The culture in grind schools is such that you must convince students you are giving them something they will not get in their mainstream school, according to a former grind school teacher. A mystique must be created. Nothing is overtly said but it's implied that teachers have an inside track when it comes to exams. Ray Kearns, director of the Institute of Education in Dublin, denies the existence of this culture in the Institute.
Teachers involved in crash courses, evening and Saturday classes are almost all full-time second-level teachers. The best are sought out and paid accordingly, says this teacher. Teachers are recruited by recommendation not application. Because crash course class numbers in the more popular subjects can range from 150 to 200, a five-day crash course demands "high-voltage teaching". Teachers who do not perform do not get a second chance, she says.
The Institute of Education has more than 1,000 students enrolled for evening and Saturday classes and about 3,000 for crash courses at Christmas and Easter. Kearns says that market forces prevail. The Institute offers a flexible timetable where students can choose teachers and subjects in most cases.
If a student, for whatever reason, is not happy with a teacher, is it not a wonderful facility that they needn't stay one hour more, asks Kearns. "The student is king or queen. The student is the top priority. At assembly students are told to change their attitudes now. They are paying for a product and they are going to get it and nobody here knows the word `no'. He emphasises the fact that it is only part-time teachers who are affected, not full-time teachers with their livelihood at stake.
The literature from some grind schools states that many of their teachers are examiners. For instance, Bruce College's brochure states that "many of our teachers correct exam papers and are fully aware of the examination skills and techniques required to help students maximise their marks".
What is not stated in the literature produced by the various colleges, but is often implied in class, according to the former grind school teacher, is that these examiners will be better equipped to tip students as to what will appear in an exam. Of course, this is not true as only a very few teachers, who may not be examiners, set questions and the final paper contains a selection of these questions so only the inspectorate has seen the final paper.
Obviously many of the part-time teachers employed by grind schools are members of the ASTI and TUI. The ASTI has a policy whereby it would investigate a report of any member teaching in a fifth or sixth-form college. "We would regard it as conduct injurious to the welfare of the association and the interest of its members," says deputy general secretary, John White. ASTI members guilty of such conduct would be expelled, he says. "We have done so in the past," he adds. But he is coy of giving exact numbers and would only quantify it down to a "few" such expulsion.
TUI president Alice Prendergast says that the union does not condone members working in grind schools. "As a union we are constantly referring to hours and pressure on teachers. For people to take on additional hours it means that they are not giving full attention to their job."
Any reports of TUI members teaching in grind schools would be investigated and following discussion at executive level charges of unworthy conduct would be considered. The TUI has never had a member reported to it so no such investigation has ever taken place.
