A REPORT by Department of Education inspectors on the North Dublin Muslim National School in Cabra delivers a scathing assessment.
In the most significant finding, the report says accounts of the school’s finances since its inception are not available. It is not possible, it says, to ascertain how money from the department has been spent.
Established in 2001, the school is a 12-teacher co-educational, national school under the patronage of the Islamic Foundation of Ireland.
The inspectors report a significant decrease in enrolment since 2006 when the school first attracted negative coverage in the media. At that time, it was reported that then taoiseach Bertie Ahern had expressed concerns about management of the school, which is in his constituency.
The school has never had a permanent principal and there has been a continual turnover of staff. The whole mainstream teaching staff resigned in June 2008. The board has had to make 12 appointments since then.
No member of the teaching staff has completed their probationary period; only four of the teachers are fully qualified within the Irish system.
The Muslim school is situated in rented accommodation on the grounds of St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys. All of the pupils are of the Muslim faith. For the vast majority, English is not their first language and for some, it is a second or third language.
The inspectors report how extra personnel are employed by the board to teach religion with 45 minutes daily dedicated to teaching the Koran and Arabic with senior classes also attending prayers for 20 minutes. The inspectors say this impinges on curriculum delivery time.
In a finding which symbolises the poor procedures at the school, the inspectors could not clarify the precise number of students. The principal reported that 107 pupils were enrolled last September but the inspectors point to inconsistencies and anomalies in various roll books.
In its response, the school board of management says it is still seeking financial records from the previous board. Overall, it says it welcomes the inspectors’s findings and says it will “proceed in building an outstanding school in terms of academic work and in terms of promoting an Islamic ethos”.
Damning findings: main points
- A poor overall standard of teaching and learning;
- No evidence of an ethos that focuses on pupil achievement, development and success;
- Poor staff morale;
- Clear breaches of the Rules for National School;
- No evidence of the monitoring of pupil absences. An examination of the roll books shows that significant numbers of pupils are absent for a considerable portion of the school year;
- The school is in breach of department guidelines with regard to the length of the school day;
- The board of management will not allow the school to implement the music curriculum;
- Several policies that relate to the care, welfare and protection of children and that are required by legislation, have not been formulated;
- Significant weaknesses in the leadership of the school, reflected in a number of areas including school and classroom planning, curriculum implementation and teaching and learning.
