Dr. Seán Rowland:

I have lost my train of thought, as I got a fright.

I went to St. Patrick's College in Drumcondra and taught in Beaumont for five years. I first heard the word "pedagogy" in the 1970s; this is the core of every teacher education programme. Teacher educators and teachers share a respect for it, but it is multi-faceted. It must be consistently nurtured through theory, practice, research and common sense. Going back to what Senator Healy Eames said, it is all about the relationship and whether a person can nourish a relationship with children in the classroom as individuals and as a group. The pedagogy around the curriculum would support the person if he or she is the right person, which is why everybody must be interviewed face to face. We also have a system under which approximately 25 people are on interview panels; these are rotated so that the same three people are not on any panel. If a person comes before them whom they know or whose parents they know, the person on the panel must recuse himself or herself. A different panel would do the interview.

We have had cases in which letters were sent supporting applications. If an interviewer is ever contacted on behalf of a candidate, he or she must step back. We are incredibly rigorous about interviews; a member of my family has been turned down. The interview is where the door to the career is opened, and it can be a long and difficult career for the wrong person.