Forty per cent of parents with children in denominational primary schools would prefer to see the ethos shift to a multidenominational one, a Department of Education survey of 200,000 households found.
The national primary school survey, which also sought the views of school staff and boards of management, gave parents of children in denominational schools a straight choice of whether they wanted the religious ethos retained or given up in favour of a multidenomination approach.
Sixty per cent said they wanted the school’s ethos to remain unchanged. Currently 88.3 per cent of primary schools across the State have a Catholic ethos.
The numbers in favour of retaining the status varied significantly different across counties. Just over half (50.5 per cent) said they wanted their school to retain its religious ethos in Wicklow compared with just over 70 per cent in Longford, Donegal and Monaghan.
READ MORE
Almost three-quarters of parents with children in single-sex schools (73 per cent) said they would like to see those schools transition to coeducational. The highest levels of support were in Clare and Galway, where nearly 90 per cent said they would support such a change. Support was lowest in Limerick and Waterford, where just over 60 per cent said they were in favour.
At the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) conference in Killarney this morning, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton is expected to commit to bringing a memo to Cabinet that would set out ways in which a process of change can be delivered where there is a majority in favour at a particular school.
[ Parents asked about religious and language-based preferences for primary schoolOpens in new window ]
Every individual school is expected to receive a breakdown of the results among their own parents, staff and board.
The Minister is also expected to announce she has asked officials at her department to develop more structured guidance for parents of children attending a denominational school but who would prefer for them to opt out of religious instruction.
Responding to the survey findings, the INTO said the provision of detailed findings to individual schools should proceed as quickly as possible. “Without all relevant data, any tangible progress to provide more choice for school communities is unlikely to happen any time soon,” it said.
When she addresses the union’s 900 delegates this morning the Minister is also expected to give commitments to support special education reform and teachers’ professional development.
She is also set to reiterate the Government’s commitment to reduce average class sizes from the current number of 22.6.
During one of the conference’s first debates on Monday evening it was suggested the current Government had so far failed to make any progress on the promise to get that number down to 19 and delegates voted overwhelmingly to give the leadership the authority to ballot for industrial action if there is no movement on the issue in this year’s budget.
