An insider's guide to education

Next eight weeks crucial for Quinn

After the excitement of the past six months we are entering a critical stage in Ruairí Quinn’s tenure at the Department of Education. A dizzying array of initiatives and reforms have been signalled, but the next eight weeks will tell whether Quinn can make the transition from aspiration to achievement.

Over this period we can expect final proposals on the Junior Cert, a report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism on schools and a key report on higher-level funding.

A National Council for Curriculum and Assessment/Higher Education Authority report from last week’s conference on the Leaving Cert/CAO should clear the way for the Minister to make his own proposals in these key areas.

Final submissions are also due by the end of next month on another vexed question: school admission policies.

The coming weeks should help us clarify the future shape of the Junior Cert, the extent of possible changes in school patronage and whether college fees are on the way back.

In addition, the Minister must decide whether to retain that controversial cap on the number of special needs assistants and whether to increase class size. It’s going to be a fascinating period: fasten your seat belts.

Clued-in on education

Last week’s piece by the great George Hook on fee-paying schools drew an extraordinary response from readers. While many will disagree with Hookie there is no denying his knowledge of and engagement with education issues, as regular listeners to his Newstalk programme will know. It is a distinction he shares with the likes of Pat Kenny and Joe Duffy, both of whom are well informed on the real issues in education.

Other broadcasters please copy!

Glittering prize

A palpable sense of relief in windy Belfield, where UCD has, at last, invited applications for the post of professor of Anglo-Irish literature, vacant since Declan Kiberd left for Notre Dame University. The flagship post is likely to attract several internal candidates, including Prof Anne Fogarty, Dr P J Matthews and Prof Anthony Roche. Adrian Frazier of NUI Galway could also be in the running. But can we expect some big beast from Britain or the US to apply? Who knows? Maybe one of our distinguished Irish academics may return from abroad to grasp this glittering prize.

132Number of engineering courses on offer at 22 third-level colleges

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