Your education questions answered
I am now in the process of selecting a secondary school for my son for next September. One principal was very irritated recently when I asked him how the school performs in the Leaving Cert. But have I not got a right to this information? And how else do I make a choice?
The vexed question of school league tables has dominated the education debate in recent weeks. If all schools taught students of equal ability, it would be valid to compare the output of each school. This is not the case. Social class plays a massive role in a capacity of a child to maximize the benefits he or she draws from schooling. Different schools, depending on their location and history, attract different combinations of students from different socio-economic groups.
In rural areas there is a growing trend towards building large community schools. These schools offer a wide choice of subjects and can cater for over 1,000 students. The results from such schools will invariably be in line with the national averages.
In urban areas and in large towns a range of schools exist, which draw their pupils from shared geographical areas. It is in these areas that parents seek to find information to help them decide which school to send their child to.
Where a school is supported by additional money via fees paid by parents, the classes will generally be smaller, the range of subjects wider and the level of parental expectation greater. Invariably, exam results will be way above the average.
In education, wealth buys privilege and success. If that is the type of system we are happy with in a State that supposedly offers equality of opportunity to all children, then so be it. It might seem a utopian vision, but I would prefer if all parents sent their child to the nearest secondary school, supported its activities and demanded the highest quality education possible.
My daughter is very good at both French and German but both subjects clash in the school timetable. She is very anxious to continue German - and she needs the points. Would you recommend a grind school?
Most students take seven Leaving Cert subjects. Schools invariably offer Irish, English, maths, and another language to all students. The student then has a choice of a range of science, business, arts and technological subjects from which they select three. If your daughter wishes to study two languages, she has two choices. She can take an eighth subject, outside normal school time, as a grind. Alternatively, she can seek out another school, where she can do both languages.
The reason most schools offer only one language to each student is to encourage them to continue to study as wide a range of subjects for as long as possible. If your daughter is particularly good at languages, the option of finding a school to offer her that choice might be preferable to taking an eighth subject as a grind. The Leaving Cert programme is very stressful and requires much study. If your daughter has to study an additional subject, what effect will this have on her other seven subjects? She needs to think about this.
Moving school can be very upsetting for a child and I would be very slow to move her, unless she expresses a strong desire to do so.
Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. You can e-mail him your questions to bmooney@irish-times.ie
