Dr Donnelly's institute

• Versions of the letter below were submitted to both The Australian and The Courier-Mail during the week begiining 13 January but neither published it.

The author information for Kevin Donnelly’s regular opinion pieces on education in newspapers routinely identifies him as Director of the Education Standards Institute.

This sounds quite impressive: a whole institute devoted to standards in education and Dr Donnelly has been chosen to be its director.

Now that Donnelly has been appointed as half of a two man panel charged with reviewing the national curriculum, perhaps The Courier-Mail could provide some further details on this apparently prestigious position. I’m sure quite a few readers would be interested to know who appointed him as this institute’s director and how many professional staff he supervises in that role.

A look at the organization’s website does rather suggest that this so-called institute is just Donnelly himself. If this is indeed so, should the use of such a grandiose title for a one man business be applauded as clever marketing or deplored as misleading?

Garry Collins