Inclusive schools the way forward, writes Quinn
The publication of a book edited by my friend and constituency colleague, the late Dr Garrett FitzGerald, gives us new insights into the establishment of those foundations, the national school education system in Ireland, in the 1820s. Schools were then becoming rooted in their communities. But issues of patronage and parental choice were very much alive at that time.
Today, the communities they serve have changed hugely since that time, never more so than the last 20 years. We now have a much more diverse population, with 12% of the pupils in Irish primary schools being of migrant origin. These children have been welcomed into our schools and have integrated well.
