By Michael Seery
Somewhere in the Ministry of Magic or Death Star One, or wherever they Make The Decisions, someone is having a great laugh at our expense. According to the terms of the Croke Park Agreement, lecturers are required to meet with their students and that meeting slot must be a timetabled hour. Therefore I have a sign on my door, saying I am available at a particular hour. Before the glorious Croke Park Agreement came into effect, I was available to meet my students all the time, and still am now. But if I was the kind of student I was when I was a student (if you see my meaning) well then if I went to a lecturer’s door and saw a sign saying “Available Wednesday 5 – 6 pm!”, well I would understandably not want to disturb my lecturer from his sherry-drinking at other times. To really tighten the screw, our friend Through the Looking Glass has thrown in a twist. It is of course impossible for the timetable to allow for an hour when all the students I teach will be free, never mind to replicate this miracle for all teaching staff and all students. Middle management are left holding the baby – they must ensure the Croke Park Agreement is implemented, even though it is an impossibility. So I have an hour when I must see the students, even if the students can’t be there. This contrasts with the situation before—obviously unsatisfactory because they changed it—when I was available to students to come and see whenever they wanted. Thanks to our increasingly competitive work-practices, that ridiculous situation has now changed, and I am available for just one hour instead of all hours.
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