VECs battle to lose 'tech' image

Parents will queue for days for a place in a school run by the religious orders, while the local vocational school can struggle to attract students. These days, VEC schools are much changed, but in some parts of the country old prejudices persist, writes Gráinne Fuller

IT STARTED with just one or two, standing outside the school. Then word spread around Tralee. People were queuing outside Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, a full five days before the school was due to take applications for places in 2010.

More parents joined the queue. Mothers, fathers and children held places in rotation. Inclement weather led the school to open the gymnasium for the hardy campers. By enrolment day, 70 people were waiting patiently for application forms.

Parents are spoiled for choice in Tralee between an all-boys CBS, an all-girls Presentation Convent, the mixed Mercy secondary school, a Gaelcholáiste and Tralee Community College – the last two of which are run by the Kerry Education Service (the VEC in Kerry).

All of these schools have good third-level progression rates and provide a range of extra-curricular activities. Despite the queuing outside Mercy Secondary School, there is no overcrowding crisis in the area.

The reasons why parents choose one school over another are many and varied. It can come down to practicalities such as the location of the school, or which school a child’s friends are attending.

But when there is a choice of schools in an area, details become more important. Do I want my child to attend a single-sex or a mixed school? How does that school do in the Leaving Cert? Does it provide transition year? How will it cope if my child has special needs?

AS JOHN O’ROARKE, principal of Mercy Secondary School says, “I think there are as many reasons as there were parents standing in that queue. Everybody has a different one.”

Schools must continually adapt to the needs and desires of parents and students as well as their own ethos and commitment to providing the best education possible. One of Mercy Secondary School’s neighbours, Tralee Community College, run by the VEC, is a model of flexibility at both post-primary and post-Leaving Cert level, adjusting its intake and its services according to the demands of the community.

Providing a choice of subjects and activities for post-primary students, the school has a broad range of facilities, including science laboratories, language labs and wood and building workshops, to name but a few.

It also fosters an excellent relationship with IT Tralee, whose students come and run homework clubs for pupils. More than two-thirds of students went on to study at third level colleges last year, while others progressed elsewhere.

In recent years Tralee Community College has taken a step towards concentrating on the provision of post-Leaving Cert courses. It now offers a broad selection of courses, from accounting and journalism to nursing studies and childcare.

Although the post-Leaving Cert student population has increased greatly, the school is at pains to point out that the post-primary education provision is just as important as it has ever been.

“We are simply adapting to the needs of the community,” says school principal Billy Curtin. “We provide for the community in whatever way we can. That is very important to us.”

While Tralee Community College is an example of a VEC-run school that has managed to serve the needs of its community, and has a vibrant pre- and post-Leaving Cert school population as a result, some other VEC-run schools around the country are finding themselves in a difficult position as parents pass over them in favour of other schools.

Many of these schools are excellent institutions with top-class facilities and dedicated teachers, but for some, the age-old image that certain people have of the vocational school as the “tech” – the less academic option – can be a problem.

Other things contribute to that image as well. The VEC schools’ universally open and transparent enrolment policies, especially in places such as Dublin, have led to them shouldering more than their fair share of students with learning difficulties, students for whom English is a second language or students who fail to get past the strict enrolment policies of private schools.

Often, a school with a larger number of students who have difficulties or who face extra challenges will have a lower third-level progression rate, and parents’ views that the school is not “academic” enough will be reinforced.

Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), acknowledges that some vocational schools suffer from an image problem in the minds of parents, because of their historical role in education.

It is not a universal problem and only occurs in pockets around the country, but he makes the point that such perceptions are unfounded in many cases.

“Schools have all moved to the centre in some respect,” explains Moriarty. “Vocational schools provide a full range of subjects and exam preparation, while secondary schools offer woodwork and other vocational subjects.”

While the VEC-run school may once have been the place where the less academic students went, this is no longer the case.

“It’s all about branding,” says Moriarty. “There has been a profound and fundamental change in how vocational schools operate . . . A certain amount of rebranding is needed to reflect that change sometimes. The schools themselves are just providing a high standard of education, as they have always done.”

This evolution of the VEC school image is still in its early stages. Some schools are further along than others. Ask people in Maynooth where the “tech” is, for example, and few will point you towards Maynooth Post Primary School – a large and vibrant school with an excellent academic record and a wide range of extra-curricular activities.

But Maynooth Post Primary School is a VEC-run school, and it maintains the VEC ethos and standards. It just does not have the millstone of a “tech” image around its neck.

THE IMAGE ISSUE is not universal by any means. Many of the VEC-run Gaelcholáistí do not suffer from an image problem, for example.

In Cork, three out of the top seven feeder schools are VEC-run. Kilkenny, Kildare and parts of Dublin are all examples of areas where vocational schools are rivalling and often topping other schools for popularity and chances of progression. St Fergal’s College in Laois topped this year’s list in its area with a progression rate of 100 per cent. Castletroy Community College in Limerick is another hugely successful school riding high in the ratings.

Of course, academic progression is only one indicator of what is happening in a school. “If we can carry a student with difficulties through and enable them to achieve to the best of their ability, that is the measure of our success,” says Moriarty.

Other schools are rebranding by stepping away from post-primary education to concentrate on the further and adult education aspect of the VEC remit. Whatever the case, VEC-run schools around the country are at different points in the evolution that will bring them in people’s minds from schools for the trades to schools that cater for everyone. It is a battle for minds and attitudes, according to Moriarty – the schools are already doing the work and now it is up to parents to make the choice.

“I would advise people to look at the Whole School Evaluations rather than feeder school lists. Feeder school lists can work to the advantage of schools with selective enrolment. A Whole School Evaluation by a Department inspector will give you a real idea of what a school is really like and whether a school is truly working well,” Moriarty says.

From creche to career: the next step for the VEC

Vocational schools are an integral part of Ireland's education history and Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association, sees them as central to the future of Ireland's education. In 2006, Moriarty presented the idea of having a one-campus education network – termed "from creche to career". The VEC sector already provides creches, post-primary schools and PLC colleges. It entered the primary sector for the first time in September last year. Vocational school managers see sense in having all of these education institutions on one campus, sharing state-of-the-art facilities with each other and with the surrounding community.

This would mean one drop-off and collection point for parents, regardless of the ages of their children. It would ease the transition to primary and secondary school for youngsters. Sharing resources is an obvious benefit and the strong tradition of adult and further education associated with the VEC sector may well have positive knock-on effects for education within the community.

"It would be a one-stop shop," says Moriarty. "People could enter at two and a half years old and stay until they're 90 if they so wish."

Rebranding: schools that ditched VEC tag

VEC schools that have ditched the vocational tag include:

Coláiste LorcáinAthy, Co Kildare

St Fergal's CollegeRathdowney, Portlaoise

St Mogue's CollegeBelturbet, Co Cavan

Coláiste ChoilmBallincollig, Co Cork

Coláiste ChillianClondalkin, Dublin 22

Coláiste na CoiribeGalway

Castleknock Community CollegeDublin 15