Sir, – Like many others, I have a keen interest in education and the importance of its role in our society. However, listening to or reading every day about the industrial relation concerns of the various teachers’ bodies simply bores me to death. I am at a total loss to understand why every Easter week the news media seem to think that the goings-on and demands of teacher unions deserve daily headlines and exhaustive coverage. I look forward to the day when we can have an annual “National Education Forum” (an Easter School), where all the stakeholders, including current students and their future employers, could have their say in shaping the future of education and how it needs to develop and transform to meet the ever-changing demands of our society. I would imagine that the reporting of the deliberations of such a forum would rightly deserve extensive daily coverage and discussion and would be of interest to a lot of people like myself who have an interest in these matters. – Yours, etc,
NOEL SHANAGHY,
Faithlegg,
Co Waterford.