An insider's guide to education
The ASTI is again on the march, but a new pay campaign is highly unlikely. Why would teachers jeopardise pay increases due to them under Sustaining Progress with a drive to get that infamous 30 per cent? Instead the focus will be on making sure all the Sustaining Progress payments come through.
Teachers are furious at the recent decision to withhold the 9.5 per cent instalment of benchmarking. So furious that an official complaint was lodged with a rights commissioner attached to the Labour Relations Commission by ASTI members. This clever idea backfired, though, after some ASTI teachers handed their complaint in to the Employment Appeals Tribunal offices on Adelaide Road in Dublin. Listen folks, the Labour Relations Commission is actually on Haddington Road.
The life of a Department of Education civil servant used to be a Spartan one. On a good day lunch might consist of a ham sandwich and a bowl of soup, washed down by a few cups of tea. But, according to the Department's very own "grub spy", culinary standards in Marlborough Street have improved and the humble ham sandwich has been replaced by - wait for it - baked Cajun sea trout with lemon and dill dressing.
The Department's newsletter is where you can read the reviews of "grub spy". This secret restaurant reviewer recently visited the Department's restaurant in Block One, Marlborough Street. The restaurant (or is that canteen?) was described as "bright and cheery with a vaguely football jersey look - a kind of cross between Brazil and Tipperary".
Apparently such garish colours are not putting the punters off. The reviewer and friends enjoyed a variety of dishes, including vegetarian Spanish omelette, the sea trout and a steak and mushroom pie. These tasty dishes were followed up with the more sticky coconut jam sponge.
The whole meal cost the spy and friends a very reasonable €25.65, which, for three, is not half bad. Maybe the spy will bring some of the educational press the next time he or she visits.
The recent National Parents Council (Post Primary) annual conference was deemed a major success by the organisation's leadership. But not everybody is happy.
A letter has been circulating among parents' representatives criticising the low turnout at the conference and it appears the decision, in November 2002, by Barbara Johnson's CSPA to leave the umbrella body remains a live issue. While the NPC has upped its performance over recent years and is now led by a strong figure in Eleanor Petrie, radio and television stations regularly ask Barbara Johnson to speak on behalf of parents. This is understandable. Johnson is a compelling performer and is prepared to say things others are squeamish about.
But the real question for the year ahead is, who is the most influential parents' group, the National Parents Council (Post Primary) or the Catholic Secondary Parents Association?
Last week's fiery clash between parent's champion Fionnuala Kilfeather of the NPC and INTO chief John Carr made for entertaining listening. Kilfeather nailed the teachers' boss when she asked the reasonable question - how could working parents attend parent-teacher meetings during business hours? But Carr certainly wasn't backing down. In a statement he suggested to Kilfeather: "Perhaps the NPC might look at the glass that is half full for once". Ouch.
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