In his address to the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) at their annual convention last week, the Minister Education and Skills, Rurairi Quinn, announced his intention to publish draft legislation, the Education (Admission to School) Bill 2013, aimed at making school enrolment policies fairer.
Minister Quinn noted that there has been a lack of guidance from the Department of Education in relation to school enrolment policy. Schools can draw up their own admission policies so long as they are not discriminatory on grounds of race or disability. The Education Act 1998 is a “light touch” and is insufficient in ensuring that all children are welcome in all schools.
Current enrolment practices such as preferential treatment for children of past pupils and a first-come first-served system leaves certain categories of children, including newcomers to an area and Traveller children at a particular disadvantage. According to Minister Quinn this “cherry picking” of students results in a school population that does not always reflect local catchment areas.
Under the proposed legislation certain problems will be addressed:
The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) welcomed the Ministers announcement. The current policy prioritising the children of past pupils leaves Traveller children at a significant disadvantage since their parents are statistically less likely to have attended secondary school.
Bulletin readers may recall the school admission criteria case of Stokes where a Traveller boy was refused admission to Clonmel CBS High School under the terms of the school’s admissions policy which openly prioritised the children of past pupils. The Equality Tribunal found that the admissibility criteria was indirectly discriminatory towards Travellers. However the decision of the Tribunal was successfully appealed in the Circuit Court. The High Court later upheld the Circuit Court’s decision that a school admission policy that prioritised former pupil's children did not lead to particular discrimination against Travellers.
The ITM Law Centre has appealed the High Court judgment and is currently awaiting a hearing date for the Supreme Court appeal. It is likely that, depending on timescales, the proposed legislation will have an impact on the outcome of this case.
Click here to read the Minister’s speech in full
Click here to read an ITM press release
Click here to read an Irish Times article and here to read an Irish Examiner article