PROVISION FOR special needs pupils is largely concentrated in “free” State-run schools and in disadvantaged areas.
New Department of Education figures indicate some leading fee-paying schools make little provision for students with special educational needs.
Broadly, the list shows many fee-paying schools close to the bottom of the table when it comes to special needs provision.
Many of these same schools were close to the top of the recent Irish TimesFeeder School List, tracking progression of Leaving Cert students to third-level colleges.
Responding to the list, Peter MacMenamin, general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) accused some fee-paying schools of operating a kind of “educational apartheid”.
The TUI says State supports should be withdrawn from schools which operate restrictive admission policies.
The list reveals a very high level of support for special needs students in schools such as Holy Child, Sallynoggin, where there is one special needs teacher for every 31 special needs pupils.
Other schools with a high pupil-teacher ratio for special needs children include Jobstown Community College, Tallaght (1:34); Rosmini, Drumcondra (1:35), and St Tiernan’s, Balally (1:42).
On average, most of these schools have an allocation of at least six special needs teachers from the Department of Education, reflecting their high enrolment of children requiring support.
Many fee-paying schools, however, have relatively little provision for special needs – and an allocation of less than one special needs teacher.
The new figures, for 2008- 2009, will raise fresh questions about the enrolment policies of some schools.
Three years ago, the Department of Education conducted an audit of school admission policies in response to these complaints.
The audit identified evidence of some restrictive admission policies in some areas, but it concluded there was no systemic problem across the State.
However, fee-paying schools were specifically excluded from the audit, established by former education minister Mary Hanafin.
The Education Act obliges all schools to operate fair and equitable admission policies.
It says no child can be excluded from any school because of their academic ability or social background.
The new figures will also raise questions about State support for the fee-paying sector. Last year, the 51 fee-paying schools received more than €100 million, mostly for teachers’ pay.
In reaction to today’s figures, John White, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, said his union had received several complaints from teachers about “cherry-picking” by schools.
He stressed that the best schools were those which teach pupils from all sectors of society and those with all levels of academic ability.
“They should be neither ghettoes of advantage nor ghettoes of disadvantage in our schools system,” he said.