Teacher's Pet

An insider's guide to education

•Is the power of the Minister for Education to change the system more apparent than real?

We only ask because it seems that grand plan by Mary Hanafin to reform the Leaving Cert has been partly derailed.

Hanafin was rightly praised for her efforts to take some of the pressure off students. The centrepiece of her proposals was a plan to schedule Paper 1 in English on a Saturday in May next June. At a stroke, this would reduce pressure on students and allow the State Examinations Commission to lift some of the excessive burden in the first week of the exams.

But, sad to relate, the school management bodies at second-level have seen off this plan. They have pointed to all sort of logistical and practical difficulties for schools and the Minister has backed off. There will be no May exam and no Saturday exam.

The Minister has retrieved something from the wreckage, though. The Leaving Cert timetable will be recast during the first week to ease the pressure on students. Apparently, they will not be asked to take two heavy and diverse subjects on the same day.

Hanafin deserves great credit for her attempts to reform the ludicrous timetable faced by students each year.

But the whole episode is a graphic reminder of the power of the second-level management bodies, notably the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which manages 400 voluntary second-level schools. The group, run by the formidable Ferdia Kelly, is a major power on the education landscape.

•Don't hold the front page . . . Those recent elections to the senate of the National University of Ireland (NUI) passed with the usual whimper.

There may be tens of thousands of NUI graduates out there, but only a tiny percentage bothered to vote. Maybe that's not so surprising given that all voters must complete a "declaration of identity" signed in the presence of a university graduate, a minister of religion etc.

It all begs questions about the current role of the NUI, which some university presidents - such as Hugh Brady at UCD - believe no longer has a raison d'être.

This reporter rang the NUI offices in Merrion Square on a week day recently, but a recorded voice told us the office was closed because of a conferring.

Now, why can't they take such a relaxed approach to the working day in the private sector?