The National Survey of Parental Preference in School Patronage is now live!
The Department of Education and Youth has launched the long-awaited Parents’ Survey on School Patronage – giving families across Ireland the chance to have their say on the kind of schools they want in their communities.
Parents of children aged 0-12 are encouraged to take part and use their voice to help shape the future of education.
Why this survey matters
Educate Together opened 50 schools between 2013 and 2023 in response to demand from parents around the country. Unfortunately, the current system for setting up new schools is much more restrictive and does not allow parents to advocate for a new school in their area in the same way. As well as this, many Educate Together schools around Ireland are heavily oversubscribed and have to turn away families every year. This means that there are many families who want to access equality-based education for their children, but simply can’t.
What parents will be asked
The Parents’ Survey will ask three key questions:
- Would you prefer your primary school to operate under a denominational (religious) patron or to operate under a multi-denominational (non-religious) patron?
- Would you prefer your primary school to be a co-educational school or a single-sex school?
- Would you prefer your primary school to provide education primarily through the English language or through the Irish language?
Building on real experience
2024 saw the transfer of the first school from Catholic to Educate Together patronage, when St. Mary’s Primary School became Paradise Place Educate Together National School (ETNS). This transfer process involved input from Educate Together, the outgoing Catholic patron, school leadership and the wider school community. Paradise Place ETNS has become an important example of how effectively school patronage transfer can be carried out and proves that reconfiguration can be achieved without disruption to student learning or outcomes.
The experience of working with the Paradise Place ETNS school community has allowed the Educate Together national office team to develop materials, policies and procedures to provide maximum support to schools where there is interest in joining the Educate Together network. These materials can be accessed on the Educate Together website and will form the basis of how we will engage with school communities who come to our attention through the survey.
Respectful engagement and accurate information
Transparency and respect are central to successful patronage transfer. Educate Together is proud of the work that goes on in our schools, and we want that to speak for itself! We would ask all our supporters to communicate respectfully with people over the course of the survey, even those you disagree with, and direct them to resources from the Department of Education and Youth or Educate Together for accurate, up-to-date information.
Looking ahead
Educate Together are excited to work with school communities where significant demand for patronage transfer exists. This is an exciting time for education in Ireland and hopefully this survey will help us move towards a fairer, more inclusive education system for all Irish families.
School choice benefits everyone, no matter what kind of school they prefer. We look forward to seeing the results of the Parents’ Survey and to supporting families who want to help shape the future of education in their local areas.
Take the Parents’ Survey here: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/campaigns/primary-school-survey/
For further information on the survey: https://www.educatetogether.ie/primaryschoolsurvey/