2008 was a dramatic year in education as parents, teachers and schools came to terms with the new cutback culture. But what kind of year was it for key players in the education sector? And what are their prospects for 2009?
BATT O'KEEFFE
Minister for Education and Science
O'Keeffe was the surprise choice to replace Mary Hanafin in Brian Cowen's first Cabinet. A former Cork inter-county footballer, the 62 year-old is the most controversial minister since Noel Dempsey in 2002.
O'Keeffe is not unlike Dempsey. Both share the same left-wing ideology and the same left-field perspective. And both like to shake up the cosy consensus.
With Dempsey-style courage and resolution, Batt moved to reopen the debate on third-level fees and he began to ask awkward questions about spending at third level.
O'Keeffe also adopted a combative approach to the teacher unions, especially the INTO. In his view, all that cosying up by his predecessor Mary Hanafin to the INTO served little purpose; he would take on the union if required.
O'Keeffe's education cutbacks in the Budget have unleashed the most significant confrontation between the education sector and the minister since the ASTI strike. O'Keeffe has been criticised for some cold-hearted cuts, but he has also gained kudos for his political resolve.
2009 will be dominated by the end game on the Budget cuts as most take effect in September. The INTO will be pumping up the volume in advance of the local and European elections, so O'Keeffe will be under renewed pressure.
His hope is that the weakening economy will erode public support for the teaching sector.
But at this moment there is, as the pundits might say, all to play for.
MARY HANAFIN
Former Minister for Education and Science
This time last year, Mary Hanafin was riding high as Queen of Education and someone widely touted as a future Fíanna Fáil leader.
Her record in education was actually very good, delivering more teachers and putting a greater focus on special needs than any of her predecessors.
But Brian Cowen was unimpressed when she seemed to blame him for a U-turn on class size and she was sidelined to Social and Family Affairs after the election.
The powerful INTO will not be top of her Christmas card list. Eighteen months ago, its leader, John Carr, in a rare gaffe, expressed the hope that she would be back in Education after the election.
But that INTO campaign on class size in the run-in to the election damaged Hanafin. She can count herself unlucky. In four short years, she achieved a great deal in education. Expect her back sooner rather than later in a senior Cabinet role.
HUGH BRADY
President UCD
A year of steady progress for Brady, the most powerful and influential figure in third-level education.
Brady saw UCD's stock rise in the key world rankings as his impatient drive for modernisation in Belfield bedded down.
There was the strong sense that UCD has regained much of its lost lustre - thanks in no small measure to the Brady drive for greater efficiency and better standards.
Brady also took a lead role in formulating the response of all seven university presidents to Batt's fees initiative. Framing a response to the Government's proposals - expected around March - is among next year's tasks.
JOHN CARR
INTO general secretary
Carr signalled his intention to retire this year, but only after mobilising the troops in impressive fashion.
The INTO deserves a great deal of the credit for those mass demonstrations against the Budget cutbacks which saw over 100,000 on the streets in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Tullamore and Donegal. It was a forceful reminder of how the INTO can be relied upon to deliver its members.
But what now for the campaign of protest?
Privately, some INTO members say the class size issue may have to be "parked" as the economic crisis deepens and the public mood changes.
But Carr will want to keep up the pressure in advance of the local and European elections in June. It will be no easy task. There is a perception among some that the campaign against the Budget has already peaked. In 2009, Carr's task will be to crank up the engine - again.
THE GRADUATE CLASS OF 2008
Spare a thought for those who graduated from college in the past year. After years of zero graduate unemployment, the Tiger cubs are facing hard times.
To compound the misery, a huge proportion of our graduates opted for courses in business and administration, precisely the sectors under pressure in what they are calling the "first middle class recession".
In 2009 , expect a huge proportion of graduates to either plan a postgrad course in 2009. The remainder are planning to take that gap year (or two) in Australia. They may have a good degree but - with the economy in free fall - they can only sit and wait for recovery.
BRIAN HAYES AND RUAIRI QUINN
Fine Gael and Labour spokesmen on education
With those swingeing Budget cutbacks, Batt O'Keeffe gave the opposition a stick to beat him with it. And they have not been found wanting.
The Dynamic Duo of Hayes and Quinn (left)have managed to raise the level of debate on education. Both are star performers in the Dáil and both have a voracious appetite for hard work
It's all a far cry from those freewheeling days when Olwyn Enright and Jan O'Sullivan barely landed a blow on Mary Hanafin.
That said, O'Keeffe is holding up well under pressure. His natural affability often helps him to counter the brickbats from the opposition.
The challenge facing Hayes and Quinn in 2009 is to convince the public O'Keeffe is accident prone and lacks any coherent vision. They are poised and ready to pounce in 2009.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION INSPECTORS
School inspection reports have got a bad press since first published two years ago. But slowly, almost imperceptibly, the reports have become a key resource for information on schools. There are increasing signs that the the inspectors will not hold back on criticism where it was warranted.
In all, over 2,000 reports have now been published on the Department of Education website. Read in conjunction with The Irish Times's annual feeder schools list, they give parents a decent insight into what it happening in schools.
FERDIA KELLY
General Secretary of the Joint Managerial Body for Secondary Schools
It was a busy year for Kelly, whose group manage over 400 voluntary secondary schools.
A former principal of Ard Scoil Rís in Marino, Dublin, Kelly has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in Irish education.
During the Budget rumpus, it was his stark warnings of possible school closures in January that helped to focus minds in the Department. Ultimately, it was his quiet persistence which delivered a compromise deal.
Kelly is modest and unassuming, but he has widely respected across the education sector.
His key task in 2009? Maintaining the pressure on Batt to row back on other Budget cutbacks in the desperately underfunded second-level sector.
IoTS
The three institutes of technology (Waterford, Cork and Dublin) seeking university status
Remember those innocent days when the battle for university designation by the various IoTs was the big story in education?
The various campaigns may be continuing, but they have no prospect of success in the current climate.
Aside from the economic downturn, WIT - who led the way in demanding university status - must also now cope with a Minister who once worked as a lecturer in CIT. A Cork minister giving university status to Cork? Now, that is a remote prospect.
The forthcoming National Strategy on Higher Education will also allow the Government to kick the issue to touch.
But DIT's case may be reviewed before the big move to a new €1 billion Grangegorman campus in 2012.
THE LEAVING CERT CLASS OF 2008
The Class of 2008 face some difficult decisions when it completes the CAO application shortly.
They are a very different group - the first Leaving Cert cohort in a generation who face real economic uncertainty.
With parents more cautious, expect students to take a safer route in their CAO choices. Teaching and jobs in the public service are suddenly de rigueur.
But those high-profile courses in property, business, marketing and communications could be less popular.
2009: 10 things to expect
1 Batt O'Keeffe to get a hard time at the annual round of teacher conferences in mid-April.
2 The return of third-level fees, unleashing a huge wave of student protest in September.
3 An increasing spotlight on teachers' pay and conditions, as the economic clouds darken.
4 Increasing speculation that Sheila Nunan will be named as the next INTO general secretary.
5 More students to desert business and finance courses in their CAO applications.
6 The Department of Education to get much tougher with the teacher unions in negotiations on working conditions.
7 More focus on those long, long holidays enjoyed by some staff in the 14 institutes of technology.
8 The end of the boom in private education as the economy moves in depression.
9 No more rows about car-parking spaces in third-level colleges - students will be back on public transport.
10 Newly-qualified primary teachers struggling to get full-time jobs.
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