Although it has been flagged as the first comprehensive package of education legislation in the history of the State, the Education Bill, which has now passed all stages in the Oireachtas, has attracted relatively little attention. This is scarcely surprising as the main elements of the Bill, which is likely to become law before Christmas, are broadly non-contentious. There are many welcome features in Mr Martin's Bill. Giving legal recognition to students and parents, teachers and principals, school inspectors and education centres is common sense. The excellent work of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment will be underpinned by law. The INTO leader, Senator Joe O'Toole, spoke for many when he said yesterday that people concerned with Irish education would "breathe a huge sigh of relief" that for the first time since the last century Irish education has been put on a comprehensive legal basis.
For all that, there is about this Bill the sense that an opportunity has been lost. At root, last year's Education Bill proposed by Ms Niamh Bhreathnach sought to democratise Irish education. Through the creation of 10 regional education boards, it addressed the excessive centralisation of Irish education and sought to bring the educational service closer to the communities it serves. It sought to overturn the 130-year tradition which has seen every facet of education run by ministerial regulation and order. The Breathnach plan for the education boards - labelled as an expensive extra layer of bureaucracy by Fianna Fail in opposition - has long since been abandoned. Mr Martin appears content with an educational system where all 4,000 schools in the State are accountable to one central authority at the Department of Education in Dublin.
The previous Bill also gave parent and teacher representatives a much greater input into the use of resources. It would have given parents and teachers a considerable say in the provision of a wide range of support, career guidance, psychological, remedial and library services, as well as programmes to combat disadvantage and the co-ordination of school resources. Mr Martin has retained the right of parents to set up parents' associations and to have access to records relating to their children's education. The ban on school "league tables" will prevent excessive and damaging competition. The National Parents' Council (Primary) is concerned that the right for parents and children to appeal school decisions is too narrowly drawn. However, there was a legitimate concern that the broader brush of the earlier legislation could have led to a legal quagmire.
In truth, the lack of debate about the Bill probably reflects the general sense of contentment with what is often labelled our "world-class" education system. Education in this State is, indeed, of a very high standard; it has a very talented, dedicated pool of teachers who can, for the most part, rely on strong support from parents. But it is by no means perfect. The educational system still fails many of our children. And there is not always the level of accountability, democracy and transparency that we take for granted in other public services. Many elements of Mr Martin's Bill are, indeed, very welcome. But it may be that the wider structural and democratic issues addressed by Ms Breathnach in her Bill will, sooner or later, have to be revisited.
