Voluntary Secondary Schools in the Republic of Ireland

Contexts, Strengths and Future Challenges

November 2013

Why do Research on the Voluntary Sector?

1. To create an important foundation for understanding the future role of Catholic secondary schools.

2. To develop a deeper sense of the voluntary sector for all stakeholders in the Irish second-level education system given its complex history and organisation.

3. To facilitate the further development of the voluntary sector both in its own right and in its various relationships with the public sector.

Social Structure in Western Democracies

Public Sector

Private Sector

Voluntary Sector

Public Sector & Private Sector

Public Sector Run by the State and often covers areas of social action where profit-making institutions

have never been involved, not least because there is little or no hope of making a profit.

Private Sector The private sector is driven primarily

by the need to make a profit.

Voluntary Sector

It is private in the sense that it is not established or run by the State but it is quasi-public in that it is not for profit.

A tense space to occupy. If you break the link between a voluntary body and its founding vision it is likely

to evolve inevitably into a public or private entity and so falls within either the public or private sectors.

Public Sector Founding Vision Private Sector

Founding VisionUnique Selling Point

Here we have a private reality established and run by citizens who are not acting as employees or agents of the State but whose primary goal is driven not by the desire to make profit but to provide some public benefit based on a mission or vision as articulated by some individual or group.

The mission is a living and breathing reality, not something set in stone.

Summary of the Sectors

Sector Origins Function FundingPublic The State and

agents of the State

To cover areas of social action of little or no interest to profit-making bodies

The public finances of the State

Private Profit-making individuals or companies

To create profit Resources of private individuals or institutions

Voluntary Citizens with a mission and vision intent on addressing a particular need

To provide some public benefit

Sought from both the public and private sectors

Characteristics of the Voluntary Sector

1. Mission 2. Ownership

3. Governance

Different Types of Voluntary Organisations in Ireland

Type 1 Type 2 Type 3

Gemma Donnelly-Cox and Andrew O'Regan, “The Irish Voluntary Sector: A Case-Based Exploration of Organisational Growth Patterns and Organisational Dynamics”, International Society for Third-Sector Research, Conference Working Paper Series, Vol 1, 1998.

Type 1 – Organisations dealing with newly emerging issues.

There are a lot of volunteers and a dependence on private donations and fund raising, low overheads and very adaptable to changing circumstances and fluctuations in funding, little networking with other organisations in similar contexts and the State does not usually provide on-going support because the need being addressed is not of sufficient scale or of such moral importance to place a responsibility on the State to support it.

Type 2- Organisations dealing with needs which are well established

Private individuals and corporations are the sources of most funding. There are a large number of volunteers as well as some paid staff. The latter provide managerial expertise and network with other organisations – public, private and voluntary.

Type 3 - Voluntary organisations dealing with areas of traditional need

The State accepts that it has responsibilities in funding these organisations. The voluntary body often appears to be an agent of the State and many stakeholders, even including staff, can be unaware of its voluntary status. Professional staff are employed and they exercise significant power within the organisation.

Voluntary Schools in Ireland – Type 3

The vast majority of schools in Ireland belong to the voluntary sector. The number of State schools is few in comparison.

The Churches and Educate Together are the main voluntary providers at primary level covering virtually all schools (99%)

The Catholic and Protestant voluntary bodies provide about 50% of post-primary schools directly and about another 20% in partnership with the State through agreements with Education and Training Boards.

The State itself provides about 30% of post-primary schools.

The Structure of Irish Second-Level Schooling by School Type in Republic of Ireland- September 2013

The overall structure of Irish second-level schooling is notably complex. It can be

represented in diagram form as follows:

Gaelscoileanna (5)AnForasPatrunachta

(5)

(1)Jewish

(20)Protestant

(15)Lay

(34)Congregation

(40)Diocese

(255)Trust

(344)Catholic

(365)Faith

(1)Educate TogetherMultidenominational

(1)

-Non denominational(3)

VOLUNTARY(374)

ETB & CatholicTrustees

Community(Multidenominational)

(81)

ETB & CatholicTrustees

(9)Catholic

Protestant Trustees (5)Protestant

(14)Comprehensive

-Voluntary StatePartnership

(95)

ETB Patronage-Non designated(214)

ETB Patronage with Catholic involvement in management of school

Designated(40)

(254)STATE

SECOND LEVEL (723)SCHOOLS

SECOND LEVEL SCHOOLS BY SCHOOL TYPE IN REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 2013September

: (Note Vocational Education Committees VECs) (now Education Training Boards ETBs)

Catholic Voluntary Secondary Schools - Strengths and Challenges.

Challenges

Do we effectively appear as an agent of and for the State?

The originality of the initial founding vision may become diluted as a result of the school’s administrative tasks. How do we avoid this?

Are we offering something unique or just appearing so?

Challenges

Can parents and teachers articulate how their voluntary school is different from the State school up the road?

Do we have strong clear leadership?

If the founding vision is not embedded in this organised structure with clearly designated roles, it will not carry any real power.

Challenges

The State has an ever increasing input on staff pay and recruitment procedures.

Funding from other stakeholders apart from the State, needs to be maintained.

There may be a loss of control of resources.

There can be a loss of control of the vision to professionals in terms of what they value and how they use their decision-making power within the school.

Schools and their trustees will need to direct their own finances to services within the school community which they deem essential to their mission.

Challenges

As a type 3 organisation a voluntary school will experience great difficulty from both within the school and externally if attempts are made to introduce change.

There are differing agendas at work simultaneously.

Challenges

There is a temptation to focus training and education in the areas of mission and moral legitimacy on the school principal and teachers of Religious Education. In the future, all stakeholders need this training i.e. BOM, professional staff, parents, students and the wider community.

People need to be motivated to participate.

Challenges

How the voluntary sector and State proceed and engage in the rationalisation of schools is vital.

How the State perceives voluntary secondary schools needs to be addressed and challenged.

Is there enough support in Irish society to retain the voluntary sector because of sympathy with the “founding intention”, or do people want to support this sector because of its perceived success?

The level of dialogue between Church, State and society on the future role of voluntary secondary education is limited. How do we improve this?

Round Table

1. Has the presentation helped clarify anything for you about schools in the voluntary sector?

2. What do you think about the importance or otherwise of the founding intention/vision of your school?