Welcome to the blackboard jungle

As Jan O’Sullivan takes over at education, she will do well to bookmark her predecessor’s travails, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Two years ago, the education minister, Ruairi Quinn, outlined his vision for the future of education in a special edition of the magazine Studies.

At the outset, he made it clear that he considered the education system of Finland to be a key role model. Some 20 years previously, the Finnish economy had fallen off a wall following the collapse of its neighbour, the Soviet Union. Finland’s banking sector was also highly vulnerable as a result of a property bubble.