Survey shows Waterford narrowly in favour of denominational education; Strong supporters for same-sex and English-language schools
Waterford stood as a national outlier in all three questions raised on the Department of Education's survey
A Department of Education survey showed Waterford had one of the smallest appetites in Ireland to maintain denominational education in primary schools.
According to the findings of the survey, which was completed by over 200,000 households, 54.5% of Waterford parents with children in denominational primary schools expressed a preference for the school’s ethos to remain.
The figure was the second-lowest across the Republic's 26 counties, with only Wicklow expressing a smaller percentage approval (50.5%).
Supporters of multi-denominational education said that the results showed further demand for an increase in Educate Together schools across Waterford.
Two (Waterford and Tramore ETNS) of the 73 primary schools in Waterford are multi-denominational.
“These national results are very encouraging for the future of school choice in County Waterford,” said Schools Development Officer for Educate Together Edward Platt.
“Now that the Department of Education has provided statistically valid data to show that 45.5% of parents in Waterford want their children to have access to a multi-denominational school, we need to see action taken to make this a reality."
Waterford parents also stood as a major national outlier when voicing their approval of same-sex schools.
Parents of children in same-sex schools were asked to indicate a preference on a transition to co-education- 62.7% of Waterford parents expressed approval, the lowest percentage in the country. In comparison, 87.8% of Galway parents expressed approval.
Waterford parents again bucked the trend when it came to preference for having their children in a primarily English-speaking school.
88.8% of parents expressed their wishes to keep things the same- the joint highest in the nation alongside Monaghan.
