Sir, – The frustration that Eric Leonard feels with the school admissions process is palpable and is no doubt shared among some other parents who have applied for post-primary places for their children in these weeks (“Our school admissions system is broken. Many parents are in for a rude awakening”, Education, November 19th).
However, it is important that this frustration or even anger is not misdirected towards voluntary secondary schools, boards of managements or religious trusts.
It is not correct to say, as Mr Leonard does, that boards of managements are “anonymous” and “unaccountable” and that they enforce admissions policies that prioritise the interests of the patron. Nor is it correct to say that voluntary secondary schools prioritise admissions based on criteria including religion and legacy family attendance.
Indeed, if voluntary secondary schools and their boards are this bad, why are so many scrambling to get a place in them?
It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an admissions policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998, and particularly the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, an Act that was fraught with difficulties since its inception.
The overall objective of the Act is to provide a framework for school enrolment that is designed to ensure that every child is catered for and that the way in which schools decide on applications for admission is transparent. It requires all schools to set out clearly the admissions criteria that are used.
Admissions criteria may include the catchment area or parish, whether a sibling has attended the school, if there are feeder schools, if a parent is a member of the school’s staff or if a parent or grandparent has attended the school (to a maximum of 25 per cent of available places). It cannot include religious affiliation, as Mr Leonard states.
There are a minimal number of schools nationally that use the full 25 per cent of the child of parent or grandparent criterion, provided for in the Act. Of the 537 schools that responded to a Department of Education 2021 survey, 116 were oversubscribed and used this provision. In overall terms, this equates to 16 per cent of post-primary schools only that have confirmed use of the provision. Further analyses of the schools that responded indicate that the use of the provision is less than the maximum provided for under the Act. These schools would state that the provision helps maintain the continuity of family experience and respect the primacy of parental choice.
In cases of school oversubscription, there remains the distinction between parents not being able to get a place in the school they want for their child as opposed to not being able to get a place.
Regardless, the suggestion that the Department of Education takes control of school admissions is not the answer. The department has too much overreach into schools as it is, with schools having ceded considerable autonomy in recent years. Due regard must be given to the practices and traditions relating to the organisation of schools and the right of schools to manage their own affairs in accordance with legislation.
It is the responsibility of the Department of Education to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all students seeking school places in that area.
Across the board, we need significantly better modelling and planning and a commitment to seriously address the issue of oversubscription in schools through infrastructural investment. – Yours, etc,
JOHN McHUGH,
Principal,
Ardscoil Rís,
Dublin 9.