Madam, - The howls of outrage from the TUI and INTO about ratemyteachers.ie ignore two important points. First, the vast majority of the reviews are positive and most of the negative reviews are reasonably presented. Second, ratemyteachers.ie will flourish because it exposes what the teaching profession won't face: that children are at the mercy of teachers who operate with near impunity. The profession must accept responsibility not just for its many able and dedicated teachers but also for the weak and bad teachers.
The openness of ratemyteachers.ie means that everybody can check it out for themselves. I did, and found teachers at my old school who were still teaching. The teacher I remembered as being great has great reviews. The teacher who was terrible 15 years ago is still terrible. The difference is that for the past 15 years school children have suffered from that teacher with no voice; now they have one.
Good teachers have nothing to fear from ratemyteachers.ie. Good schools should welcome the feedback. Bad teachers should worry, but their unions need to learn the lesson that the Catholic Hierarchy has had to learn: to stop protecting their members at the expense of the children. - Yours, etc.,
KATHERINE CONNOLLY, Rathdown Crescent, Terenure, Dublin 6W.
Madam, - Michael McDowell has acknowledged that it was the campaign of the students of Pobalscoil Iosolde, Palmerstown that caused him to reverse his decision to deport their fellow student Olukunle Elukanlo. Their campaign was motivated by three important human qualities - friendship, courage and loyalty. I would be interested to hear how the advocates of the publication of school league tables suggest these qualities might be reflected in the rating of a school. - Yours, etc.,
Senator JOANNA TUFFY, Seanad Eireann, Dublin 2.