Or years we lived in fear of Big Brother, that bureaucratic know-all who threatened to rule, and control, our lives. But now he seems to have gone and in his place is a second cousin, twice removed, who is so mysterious that he is practically invisible.

While some teachers fear the return of the post-primary inspector, through Whole School Inspection, I occasionally wonder if there are any inspectors left. I haven't seen one for years.

An entirely new senior cycle English syllabus is due to begin next September. However, as in the building industry, the ground work appears to have been off-loaded and sub-contracted. A teachers' centre has been given the job of promoting the new syllabus and seconded teachers have been employed to deliver the message to other teachers.

Nowhere is there evidence of direct involvement by the Department of Education and Science, nowhere the presence of an English inspector. Apart from one facilitator, who organises in-service courses, there is no sign of a chain of command or anyone to refer to, except a private mobile phone number.

Consequently uncertainty pervades the new syllabus - uncertainty as to the texts, the methodology, the modes of assessment or how the new course will be examined. Everything seems to be fluid, tentative, probable. It's like sailing to the New World without a compass. We may eventually get there but much energy will be wasted in the process.

It is the worst of all worlds - a new syllabus is introduced but without the authority to validate or enforce it. True, some of us had one-and-a-half day's in-service training - enough time to pick up a few pointers but no time to make the large mental shift which the new syllabus requires.

The English syllabus needed to be changed and the new syllabus looks interesting and relevant but what is the point of the whole exercise if those who are to teach it are left in the dark, rudderless and lost. The publishing industry, which is normally quick to spot a niche in the market, seems to be equally adrift because, with less than two months to the end of the current school year, I have yet to see a textbook for the new syllabus.

However, the change this time is not just the substitution of one set of texts for another. It is more fundamental. It is a very different approach to the teaching of English, with rote learning being replaced by the acquisition of a variety of skills, something that is long overdue. But if the foundations of the new course are so shaky, how can the house be built?

Instead of looking forward to the brave new world of September '99 we seem to be stranded somewhere in 1984.

Joe Coy, teaches English, in Glenamaddy, Co Galway