The results of a first-of-its-kind survey that asked Irish parents their opinion on three significant matters regarding primary schools have been released.
The parents of children attending primary schools in Ireland, and the parents of children who are due to attend in the coming years, were asked by the Department of Education to help gather data on what modern Irish families want from primary schools.
The information, gathered from over 200,000 households, could determine the future of Irish schools.
One of the most significant findings is that the overwhelming majority of parents would prefer their children to be educated in a co-educational environment.
The survey asked the parents about their preferences on:
- Attendance preference (co-educational or single-sex)
- Ethos preference (denominational or non-denominational)
- Language preference (English or Irish)
The overall results showed a huge preference for co-educational schools, with only 5.64% of respondents indicating that they would prefer single-sex education.
Over half of respondents (54.99%) said they would prefer to send their children to a denominational school, i.e, one with a religious patronage and ethos.
English was found to be the preferred language through which lessons are instructed for 77.9% of parents.
However, results varied more widely on a county-by-county basis.
For instance, over half of Dublin parents supported a change to a multi-denominational ethos, while more Galway parents than the average were in favour of Irish-language instruction.
You can see the results for the individual counties here and the nationwide outline here.
School-specific results were sent to individual schools across the country last week.
*This article was originally published on RollerCoaster.ie.
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