Across the U.S., some parents have been calling for changes in the education system, including greater transparency around curriculum decisions—a topic that has received national media attention.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, remote learning gave many parents a closer look at what their children were being taught, prompting some to raise concerns. Since 2020, many states have introduced voucher programs and tax credits in response to growing calls from parents for more school choice.
Cornell College Professor of Education Jill Heinrich recently explored this issue in a study published in the International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, titled “The Primacy of Parents’ Rights: Why Irish Educational Policy Offers Insight Into U.S. Parents’ Demands for School Choice.”
“One of the goals I had in this paper is to abandon the idea that we have to construct the other side as an enemy with whom we must wage war,” Heinrich said. “We have to find a space where we can try to understand someone else’s perspective. Many of these parents have been negatively constructed in the media. I’m trying to give people another lens to see why parents might have strong feelings about wanting to send their child to a school that mirrors their family’s values.”
To better understand the issue, Heinrich’s research took her to Ireland, where she met with and discussed the foundation of the Irish school system with several schools, teachers, and administrators during three trips to the country. While their schools are very different from those in the U.S., Heinrich says comparing them helps explain why many U.S. parents are pushing for more school choice.
To understand the Irish school system, you first need to understand Ireland’s history. When the framers of the new Irish Republic penned their 1937 Constitution, they were focused on centuries of religious conflict and England’s attempt to eradicate their culture. Heinrich says that when they wrote their laws, they were guided by two beliefs: that the state should fund but not administer public education and that parental rights come first.
“In practice, this meant that parents had the right to choose a school they deemed most appropriate for their children and that mirrored their religious and moral convictions,” Heinrich wrote in the paper. “Although there have been challenges to this system over the years that have resulted in litigation and significant policy changes, parental choice has remained sacrosanct in Irish society. Hence, through consideration of this deeply-held conviction that permeates the Irish collective consciousness—that parents have the right to school choice—U.S. educators and policymakers can gain important insight into the frustrations, concerns and demands of many American parents today who have become disgruntled with a system they fund via local property taxes but that affords them neither voice nor choice.”
Another difference is the role that religion plays in Irish schools. In Ireland, churches and religious organizations can administer a government-funded school as long as they meet curricular standards set by the Ministry of Education. Heinrich notes that this may be difficult for Americans to relate to, given the strong separation of church and state in the U.S. public school system. In Ireland, the term “ethos” plays a significant role in the Irish education system and is often discussed in the country.
“You'll be in a taxi and you’ll hear a taxi driver talk about the ethos of his school,” Heinrich said. “It’s just part of your schooling, and they believe very strongly that school plays an important and formative part of a child’s life, that a parent has the right to select a school that is going to reinforce those beliefs and values that you hold most dear.”
Most Irish people today still consider school choice non-negotiable, and Heinrich explains that a family’s right to choose a school that mirrors their beliefs is something that is now capturing the attention of U.S. lawmakers as well.
“Some U.S. parents have become incensed and set themselves at odds with their local school boards and policymakers; believing their concerns about the curriculum and calls for school choice have been dismissed, they have most likely felt ‘disrespected’ and ‘humiliated,’ feelings that have prompted them to attack an educational system that is allegedly assaulting that which they hold most dear—their beliefs, their values, and their children,” Heinrich writes in the paper. “In contrast, teachers, administrators, and school board members, as committed professionals and public servants, have understandably struggled to understand the motivations of these parents questioning their professional discretion.”
Heinrich suggests that by understanding the concerns behind these heated discussions, more parents may feel heard when it comes to their children’s education. However, because school choice policy is still in its infancy in the U.S., Heinrich emphasizes the importance of ensuring that these policy changes do not unintentionally increase educational inequality.
About Jill Heinrich:
Jill Heinrich is a professor of education and has taught at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, since 2003. She taught high school English for eleven years, and her research interests include religious literacy, separation of church and state in American public education, masculinity studies, comparative education in Belize, and poverty and education. Heinrich teaches an off-campus course in San Pedro Town on the island of Ambergris Caye in Belize.