THE PUBLICATION of school league tables in the media is forcing schools to compete with each other by adopting restrictive enrolment policies, the ASTI has warned.
In a submission to Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe, the union says schools are hailed in the media as “good schools” or “the best schools” based on exam results, and this creates competition among schools to earn these accolades.
It says schools which have a fair proportion of pupils with special needs, newcomer pupils or pupils from the Traveller community are not hailed as good schools or the best schools by the media.
The ASTI submission is made in response to a recent Department of Education audit of enrolment policies. This showed how provision for special needs, foreign nationals and Traveller pupils was often concentrated in vocational, community and comprehensive schools.
The vast majority of ASTI’s 17,000 members teach in voluntary second-level schools or in fee-paying schools.
The ASTI notes in its submission that the 50-odd fee-paying schools in the State are not included in the department’s audit of over 2,000 primary and second-level schools. In the past, several fee-paying schools have been criticised for their restrictive enrolment policies.
The ASTI appears sceptical about the possible appointment of an enrolment commissioner/ admissions officer in each region. The department has hinted that this person could monitor enrolment policies in each area and take corrective action. However, the union says co- operation between schools on enrolment is better than coercion from the department.
It says: “Such voluntary arrangements are more likely to foster that sense of engagement and involvement characteristic of quality education rather than legislative impositions or directives.”
The ASTI also underlines its policy that all schools in receipt of State support, both fee-paying and non-fee paying, should accept their fair and proportionate share of special needs students, immigrant students and students from less privileged socio-economic and educational backgrounds.
It says the serious under-funding of schools is also working against open enrolment policies.
This under-funding, it says, “manifests itself in the paucity of resources for special needs pupils and for newcomer pupils and for pupils from the Traveller community”.
“The refusal by the department to provide adequate permanent staffing to schools and to implement the recommendations of the National Council for Special Education, particularly with regard to the appointment of a special needs co-ordinator in schools, provides practical disincentives to schools to enrol such pupils.
“Schools are struggling to mainstream pupils who are newcomers, have special needs or are from the Travelling community.”
It points out how the allocation of staffing to schools for learning support teachers – specialist teachers who play a vital role in meeting the needs of students across the spectrum of needs – has remained static for a decade despite the increased diversity in schools in recent years.
