Alarming age gaps in country's primary schools
Children as young as three are now sharing classrooms with eight-year-olds, survey finds
CHILDREN as young as three and as old as eight are sharing the same junior infant classes around the country due to inadequate resources and bad planning, a Sunday Independent survey of primary schools list shows.
The study, which looked at the age profile of every child who started school in September 2007, reveals alarmingly large age gaps at junior infants in counties Cork, Galway, Mayo and some satellite towns around Dublin.
The figures will increase pressure on Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe, who has defended increasing class sizes because of Budget cuts.
Opposition parties and parents welfare groups have said the figures show the "abject failure" of the Government to cope with the emergence of Dublin's commuter belt and to provide proper resources for parents struggling to find a school for their children.
New Department of Education figures show that of 63,253 children who started junior infants in September 2007, some were as young as three, but also that the number who have not been to school by the age of seven and eight has doubled since the previous year.
At the most extreme, Cork county had children aged just three and children as old as eight starting junior infants at the same time, while Galway city and Mayo also recorded starts for three-year-olds. At the other end, Tipperary had the highest number of children not starting school until age seven, despite the legal requirement that children begin no later than six years of age. The figures also reveal that the quality of children's education can depend more on where you live than almost any other factor.
Class sizes in some rural communities are as low as eight or nine, while in urban areas, particularly in Dublin's satellite towns, class sizes peak at over 30. Over 100,000 children are in class sizes of 30 pupils or more.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said the figures show a worrying trend of very young children being mixed in with older children and that such age variances calls into question as to whether small schools in rural areas are viable.
"Children aged three should not be starting school, no matter how small the number."
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation said the figures indicated real difficulties for schools.
"There is a common perception that teachers teach groups of children, similar in age, ability and language ability. This is clearly not the case."
And union general secretary John Carr warned that the situation would worsen due to Budget cuts.
Aine Lynch, of the National Parents Council, said that while class size or age variances on their own aren't of concern, together they can have significant effects on child development.
"It is clear that primary education is the poor relation in Ireland and that needs to change," she said.
- DANIEL McCONNELL
