His first day in front of a class in a national school was less daunting for John Mescal than for most beginner teachers. The youngest of six Mescal children, he's the fourth in the family to become a teacher so felt he was moving into fairly well-charted waters.

"I've got a lot of aunts and uncles who are teachers too," he says, "and I'd always wanted to be a primary teacher myself." He's 24 now and happily teaching junior infants in Archbishop Ryan national school in Lucan, Co Dublin. He loves what he does, thinks it's "fun, a lot different to teaching fourth class, who were the first children I taught. I prefer the junior children; they're much more enthusiastic about things and there's no problem with motivating them. If you're at all dramatic, "you can spend the whole day being dramatic with them and they really respond".

His own junior infant days were spent in Cree national school in Co Clare after which, on the 7.50 a.m. bus each morning, he went to the Convent of Mercy in Spanish Point. School, whether as a student or teacher, has never fazed him and he enjoyed his days in Spanish Point. "There were 500 in the school, boys and girls, and I didn't get home until about 4.45 p.m. each afternoon, which was a long day for a teenager. Then I would have dinner, do a bit of piano practice and start to study. The temptation not to study was always there but when you're the youngest and see the others getting on you don't want to get left behind."

It could have happened, despite his best efforts, when the points for teaching shot up to about 485 the year he did his Leaving Cert. Short on points but undeterred he decided on another route, enrolling to do a BA in English and Irish at St Patrick's, teacher training college, Drumcondra, Dublin. "After that I did a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Leeds University and that gave me the primary teacher qualification."

He was 20 years old - and had already been interviewed and given a temporary job in his present school. "I was temporary for a year," he explains, "after which I was lucky enough to be made permanent." Women primary teachers greatly outnumber men and John Mescal is one of eight male teachers on a staff of 26 teachers in Archbishop Ryan national school. With a catchment area which includes north Clondalkin and south Lucan, the school has some 450 pupils, boys and girls.

John Mescal doesn't see himself moving on, or out of teaching, in the "near future. I'd like to become a principal at some time and that doesn't happen overnight. I'd need a minimum of five years experience and feel that you would need to build up experience in different schools to get slants on how to run and administer one. This is a very big school which is an advantage and means I can learn a lot myself."

Reminiscing a little about his early days as a teacher of fourth class, teaching 10-year-old youngsters, he recalls how "everything was new. You were getting used to a new staff and workplace and to managing a class. I worked a hard nine months to take those things on board." It went well, though, and he saw a development in the class between September and June. "I could see them develop in the subject areas, such as English, geography, maths. We had a Christmas concert and because that was the year Princess Diana died, they wanted to sing the Candle in the Wind song. I can still see them doing it whenever I meet any of them around the school now."

Intellectual development in a student he finds "hugely rewarding. It's good if you manage to spur an interest in a child to read a book they might not otherwise have come across. It can led to other interests."

Teaching apart, Mescal says he has "a great interest in media, developed during the time I was doing the postgraduate degree. I might go on to do something in communications. Teaching is not for the power-driven or extremely ambitious. It's ideal for somebody who has got other interests because it allows them keep other interests alive. I won't be changing careers but I will be doing other things besides." One of the things he'll be doing is getting married next July. He's bought a house in Maynooth with his wife-to-be - who is also a teacher.

So, is teaching all about the long holidays? "Definitely not," he says, "the long holidays seem very far away when it's 10 a.m. on a January morning in a classroom. The hours you spend in school are very intense and while you're there you really don't have a thought for anything other than the 30 children in front of you." The good primary school teacher, in his opinion, requires patience, good organisational ability and a "degree of artistic talent".