Organisation of Private Education

Non-Recognised Schools

Under Section 14 of the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, Tusla is responsible for maintaining a register of all children who are home educated/schooled or who attend a non-recognised or independent school. This legal requirement exists to support parents in their constitutional right as the primary educator of their child.

The term ‘non-recognised or independent school’ is used to refer to a school that is not recognised or overseen by the Department of Education.

The Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS) of Tusla is responsible for the regulation of provision for education in places other than recognised schools. Its function is to carry out an assessment of the educational provision for children, in order to determine if a child can be placed on the statutory register of children educated outside of a recognised school.

Parents and guardians who choose to educate their child outside of a recognised school i.e. by educating them in a home environment or by sending them to a non-recognised or an Independent School, have a legal obligation to apply for Section 14 Registration under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000. There are 61 assessed independent schools on the Section 14 Register at the end of Q3 2024.

At post primary level, the Department of Education provides funds for staffing, and provides grants towards the running costs and capital costs of schools in the Free Education Scheme. Such schools may not charge fees.

There are also a limited number of private schools which are not part of the Free Education Scheme, which may charge fees, but receive reduced levels of funding from the Department towards their staffing costs. Such schools provide the curriculum devised by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and approved by the Minister, in addition to a range of extra curricular activities. They offer the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations of the State Examinations Commission. There are 56 such schools catering for approximately 25000 pupils, about 6.7% of overall post primary enrolment.

Private providers of further and higher education may agree their quality assurance criteria with Quality and Qualifications Ireland and offer awards under the national framework of qualifications. Such providers (of FE) do not generally receive State funding, unless they have been successful in bidding for funds under a limited range of competitive funding streams open to both the public and private sectors, such as the Springboard or Momentum initiatives targeted at the unemployed.