Educate Together
Encyclopedia
Educate Together is an organisation in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 which sets up and runs multidenominational
Multidenominational school
A multidenominational school is a relatively new type of primary school in Ireland. They often try to move away from traditional models based around religion, which are common in Ireland, typically these are Roman Catholic and to a lesser extent Church of Ireland schools.Multidenominational schools...

, coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...

al schools. It was founded in 1984 as a result of the Dalkey School Project
Dalkey School Project
The Dalkey School Project is a school in Glenageary, County Dublin in Ireland. It was set up on September 18, 1978 by parents in Dublin who wanted their children to attend a Multidenominational school....

 to found a multidenominational primary school.
Educate Together is the patron of 58 national schools in the Republic of Ireland, and is seeking to build more.
They are also campaigning to set up a multidenominational secondary school.

History

Even today, the majority of primary schools in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 are owned by religious communities (or boards of governors). Before multi-denominational education, some of those involved in education in Ireland, such as Florrie Armstrong, questioned the denominational nature of the system and the need to have students of different faiths in different schools.

Dalkey School Project

The organisation has its roots in the Dalkey School Project
Dalkey School Project
The Dalkey School Project is a school in Glenageary, County Dublin in Ireland. It was set up on September 18, 1978 by parents in Dublin who wanted their children to attend a Multidenominational school....

 founded in 1975. The organisers of the school met opposition from a conservative Catholic group that circulated a leaflet in the Dalkey
Dalkey
Dalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...

 area alleging that the new school was "atheistic", "divisive", "hostile to religion" and "a precedent for major trouble in other areas".

The school opened at the start of the 1978-79 school year in temporary premises with Florrie Armstrong as the school principal.

Established

By 1984 two other multi-denominational schools had been started and Educate Together was established as their patron body.

Growth

The number of schools run by the organisation has grown: in 2007 it was 40, in 2008 it was 44 and in September 2010 it was 58. Two new schools will be opened in West Dublin at Porterstown and Mulhuddart in September 2011 with a further school opening in Ashbourne, Co Meath in 2012.

By 2009 Educate Together had become the fastest-growing patron of schools in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

.

Secondary schools

Educate Together is interested in establishing multi-denominational secondary schools and applied to be patron of a new school to be opened in Lucan in 2008, but the application was unsuccessful and the County Dublin
South Dublin
South Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. The county seat is Tallaght, the largest suburb of Dublin and the biggest urban centre in the county. Other important centres of population are Lucan and Clondalkin...

 Vocational Education Committee
Vocational Education Committee
A Vocational Education Committee is a statutory local education body in the Republic of Ireland that administers some secondary education, most adult education and a very small amount of primary education in the state...

 became patron. This decision was reviewed in 2010 and the then Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, invited Educate Together to enter into discussion with CoDubVEC on the joint management of the school.

Educate Together was also involved in the public consultation pilot scheme the Department of Education and Skills initiated to award patronage of the new second level school planned for Gorey, Co Wexford. Following a successful submission to the Department, local parent preferences were invited through a Departmental survey and though Educate Together received 957 preferences, patronage was awarded to Co Wexford VEC which scored 1,900.

Research published by Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

in 2008 showed that 90 per cent of parents who sent their children to an Educate Together school would send their children to a secondary school based on the same model if it was available. In January 2011 the Department of Education and Skills published its plans to build post-primary schools in nine new areas between 2012 and 2016. Educate Together has active Second Level Support Groups across the country and the Drogheda group, for example, has over 700 expressions of interest from local parents interested in an Educate Together Second Level School.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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