Vol. 434 No. 2
34 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education the number of voluntary secondary schools which refused entry to applicant students in 1992 on the basis of the students' performance in entry tests; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
80 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education if she has set any deadline for the publication by second level schools of an admission policy based on fair and objective criteria, which she announced on 12 August 1993; the steps, if any, she will take to deal with the inequality in the education system caused by the continued operation of elite fee paying secondary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
84 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Education the grounds on which her Department are entitled to withhold funding from schools on the basis of the admission policies of such schools in the case where the admission policies are based on bona fide educational criteria.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 80 and 84 together.
As the Deputies are aware, I have made it quite clear in my statements that I am opposed to any selective entrance tests being applied to pupils by post-primary school authorities. In my statement of 12 August last, I outlined my reasons for this. I would stress in particular that the school is part of its local community and is funded by the State on behalf of the community. Selection tests at entry deny some children from the community the right to attend their local school. These tests hit hardest at pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
It is unjust for the school to deny these pupils entry on the basis of selective entry tests. My Department is involved in continuing discussions with the post-primary school authorities in relation to the steps necessary to achieve my objective. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the matter at present until those discussions have been completed. While I have not set any specific deadline for the matter to be finalised I am anxious that the principle of selection based on tests be discontinued for the school year 1994-95.
My Department does not have precise information on how many voluntary secondary schools refused entry to applicant pupils in 1992 on the basis of entrance tests; the matter is, in any event, one of principle rather than of quantity. My concern is that all post-primary schools should have fair and objective admission procedures.
I would hope that a memorandum of understanding will be agreed before too long with the school managerial authorities. I would prefer, therefore, at this stage not to comment on the issue of withholding State funding from non-compliant schools and I am sure that the Deputies will accept my reasons for this given that discussions are ongoing and have yet to be completed with the school authorities.
I would like to say that the question of fee-paying secondary schools is a separate issue and as such will be addressed separately after the forthcoming Education Convention.
We have about ten minutes to deal with this and three further priority questions. As I am most anxious that the three Deputies concerned be facilitated, I would appreciate brevity.
The Minister said that the refusal of many voluntary secondary schools to accept some pupils was based on principle rather than quantity; to me it would appear to be based on ideology rather than on education. The initial announcement was in April at one of the teachers' conferences. From time to time throughout the summer there were banner headlines in all the national newspapers to the effect that the Minister would take the fee paying schools to task because of selective entry. I asked the Minister a specific question: how many voluntary secondary schools refused entry to applicant students in 1992, where are those schools and to what extent do they operate selective entry?
I do not think it is ideology to stand here as the Minister for Education and ask that students have equal access to facilities provided by taxpayers. I am aware of the headlines but they were not instigated by me. At present a national debate is taking place as a result of the publication of the Green Paper. The headlines and the subjects referred came into the public arena because of the publication of the Green Paper and will, I am sure, be referred to at the forthcoming education convention which is being hosted by me, beginning on Monday next.
A final supplementary from Deputy Jim Higgins.
Am I not right in saying there are only 55 fee paying schools in the country? In the context of the Minister's purge against those schools I asked how many apply selective entry, where they are and to what extent they operate this practice. Therefore, is the Minister not making a major song and dance about something that is trivial, giving the impression that by doing something about the fee paying schools, which have given a tremendous service and which go back to long before the Minister's department was in existence, she would rectify the crucial issue which is equal access of children, including those from disadvantaged areas, to education?
I do not think it is a major song and dance to a parent of a child who has been declared a failure at the age of 11 or 12 to be concerned about that child.
Name one school.
The Minister, without interruption, please.
The Deputy has often challenged me in relation to one child.
Name one school.
I do not consider it a major song and dance to ensure that children are not declared or branded failures in their communities at the age of 11 and 12. I would refer the Deputy to my initial reply. This subject does not refer specifically to fee paying or free and voluntary schools, it refers to selective entry tests for all schools. I hope that when we have concluded our agreement we will know how many schools practice selective entry tests. Until schools are expected to publish their criteria it is an unknown quantity. I have stated already that I do not believe we are talking about a very big problem. The decision to initiate selective tests for children of 11 and 12 years of age damages the primary school curriculum, damages some children who are hurt by it and leaves parents totally bewildered as to the role their school has to play in their community.
Question No. 35 please.
