Hanafin warms them up, then leaves them cold

THIS much was for sure. The applause was spontaneous when INTO president Austin Corcoran referred to last September’s replacement of Education Minister Noel Dempsey by Mary Hanafin.

But what was uncertain was if the 750 delegates were cheering the departure of the Meath man or the arrival of the former Government chief whip to the head of the department.

Unquestionably, there is a feeling Ms Hanafin has a clear understanding of the difficulties faced by teachers in classrooms. Neither is there any doubt about her sincerity in expressing a wish to improve the lot of pupils, particularly those less well-off or with special needs.

She spent three hours pressing the flesh and talking with primary teachers after the opening of their union’s annual congress in Galway on Monday night, when delegates were more than willing to speak about their problems with overcrowded classrooms and lack of resources for children with learning disabilities.

But despite the positive impressions of her oratory skills and the announcement of some details about her plans to tackle educational disadvantage, the lack of any measurable commitment on the INTO’s prime goal to reduce class sizes left a bitter taste with delegates.

The representatives of the country’s 25,000 primary teachers were not letting the wool be pulled over their eyes by the cajoling and humorous anecdotes from the TD often described as more schoolmarmish than ministerial.

There were smiles at her news of a scheme of unpaid sabbatical leave for teachers in disadvantaged schools, while last night’s announcement to the ASTI convention of an occupational welfare service for the profession will doubtless be welcome too.

In well-managed political spin style, she will wait until a quieter week on the education front next month to grab more headlines with full details of the disadvantage plan.

While there was none of the heckling experienced by Mr Dempsey and any of his predecessors in recent years, INTO members were clearly disappointed Ms Hanafin had nothing to announce about class size reductions yesterday, apart from plans for senior classes in disadvantaged schools.

There may have been a handful of rounds of applause in the minister’s post-breakfast script, but they were only warming up for the address of general secretary John Carr.

In a polite but firm manner, he made clear to the minister the Government would not be left off the hook on delivery of its promise to reduce average class sizes for all children under the age of nine to 20 pupils.

Nor would the union accept any delay beyond mid-April on the announcement of a new allocation scheme for staff helping children with special educational needs.

The minister is not slow to remind principals on visits to schools with leaking roofs that she is neither an engineer or an architect.

But unless she can design a strong plan to provide sufficient school staff to meet the requirements of children with special needs and significantly reduce class sizes, she will need to add a political hard hat to her wardrobe.