School Patronage - Do Parents Really Care?

downthemiddle

When Ruairi Quinn announced to great fanfare The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism for Primary Schools he stated that he expected 1,500 out of 3,200 primary schools to be divested of their Catholic patronage. More than four years later less than 100 schools have actually divested. The status quo has been maintained and the demand that the then minister predicted has not materialised.
The vast majority of parents appear indifferent to patronage and in most cases will send their children to the local school. The quality of teaching and learning appears to be the main criteria in selecting a school. Irish people are slow to change be it service providers, insurance companies or school patronage.
The vast majority of new schools being opened are inter or multi denominational but there is still a definite demand for schools of a faith based ethos, even from parents who are not of that faith. However for most parents is patronage an issue or is it only a vocal minority that care?

Kathnora

It's a vocal minority who care in my opinion. The response to Ruairi's survey a few years ago was very poor although having to produce your PPS number may have been responsible for that! Parents opt for convenience provided the teaching and learning is okay. There are so many a la carte Catholic parents who go through the motions when it comes to the sacraments and school masses etc. They don't think about these things very much. If the children are happy then they are happy. That's as deep as it goes in my experience.

D4RK ONION

Allow me to preface this thread with the following warning. Act the fool, and you will be carded and following that, banned. This is everyone's written warning.

*Mod-Hat off*
I think Kathnora is right in that she says that parents are most concerned about the quality of education. However, I think that the ethos of a school has very little to do with that, and that a lot more multi-denom (some non-denom??) could be made to provide the ever diversifying public of Ireland with more choice.

pwurple

Vocal minority in my opinion, in areas which are under-served for schools.

And honestly, changing the patronage isn't going to solve the problem. If there are not enough places, then someone is going to get left out. All changing the patronage does, is potentially change who that is. More schools, or more teachers in areas with shortages would make a bigger difference.

byhookorbycrook

It's not a lack of places everywhere, in a few places, it's that some schools are more in demand than others.
The DES for many, many years would not give a teacher or extra class room etc for nearly a year after the school "carried" the numbers. Even now, you can only get teachers if you can prove your school is "developing" hence the panic in some areas.

joss

Most parents we know in an under-served area are happy to get a tactical baptism to get a school place. I can't blame them - nobody wants their kid to be a martyr. (We're hoping to avoid that, and will probably be rewarded with a crappy commute.) Once school starts, it's probably easier for everyone to leave things as they are.

lonestargirl

The issue with 'tactical baptism' is that many immigrants do have a faith it's just that it's not Catholic/Christian and they are not prepared to let go of their faith (nor should they be).

In my experiences there are a lot of 'a la carte Catholics' in my son's school and they don't really care that much. They probably would have baptised their kids to keep granny happy. However, among my friends and co-workers whom are that bit younger (late twenties/early thirties) this is a frequent topic of conversation. Many of them have gotten married in the last 2/3 years when there was a rise in secular weddings and they really feel aggrieved that they 'have' to baptise their (future) children to get a place in the local school.