Teacher's PET

An insider's guide to education

Hats off to DIT admissions officer Vincent O'Hora. While other admissions officers play by the old rules when trying to promote their courses, O'Hora is showing a little marketing savvy down at DIT.

In an attempt to drag bleary eyed Leaving Cert students along to the annual DIT open day recently, O'Hora used a little bit of bait. The students, who often take some persuading to attend these kind of events, were enticed by a free draw for. . . wait for it. . . mobile phones, digital cameras and CDs.

We hope the students did not get too distracted by such goodies and spent every moment of their day at DIT Aungier Street thinking about their future lives and careers.

While DIT obviously knows its market, we hope none of the pupils' teachers will be angry when students return to their classrooms and break into a frenzy of noisy texting.

Has a terrible beauty been born out at UCD? The winds of change are sweeping through UCD's Belfield campus.

New president Dr Hugh Brady has introduced more changes in a week than were implemented in several years by the last regime, observers have somewhat unfairly argued.

The college is rapidly breaking into two broad camps - those who are prepared to embrace the Brady revolution and those who fear that a pro-business ethos will undermine academic traditions and leave UCD beholden to the private sector.

Dr Brady's blunt promise that, in future, all appointments will be based strictly on performance is frightening some sections of the college's old guard. The switch to a modularised curriculum is also regarded as a radical step. A decision to advertise the registrar's position is also fascinating. For years Belfield academics had plenty of fun holding elections for this position. Alas no more. Caroline Hussey could be the last directly-elected registrar of UCD, it would appear.

Is the Ulsterisation of our classrooms taking place? The latest statistical report from the Department of Education suggests it might be. The department has figures for the origin of the country's trainee primary teachers. While the largest group inevitably come from Dublin, there may be surprise at the large number coming from Co Donegal.

The rebel county of Cork was able to produce just 29 trainees, while Co Donegal sent a staggering 46 trainees in just one year. This was even more than commuter-belt county Kildare. Meanwhile, one county appeared to have little interest in primary teaching and that was Longford, which managed a miserly seven entrants.

Those good people at IT Dundalk are looking for someone to provide a food and drinks service in its canteen, which caters for 3,000 students and 400 staff.

One wonders, considering the actions of UCD's anti-corporate red brigades, whether the serving of Coca-Cola will be allowed or embraced by whoever provides the new service.

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