Principals seek action on second-level waiting lists

PRINCIPALS want a ban on waiting lists for second-level enrolments until pupils reach sixth class, to help stop some schools cherry-picking students.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), which represents heads of the country’s 740 second-level schools, also proposes that existing education staff are in a position to highlight where schools may be operating policies which exclude children with special needs, Travellers or newcomer students who need extra English classes.

In their response to former Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s recent report highlighting the sporadic evidence of schools which are not inclusive to these groups, the principals reject suggestions that a post of Enrolments Commissioner should be created to monitor admissions to schools.

“Out of 50,000 students starting second-level each year, only around 200 appeals are taken against a refusal to enrol someone, so in the bigger picture it’s hardly a very major issue for most schools,” said NAPD director Clive Byrne.

The association suggests in a submission to the Department of Education that waiting lists for second-level schools be abolished to avoid situations where children’s names are put down for second-level schools when they start primary education or even earlier.

Instead, principals suggest that applications should only be accepted from sixth class pupils in the September and October of the year before they are due to begin second-level. They recommend that offers of school places are made before Christmas, allowing schools a chance to assess incoming students in time to allow mixed-ability classes and provide or apply for any special education resources children may need.

“In the small number of schools where there are not enough places for all applicants, priority could be given to pupils with siblings already in the school, family links or those from primary schools which traditionally send pupils to the school,” said Mr Byrne.

However, the NAPD advises against schools reserving places for the possible arrival of newcomer children to the community, as such trends cannot be predicted.

The audit report found that certain second-level schools had a much higher than average number of students with special needs or who had moved here from other countries and had little or no English.

NAPD suggests that special education needs organisers and educational welfare officers working for state agencies are well placed to identify where there are imbalances, meaning there is no need to set up a new office for this work.

The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) representing around a third of second-level schools, which are managed by local VECs, has called for an end to discriminatory enrolment policies and practice endemic in Irish education for decades. Although it has been claimed that VEC schools take more than their fair share of students who need extra resources, Ms Hanafin’s report said this is not always the case.

IVEA general secretary Michael Moriarty said school enrolment procedures should be reformed to ensure that more needy or less amenable students are fairly shared across all schools in each area.