thoughts and links about opennews at the guardian etc

trying to collect thoughts and links into a blog post with storify

Schools Exhibit

Secondary Schools DublinTo display schools by religion


Primary Schools Dublin


Sources
Education Open Data on Dublinked


Dept of Ed Find a School


Data-on-Individual-Schools

Eoin Mahoney who works for the Irish Bishops Council research department describes how only in 2008 did fellow NUIM geography student Omar Sarhan start the diffcult task of creating modern GIS maps of Ireland Diocese and parishes, that had never been properly defined before. The department of Education should have contributed to this work because they can't do any forward planning on schools without this information and neither can parents.

People often say if you want a less religious school then parents should just go start one, but it very hard to do especially when Department of Education previously never collected the info you need as it should, and then won't share it with you when it does. For example a Fine Gael Councillor highlighting how the Dept of Education won't share its GIS school-place demand data when they are trying to approve the development plan. The only people that can really create a mass education system are the government, that's what we pay our taxes for.

References to Departments GIS system
2008
2009
2009
2011
40 new schools
03 October, 2008 - Colour-coded map technology identifies where new school places are needed most - Minister O'Keeffe
2011
2009
2008
2012

A study was published in around 2010 with some maps for new schools but I can't find it again.

The forward planning section of Department of Education

The Forum on School Patronage was started under Hanafin and restarted in 2011 Under Minister for Education Ruari Quinn. Based on demographic GIS work it put out a survey to potential parents in 40 areas to see school demand. The dept of education has started some Community National Schools as emergency measure in new areas of high demand but these schools are still Catholic in all but name.

Schools Catchments

standard PQ answer

Catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post-primary education in the late 1960s and were determined following consultation with local educational interests. For planning purposes the country was divided into geographic districts each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. The intention was and continues to be that these defined districts facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/10/18/00121.asp 2011
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2005/10/11/00005.asp 2005
Feeder schools
http://www.into.ie/ROI/Publications/TransitionsPrimarySchool.pdf
http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2010-11-16.683.0

Transport catchment areas
http://www.mayovec.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=60
http://193.178.1.238/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20090409.xml&Node=2260
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/EDJ/2005/09/29/00003.asp committee presentation 2005
http://www.oco.ie/complaints/investigations-and-case-studies/school-transport.html

I take it that the Deputy is seeking copies of each catchment area map in the country.

By way of general background information, catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post primary education in the late 1960’s.

For planning purposes, the country was divided into about 300 geographic districts, each with several primary schools feeding into a post primary education centre with one or more post primary schools. The intention was that these defined districts would facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. They also facilitated the provision of a nationwide school transport service, enabling children from remote areas to get to their nearest school.

In view of the number of catchment area maps involved, the Deputy will understand that it would be a major logistical exercise to collate and send all of these maps to him. However, if the Deputy has a particular area in mind I will arrange to have the map forwarded to him.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2009/04/09/00126.asp

here's children ombudsman case study with more detail

http://www.oco.ie/complaints/investigations-and-case-studies/school-transport.html

The issue of which was the correct map to be used in 2005 could have been determined conclusively if the Planning Section of the Department of Education and Science had furnished the Ombudsman for Children’s Office with a copy of a master map to include all catchment boundaries which was identical to that held by the relevant Bus Éireann office or that which was in place in the Local VEC office in 2005, or as near to identical in so much as the variation was negligible.

The Department of Education and Science did not supply a map to meet this standard as required. The map provided to this Office by the Planning Section in June 2006:
1. is different to what is currently being used by Bus Éireann and the VEC;
2. is questionable as to its suitability as it appears to be incomplete;
3. appears to be a large scale map scaled on a ratio of approximately 1:62500 and, as such, does not provide the required detail to administer such a scheme effectively and accurately; and
4. contains excessively thick boundaries for the purposes of clarity and accuracy.

http://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2012-07-04.413.5
Report or trasnport for schools
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2012070400017?opendocument


school enrolement
http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2011-12-13.1040.0 discussion paper 2011
http://education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2013-Press-Releases/PR13-09-02.html
the admission policy draft plans