VECs predicted to take primary education role

PRIMARY schools could and probably will be run in the future by Vocational Education Committees (VECs), the head of their umbrella organisation suggested yesterday.

Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA), told its annual congress that talks are already taking place with the Catholic hierarchy and the multi-denominational schools group Educate Together to explore ways of improving cooperation between the various sectors.

The country’s 33 city and county VECs already operate 247 vocational schools and community colleges, and dozens of further education colleges offering post-Leaving Certificate courses.

Mr Moriarty proposed that Government strategic planning should feature multiplex education campuses, on which pre-schools, primary and second level schools, and a further education college could be built on one site to provide education from the cradle to graduation.

“Because of their multi-denominational dimension, VECs are best placed to serve the needs of a rapidly developing, multicultural and multiethnic society. There is a need to reassess the potential of VECs in terms of supports to primary schools, because of their local dimension statutory authority status, multicultural status and most of all because of their track record in successful partnerships at second level,” he said.

“These features make them eminently suitable for being patrons of primary schools. Legally, there is no difficulty with the principle,” Mr Moriarty said.

This was confirmed recently by Education Minister Mary Hanafin when asked about County Clare VEC’s offer to become trustee to two primary schools.

Mr Moriarty said the benefits of VEC patronage would include availability of administrative support for schools and shared staff in areas such as information technology or building projects, which would all ease workload pressures on primary principals and boards of management.

The possible involvement of the VEC sector at primary level has been the subject of much speculation in light of the declining role of the Church and religious orders, highlighted last week by the Christian Brothers’ decision to withdraw from trusteeship of St Michael’s primary school in Dublin 8.

The Catholic Primary School Management Association, representing the boards of more than 95% of primary schools, proposed joint patronage between the Church and VECs as one of three possible models of governance for new schools in growing urban areas.