![]() CAIN Web Service
|
rate of funding for these schools. While all secondary schools receive 100% funding for recurrent expenditure, Catholic secondary schools receive only 85% capital expenditure." |
Between 1965 and 1975 the average enrolment increased in both sectors, but while the average enrolment of Catholic secondary schools increased slightly between 1975 and 1985, among Protestant secondary schools the average enrolment declined.
Figure 4.5 presents the average number of teachers per school for both sectors and while this has increased over the years, the rate of increase has been higher among Catholic secondary schools. Thus in 1985 the average number of teachers employed in Catholic secondary schools was almost equal to that of Protestant secondary schools.
Despite the differential patterns of growth in terms of the average
pupil enrolment and the average number of teachers per school
the pupil/teacher ratio has continued to fall and has remained
about equal in both sectors.
The funding of secondary schools
As in the primary schools there is a differential rate of funding
for these schools. While all secondary schools receive 100% funding
for recurrent expenditure, Catholic secondary schools receive
only 85% capital expenditure. To date, however, there appears
to be little direct evidence on the relative impact of these funding
differences on the resources and facilities available in the secondary
schools. In addition, there appears to be little direct evidence
yet on the effect of contraction in both sectors.
Grammar schools
There are two types of grammar school in Northern Irland: controlled and voluntary. Education and Library Boards have full responsibility for controlled grammar schools, which can be considered to be Protestant schools. Voluntary grammar schools, which comprise the bulk of grammar provision in Northern Ireland, are relatively autonomous of area boards and are run by boards of governors or trustees. Controlled grammar schools receive 100% funding from the Education and Library Boards for recurrent and capital expenditure while voluntary grammar schools receive 100% for recurrent expenditure and up to 85% funding for agreed capital expenditure. Even though voluntary grammar schools are likely to have the greatest extent of religious heterogeneity in their pupil populations, compared with primary and secondary intermediate schools, there are no planned integrated voluntary grammar schools and they can be classified as Protestant or Catholic.
Unfortunately, much of the published research on grammar schools
does not distinguish between Protestant and Catholic voluntary
grammar schools. Research evidence which does make this distinction
is largely covered in other sections of this review. Thus the
concentration of preparatory departments in Protestant grammar
schools has been mentioned in section 2 and the greater extent
of the Protestant grammar sector and reasons for this disparity
have been discussed in section 3. Section 5 will examine some
evidence on curriculum differences in Protestant and Catholic
grammar schools while section 6 will examine differences in pupil
attainment.
Further research areas
This section raises two main issues for future research. The
first concerns the impact of different funding arrangements for
Protestant and Catholic secondary and grammar schools. As yet
there is little evidence on this issue. At a more fundamental
level, it is not possible to distinguish Protestant and Catholic
grammar schools on the basis of published DENI statistics: given
that grammar schools provide the most direct route to higher education
and the occupational advantages accruing from this, it is important
to have basic statistical information on the availability and
operation of grammar schools for both communities in Northern
Ireland. In other words, DENI publications should officially
recognise the existence of two religious school systems in Northern
Ireland and provide a basis for comparing them.