The Irish Independent's View: Primary schools' survey ignores the one question that matters: funding

"The Department of Education is conducting a survey that asks parents what kind of school they want their child to attend. It's the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in the country. The goal is supposedly to figure out demand and preferences for different types of primary schools, including the questions of patronage, ethos, co-education, single-sex and languages. Schools across the country have encouraged parents to take part and the education system will watch the results with some interest."

"The goal is supposedly to figure out demand and preferences for different types of primary schools, including the questions of patronage, ethos, co-education, single-sex and languages. Schools across the country have encouraged parents to take part and the education system will watch the results with some interest. Parents of children in primary school, or soon to start, along with school staff and boards of management have been invited to have their say."

The Department of Education is conducting the largest national survey of parental school preferences to date. The survey asks parents what kind of primary school they want their child to attend and seeks to measure demand and preferences for patronage, ethos, co-education, single-sex arrangements, and language provision. Parents of children already in primary school and those with children soon to start have been invited to participate. School staff and boards of management have also been invited, and schools across the country have encouraged parental participation. The education system will monitor the survey results to inform planning and respond to identified patterns of demand.

Read at Irish Independent