Primary school enrolment decline impacts teacher numbers

Primary schools are closing for the summer holidays amid a national decline in enrolment that is having an impact across the system, but in different ways.

Today a small number of primary schools will also officially close forever.

They include five rural primary schools in counties Donegal, Mayo, Roscommon and Waterford, who have notified the Department of Education of their closure.

There are likely to be others shutting down permanently too; that decision made by their local patron but not yet notified to the department.

Other small rural schools are on the brink.

But the fall in enrolment is not just affecting small schools in isolated rural areas, provisional figures show that 381 primary teacher posts nationally will disappear this September.

In urban centres, such as Dublin, a significant number of schools are losing teachers as a result of the decline.

In recent weeks, those schools have been informing parents of different class configurations for next year.

In some cases, three class streams are being merged into two.

That means children who were in a class of perhaps 24, or fewer, children will this September be in a class of 30 or more.

Last year, primary school enrolment fell by 6,700 nationally.

Every year, teachers are allocated on the basis of the number of pupils a school had the year before.

So, the impact of this decline, of more than 1%, will be felt this coming September.

The housing crisis in Dublin in particular means young families are being pushed out, unable to afford to rent or buy, and that is adding to the impact of the national enrolment decline across the capital and its suburbs.

According to provisional Department of Education data shared with primary teachers' union, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), 498 classroom teaching posts are being suppressed this coming September.

That means 498 classrooms are being lost, it means 498 instances where two existing classes will have to be amalgamated into one, or three classes into two, in order to make up the shortfall.

Some schools elsewhere are growing and will see additional teaching posts created as a result.

Taking this growth into account, the overall provisional reduction is 381 class teacher posts.

Stepaside Educate Together is among the schools affected.

It has been growing every year since it opened in 2012, but this year for the first time it has seen pupil numbers fall.

It is losing two teachers as a result.

A three-stream school, Stepaside ETNS has now made the difficult decision to merge three classes into two across its junior and senior infant years.

This means classes of 25 pupils, or fewer, will be replaced with classes significantly larger.

"It’s a challenge and I know that parents are anxious," principal Leona Griffin said.

This once quiet area has seen significant residential development in recent years and Ms Griffin explained how family transience is a feature of the area, with some parents working in tech companies locally for a few years before moving on.

"The challenge is to organise this [reconfiguration] in a way that ensures that we can support our children," Ms Griffin added, referring in particular to children who have additional needs.

Stepaside school knows that it is not alone.

"This is the first year and I know that a lot of schools are in the same situation," she said.

Other schools are reluctant to speak publicly about the decisions they are having to make, but parents are sharing notices from schools on Whatsapp groups and social media.

"Dear parents and guardians" - one letter to parents from another school began.

It added: "I understand there has been worry and upset over the last number of days as the news of next year’s Rang Five and Rang Six multi-grade class structure has come as a shock to children and parents.

"While upset and disappointment was unfortunately inevitable, I want you to know that this decision was not taken lightly."

The letter goes on to explain that "the only number that matters for teacher retention and appointment is the number of children enrolled on the 30 September on any given year".

The Department of Education allows one class teacher per 23 pupils and because this school’s enrolment fell last year by 25 pupils, it is losing one class teacher.

This school is a Gaelscoil.

Gaelscoileanna are particularly affected; their language status means it is far more difficult for an older child whose family may be moving into their area to enroll, so if children leave before sixth class it is unlikely their place will be filled by another.

"It’s a huge upheaval," one parent of a child affected said.

"My child is moving from a class with 22 children into one with 34. This is a traumatic change for them," the parent added.

The Department of Education has said the allocation process for next year is still under way and staffing levels will not be finalised until the Autumn when staffing appeal and projected enrolment processes have been completed.

"The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally," it said.

INTO points to the Programme for Government commitment to reduce the staffing schedule over the lifetime of Government from 23:1 to 19:1.

The fall in enrolment is due to population change and it is set to continue in coming years.

So, this is just the start.

"Unless remedial action is taken in Budget 2027 in terms of mainstream teacher retention, the damaging impact of this loss of primary teachers will be far-reaching for future generations of Ireland’s children and their local communities, " INTO General Secretary John Boyle said.

Small schools

Along the western seaboard and in other isolated rural areas, the impact of falling enrolment is being seen in school closures.

A total of eight small schools closed officially this year.

Last year, eight others closed.

All of these schools were struggling with pupil enrolments of between one and eight.

But the structure of the school patronage system makes it difficult to track school closures and get an accurate figure.

"The decision-making authority for any school closure is the patron/trustees of the school concerned, and it is open to any patron to submit proposals to the department for consideration," the Department of Education said.

But local Catholic dioceses that are school patrons have told RTÉ News that the decision to close a school is a matter for the department.

Closing a school is an unpopular move and one it seems neither the department nor local patrons want to be associated with.

In recent years, this has meant that schools have been reopening in September with more teachers than pupils – such as two or just one pupil enrolled but three or more teachers, and with SNAs and often a school secretary on top of that.

For schools struggling now to divide and merge classes, where one teacher will now be working with more than 30 children, this is a strong contrast.