Teacher's Pet

•An insider's guide to education

Golfing news: several key figures in the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) have taken themselves off to Portugal for a golfing break this mid-term. And why not?

Discussion on the fairways is expected to be dominated by comings and goings at the union's leafy Rathgar headquarters.

The big question? Is veteran general secretary Jim Dorney soon to vacate his post after a generation in charge? Or will this wily figure keep the pretenders waiting for another few years?

The contenders are poised, waiting. They include deputy general secretary Peter McMenamin and assistant general secretary and keen golfer Declan Glynn. The union's research officer, John McGabhann, is also in the frame. McGabhann is expected to fill another new post at assistant general secretary level shortly.

It is, by any standards, a very impressive list of candidates. Now pass me that eight iron.

• Interesting research at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Apparently, the Dublin public is familiar with some of its component parts - but not with DIT itself.

DIT's various campuses - such as Bolton Street, Kevin Street and Cathal Brugha Street - are instantly recognisable and much respected among Dubs.

But there is what the marketing people call a branding issue for DIT.

This might be a generational thing. As the CAO figures show, DIT is hugely popular with school-leavers. In any case, the €1 billion move to that shiny new campus at Grangegorman should give DIT a firm identity.

• The Dublin City Manager John Fitzgerald was very critical of the Department of Education in a recent address to an ASTI conference.

Fitzgerald complained about the excessive bureaucracy of Marlborough Street. Drawing on his extensive experience with other countries, he also made a strong case for increased regional and local input.

The speech has touched a raw nerve in the department.

The department has opened nine regional offices but it is still very centralised. Has the time come for local education boards along the US and British model? Or would this system be unworkable in a small country like ours ?

• Fitzgerald also paid generous tribute to the excellent Sion Hill school in Blackrock, Co Dublin where enrolment has declined in line with the rush to fee-paying schools.

He recalled how his four daughters attended the school over a 15-year timespan. "I owe them a lot for what they did for me and my family," he said.

• Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irish-times.ie