Rose Conway-Walsh backs parents-students charter, urges resources
Rose Conway-Walsh spoke in support of the education bill to establish a parents and students charter, saying Sinn Féin supports the measure overall but wants it strengthened. She welcomed inclusion of the word "community" and pressed for predictable reviews, clearer complaints handling and proper resources for schools.
Support for the bill
She said the bill is right to create uniformity and to set out the relationship between schools, parents and students. Providing a framework in the form of a charter will, she argued, have a positive impact on engagement between teachers, staff, parents and students and the inclusion of "community" reflects the best, outward-looking schools.
Boards of management and school resources
She commended voluntary boards of management for their often thankless work and warned that principals are overstretched and under-resourced. Conway-Walsh said the charter must be underpinned by proper resources for principals and boards to manage the extra workload of devising and implementing charters.
Review and ministerial accountability
Conway-Walsh criticised the bill provision that leaves review of ministerial guidelines to the minister's discretion, arguing that in practice reviews occur "whenever suits" rather than on evidence of systematic flaws. She said Sinn Féin seeks predictable reviews at intervals of three to five years to prevent lethargy in the relationship between schools and parents.
Complaints handling and transparency
She raised concern that the bill allows schools to dismiss complaints as frivolous or vexatious without explanation, which could see legitimate complaints thrown out. Amendments were submitted to require schools to provide written reasons when dismissing complaints to improve transparency and accountability.
Costs to families, special needs and voluntary contributions
Conway-Walsh highlighted that many breakdowns in school-family relationships stem from lack of resources, especially for special needs - citing an example of a 15-year-old sent on a 100-mile round trip because local resources were unavailable. She warned of mounting costs for families - school transport charges, exam fees, books and IT - and noted Barnardos reporting that 65% of primary parents and 74% of secondary parents are asked for voluntary contributions. She said thresholds for supports are too low and called for standardised regulation and data collection on voluntary contributions.
Uniforms and practical measures
She expressed disappointment the bill does not specifically require schools to offer generic non-branded uniforms and said the charter should give clearer information to parents on voluntary contributions and related costs.
Conway-Walsh concluded by saying Sinn Féin will work collaboratively to strengthen the bill, focusing on resources, regular reviews, transparency on complaints and relief for families facing rising school-related costs.
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Now on the whole Sinn Fein supports the bill. It is right to create uniformity in this area and to set out in clear terms the relationship between schools and parents and students. Providing a framework in the form of a charter for parents and students will surely have a positive impact on engagement between all parties, teachers, staff, parents and students. And I do welcome your amendment that you mentioned in terms of having the word community in there as well because the very best schools I have found are the ones that are outward looking to community that will get involved in community activities and community initiatives. And I think that says an awful lot about a school and an awful lot about the ethos within the school in terms of their openness. And I know many, many schools who are excellent at that and really benefit and the students benefit from it in a very profound way, whether that be community initiatives on bullying or on other key issues within the community. However, there are still areas that need to be improved and we will work collaboratively to strengthen the bill. At the outset, I want to thank and commend the Voluntary Board of Management who give up their time to do magnificent work. This is often thankless work and they are often expected to deal with ever increasing complex issues in relation to the provision of education in their communities with very little thanks. School principals are overstretched and under resourced to cope with all of the bureaucracy and the instructions delivered from the department. And again, Minister, I would say with this charter, I think needs to come the proper resources to do it as well. Whether that be for the principals or for the board of management, to make this really effective, we need to underpin it with the resources. We're not talking about an awful lot here, but I think in terms of the collaboration and the communication and the extra workload in devising the charters, I think we need to have resources with that as well, so that particularly in teaching principals, that they're not overburdened again any more than they are already. It is proposed in the bill that the review of the ministerial guidelines shall be at the discretion of the minister. But experience tells us that this is the case of whenever suits as opposed to when there is evidence of systematic flaws. We cannot allow lethargy to weigh down this fundamental relationship between schools and parents and we seek to amend this aspect of the bill. Sinn Féin considers the reviews of the charter should be conducted with predictable regularity at intervals of three to five years. The bill sets out information in relation to how grievances between parents and students have with schools are handled. The bill as it stands allows schools to dismiss complaints where they believe them to be frivolous or vexatious. Whilst it's likely that schools will sometimes receive complaints that may not hold water, this provision as it stands is unnecessarily broad and may result in legitimate complaints being thrown out without any reasons given. In the Shannad we submitted amendments that would compel schools to give reasons in writing for why a complaint was being dismissed. And I think that's very important. The bill makes some progress in placing a statutory obligation on schools to consult students and parents in relation to school's cost. Now, I just have to say Minister as well, in most of the cases that I find where there are breakdown in relationships between families and parents and the schools is because of lack of resources, particularly in the area of special needs and resources that are needed for there. So, for instance, I would have a 15-year-old lad who has been sent on a 100-mile round trip to access education. His local school is very, very willing to provide that education, but they need the resources to be able to do it. They need that for safety reasons and they need that in order for him, as you rightly said, to be able to fulfil his potential. So, I think that really is an area that needs to be looked at and I think a lot of the communication problems could be alleviated by putting those resources in there and listening to board of management and listening to schools so that they're not left there on their own. Obviously, there are many costs for families that are above and beyond the scope of the schools themselves and school transport being one of them. That is even if they win the fight for a seat on the bus to begin with, they then have to pay, if they don't have a medical card, 100 euro per child per primary and 350 euro per second level for those who do not have medical cards. And I really, I know even at this stage in the year, many, many parents are anxious about how do we find that 350 euro or how do we find the 600 if we have more than one child? You know, what are we going to cut back during the summer in order to be able to meet that? Because just because you don't have a medical card doesn't mean that the household is financially sound. The thresholds which haven't been raised for years are ridiculously low, as you'll know, ministers. And then the cost for exams, for papers, for books and for IT equipment all amount to pressures on families. It is disappointing that the bill does not specifically mention school uniforms or put an onus on the school to make generic non-branded uniforms available. Bernardos have reported that 65% of primary parents and 74% of parents with children in secondary school are requested to pay a voluntary contribution. These contributions can range between 50 euro and 300 euro a year. And that is an awful lot of money to put on hard-pressed parents. One of the most notable aspects of the bill is that it proposes that the charter contain information for parents on voluntary contributions. Again, in the Shannon, we submitted an amendment in the hopes of standardising the regulation and collation of data on voluntary contributions. So parents would know how much the schools were collecting involuntary contributions and what the money was being spent on. Now, I know some schools, again, are very, very good at that transparency and communicating with parents on that. But this past committee stage, with the support of all parties, Barb, Fine Gael, however, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil coalesced at report stage to vote this amendment down and I would ask you to reconsider that now that the bill is in this House. We intend to submit amendments on this issue again in the Dáil. Sinn Féin's long-term view is that voluntary contributions should be abolished and that capitation funding must be increased. It is not right that these costs should fall on the parents on top of all the other back-to-school costs that they face. Children are constitutionally guaranteed free education, but these contributions are voluntary in name only, with parents feeling obliged to pay them. And for some parents, that is just not possible. And the shame and the embarrassment that's caused in some cases where parents just cannot afford the contributions that are being requested is extremely unjust. Many families, especially single-parent households, are forced into debt as a result of the so-called voluntary contributions, and that adds a lot of financial pressure, as I said. The average cost of a secondary school is €1,891 per child per year. This has been increasing year on year. Over the six-year course of a second-level education, the so-called voluntary contribution constitutes a regressive tax, which costs parents, on average, €700 a year. This is a failing on part of the state, and we should act to give workers and families a break in this regard. Sinn Féin will table an amendment on this regard in the hope of standardizing the regulation and collation of data on the voluntary contributions. We should be working our way towards that there is no voluntary contributions because the state should properly finance their schools. In other jurisdictions, indeed, Minister, in the European Union and across Europe, such voluntary contributions are banned. They're actually banned, and I think really we need to look at why they are banned. It is time that we poverty-proofed our education system right from preschool to third and fourth level, forcing families into financial stress just to access basic primary and second-level education is not acceptable in a society that calls itself a republic and one that has a constitution that underpins the right to free education. It should never be the case, Minister, where we cherish all of the children equally, provided they can pay. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat. Goera maagat.
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