Parents face loss of Catholic school choice

PARENTS could be left with no choice of a Catholic secondary school in parts of the country within 20 years because they face near-elimination by other education models, a school management leader has warned.

Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB) — which represents the boards of almost 400 Catholic and Protestant voluntary secondary schools — said there is a danger of moving from a second-level system once dominated by religious-run schools to one where they are just a small minority or even non-existent in new communities.

Education Minister Ruairí Quinn this week announced a forum would decide on how some of the 90% of primary schools under Catholic patronage could move to new patron bodies.

However, delegates at the JMB annual conference, which begins today, have concerns about the falling numbers of denominational schools at second-level.

The number of denominational secondary schools has fallen from almost 500 in 1989 to 383 today due to closures and amalgamations. Around 360 of these are Catholic voluntary secondary schools, run by religious orders or taken over for them by lay trust bodies.

Most new second-level schools or those created from mergers — where neighbouring religious-run schools with falling numbers amalgamated — were community schools or colleges, mostly with a multi-denominational ethos, although some are succinctly Catholic.

“While there may be a lack of choice in some places at primary level, the breakdown of Catholic and non-Catholic at post-primary is now around half and half,” Mr Kelly said.

“There hasn’t been a new Catholic secondary school for 20 years and if this rate of decline continues, we will have a very different educational map in another 15 or 20 years.”

While the pluralistic approach is welcome and necessary, he said, the choice of a Catholic school should be maintained for parents. He pointed to areas such as west and north Dublin where there has been major population growth but where no Catholic secondary schools have been opened to cater to the rising demand.

“If the entirely pluralistic approach continues, we will have a predominance of state-run new schools at the expense of Catholic and denominational education,” Mr Kelly said.

He called for those involved in Catholic education to set out a vision for their future role to ensure parents have a variety of options.

The impact of staffing and other cutbacks on second-level education will also be high on the agenda at the JMB conference in Killarney, which will be addressed by Mr Quinn tomorrow.