Selling next year's schoolbooks

EMMA FARRELL, Educational sales rep for Gill Macmillan, on a week of visiting schools

WEDNESDAY

Lots of coffee is the key to Donegal. It’s definitely the most challenging county in terms of location but I plan my trips carefully. I started in Ballyshannon yesterday and visited schools in that part of the county. I stayed overnight and spent today in Letterkenny. I try to limit the overnights but they’re necessary in Donegal. The scenery and the welcome make it worthwhile, though.

I cover eight counties in all: Meath, Monaghan, Westmeath, Longford, Louth, Cavan, Offaly and Donegal. It’s incredibly varied. The schools I visit range from the really rural three-teacher ones to huge schools with more than 100 teachers. On any given day, I arrive in unannounced just before break-time, chat to teachers, answer any queries, deliver new books, things like that. Then I visit two more schools during the lunch break.

So after that, and another coffee, I drove to Dublin for a choir rehearsal. I sing with a chamber choir called the Mornington Singers and we rehearse once a week, no matter what’s happening. We’ve done all sorts of things – backing vocals for Andrea Bocelli when he came to Dublin, for example. Anyway, I finally got home by about 10.30pm. Exhausting day.

THURSDAY

This morning I drove to Castleblayney and popped into a school at break-time. It’s very informal. All of our new books come out in time for teachers to use them for at least a term before they break up for the summer and make any decisions about book lists. I generally know who I need to talk to, but you never know what will happen. People ask all sorts of questions. You have to be on your toes because obviously there are different subjects and levels. I enjoy that end of things, though.

After Castleblayney I drove to Monaghan and went to two more schools. We have files on everything – when schools break for lunch, who I need to see, who is using our books and what competitor books they’re using – so I have my research done.

Publishers are trying to keep one step ahead of the game. Every time a book is commissioned there’s the question of how it’s going to work digitally. Some schools are embracing everything technological. Others are wary. Even in a single staffroom you get different attitudes. There are all sorts of reservations. Mobile phones in class are a constant battle, so how do you control students’ use of the internet in class if they all have iPads? And the exams are still pen and paper. While technology can enhance teaching and learning, the teaching itself – what a teacher does in class – is still what matters most. I think that gets lost in the debate sometimes.

FRIDAY

We had a big sales conference today. We have them at the beginning and end of every term. It’s one of those times when all of the conversations we reps have every day on a local level with teachers come together to build this national picture of what the issues and concerns are countrywide. Project Maths is a big one at the moment. There’s an awful lot of confusion out there among teachers. Everyone’s trying to find their feet with it and it’s just a really tough time. One teacher described the current situation as being in an advanced stage of labour. They’re just hanging in there and hoping the pain will be worth it.

Of course technology is another big issue. Things seem to be moving so quickly but the reality on the ground in schools is much more varied. The thing is that, as publishers, we have to cater for everyone. If we publish a book, we have to think digital as well. There’s all sorts of added-value material available with books and exam resources. There are entire new departments within publishing companies dedicated to this but we still don’t know how things will turn out. You just have to be prepared for the tipping point, which could go either way at the moment.

SATURDAY

Rugby all day. Very disappointing. Still, it was good to see Seán O’Brien (a fellow Carlow native) on the team doing us proud.

SUNDAY

I’m a book person. Always have been. I did a degree in English in TCD and joined Gill Macmillan as an editorial assistant. I was an editor for years and when I did a stint working as a commissioning editor I got to see the sales end of the business. It really interested me so I made a move into my current job. It’s not a traditional sales role – it’s more about cultivating relationships and listening to people than the hard-sell.

MONDAY

It’s a Bank Holiday and I’m doing a bit of catching up at my desk, planning for tomorrow. I think I’ll stay local. That’s the thing about this job. Some days you’re driving for four hours – other days it’s 15 minutes.

TUESDAY

Visiting schools in Meath today. I delivered some Junior Cert Project Maths books so everyone had questions about them. The talk was all about Joe Sheridan from the Meath team emigrating – you have to keep up with all the local news! Apart from that I’ve been dealing with loads of queries that came in over the weekend. I always reply to everything.

There has been a definite change in the staffrooms right across the country over the past few weeks. Through the years of cutbacks and everything that schools and teachers have endured, I suppose teachers just got on with things and, as an outsider, you never got a sense of the challenges when visiting a staffroom. This time, it’s different. You read about the retirements and the effect they will have but then you go into a staffroom and you really see the impact that it has had on morale. There are schools where half-a-dozen experienced teachers might have retired, and at a crazy time of year too. It’s tough on their colleagues, it’s tough on their students – there is so much hidden work that some of these teachers have done for years besides their job and now someone else is expected to take on that extra unexpectedly. Standing there in a staffroom, you can feel the change.

THIS WEEK I WAS

WATCHING: The rugby of course and Bernard Dunne's Bród Club. I tried my best to use the cúpla focal in Gaoth Dobhair when I was there!

READINGSoundings, trying to find some nice readings for our wedding ceremony in July.

LISTENINGto all sorts. Thelonious Monk, Julian Bream, some choral tracks that my conductor recommended, and loads of radio of course

BROWSINGA really good food blog– dinnerdujour.org– a great place to go for recipes.