E-Scéal 26: IPPN Press Release - UCD Professor Launches Strong Attack on the Privatisation of Education in Ireland
- Published: 10 February 2004
Dr. Kathleen Lynch, UCD, in her address to the IPPN annual conference at City West Hotel on Saturday, 7th February poses the simple question: "... Is Primary Education TRULY free and EQUALLY available to all?"
Even more significantly, she questions whether primary education is equally beneficial to all children at primary level. She asks who is ensuring that equality is promoted and that the right to benefit from education is secure. "Who cares if it is not? Where is the evidence so we can judge?" Dr. Lynch is clearly bringing the issue of assessment in primary school to the forefront for the largest ever gathering of principals in Ireland.
Dr. Lynch will argue that in the interests of social justice, the right to education must be protected and that only the state has the power to do this... leaving things to the vagaries of market forces will not work.
Dr. Lynch will also bemoan the total absence of any discussion on the fact that education in Ireland is now being treated as a business rather than as a public service to be supported and protected. This trend has accelerated in recent years despite the devolving of governance responsibilities to schools. Dr. Lynch calls for the issues of privatisation and the market model in education to be publicly debated in Ireland given that there is evidence to suggest that market driven education further disadvantages the already disadvantaged.
Larry Fleming and John Curran, PRO, IPPN.
