In February 2011, the Department of Education announced it was going to conduct a Value for Money Review (VFM Review) of small primary schools. According to some interested parties, this report was completed 18 months ago, but it has yet to see the light of day.

Meanwhile, a series of measures announced in Budget 2012 have been taking affect. These measures introduced the gradual increase in the number of pupils required to gain and retain a teacher in a small primary schools between 2012 and 2014.

For the most part, these measure have impacted rural not urban Ireland, as this is where most small primary schools (four teachers or less) can be found.

Thanks to the Budget 2012 measures, by this September there will have been a 67% increase in the number of pupils required to retain a second teacher, a 14% increase to retain a third teacher and a 6% increase for a fourth teacher.

Not published yet

The VFM Review of small schools either justifies the existence of small schools or the amalgamation of them, but given that it hasn’t been published yet, nobody knows the answer.

Is significant change taking place in the delivery of rural education in circumstances where the justification for such change possibly doesn’t exist?

Country Living has contacted the Department of Education on this matter both in the final weeks of Ruairí Quinn’s office and the early stages of Jan O’Sullivan’s, enquiring about the publication date for the review.

This was the response received from the Department in March: “Due to the scope of the VFM Review of small primary schools, it has been necessary to consult with Government colleagues on the wide range of issues it raises. That consultation process is well advanced. It is the Minister’s intention that the report will be published as soon as Government completes its consideration of it. It is not possible to give a precise publication date at this time.”

This is the response received in July, eight days after Jan O’Sullivan took office: “Due to the scale and scope of this review it has been necessary for the Minister to consult with Government colleagues on the wide range of issues raised by the review. The report will be published as soon as the Minister and Cabinet have finalised their consideration of the report and its recommendations.”

Politicians in the dark

Nothing new there then. Some Government politicians think the report should be published.

John Paul Phelan, Fine Gael politician in the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency says: “I suspect it hasn’t been published because there are some difficulties in Government about it. The ex-Minister Quinn has a particular view that was fine for Dublin city centre, but that doesn’t apply to rural areas where the population is sparse. He didn’t really get that.”

In terms of there being friction between the two coalition parties over the issue, John Paul says that “up to now there was tension about it”.

“The belief among Fine Gael backbenchers was that the former Minister didn’t get it and had no interest in ever getting it.

“To put it as diplomatically as possible, I hope Jan O’Sullivan will have a different view on it,” says Phelan.

“Small schools are proactive at keeping schools in good shape. I’m not sure there’s much of a saving to be made in keeping those students in temporary accommodation in the schools they’re amalgamating with. It’s a false economy, small rural schools have good buildings,” he concluded.

Helen McEntee, Fine Gael TD for Meath East, says: “With the changeover in Minister we have to wait and see in coming weeks. It is up to the Minister whether or not she will act on what is in the report, but since the report has not been published yet we do not know what that would mean. But we need to give the Minister time to go through it.

“I do feel that rural schools should be treated differently. Something that makes sense on paper, in practice doesn’t always work out the same. Say for example you were to close a rural school when the nearest one could be 30 miles away. On paper the numbers might make sense, but in reality for the parents having to drive or arrange alternative lifts, it does not work very well.

“The fact is, we don’t know what’s in it. I don’t know what’s in it. But if it’s negative for rural schools, I, and I am sure my colleagues, would like the opportunity to discuss it,” adds Helen McEntee.

Opposition view

Charlie McConalogue, Fianna Fáil spokesperson for Education and TD for Donegal North East, has been continuously beating the drum on this issue for the last few years. He is particularly concerned about the number of one-teacher schools that will be created as a result of the budgetary measures. One-teacher schools are often considered unviable and while the Department of Education won’t close a one-teacher school, the school’s board of management often will.

The Department of Education has told Country Living there will be 28 one-teacher primary schools in Ireland this current school year. Eighteen primary schools are going from two-teacher to one-teacher this September.

By September 2015, there will have been a 67% increase in the number of pupils required to gain and retain a second teacher.

“When the number was 12 it was very small, it affected only a small number of one-teacher schools,” says McConalogue.

“Now it’s gone over 20 and it’s catching a lot. So there’s a real issue, particularly for those going from two-teacher to one teacher, their future is really in jeopardy. I don’t know what’s in this Value for Money Review, but they can’t continue to ignore it and at the same time applying the pressure that they are to schools that are in that category.”

Even if many of the schools do win their appeal, Charlie points out that “either way you’re only trying to keep out the tide there, because if they’re in that category this year there’s a good chance they’ll be in that category next year: “Once you’re in the danger zone, a lot of parents will be saying: ‘Well I don’t really want my kids to go to a one-teacher school’. A one-teacher school is not sustainable. It’s just too much pressure on a teacher. It’s too difficult to teach eight different years. There’s a review which they’ve been sitting on and refuse to publish – it’s completed a year and a half at this stage.

“The Minister just didn’t want to go there politically, but at the same time he went there politically in terms of measures he introduced because he’s applied pressure to small schools particularly and really the undertone is to amalgamate,” concluded Charlie McConalogue.