Teacher's Pet

An insider's guide to education

McManus the big talking point

Only one question obsessing the education sector: who will succeed Brigid McManus as secretary general at the Department of Education? McManus (53) steps down in February with that much-discussed annual pension of €114,000.

She is known for working 14-hour days at her office in Marlborough Street. She is also hugely respected and much-liked across the education sector, although some senior colleagues accuse her of micro-management.

McManus, a former Department of Finance official, was appointed during the term of office of former education minister, Mary Hanafin. There was a strong personal rapport between the two, which gave the secretary general huge power and influence. McManus had a more distant relationship with Batt O’Keeffe while he was in education.

She gets on well with Ruairí Quinn, who admires her intellect and her political judgment. But these days she is one of several senior figures who have the ear of the Minister in the department. Who will succeed her? It will be a fascinating contest. The last decade has seen unprecedented investment in education during the Celtic Tiger era. And yet, standards have slumped alarmingly. Ireland has slipped from fifth to 19th in the OECD literacy rankings, the sharpest drop among developed nations. The challenge facing candidates for the post must be to demonstrate how they can lift standards and arrest the decline.

Within the department, the chief inspector, Harold Hislop – who has pushed through unannounced inspections of teachers – must stand a good chance. But Quinn also speaks highly of three other senior figures, inlcuding Kevin McCarthy, Martin Hanevy and Seán Ó Foghlú.

Rewind to 2002

There had to be a downside . . . Ireland’s heroics in qualifying for Euro 2102 is bad news for more than 100,000 students due to sit the Leaving and Junior Cert exams. The exams begin on Wednesday, June 6th, just as Ireland kick-off their group games. It is a all a throwback to 2002 when students taking the exams were disturbed by the distant sound of cheering when Robbie Keane scored that memorable last-minute equaliser against Germany.

A voice for the colleges

UCC president Michael Murphy spoke out in forthright terms about fees last week, arguing that charges of at least €4,500 were necessary to maintain quality. But where were the other university and IT presidents and the IT presidents? There was scarcely a word from any of them .

Hugh Brady in UCD, Paddy Prendergast in Trinity and the rest should be leading the debate on fees. These are critical weeks as the decisions made in the budget could have a huge impact on higher-education funding for the next decade. USI has done a great job arguing the student case. But who is speaking up for the colleges?

Percentile? What?

Memo to primary teachers: please stop telling parents their child is at this or that percentile in the standardised tests. This kind of language means nothing to the average parent. More plain speaking would be appreciated.

Got any education gossip? E-mail sflynn@irishtimes.com/ teacherspet@irishtimes.com