Just under one third of families with young children have responded to a Department of Education questionnaire which asks what kind of school parents would like their child to attend.
One month after the survey opened, 168,000 households have taken part, out of a total of 495,000 that are eligible.
Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton has said she would like to encourage parents or guardians who have not yet completed the questionnaire to do so.
The survey - the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland - aims to assess parental demand and preferences for different types of primary school provision including patronage and ethos, co-education or single-sex provision, and language of instruction (English or Irish).
The survey closes on Tuesday 16 December.
Parents and guardians of children who are either in, or soon to start, primary school have been invited to have their say, as have school staff and boards of management.
The department hopes to use the outcomes to help reshape primary education here, including improving the experience of non-Catholic children who attend Catholic schools.
Minister Naughton said parents and guardians were the real experts when it comes to their children.
"I would like to see a strong response rate for every primary school to ensure that we have heard the views of as many households and communities as possible," she said.
"As the closing date for this survey looms, I am encouraging parents, guardians and wider school communities to engage to ensure that their views form part of our future," she added.
Integrity
The questionnaire aims to capture the views of the parents of pre-school and primary school children. As the minister indicated, it is they who should have the strongest say in what kind of education system is provided.
The department said it has robust arrangements in place to ensure the integrity and security of the process and guarantee that the responses are from genuine households with primary school or younger children.
Parents or guardians must provide their Eircode as part of the survey and the department has said those Eircodes are being checked against the family Eircodes held by schools in respect of primary school children, and against child benefit data when it comes to preschool children.
The department says its validation process also involves checks for duplicate responses and says measures are being taken to ensure that only one submission from any Eircode is counted.
"In cases where a pattern of multiple submission is detected, the Eircodes are flagged and appropriate actions can be taken to deal with the same. If multiple occurrences of suspect activity occur, additional security measures can be deployed to eliminate the ability of automated responses," it said.
What does the survey ask?
The questionnaire is short. It asks just three questions:
- Would you prefer your primary school to be a co-educational school or a single-sex school?
- Would you prefer your primary school to operate under a denominational (religious) patron or to operate under a multi-denominational (non-religious) patron?
- Would you prefer your primary school to provide education primarily through the English language or through the Irish language?
What is the purpose of the survey?
Census and other data show a significant mismatch between primary school provision here and the ethos of many families.
To use just one example; while just 30% of marriages now take place within the Catholic church, almost 90% of our primary schools remain under Catholic control. Just 5.5% of Irish primary schools are multi-denominational or non-religious.
While families and local communities are strongly attached to and supportive of their local primary schools there is a significant and growing minority who are unhappy with the role that religion continues to play across the primary system.
"We love our school," one parent living in rural Ireland told RTÉ News, "but religious education should be opt-in instead of opt-out".
This family does not want to damage its relationship with their school so they wished to speak anonymously.
The mother is Irish and the father is American. He describes being "shocked" to discover that State-funded schools here were mostly Catholic. In the US all public schools are strictly secular.
When they requested that their child be allowed to leave the classroom during religious education, this couple says they were met initially with "polite dismissal" from the principal.
"I felt the principal was trying to convince us to just let it go," the father said.
"[The principal] told us 'we are a Catholic school'. I was thrown by that because the school is actually listed online as inter-denominational," he added.
In the end their child has been allowed to leave the classroom during religious instruction "but they have prayers all day which I find weird", this parent said, "and [our child] can’t leave the room for all of that."
The closest multi-denominational school is a 30-minute drive away but even if that was an option these parents do not want to uproot their children from the community that they live in.
They would like to see religious instruction and preparation for the sacraments done in the school after school hours.
"I’m dreading the communion year," the mother said.
The Minister for Education says the data gathered from the survey will go towards "ensuring that every child’s right to an inclusive and respectful education experience is upheld".
It says that where there is clear support from parents and guardians for change to be considered, "a further process of inclusive dialogue will begin".
"Where schools wish to explore options, my department will provide direct support, including the appointment of a facilitator to work with boards, staff and parents," Minister Naughton said.
"Further engagement with stakeholders will assist in strengthening approaches already in place, ensuring clarity and consistency for schools and parents," she added.
The department has said that all responses to the survey will remain confidential and anonymous.
Participation rates to date vary across different counties, with a 40% response rate in counties such as Galway and Leitrim, while 30% of eligible households in Laois appear to have completed the questionnaire.
Gaeilge
It appears that growing numbers of parents wish for their children to be educated through the medium of Irish. The survey also aims to measure the level of demand for Gaelscoileanna, which currently comprise just 8% of primary schools.
The survey also asks parents whether they would prefer single sex or mixed primary education. But that is a debate that has largely been settled.
Just 10% of schools here are single sex and department policy mandates that all new schools should be mixed.
The survey runs until 16 December and can be completed online at www.gov.ie/primaryschoolsurvey.
The department says any parent or guardian who is unable to complete an online survey can write to schoolsurvey@education.gov.ie for assistance.
