Inside the Department

The ritual Easter week dance is about to begin. This year, the Minister for Education, the teacher unions and parenting bodies should waltz through a number of well-rehearsed dance figures.

It's been a good year for education, and the teacher unions, so any Minister-bashing should be purely perfunctory - a case of keeping the union muscles exercised.

Each year, the Minister dips into the recent past, detailing what a good Minister he or she has been. Then, he or she usually enlivens the proceedings with a promise or, at least, an intimation of further good things to come. Meanwhile, the leaders of the unions and parent bodies will have prepared their wish list.

It's a public way of defining future interaction.

But, of course, most of the real negotiations and policy decisions are made behind closed doors. The role played by the Department in policy making varies considerably from time to time. Sometimes, it's purely the Minister's agenda that prevails, albeit with the advice of the civil servants. At other times, particularly when a Minister is only in office for a short period of time or when he or she is on their last year of office, the Department plays a greater role.

And personalities play a part. The relationship between the Minister and the secretary of the Department seems very close at present with John Dennehy, the secretary, describing the Minister as "easily the best person I have ever worked with at this level. He is a tremendously able, dedicated, very enthusiastic Minister."

In recent years, the Minister has appointed a special adviser who also helps determine the direction of education policy. Powerful lobby groups, including the teacher unions, also play a significant role.

A policy directorate has recently been established within the Department. Dennehy says it is "operating in a much more complex environment than in the past. I feel very strongly that we need some policy unit with an overview . . . when a new Minister comes in, a major set of briefing material is put together." In the past, an individual would look after that but Dennehy sees this new division as constantly updating such a brief.

"We're engaged in a lot of legislation at the moment. The Education Act 1998 became an Act in December . . . we're now involved in stage two, the implementation. Under the terms of the Act, the Minister is obliged to implement it within a two-year period. We have set up an implementation team," he says. The Department is also engaged in putting together an Education Welfare Act replacing the present School Attendance Act. The Vocational Education legislation is being amended and a Teaching Council Bill is being drafted. The Qualification (education and training) Bill was recently published. A White Paper on adult education is in preparation, following the publication of the Green Paper last November. An early childhood education White Paper is also in the offing.

The Department remains highly centralised (although Dennehy points to the devolved building grants for primary schools and the increased role for principals enshrined in the Education Act) and many lobbyists and individuals feel they need the ear of the Minister to achieve real progress.

This is germane in the light of the Ombudman's annual report which shows that preferential treatment appears to have been given to some schools looking for building grants.

The Ombudsman has suggested that school transport, where preferential treatment also appears to have been given, and other schemes in the Department of Education and Science be put on a statutory basis and that a more formalised, internalised appeals system be introduced.

Under the terms of the Education Bill published under Niamh Bhreatnach some of the centralised decision making would have been devolved to regional boards. However, the proposals for these boards were dropped from the Education Bill when Fianna Fail succeeded the Rainbow Coalition. Very little decision making is done at regional level. This has been balanced to some extent in recent years by the increasing acknowledgement of the contribution to be made by the partners in education. The adversarial relationship which characterises the relationship between teacher unions and the Government and the inspectorate do not exist here.

Like many corporate bodies, the Department has felt moved to acquire that most American of accessories - a mission statement. "The mission of the Department of Education and Science is to ensure the provision of a comprehensive, cost-effective and accessible education system of the highest quality, as measured by international standards, which will enable individuals to develop to their full potential as persons and to participate fully as citizens in society and contribute to Ireland's social and economic development."

The key strategic functions of the Department are listed in its 1997 strategy statement (implementation of the Public Service Management Act 1997). The Department operates one of the biggest payrolls in the country with more than 43,000 teachers. In addition there are pensions to be administered for some 10,000 retired teachers.

And while Dennehy is on a roll with the statistics, he mentions the 200,000 plus training days were overseen by the in-service unit last year. "We run a national network of 29 education centres," he adds. John White, deputy general secretary of the ASTI, notes that where parsi-money might have been considered the hallmark of a good civil servant, creative thinking is now more sought after. Value for money as opposed to saving money is what is now required, notes White.

Dennehy admits that in past the Department, along with other Government departments, might have been accused of being bureaucratic. "We are trying to make it more customer friendly. Our communications office is much more than a press office. It has overseen the production of dozens of information booklets. We are in the final stages of putting together a series of booklets on children with special needs and on school transport.

For the present, continues to hear the occasional complaint from individuals baffled with their attempts to find their way through departmental red tape. One mother recently complained about the Cork offices answering machine which seemed to take her in never-ending circles without ever connecting her with a human.

Another mother who found dealing with the department as an individual "bloody hard" with no-one telling you of your entitlements, says joining the NPC was the answer. "The NPC is held in high esteem by the Department . . . as a group, we work very well together. They would listen to us and we listen to them and we try to come to a fair accommodation," she says.

Another criticism levelled at the Department is the understaffing of some units. Dennehy says he wouldn't deny this perception. "In recent years the Department has become involved in a wide range of activities and these activities are increasingly complex. There is a far greater emphasis on consulting and meeting with people."

Areas which deal with special needs and disadvantage would seem to be understaffed while the Department is trying to build up its legislation unit. But, Dennehy must make a very strong case to the Department of Finance if he wants to increase his head count while any substantial increase would have be formally referred to Government.

As to the future, expect the Department to become more centralised in a physical way as a new building project should mean that modern accommodation is available on the Marlborough Street site for all of the Department's Dublin-based staff (who are scattered around the city as well as housed in prefabs on Marlborough Street). Dennehy says the staff are the Department's greatest asset and his policy is to involve them in decision-making. There is a partnership committee within the Department which includes staff at all levels.