Lame-duck minister in no position to shake up the education system

PROOF that politics is often about doing as little as possible, irrespective of whether times are good or bad, and then only when you absolutely have to do something, was provided this week by the Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan.

Faced with evidence of a crisis in education — a Leaving Cert programme not producing the desired results in preparing many teenagers properly for their futures and a third-level system struggling to pay its way and often performing below standard — Coughlan leapt to the defence of the status quo.

Instead of embracing the opportunity to demand and enforce major change she offered only the bare minimum: changes to the Leaving Cert will be marginal and the transparent need for the reintroduction of third-level fees will not be allowed during the remaining lifetime of this Government.