Sixty percent of parents who took part in a nationwide Department of Education survey want their local primary school to remain denominational [1], while 40pc say they want their local school to become multi-denominational. Forty percent of parents with children aged 12 or below took part in the survey.
The Department of Education is preparing finalised school-specific results for each of the more than 3,200 primary schools around the country. Survey results varied around the country with strongest support for the status quo in counties like Donegal and Longford and strongest support for a change in Wicklow and Dublin.
It remains to be seen what will happen when divestment is put to the vote in individual schools and more parents come forward to take part in the process. Divestment has been very slow because of lots of local resistance in practice.
The Catholic Education Partnership said the consultation represents an important step for parental involvement in educational planning.
Chief Executive Alan Hynes-Cendrzak also welcomed the strong level of support for existing denominational education [2].
He said Catholic education is grounded in the principle that parents are the primary educators of their children and warned that the Department of Education must remain alert to variations in local sentiment. While acknowledging that approximately 16pc of respondents indicated a preference for change he said the majority support for Catholic schooling should not be overlooked. The 16pc figure is 40pc of 40pc, that is, the 40pc who say they want multidenominational schools multiplied by a 40pc turnout.