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Editorial
New Year And New Beginnings For Protestant Schools In The Republic
The past year has been a fraught time of difficulty and challenge for the fee-charging Protestant second-level schools in the Republic. Harsh words about government policy and gloomy views about the future of the schools have been expressed by Church leaders, principals and parents, while it appeared a ‘not-for-turning’ stance had been adopted by the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe. Indeed, the campaign and exchanges took away from very real concerns about the condition of the comprehensive schools or the pastoral care of significant numbers of parish children attending other school types.
The turn of the year allows the observer to take a more realistic and positive view of the situation. The prospect of further cuts in school supports has receded for the life of the present government. Schools, in most cases, appear to have been able - more or less - to come to terms with alterations in funding and the continuance of the Block Grant scheme, which provides the necessary assistance towards fees, remains firmly in place.
There is now the opportunity for helpful dialogue between the Protestant community and the Department of Education and Science. The openness to dialogue indicated by the Minister is to be welcomed and it is to be hoped that realistic and useful progress can be made. However, the repeated suggestions by the State of targeted assistance towards those schools experiencing financial difficulties needs to be widened, as there are needy families in all the schools. There also needs to be an understanding of the effectiveness of the system operated in the sector which distributes resources according to parental needs. The schools themselves all need again to sell themselves, as some do, to the totality of their sponsoring communities, while ensuring the quality and range of the educational experience is not weakened to any extent.
A new year indeed offers the opportunities for new beginnings and for the ongoing evolution of the methods of teaching and learning appropriate for all children, no matter what their abilities or financial circumstances. This is the imperative of the Christian ethos espoused by the schools and essential to the maintenance and morale of our dispersed Protestant minority community.