Tipi Loschi school in The Shire Most demand for the divestment of Catholic primary schools to other patron bodies is in middle-class urban areas, with much less demand for divestment in rural and working-class areas, according to new analysis of an extensive Department of Education survey of parents around the country.
More details of that survey have now emerged, and Alan Hynes of the Catholic Education Partnership told The Irish Catholic: “There’s some interesting patterns to the figures. Within the urban and suburban areas, it’s noticeable that a good deal of the demand lies within upper-middle class areas. Working class areas seem more likely to want to hold onto the Catholic ethos”.
Pressure has existed going back to at least 2011 for more divestment of Catholic schools to non-denominational bodies in order to reflect a more pluralist and secular Ireland. The process has the support of the Catholic bishops, but in practice little divestment has taken place often because of parental pushback.
The Department of Education recently surveyed parents of children aged 12 and under to see what kind of school they want for their children. There was a 40% rate of participation in the poll, and it showed that around 40% of parents want a non-denominational or multi-denominational education for their children.
However, with more detailed results now available, in practice it seems there is only enough demand to divest dozens of Catholic primary schools, not hundreds, and the demand is mainly in middle-class, urban areas. There are a little over 2,700 Catholic primary schools in the Republic.
A statement from the Catholic Education Partnership said: “A simple reading of the results show majority support for change in a little over 14% of schools. However, this figure falls to just under 7% once schools with a low response rate (below 40%) are excluded.”
It continued: “Only 77 schools nationally meet [the criteria set out by the Department of Education for a change of patron], of which 51 are in Dublin or Cork. If schools with a response rate of under 40% are excluded, that figure falls to around 40 schools.”
School by school results of the survey are due to be made public next week.