Organisation of Primary Education

The primary education sector includes state-funded primary schools, special schools and private primary schools. The state-funded schools include religious schools, non-denominational schools, multi-denominational schools and Gaelscoileanna (Irish-medium schools). For historical reasons, most primary schools are state-aided parish schools, although this pattern is changing. The state pays the bulk of the building and running costs of state-funded primary schools, but a local contribution is made towards their running costs. Teachers’ salaries are paid by the Department of Education and Skills, and the schools are inspected by the Department’s Inspectorate.

Although children are not obliged to attend school until the age of six, almost all children begin school in the September following their fourth birthday. Nearly 40% of four-year-olds and almost all five-year-olds are enrolled in infant classes in primary schools (sometimes called national schools). Primary education consists of an eight-year cycle: junior infants, senior infants, and first to sixth classes. Pupils normally transfer to post-primary education at the age of twelve.

Geographical Accessibility

Ireland has a large number of small primary schools (see below table for details). Therefore, primary schools are generally available within a reasonable distance from a child's home. The school transport scheme, which is funded by the Department of Education and Skills, was established in 1967 to give access to school for pupils who live in less-populated areas. In order to qualify for school transport, a child must live more than 3.2km (2 miles) from their nearest suitable primary school. While the service had previously been free for eligible pupils, since the beginning of the 2011/12 school year, eligible primary pupils are subject to an annual charge. For the school year 2018/2019 there is a charge of €100 per pupil, with a maximum of €220 for each family that only uses the primary school transport scheme. For families who have eligible children using the post-primary transport scheme, the fee is €350 per student per year, with a maximum charge of €650 per family. Eligible children who hold a medical card do not have to pay the charge. In addition, there are arrangements in operation for children living on remote islands off the west coast, some of whom avail of a boat transport system to attend schools on the mainland.

If there are spare seats available, a child who is not eligible can use school transport at a charge of €100 per year. The maximum annual amount for a family is €220. Children who hold a medical card, but who are not eligible for school transport, will still have to pay this charge.

A remote area grant is available for those who are eligible for school transport but who cannot be catered for by the school transport scheme. The grant is based on distance and number of days travelled. There are additional arrangements for children with special needs who, because of their disability, cannot travel on normal school transport services. These arrangements are on the basis of advice from the National Council for Special Education.

Admission Requirements and Choice of School

Legal position

Article 42 of the Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hEireann) 1937, provides that parents are free to provide education in their homes or in private or in State -recognised schools, and children cannot be compelled against the wishes of their parents to be sent to a State-recognised school or any particular type of State- recognised school.

Article 44 provides for religious freedom, prevents the State from endowing religion, and prevents the State from discriminating between different religious denominations in providing State aid for schools. Article 44.4 gives rights for any child to attend school funded by the State without attending religious instruction in that school.

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 requires that children attend school between ages 6 and 16, or otherwise receive a suitable minimum education. In practice, children may attend schools from age 4.  56% of 4-year old’s, and all 5-year old’s are in primary school. Children normally attend their local school, but they have the right to attend the school of their parents' choice, once a place is available. No State funded school may use academic attainment as an admission criterion.

The Education Act, 1998, acknowledges the right of parents/guardians to send their children to the school of their choice with due regard for the obligation of denominational schools to maintain their religious ethos. According to the Education Act 1998, each school must provide an admissions policy. This document, which is drawn up by the school’s board of management, sets out the school’s policy for enrolling children in the school. It must be in line with section 7 of the Equal Status Act 2000. If a school does not have sufficient places, it will give priority according to this policy. For example, it may give priority to children living in the local area or to siblings of current pupils. Although most primary schools can enrol all children who apply there is no guarantee of a place in the local school. Due to increasing populations in urban and suburban areas, some schools are unable to admit all pupils within their parish. If a school refuses to enrol a child, the parent has the right to appeal the decision. In such cases, they should first appeal to the schools’ board of management. If this is not successful, they can appeal the decision to the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, or for vocational schools, to the Education and Training Board in the first instance.

Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of the Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year. If the parents' or guardians' appeal is upheld, the school may be directed by the Secretary General to enrol the child in the school. If either side is unhappy with the outcome of this process, it has the right to seek redress through the courts.

The Educational Welfare Service of the Child and Family Agency (EWS) is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child.

The Equal Status Act, 2000 provides for possible legal redress should a school discriminate on grounds of sex, age, marital and family status, religion, race/nationality, disability or membership of the Traveller community. Under the Act, the existence of single sex schools is recognised and the law provides for an exemption in relation to the gender ground. A denominational school can admit a student of a particular religious denomination in preference to other students. Such a school can also refuse to admit a student who is not of that religion, but only where it can prove that this refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school.

Since October 2018, the Equal Status Act 2000 has been amended to remove, in the case of recognised denominational primary schools, the existing provision in section 7(3)(c) of that Act that permits such schools to use religion as a selection criterion in school admissions. Under this provision, there will be a protection to ensure that a child of a minority faith, can still access a school of their faith. The provision provides that a recognised denominational primary school does not discriminate where it admits as a priority a student from a minority religion who is seeking admission to a school that provides religious instruction or religious education which is the same religious ethos or similar religious ethos to the student seeking admission.

This should ensure greater fairness in school admissions. While recognising the right of all schools to have their distinctive ethos, the removal of religion as a criteria for admission to school seeks to be fair to all parents including non-religious families that will now find that in virtually all publicly funded primary schools they will be treated the same as all other families in school admissions.

It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998.

The Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents can choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary.  This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must comply with the relevant sections of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 which were commenced on the October 03, 2018. The selection process must also be non-discriminatory, and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.

The historic Commencement Order will deliver a number of broad ranging reforms, which will make it easier for a child to access their local school. Three of the four provisions had immediate effect from October 03, 2018. They will end the use of religion as a criteria in school admissions in almost all cases, end admission fees, and provide the Minister with the power to require schools to co-operate in relation to admission.

The order will also provide the Minister with a power to compel a school to open a special class following a number of steps after a process of consultation with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), the Board of Management and the Patron of a school. The government has more than doubled the number of special classes from 548 (2011) to over 1,300, including increasing the number of ASD units from 330 (2011) to over 1,050 today. Almost one fifth of the education budget is invested in special needs supports, €1.8billion, up 43% since 2011.

Section 66 of the Act has commenced providing the Minister with the power to direct schools to co-operate with other schools in relation to their admission processes and enables schools to share information in order to facilitate the efficient admission of students. The remaining sections of the Act will be commenced in time for admission to the 2020/2021 school year allowing the necessary time for regulations and procedures to be drafted following consultation with the Education Partners.

Section 9 of the Act sets out an explicit prohibition on the charging of fees or seeking payment or contributions for an application for admission to or for continued enrolment in a school. Exceptions are included in relation to fee charging secondary schools, the boarding element in Boarding Schools and admission to post leaving cert or further education courses run by post-primary schools.

Patronage of Schools

Irish society as a whole is in the process of major social, cultural and demographic change. One of the most complex and challenging aspects of reform in our school system is how best to deal with changes in school ethos and religious and moral education. There are very strong opposing views on these matters and the Minister for Education & Skills is endeavoring to provide the most reasonable and inclusive reforms in this area. The Government is committed to progressing the development of a dynamic and innovative education system that reflects the diversity of twenty-first Century Ireland.

Since 2011, new schools are generally only established in areas of demographic growth. The Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and the Department's own databases. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post-primary level to determine where additional school accommodation is needed.

The patronage process for new schools is overseen by the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). This independent advisory group was set up in 2011 to advise the Minister on the patronage of new schools following its consideration of a report prepared by the Department on the applications received.

Once it has been established from the demographic exercises that a new school, primary or post-primary, is required to meet the demographic need in a school planning area, a separate process is conducted to establish who will run the school. It is open to all patron bodies and prospective patrons to apply for patronage of a new school under the patronage process. Parental preferences for each patron, together with the extent of diversity currently available in the area, are key to decisions in relation to the outcome of this process. The patronage process also incorporates consideration of, and the potential for, Irish-medium provision.

Prospective patrons must show evidence of parental demand, from the area to be served, for the model of provision proposed. Patrons and prospective patrons must therefore include a completed parental preference template as evidence of parental demand with each application for patronage. 

Following consideration of all of the above, the results of the assessment are incorporated in a report for consideration by the NSEG. The NSEG reviews the contents of the patronage assessment report and then compiles a list for recommendation to the minister.

Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016

The Reform Chapter sets out information on the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016, which is currently progressing through Parliament. When enacted, this will:

Age Levels and Grouping of Pupils

Although compulsory education does not begin until age 6, over half of all four-year olds and almost all five-year olds are enrolled in primary schools. The typical primary school enrols pupils by age into eight-year groups, or standards, ranging from junior infants and senior infants, followed by 1st Class to 6th Class:

In 2017-2018 there were 549,679 pupils in 22,430 classes in the state. Approximately 407,749 pupils were in single grade classes, 106,939 in consecutive grade classes and 34,991 in multi-grade classes (source: DES Statistical Report 2017-2018).

The mainstream class teacher provides instruction to their assigned class/es in all curriculum areas. In addition, pupils may avail of support from special education teachers (SET) and/or EAL language support teachers, where appropriate. This additional support may take the form of either withdrawal or in-class support. The child in a small school is usually taught by the same teacher for more than one year whilst this is far less likely to occur in a larger school. However, it is the principal who is responsible for the allocation of teaching duties ‘taking into account the needs of the pupils and the abilities, experience, personality and preference of each teacher.’ The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on the 30th September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule which issues annually. This schedule is set out in Staffing Schedule - Primary Schools 2018-2019.

The pupil teacher ratio for 2017-2018 was 15.7:1 whilst the average class size was 24.7. As the basic staffing complement of many schools is augmented by the assignment of teachers who are not directly engaged in class duties, (e.g., special education teachers (SET), administrative principals, EAL teachers etc.) the overall pupil-teacher ratio and the average class size are not comparable.

Organisation of the School Year

With the exception of private schools, all primary schools are governed by the rules laid down centrally by the Department of Education and Skills. Each primary school is required to be open for a minimum of 183 days per year. Pupils attend school for five days per week during term time (Monday to Friday). 

Since the academic year 2003-2004, a ‘standardised’ school year is agreed in advance between the Department of Education and Skills, school management and the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO). This agreement facilitates ‘standardised’ Christmas and Easter holidays, and mid-term breaks in the first and second terms of the school year. To accommodate some flexibility at local level, schools may use three discretionary days outside the defined periods. Agreements reached in late 2010 mean that time for parent-teacher meetings, staff meetings, teacher in-service and planning days, have to be found, with some exceptions, outside of normal tuition hours, up to a total of thirty-six hours per year. The Circular Standardisation of the School Year provides more details.

Organisation of the School Day and Week

Children generally attend primary school for five days of the week (Monday to Friday) during term time. Schools usually start and finish a little earlier in urban areas (08:50-14:30) than in many country schools (09:20-15:00). Pupils in the infant classes normally finish one hour earlier than the general school population (13:30/14:00). Instruction of not less than four hours daily is provided, as well as thirty minutes religious instruction, assembly time, roll call and a period of time for recreation.

Note: There is no state provision of activities either before or after the school day in Ireland. Schools are closed on Saturdays. Also, there is normally a short ten-minute break in the morning to allow children to have a quick snack, usually at 11 o'clock.