The recent release of the national Department of Education Primary School Survey results, like everything these days, has prompted polarising commentary. The survey finally gave families across Ireland the chance to have their say on the type of schools they want in their communities. However, publication of these results has sparked calls to ban religion from all schools on the one hand, and calls to protect religious control of schools at all costs on the other. In all the noise, it is easy to lose sight of the significance of the survey and its findings .
There are many families all around Ireland who cannot exercise their constitutional right to choose a school that aligns with their values. Growing numbers of non-Catholic children attend Catholic schools, leaving school leaders with the impossible task of simultaneously upholding a religious ethos and protecting all children’s rights to freedom from discrimination. Research carried out for the Department of Education in 2012 captured how these children can feel left out in religious-run schools. This is not the fault of teachers – it is an inevitable consequence of an education system which is out of balance.
This is not a new problem, but it is one that our State has failed to take seriously up to now. For decades politicians and department officials alike have dismissed parents seeking school choice. Those parents have organised, campaigned, and established schools, and over the past 50 years the State has moved from active opposition through toleration to limited support.
The Primary School Survey is a significant breakthrough which has the capacity to change everything. It has confirmed just how unbalanced our system is, and the scale of demand for change. We now have objective evidence that there are significant parts of the country where a majority of preschool and primary school parents would prefer multidenominational schools – 58 per cent in Wicklow, for example. In Tipperary – a county with 154 religious-run schools and just two multidenominational ones – 39 per cent of parents would prefer non-religious schooling. To meet demand, more than 50 schools would have to transfer patronage in that county alone.
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As the results are absorbed in communities around the country, responses will vary. We are often told parents don’t care about patronage, but the truth is that some care very much. Some Catholic families who have attended their local parish school for generations will be shocked at any suggestion of change. They may feel threatened, whatever the results for their school. Non-Catholic families who have quietly tolerated feeling like outsiders in their schools for years may be frustrated at the reliance on the enthusiasm of local school management to progress the next steps. The fact that there are no guarantees of change, despite clear evidence of need, will aggravate many.
Misinformation will circulate. We’ve seen examples already: commentators ignoring clear explanations of margins of error and claiming that significant response rates are invalid. In one school where 68 per cent expressed a preference for multidenominational patronage, parents were sent a letter warning them that if the school were to transfer, it would no longer have a local management structure (not true – Educate Together schools have the same local board of management structure as religious-run schools).
Anxiety and resistance are normal features of any change process. Businesses and State agencies invest heavily in supporting and reassuring their staff and stakeholders when planning changes. When the government decided to convert institutes of technology into universities in 2020, they invested €90 million over three years to incentivise colleges to redesignate. In contrast, patrons supporting schools through patronage transfer have been told there is no funding available to support that work, and the €5,000 grant for schools that transfer will not even cover the costs of new signage and branding.
The principle of parental choice is highly valued in Irish education and the Government’s Primary School Survey is a huge step forward. However, education policy should not be driven solely by the popularity of different school types. At the heart of this matter is every child’s right to feel equally included and valued at school. The Department of Education must address the dearth of multidenominational schools because of its public sector duty to do so. Families in Leitrim, for example — where only religious-run primary schools are available — have the same right to school choice as all citizens.
Schools have until the end of October to decide if they want to step forward into a supported process of change. We know that there are many schools around the country struggling to fully include all children within the confines of an ethos that prioritises one religion — schools that want to ensure that every child feels an equal sense of belonging, whatever their background. Patronage transfer offers a way forward for those school communities. As one principal whose school transferred recently described it: “The transfer to Educate Together lifted ... tension. It allowed our ethos of inclusion to breathe.”
Because of the lack of investment and support in the current process numbers may be limited in this first tranche, but schools will come forward and communities will benefit. While this is important progress, it is frustrating that responsibility for change is being left again to voluntary initiative in local communities. Volunteerism is a good thing. Our entire education system has been built on it. But it is neither fair nor effective to leave the vindication of people’s rights to volunteerism alone.
The survey results have confirmed that demand for multidenominational schools is significant and widespread. Communities want choice and if we are serious about every child feeling an equal sense of belonging in school this process will need investment and political leadership.
Emer Nowlan is chief executive of Educate Together
