Sir, - As the education convention gets under way this weekend, much will be said about the future of our school system. For some families, however, the question of inclusion is not abstract. It is lived every day.
I am a parent of three primary school children – two boys and a girl. Each morning, they leave the same home but head in different directions. One attends our local mainstream boys’ school, another travels by bus to a special school and my daughter will soon attend a separate local girls’ school.
I am deeply grateful for the care and support my son receives. Yet our family lives with a quiet reality: children who grow up side by side are educated apart. They do not share the same school community, friendships or daily experiences. One of my sons must leave his own community each day simply to access the education he needs.
This separation is not merely logistical; it is deeply felt.
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And yet, elsewhere in their lives, inclusion already exists. All three of my children attend the same local football club, where boys’, girls’ and additional-needs teams train and play alongside one another. There, they are part of a shared community – in the same place, at the same time. It offers a glimpse of what genuine inclusion can look like: natural, ordinary and unforced.
As policymakers and educators gather to consider the direction of Irish education, I would ask that this lived reality is not overlooked. Inclusion should not mean sending a child away in order for them to be supported. It should mean creating schools where children of differing needs and abilities can learn together, with appropriate resources in place.
Inclusion is not only about where a child learns. It is about where they belong. It is time we made that belonging possible for every child. -Yours, etc,
LAURA FRYER,
Stillorgan,
Dublin.
