Danger of social gap in schools

THE danger of a wider social gap being forced between schools even if parents have greater choice needs to be avoided, the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector was told.

The point was made by a number of groups on the opening day of hearings by the forum’s advisory group.

Fr Michael Drumm of the Catholic Schools Partnership said that while the primary system is very vibrant, particularly in rural areas, some urban areas have the most stratified schools in Europe.

“There are parents who are certainly not serving the common good at the moment, moving [their children] from a town centre school to the edge of town. There’s a lot of evidence of that and all patrons would frown about that kind of thing,” he said.

National Parents Council-Primary (NPC-P) chairperson Philip Mudge said there is a danger if a school is divested from one patron to another, that one school ends up becoming known locally as the good school.

“It could be the Catholic school or the new school. If there’s a massive difference, some people might be left out. People who are less able to engage in the consultation process may potentially be the biggest losers,” he said.

NPC-P information helpline officer Mary Killeen said a common enrolment policy for all schools in an area would help to ensure they are open to all children equally.

“Some schools can pick and choose by their enrolment policy who they take into their school, or they can make excuses for not taking in children with special needs because they don’t have the resources, and things are going to get worse,” she said.

The Catholic Primary School Managers’ Association said it expects all schools to be inclusive of all children, regardless of their socioeconomic status or whether or not they have special needs.

Meanwhile, as mainstream schools await news tomorrow of their allocation of special needs assistants (SNAs) from September, children’s charity Barnardos called for clarity from the Government on levels of such staff meeting the care needs of any children with disabilities in schools around the country.

“Last month, the Department of Education announced it would not be pursuing cuts to SNA posts yet redundancies have been handed down to SNAs in recent weeks. The lack of clarity surrounding this issue is unacceptable for a Government that pledged to return transparency and credibility to public service in Ireland,” said Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay.

Although 10,800 SNAs currently work with around 13,000 primary and second level pupils, the department has to keep within a limit of 10,575 and is holding back 475 posts for emergency and other allocations later in the school year.