Ms Suzanne Connolly:

I thank the committee for inviting Barnardos here today to provide evidence on this important issue. In 2020 Barnardos supported almost 18,000 children and their families. We deliver evidence-informed outcome-focused services for children and their parents and careers in family homes, in schools and in our 45 centres throughout Ireland. Our services are trauma-informed focusing on the impact of adverse childhood experiences on the lives of children and parents with whom we work. We work with families to help them address issues affecting their children’s development and well-being. The children to whom we offer support are often living in complex and frequently chaotic circumstances, affected by traumatic life situations such as poverty, abuse, parental poor mental health, neglect, separation and parental addiction. Education is often a primary route out of disadvantage for many of these children.

We support amending the existing legislation, section 62 of the Education Act 2018, which allows schools to adopt admission policies that reserve 25% of places for children of parents or grandparents who went to that particular school. It goes against the spirit of Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognises children’s right to education and provides that states must achieve this right on the basis of equal opportunity. Section 62 also allows schools to introduce admission policies which could unjustifiably disadvantage many of the children we support. For example, many of the children we support have parents and grandparents who struggled to engage with the education system themselves when they were children. Some of the children with whom we work have parents who were not educated in this country. It is inappropriate and unjust that these children should have less of a chance of attending a school that adopts section 62(10)(b).

The existing legislation sends out the wrong message to children, parents, grandparents and society as a whole. It tells children that where their parents and grandparents did or did not go to school determines their future opportunities. We know at a population level parental educational attainment affects children’s future outcomes. We should be adopting measures to address, not reinforce, this fact further. Section 62 reminds parents and grandparents that their educational history may influence or restrict their children's and grandchildren’s opportunities. Limiting a child’s educational options due to having parents or grandparents who they themselves had limited options is the epitome of promoting intergenerational disadvantage and discrimination. A child’s educational options should never be negatively affected by the education of their parents and grandparents.

Barnardos believes in children’s rights and promoting policies that protect and enforce these rights. All educational policies should seek to promote equality of opportunity and combat disadvantage, particularly given the lifelong impact educational attainment can have on the life of a child. Maintaining section 62(10)(b) would be the wrong decision for children, regardless of how widespread its adoption is across schools.Giving consideration to the voice of children, we believe no child would want their opportunities limited by the where their parents and grandparents went to school.

The current section should be repealed in order to ensure equal opportunity for all children and avoid the discrimination of certain groups of children, potentially those who are experiencing vulnerabilities or facing disadvantage.