Coughlan's curriculum

The new Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, faces a baptism of fire at this week's teacher conferences but the education brief also gives her an opportunity to rebuild her political career. SEÁN FLYNN,Education Editor, gives her some advice

THE NEW MINISTER for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, spent most of last week buried in a mass of briefing documents prepared by secretary general Brigid McManus and her team of senior officials.

Coughlan is the first Minister for Education whose appointment has been branded as a political demotion since Michael Woods took the post in 2000. Since then, Micheál Martin, Noel Dempsey, Mary Hanafin and Batt O’Keeffe arrived in Marlborough Street as upwardly mobile politicians with reputations to build.

Coughlan, by contrast, is in the business of restoring her reputation after a bruising period in Enterprise and Employment.

Can she do it? Can Coughlan put Irish education on a better footing? And can she move on from Education with her reputation enhanced.

Following is a guide to how the new Minister can survive and prosper:

1 Don’t see the move to Education as a demotion

All that stuff about a demotion takes no account of one fundamental: a better education system is recognised by the Government as a key building block in our economic recovery. Educational issues dominated the recent report of the Innovation Task Force and the earlier Government document on the “smart economy”.

The new Minister, the second Tánaiste to hold the education portfolio, can walk tall. She has been handed a hugely important portfolio at a critical time.

2 Be sceptical – and don’t forget about Craig Barrett

A key strength of Batt O’Keeffe as minister for education was his healthy scepticism about the education system. He never brought into those cliches about Ireland’s “world-class’’ education system. Better still, he responded when people such as former Intel boss Craig Barrett described our education system as no better than average.

After Barrett’s comments, and the controversy over grade inflation, there is now discernible public concern about the quality of our education system. This gives the new Minister the opening she needs to drive real reform.

The new Minister should commission detailed studies telling us how our academic standards compare with other states. She should ask the new chief inspector, Dr Harold Hislop, for a detailed analysis of academic standards in our schools.

She should demand more information from the State Examination Commission and the Irish Universities Quality Board about standards at second and third level.

3 Press on with reform of the Junior Cert – and overhaul the creaking Leaving Cert exam

Reform of the Junior Cert is already well under way. But what’s really required is root-and-branch reform of the Leaving Cert.

The exams test a very narrow range of skills, retain an old-fashioned emphasis on rote learning, and drive students away from maths and sciences, which are key areas for our future.

Yes, it will cost a great deal to overhaul the exam, and confrontation with the teacher unions would be inevitable, but can we afford to lumber on with an exam that is inhibiting our potential?

4 Re-read the McCarthy ‘Bord Snip Nua’ report

The new Minister was sceptical about the McCarthy report when it was published last year. She said that not all the measures in Colm McCarthy’s report made sense. But there is a lot of good reading in the education section.

The report points out how more than 80 per cent of all education funding is absorbed by pay and pensions. It exposes how many elements of the education system are controlled by the trade unions, with little management control.

The Minister might also read the department’s submission to McCarthy, which makes many of the same points.

5 Sort out the row about middle-management posts, but don’t be afraid of the teaching unions

The Department of Finance is said to be reviewing the current moratorium on promotional posts in second-level schools. That is welcome news, because the larger second-level schools cannot function without a middle-management structure.

But once this issue is out of the way, the Minister might reflect on Batt O’Keeffe’s tenure, which showed that the power of the teaching unions was more apparent than real.

O’Keeffe faced down the INTO on class sizes – until the Greens secured a veto on the issue. His strategy was to speak directly to parents and teachers, over the heads of the teaching unions.

More than that, he did not allow the teaching unions, whose main focus is the pay and conditions of members, to shape his entire agenda.

The new Minister should talk directly to teachers. She should acknowledge their expertise and their dedication, but she should not be in thrall to the unions.

6 Make a historic change on Catholic Church patronage

Every fair-minded person accepts the Catholic Church is overly prominent in primary education, controlling more than 92 per cent of schools.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, acknowledged this two years ago, but some of his colleagues have less appetite for change.

Negotiations about a possible transfer of patronage have been continuing between the church and department officials, but progress has been painfully slow.

The new Minister needs to bring the debate back into the open. She should push the Catholic Church to make the kind of change now supported by more than 60 per cent of the public, according to the most recent Irish Times poll. She has an opportunity to make a historic change to the management of our schools.

7 Face the fact that our universities cannot cope or prosper without additional funding

Both Noel Dempsey and Batt O’Keeffe examined the higher-education system in Ireland and concluded that some kind of student contribution – in either fees or loans – was essential.

The new Minister should be equally forthright with the public. Irish universities have been identified by the Government as the engine that will drive our economic recovery.

It wants world-class, cutting-edge universities “spinning out” new companies and generating new employment. But talk to any university head and he (alas there are no female university presidents) will give you a reality check.

Irish universities are continuing to muddle through on about half the student funding available to competitors in Britain, Scandinavia and elsewhere. And those record college applications this year will place more strain on the sector.

The forthcoming National Strategy on Higher Education will back the return of some form of student contribution. Any such move has been vetoed by the Green Party during the lifetime of this Government. But the new Minister should tell the Greens and everyone else to face the facts.

8 Give bonus CAO points for maths

We have been talking about the crisis in maths for more than a decade, but the introduction of bonus points continues to be put on the back burner.

This move has been backed by every major report on the issue – including the recent Innovation Task Force. It is supported by all the major employers, but still the wait continues.

It may be that bonus points are not a panacea but this is the only option that offers the possibility of a quick fix.

Can we continue with a situation in which just 16 per cent of our Leaving Certificate students are opting to take higher-level maths? Can we afford the long wait until the new revised maths curriculum is introduced and bedded down?

Look at how Mary Hanafin changed things in Leaving Cert Irish. With little consultation, she decided in 2007 to award 40 per cent of marks to the oral component of the exam, a move that was widely praised.

Coughlan could make a similarly bold move in maths. And she too would gain considerable kudos.

9 Work with Batt O’Keeffe and protect research funding

The recent Innovation Task Force recommended that Ireland should spend 3 per cent of GDP on research and development. At present, we are spending 1.4 per cent.

Batt O’Keeffe is now responsible for this budget, but Coughlan should work with him to protect research funding.

There is no shortage of people who will advise that research funding is a luxury and a waste of money – but the Minsiter must pay no heed.

Yes, the universities need to sharpen their commercial focus. But as DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has pointed out, we have no hope of recovery unless we can attract high-value investment from abroad and at home.

Spending on research is the key to attracting this investment.

10 Sort out the VECs and get better value for close to €1 billion

Reform of the 33 VECs has been on the Minister’s desk for an age.

The McCarthy report recommends a reduction in the number of VECs to 22, and it portrays the sector as hugely expensive and overly bureaucratic. Fine Gael says there should only be 20 of them.

Spending in the vocational sector has increased from €731 million in 2005 to €949 million this year.

Batt O’Keeffe said the separate pay structure and administration for each of the 33 VECs in the State was “out of step” with the rationalisation now under way across the public sector.

The new Minister should resolve the issue without further delay, and get better value for an investment of close to €1 billion.