PARENTS HELPING KIDS DODGE IRISH
Therapists picked to give exemptions Non-Gaeilge pupils do other languages Principals afraid to challenge diagnoses
PARENTS are handpicking psychologists to get their children exemptions from learning Irish – but are allowing for them to be enrolled in foreign language classes, the Department of Education has found.
Inspectors discovered that special education needs are ‘frequently used as grounds for exemption’, despite the claims not meeting any of the special-needs criteria required by the Department.
It found that the majority of students who get out of Irish class for special education needs are enrolled for languages such as French and German.
In Department circulars, it is stated that children with ‘serious intellectual impairment’ may be granted exemptions. Specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, sensory impairment and
general learning disabilities are included as accepted disability reasons for exemptions. However, many of the pupils have been excused from studying Irish as a result of a diagnosis not within the terms of the Department circulars.
It is also noted in Department case studies of six secondary schools that most pupils granted an Irish exemption study another language.
The report also found that since 2003, when 1,607 Leaving Cert pupils were exempted from Irish, there’s been a significant rise in this trend, with 3,468 Leaving Cert students exempted from Irish in 2016.
School principals are so concerned by the situation in their schools that some complained to Department inspectors that they are subjected to ‘undue pressure’ from parents who want their children out of State-mandated Irish classes, with some parents complaining that it is a waste of time.
Secondary-school principals also expressed their ‘frustration’ to the Department that primary schools are wrongly giving the pupils exemptions.
The majority of secondaryschool students with an exemption from Irish are studying foreign languages such as French or German, the Department noted.
In 2016, when figures were last collected, around threefifths (60.1%) of third-year students with exemptions from Irish were studying a foreign language, rising to 63% for Leaving Cert students.
One principal said that several schools in his area had complained of a similar trend, and a Department inspector report said that the problem is likely widespread. The Department made detailed inspections of Irish language exemption files in six primary and six secondary schools across the country – ensuring they got a representative sample by geography and type of school.
Some secondary-school principals told the Department parents were cherrypicking private psychologists they were told would approve the exemption for supposed disabilities not recognised by the Government.
‘Two out of six principals reported that parents were willing to pay privately for reports recommending an exemption from the study of Irish. It was also reported that parents were aware of particular psychologists who, in accordance with parents’ wishes, were willing to recommend an exemption from the study of Irish that was not within the terms of Department circulars,’ it said.
Half of the principals in the case-study schools reported that they did not oppose a recommendation from a psychologist for an exemption from the study of Irish to be granted, even where it was clear that the student should not qualify. They felt they were not ‘sufficiently qualified’ to counter a recommendation from a psychologist.
Five of the six secondaryschool principals complained that exemptions were being granted ‘too readily and indeed erroneously in many instances in primary schools’.
It added: ‘Categories of special educational needs that are not mentioned in the circulars and associated conditions are frequently cited as grounds for exemption.’
Principals also reported considerable frustration with this issue given that they were expected to faithfully implement the terms of the exemptions rules – knowing that some of the students should not have been exempted on special-needs grounds.
‘This was very evident in the documentation received by one case-study school from one of its main feeder primary schools, which showed “serious shortcomings” in the granting of exemptions in that feeder school,’ the Department found.
The majority of secondaryschool students were not entitled to the exemptions they were granted, the report found. Out of a total of 181 students whose files were examined by inspectors, just 87 (48.1%) had been correctly granted the exemptions, in accordance with the Department’s circular.
Primary-school principals, meanwhile, complained that parents were putting them under major pressure to grant exemptions before the pupils transferred to secondary school, the report found.
‘Two of the principals reported that parents exerted undue pressure on them to grant exemptions from the study of Irish. One school with significant socio-economic disadvantage and a high proportion of students with English as an additional language... reported that parents had little interest in the Irish language or in their children learning the language,’ the report said.
Public consultation has been sought by the Department to address the problem of rogue exemptions. It has received a ‘record response’ from the public to its proposed changes to the exemption system.
More than 2,500 people have responded in the last month. As a result, Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh has extended the consultation time until this Friday.
Peadar Mac Fhlannchadha, assistant general secretary at Conradh na Gaeilge, which promotes the Irish language, said the report emphasised for the need for caution before exempting children from Irish. He said removing children from Irish classes on specialneeds grounds can have the effect of ‘disadvantaging the disadvantaged’, adding that the proper supports should be in place for such pupils.
‘They need to be accommodated, and giving exemptions is not the way to do that,’ said Mr Mac Fhlannchadha.
‘Willing to pay privately’ ‘Parents exerted undue pressure’