know a young boy who works on a fishing boat in Greencastle, Co Donegal, who had difficulties at school and left early but is now earning £700 a week.

"The world of academia is very, very important, but because we are living in a changing world and there are so many different jobs that people can turn their attentions to, we have to provide an education system that is encouraging to everybody."

And how, he asks, can you encourage a 10-yearold if at that age you announce that he or she is a failure?

McGuinness seems to have grown into his role, though like others in the Executive he could still be said to be on his ministerial L plates. Although everybody agrees that the drab eyesore that Rathgael House is not a nice building, he says: "The people who work here are nice . . . . They reflect society on the outside, these are people who want to see a peaceful resolution to the conflict." He describes his ministerial style as "very hands on" and jokes that he has to watch his civil servants "like a hawk".

However, he says his relationship with his senior civil servants is good. When he arrived at Rathgael House one of them gave him a copy of Yes, Minister.

The main downside to the job is the amount of travel involved - McGuinness has a regular chauffeur-driven commute to the Bangor offices from Derry. "I get up at 5.30 a.m. On a good day I would spend at least five hours in the car - that is a minus - but the benefit is that you can read and catch up on papers."

His family are the most important thing to him and he has not seen as much as he would like of them over the last 10 years. As a parent he seems to have been quite relaxed about the educational path his children took. "At the end of the day it is up to themselves to choose their own path in life - all you can do is provide that essential encouragement. That is all you can do."

Asked what he would like to be remembered for at the end of his tenure as Minister for Education, he quotes Percy French. "Remember me is all I ask, and if the remembrance proves a task, forget."

Then he reels off a list of hoped-for achievements so ambitious that even if he achieves only half of his goals he will have made a considerable impact.

He wants to leave behind a better education system than the one inherited from British ministers. He wants to be a crusader in terms of ending educational inequality. He wants to be seen as someone who made an effort to lift the weakest in society on to the same level as everyone else.

"I would like to see the children of the Shankill and the Bogside and other working-class areas of the North have a better prospect in life," he says.

Building links between the educational systems North and South is also important to him, a prospect that looked shakier this week with UUP leader David Trimble's moves to expel Sinn Fein from the North-South bodies.

"It is our job to end the divisions up here. It is our job to build a new island. And while it is fledgling at the moment, I have no doubt whatsoever that we will succeed."