The debate on the future of our primary school patronage system has gathered pace. We currently have 500,000 pupils in 3,200 primary schools; 75pc of them are being educated in 25pc of the schools.In other words, 800 schools accommodate 375,000 pupils. Many of those schools are located in urban or growing suburban areas.
The Department of Education estimates that an additional 100,000 pupils will be added to our primary system by 2020 or earlier.
Including parents and grandparents, up to 2.8 million people, more than half our population, have direct involvement and interest in the education system at primary level.
The good news is that, by and large, our present system works well for the majority of pupils and parents. Educational outcomes, by international standards, are high, despite the low investment in primary education.
This is because of the quality and dedication of our teachers, the regulatory role of the Department of Education and, critically, the voluntary involvement of 22,000 parents, teachers and others on the boards of management of our primary schools.
The question is, can it cope with the future growth and the changing nature of Irish society?
Our patronage system is essentially an old-fashioned 'public-private partnership' financed, in the main, by the State. The schools and their staff are funded by the Department of Education and are managed privately by the patron through a board of management. That board, in every primary school, is composed of representatives of parents, teachers, and the patron. The chairperson is usually the parish priest or rector, because 95pc of primary schools are managed by Christian churches in the State. The other patrons are the gaelscoileanna movement, the Islamic community and Educate Together, a multi-denominational organisation. In 2008 the VEC became patrons of two new schools in north Dublin.
Parents are more closely involved in the primary school experience between the ages of four and 12 before their children move into our secondary system.
Article 42 of our Constitution recognises the parent as the primary educator of the child. This is a good starting point, which Labour fully supports. We do not want to change it. The cultural commitment of Irish parents to the education of their children in the school of their choice, where possible, is a strong legacy from the past which we should maintain.
The future of our country and the prosperity of our society are dependent upon a well-educated young population.
So, what is the problem, some may ask? Well, growth and change are the answers. We are no longer 93pc Roman Catholic, as our school patronage system suggests.
Catholic schools, in some areas, are having to ration scarce places in their schools. In the past, the doors were open to all.
I am not aware of any charge of proselytisation by the Catholic Church. In these days of scarcity and growth, many schools are now looking for a baptismal certificate and a utility bill to provide proof of religion and local residence.
Many Church of Ireland schools are doing the same. Denominational patrons are required to give first preference to their own members. The continuous growth in our young population is increasing these pressures, particularly in built-up areas.
Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, is acutely aware of the problem. He is the biggest patron of primary schools in the country. Officially, about 30pc of Dublin's population are not Roman Catholic and the 70pc who are, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) statistics, are not necessarily practising their religion. Parish priests, across Dublin and throughout urban Ireland, know how diminished Church attendance and religious observance has become. Many primary school teachers, charged with preparing children for Holy Communion and Confirmation, talk of dealing with children who are clearly unfamiliar with being in a church of any kind.
Our society has changed and that momentum is continuing. The CSO has confirmed an increase in civil marriage ceremonies over religious ones. This is but another indication of changing lifestyle.
Archbishop Martin does not want the responsibility of patronage of so many schools when many parents may not want a formal Roman Catholic education for their children. The Archbishop has stated that the scale of Roman Catholic patronage is a legacy of the past. The question is how do we adjust it for the future?
Labour supports the primary role of the parents and the present system of patronage. We value the contribution of the 22,000 unpaid volunteers in the boards of management. The present system of state funding, local management and departmental oversight has, by and large, worked well and should be carried into the future. But it must become more open and accountable to the local community.
The issue is about rebalancing the patronage of our existing infrastructure so as to reflect our modern reality and to give parents a realistic choice, where possible.
We need to recognise where we are, the richness of the legacy we have inherited, and the necessity to realign it with the reality of our modern Irish society. As I first said to a group of Irish-Americans in Chicago in 1996, the Republic of Ireland is a post-Catholic society. This was not meant as an insulting remark. It was a recognition of the change in the relationship between Church and State, compared to 1950s Ireland.
A very large proportion of our population are committed and practising Catholics but they are no longer the majority. They do not need the apparatus of the State to make them observant Catholics.
Nor do they, I believe, want the State to enforce Catholic compliance on their fellow citizens. We have all come a long way from the mother and child scheme, the Fethard-on-Sea controversy and the bigotry which predated the Good Friday Agreement on this island.
Our primary school system is the cradle of our nation's future. It should celebrate and respect the diversity of those four-year-olds who are preparing to enter 'big school' in September.
That is why we need a forum on the patronage of primary education to ensure that our system is fit for purpose in the future.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Source (II)
SV (3)