Two-thirds of Offaly parents want to keep child's school patronage

Almost 66% of parents and guardians from Offaly have expressed a preference for retaining the patronage of the school which their children are attending, the results of a recently published national education survey have revealed.

The Government's Primary School Survey was described as providing the most comprehensive picture to date of the views and preferences of parents and guardians on the future direction of primary education in their communities.

Parents and guardians from 68 schools in Offaly responded to the survey which asked for their preferences regarding school patronage and multi-denominational ethos, co-educational or single-sex provision, and education through the Irish language.

Nationally, a total of 485,482 households were targeted for the Primary School survey, from which there were 241,301 responses. Of that figure, there were 200,381 valid responses, allowing for a final response rate of 41.3%.

Offaly's valid response rate of 44.4% was 3.3% above the national average.

The survey gathered the views of both parents of children currently attending primary school and parents of children yet to enter the school system.

Patronage can be denominational (religious) or multi-denominational (non-religious). Most primary schools in Ireland are under Catholic patronage, while multi-denominational schools, such as Educate Together schools, provide education about all faiths and belief systems.

For parents and guardians of children yet to attend primary school, 63% in Offaly were in favour of keeping the status quo in terms of their preferred school's patronage, while over 66% of respondents with children in school stated their preference for retaining the denomination of the school.

Nationally, for responding households linked to a denominational school, just over 40% selected multi-denominational as their preferred ethos for their school. For households linked to an existing multi-denominational school, almost 85% of households selected multi-denominational patronage as their preference.

Just over 95% of Offaly respondents to the survey expressed their desire to have their children attend school in a co-educational environment. Nationally, amongst responding households with children attending single-sex primary schools, 73.5% expressed a preference for a co-educational configuration.

The matter of language preference was also part of the primary school survey. Within the county, just over 17% of respondents stated they had a preference for the school their children were attending to educate through the Irish language.

Of those households surveyed whose children had yet to attend the primary school of their choice, 23.5% said they had a preference for the school to teach through the Irish language.

Nationally, of responses from households with children in primary school, 91.5% were from households with children attending schools which teach through English.

Of these, just over 13% expressed a preference for their school to teach through Irish.

Welcoming the publication of the survey, Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton, said that the Government now had "a detailed picture of what parents want their primary schools to look like in the years ahead".

"These results are a starting point for conversations about the future, led by the people who know their schools best, parents, students, staff and local communities," the Minister said.

The Minister said the Department of Education and Youth would continue to support schools as they engage with parents, staff, patrons and the wider community on the survey findings and consider potential next steps.

"Where survey findings indicate demand for change, boards of management may apply to be included in the first group of schools that wish to act on the outcomes of the survey process," the Minister added.