Unpublished report queries viability of small schools

A controversial unpublished report into the viability of small schools “bluntly” suggests that schools situated close

together should consider immediate amalgamation.

A value-for-money report into some 600 small schools around the country, completed in April 2013, has yet to be published, amid concerns it could be extremely politically sensitive, particularly for Fine Gael.

There are 600 two-teacher schools with 50 pupils and hundreds more three-teacher schools, mainly in rural areas, although there are some in Dublin.

It is understood the report recommends that schools should have four teachers and 80 pupils in order to balance numbers, and maintain quality.

Former minister for education Ruairí Quinn repeatedly denied the report was being buried in advance of the local and European elections, but Labour sources now acknowledge "Fine Gael were too scared of the topic to even discuss the merits of the different options".

It will be examined by Jan O’Sullivan, the new Minister, in the coming weeks and she is also likely to come under pressure to publish it in full.

Calls to publish

Fine Gael backbench TDs have already called for it to be published so its arguments can be assessed and it was suggested Mr Quinn wanted it published to allow for discussion.

However, sources with knowledge of its contents said “it bluntly suggested that where schools are close together, they should be talking about amalgamation straight away”.

While Mr Quinn always maintained no schools would be forced to close, such a move, if implemented, would throw the future of schools with between one and four teachers into doubt.

The report examined isolated or island schools that were close to each other and had the same ethos. Of particular focus were those within two kilometres of almost identical types of schools, including a small number in Dublin.

Other issues include the distance pupils have to travel, as well as the distance of schools relative to each other.

Another suggestion was “clustering” similar sized operations together to allow staff to be shared in an effort to drive down costs.

Clustering

“It looked at clustering schools, or sharing staffing across a number of small schools,” one source said.

"It recognised that this is really sensitive stuff in rural Ireland, but also that we can't just bury our heads in the sand and protect schools even where the number of kids is falling rapidly."

One idea would be creating clusters with one non-teaching principal in charge of a number of schools. At the moment, the principals of smaller schools typically teach as well, but creating managerial non-teaching posts could cut down on the additional allowances paid to principals.

It would also allow the communities affected to begin a discussion about whether they wanted to fully amalgamate over time, and provided space and experience for them to weigh up whether it was attractive to do so.

“There’s an allowance for every principal, so having one principal over a few of them could lead savings,” a source said.

“It could also allow the community to decide over time if they could fully amalgamate.”

The issue of small schools has been raised at Fine Gael parliamentary party meetings by several TDs in recent months.