Department must fight to stop school ghettoisation, warns principals' group

The Department of Education needs to work harder to counter any "ghettoisation" in our primary school system, school principals were told yesterday.

Seán Cottrell, director of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) said the department must adjust its policies to ensure a "more even distribution of children with additional needs. We cannot allow ghettoisation".

Speaking on the final day of the IPPN conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, Mr Cottrell said the controversial exclusion of some newcomer children in Dublin schools last September was "the return to almost biblical scenes of the innkeeper closing the door on innocent children".

School principals, he said, have a moral duty to include all children in schools.

He commended the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and two west Dublin Catholic schools for their recent initiative which will see one-third of all places reserved for non-Catholic pupils. They had, he said, shown leadership in piloting enrolment policies that reflect the diversity of their school communities.

"All principals are duty bound to ensure that there are no barriers, real or perceived, that discriminate against any child in any school."

He spoke of principals' heavy workload. "Unfortunately, the job we love to do is becoming a bit of a stranger," he said.

"As every year goes by, we are being dragged further away from our core responsibility - leading the quality of teaching and learning."

In his address to 1,000 delegates, Mr Cottrell said his organisation of primary principals was rapidly losing confidence in Minister for Education Mary Hanafin because of her failure to adequately fund the day-to-day costs of primary schools and to properly resource the inclusion of children with special and other educational needs.

"Principals are also losing confidence in the Minister because of her failure to fulfil her promise to reduce principals' workload," he said. "It is an accepted fact that primary schools get only half of what they need to cover basic operating costs. The expectation is for a full-quality service with only half the required funding.

"Teachers, parents and children have to fundraise and save coupons to cover the rest," said Mr Cottrell.