ANALYSIS:Fee-paying schools were excluded from an audit of admissions policies in 1,900 schools
A 2006 AUDIT by the Department of Education found many schools were using restrictive admissions policies to exclude certain categories of students, including those with special needs and the children of immigrants.
The audit found that in one (unnamed) Dublin area, fewer than 1 per cent of students in one secondary school had special learning needs, compared with 17 per cent in neighbouring vocational schools.
It said some schools were using elaborate pre-enrolment procedures, such as waiting lists, that could exclude some students.
The audit covered 1,572 primary and 426 secondary schools – but not the more than 50 fee-paying secondary schools in the State, some of which have been criticised for “cherrypicking” students.
Schools are not named and shamed in the 79-page audit. Instead, the State is divided into regional “clusters” where the enrolment of special needs pupils, Travellers and “newcomer” children is detailed.
In response, former minister for education Mary Hanafin has accused some schools of using subtle practices like waiting lists and sibling policies to exclude some students.
Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has also signalled his concern about admissions policies in some fee-paying schools.
There are 56 fee-charging second-level schools in the State, of which 21 are Protestant, two inter-denominational, one Jewish and the rest Catholic. In all, the State pays the salaries of almost 1,500 teachers in such schools.
Last night, Peter MacMenamin, general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, said the new list showed how some schools were “doubly selecting”.
“They are positively selecting those students they want and at the same time refusing to accept any student with difficulties, such as would require special needs assistance.
“Some schools portray this with the soft touch of suggesting that special needs students would do better in another school. This is nothing more than a continuation of a vicious form of educational apartheid designed to maintain a class-ridden society,” he said.
“Schools that proactively practise this form of selection, either overtly or covertly, must be punished by the reduction or elimination of financial support from the State. Enrolment policies must be subject to scrutiny along with the effects of this policy,” Mr MacMenamin added.
