Educate Together, the national education patron, has launched an ambitious €5m plan to double the supply of multi-denominational primary schools nationwide by 2014.
Speaking at the launch Paul Rowe, Educate Together CEO said ‘The timing of this plan could not be more appropriate. The state anticipates the need to expand Ireland’s primary school by 22% in the coming years. The multi-denominational education model is significantly underrepresented in Ireland yet it is the model most in demand by parents. Educate Together has developed this significant engagement plan to meet that need, answer parental choice and change the face of Ireland’s education system’.
Educate Together’s plan indicates that more than 100 new schools will be required in the next five years, in line with Department of Education and Science estimates. Current market research indicates over 60% of Irish parents have a preference for multi-denominational education. Educate Together’s regional officers are and will be meeting parent groups in all the identified regions on an ongoing basis. Their views and expressed preferences are represented back to the Department in Educate Together’s submission documentation.
Addressing the parents represented at the launch, Paul Rowe said ‘This plan is a call to action. Current circumstances have created a real opportunity to change our education system to the advantage of our children’s generation â we have to grasp it! We are calling on all parents who want educational change and the availability of real choice to engage with us and support our work’.
‘The state’s pace of change in improving our education structures has not kept up with the changes in our society. Their proposed VEC Community National Model has serious financial and organisational questions to be addressed. Educate Together’s model has been refined over 30 years and delivers an excellent, inclusive primary education to our children. Our plan will bring this approach to thousands of new families in the next few years. Parents are invited to come to our meetings and follow us online to find out what makes Educate Together special and what we can do for their children’s educative, moral and social development’ he concluded.
Educate Together is a recognised patron body and the fastest growing provider of primary school education in Ireland today. It operates schools based on the delivery of ‘equality of access and esteem to children irrespective of their social, cultural or religious backgrounds’. Set up in the 1970s by volunteers and educationalists, it now operates 56 schools throughout the country and has applied to open 45 primary and its first secondary schools in the next few years. It is an independent educational charity that is supported by small government grants and extensive private fundraising.
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For further information or to arrange an interview with Paul Rowe, please contact
John Holohan
Educate Together Communications Manager
Tel: +353 1 429 2500
