An Insider's Guide to Education.

• Much finger-pointing, we hear, at last week's meeting of the Teachers' Conciliation Council, the forum where the teacher unions and school managers lock horns with senior Department of Education officials.

One senior official lectured the education partners about the confidentiality of the process. He was responding to the leaking of the Department's secret plan to make principals rein in those underperforming teachers.

As the atmosphere became more charged, John Carr of the INTO said the leak was part of some malign conspiracy.

The spin coming from the teaching unions suggests that the Department's wicked plan is now dead in the water. But don't believe any of this. The Department, which is on the receiving end of all of those complaints about underperforming teachers , is determined to push through major change. Primary teachers, who are already inspected regularly, don't seem to be the main target. The real battleground is at second level where the inspector has become something of a rare species.

The Department sees the current talks as a once-off opportunity to sort out the mess at second level. And it holds many of the aces in the negotiations.

Crucially, the teaching unions have pledged to "review and revise" existing procedures before the next school year as part of the pay deal. Failure to deliver a deal in the current talks will see the process moving to independent arbitration where the Department is confident it will emerge with the right result.

Our advice to teachers out there? Don't forget to put on the kettle and brew the tea for the principal. Before long, he or she will have a big role in identifying that small band of under performing teachers.

• The early signs are good. Both Brian Hayes and Ruairí Quinn are up and running as spokesmen on education for Fine Gael and Labour, respectively.

The word from the education sector is that both are busy, meeting the key players, getting briefed and working flat out to put pressure on Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.

Goodness knows the Dáil could do with some sparks in the sector.

Indeed, both Hanafin and her predecessor, Noel Dempsey, are known to have been pleasantly surprised at the paucity of the challenge coming from the opposition benches. But a change is coming.

• Our recent criticism of education departments in the various third-level colleges has drawn a huge level of response.

Surprisingly, most contributors agreed with our sentiments that, with honourable exceptions, education academics rarely contribute to topical debate in education.

This from one academic: "The simple fact is that the management of my college lives in absolute fear of annoying the Department which insists on taking a keen interest in the operational details of the colleges of education, unlike the rest of the third-level sector. In the case of my college, the fear openly expressed on campus is that if anything radical or critical emerges from the institution, funding for the next sector of our capital programme will be withheld."

• What is going on up at the Helix, the troubled concert and entertainment centre at DCU in Glasnevin?

With the closure of the Point Depot for refurbishment you might have thought that this wonderful venue would be muscling in on the big names such as Bruce Springsteen, who has been forced to pitch his tent in Belfast for some forthcoming gigs.

But the Helix, instead of bringing us cutting edge rock and roots music, seems to be stuck in a moment. The current musical diet is the usual mix of safe middle-of-the-road entertainment.

Is is time for the excellent management team at DCU to get more involved in the Helix? The venue has fantastic potential.

After a very successful conference last week, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) has already nominated a new head to succeed Mary McGlynn.

Former president Clive Byrne - the principal of St Mary's in Rathmines, Dublin - could be an inspired choice to lead an organisation which is becoming more and more influential.

The NAPD gala in the excellent Lyrath Estate Hotel was a sparkling affair where the great and the good from Irish education gathered to consider the key issues. Inevitably many late-night discussions centred on the dismal performances of our sporting teams.

And there were few signs that the education sector's love-in with Mary Hanafin is petering out.