Irish Press

Religion and Education in the Irish Press

From The Irish Times, May 6, 2003:

Allegations of religious bias in schools increase

Kathryn Holmquist, Education Correspondent

The number of cases of religious discrimination in schools coming before the Equality Authority is on the increase, it has emerged. In one case, parents complained to the authority that their child, who was not of the religious denomination of the school's patron body, should be given alternative religious education, the authority's chief executive, Mr Niall Crowley, told The Irish Times.

That case was settled before reaching the Equality Tribunal. Mr Crowley said schools were unaware of their obligations under the Equality Act and they needed to "go further" in a commitment to accommodating diversity on religious grounds.

Schools had also failed to take on board their responsibilities to create policies which prevented harassment on religious grounds, he added. The Equal Status Act prohibits discrimination in the provision of goods and services, including the educational establishment, on nine grounds, including religion.

Schools admissions are exempt under the Education Act, which gives schools the right to refuse admission based on religion, if this is to maintain the ethos of the school. Cases have been taken by pupils, their parents and teachers who believe they should not be forced to be indoctrinated in or to support the religious ethos of the patron bodies of schools. However, the Equality Authority has already overturned this in the case of one Dublin secondary school, which set a quota on the number of Muslim girls it would admit.

The authority ruled that under the Equal Status Act, the school could not refuse admission on the basis of religion. The INTO said last night that schools had not received any information or guidance on equality legislation from either the Department of Education and Science or the Equality Authority. It said while there was good will, "schools cannot be expected to gear up in a vacuum". So far, all of the cases which have been taken under the Equal Status Act have been settled, which means the details cannot reach the public domain.

The ASTI has said it is unaware of any such cases and that religious formation is more a problem in primary schools. The religious programme in secondary schools is broad-based and diversity was working well, a spokeswoman stated. While the INTO has demanded greater diversity in religious education, religious patron bodies see this as an undermining of their position.

Catholic, Church of Ireland and Muslim leaders have joined together to protest at this development, citing the Education Act, which allows patron bodies to determine the moral and religious education of pupils. According to the Equality Authority, whatever the admissions policy, once a pupil is enrolled, schools cannot give "less favourable treatment" on the basis of religion.

Mr Crowley said the definition of "less favourable treatment" has yet to be defined in casework, since all cases so far have been settled. As things stand, a parent of a child in a denominational school who does not want the child to receive religious education can withdraw the child from those classes. Obliging a parent to remove the child during religious education could be interpreted as less favourable treatment, Mr Crowley said.

The INTO said while it could be argued that a child was being treated less favourably in such cases, equally it could be argued that a parent, by enrolling a child in a denominational school, was consenting to the patron body's ethos. The INTO's equality committee has produced a guide to the equality legislation which will be sent to all schools in the very near future. Last month it met the Equality Authority to discuss the authority's three-year strategic plan which emphasises education.

© The Irish Times

From The Irish Times May 5, 2003:

Religious leaders to oppose new curriculum

Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland and Muslim religious leaders are joining together to oppose teachers' demands for a more diverse religious curriculum, writes Kathryn Holmquist, Education Correspondent.

They are reacting to the INTO's call for a rewriting of religious education to eliminate the teaching of any particular belief system as "truth". Muslims are also demanding that if, however, a new curriculum is introduced that it include teaching on Islam.

As thousands of eight-year-olds take their First Holy Communion over the next few weeks, primary teachers are also calling for all sacramental preparation to take place outside of school. However, Father Dan O'Connor, general secretary of the Catholic Primary School Managers' Association, has stated that under the Education Act 1998, the wording of which was agreed by the INTO, the teaching of religion is a matter for the patron body of a school.

The patron body has the right to "provide the moral and spiritual development of the pupil" in accordance with its own doctrine, whatever that may be. Church of Ireland and Muslim leaders also cite the Act as their defence against what one Church of Ireland spokesman called a "watering down" of religious teaching.

The primary school curriculum, according to the spokesman, "acknowledges the right of parents to arrange for their children's education in a school whose religious ethos coincides with their own religious belief." And "that it is the responsibility of the school to provide a religious education that is consonant with its ethos".

The protection of individual ethos is provided under the Act's Deed of Variation, which was agreed after exhaustive consultations with all religious bodies and teachers' unions in an education forum presided over by former Education minister, Ms Niamh Bhreathnach. Father O'Connor says parents' right to educate their children in religious schools is also protected by the Human Rights Declaration of the United Nations and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.

Canon John McCullagh of the Church of Ireland Board of Education, who has discussed the matter with Father O'Connor, reiterates that under the Education Act, the teaching of religion is a matter for the patron bodies, usually Christian churches, to decide. The Church of Ireland has been introducing a new curriculum in its schools, the "Follow Me" series, which is largely based on the Roman Catholic curriculum, "Alive O", but with key elements of doctrine changed.

Muslim leaders want the right to teach their own religious beliefs in their schools and have discussed the issue with Father O'Connor and Canon McCullagh. "Primary school is too early to introduce children to different faiths. "They are too young to decide for themselves," says Ali Selim, who is involved in education at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh. The fastest growing religion in the State with at least 15,000 members, Islam is already taught in one national school in Clonskeagh, which has 240 pupils.

Under rule 69 of the Education Act 1972, parents who do not wish their children to attend religious instruction have the right to withdraw their children from the class during such instruction. Parents also have the right to provide their own style of religious education "elsewhere".

© The Irish Times

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Letter to the Editor, The Irish Times, April 28, 2003:

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

Madam, -

The class is "instructed to believe". This phrase was used by Michael Dungan in his letter (April 24th) on the continuing divisions on religious instruction at Dunboyne gaelscoil. At the recent INTO conference, the phrase used was "teaching as truth".

Children should not be taught in school anything supernatural "as truth". They must, instead, be taught how to decide for themselves what they believe in.

Children should be taught "as truth" only that which can be shown to be true.

The present arrangements are clearly not working. You might have thought that the current level of Christian religious instruction entwined in the primary curriculum would produce young people who conducted themselves in accordance with that religion's code of behaviour towards others. "Love thy neighbour," Jesus said.

But many pupils, according to teachers at the INTO conference, are not behaving in a manner that would impress Jesus very much. A Welsh head teacher once told me that he felt the most important thing was "to teach the children to care".

Replacing religious instruction with the driver education programme recommended by the former Minister for Education Michael Woods's in-depth feasibility study would reduce the number of deaths on the road by teaching consideration for other road users.

Replacing religious instruction with the environmental studies recently recommended by An Taisce would result in a populace that was no longer "one of the most confused countries within Europe when it came to environmental problems - 12th in the European league table". Appropriate environmental education would result in young people who cared about the environment.

- Yours, etc.,

DEBRA E. JAMES, Gorey, Co. Wexford.

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From The Irish Times, April 25, 2003:

Religious education to reflect pluralism demanded

The new president of the INTO, Mr Seán Rowley, has questioned how teachers can teach, as truth, doctrine which is accepted as truth by only one religious denomination. With the support of delegates, he called for a new programme of religious education in schools.

"What better way to deepen religious conviction than to understand and respect other traditions?" he asked. Mr Rowley called for a programme of religious education in schools that would recognise the plurality of Christian religious faiths, as well as non-Christian faiths and beliefs. Delegates voted to enter discussions with the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) to this purpose.

Primary teachers want to pull their pupils out of the "squinting-windows" mentality by creating an entirely new way of teaching religion, said Mr Fintan Cronin, a teacher in Wicklow. He urged his INTO colleagues to "embrace a more modern, pluralist Ireland" by agreeing on a motion to consult the NCCA about developing a programme for primary pupils that would reflect the diversity of religious belief in Irish society.

The INTO also voted yesterday to demand the establishment of a "proper representative forum" to address the challenges and difficulties faced by teachers in interdenominational schools. The general secretary, Mr John Carr, described as "scandalous" the lack of an agreed understanding on how religion should be taught in interdenominational schools, and demanded a clear policy before any more interdenominational schools are sanctioned.

A passionate debate on the subject enlivened the hall on the third day of the conference. It showed that, a year after the controversy over the teaching of religion in the interdenominational Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg in Co Meath, the issue continues to annoy primary teachers.

"I reject totally the idea that a vague and woolly but no doubt well-intentioned notion of bringing children together for religious education constitutes any form of interdenominational education," Mr Carr said.

Mr Tomás Ó Dúlaing, former principal of the gaelscoil and now the principal of Grifeen Valley School, a multidenominational school in Lucan, Co Dublin, told delegates "the idea that teachers can be intimidated into compromising our relationships with children of religious minorities is flawed".

Six- and seven-year-old Protestant children were experiencing "devastation and hurt in classrooms as the result of the imposition of directives on religion", he claimed.

It was wrong that non-Catholic children either had to sit through preparation classes for First Holy Communion, or be withdrawn from class by their parents. Children of minority religions were being marginalised, he added.

One of the great tragedies in interdenominational schools to date was an unwillingness by the powers that be to seek out consensus, and instead to seek to impose, to intimidate and to sanction. He then described as a "dying species" people who continued to push the idea of the teaching of Catholicism to all children in interdenominational schools.

Mr Carr commented: "We've come a long way when we can openly discuss religion without fear of the church."

Proposing the motion, Ms Joan Ward, former president of the INTO, presented the results of an INTO survey showing that three-quarters of primary schools had children of mixed faiths. Irish people, who were nominally Catholic, had become à la carte in their approach to Catholicism and no longer looked to the church for guidance on matters of civil law.

Some children needed tours of churches before First Communion because they had never stepped inside a church before. Some teachers were frustrated preparing their pupils for two performances a year: First Communion and the Christmas play, she added.

Ms Ward quoted a teacher as stating: "Preparing children for the sacraments is a sham." Another teacher said she was fighting a losing battle and expressed shock that, when preparing her class for Confirmation recently, she learned one-third of the pupils had not been to Confession since making their first Confession in school.

The INTO also reiterated its opposition to discrimination in employment on the basis of religion. While no case of a teacher being hired or fired on the basis of religious belief has arisen recently, the INTO still sees the potential for such action. Mr Cronin said: "It is unacceptable that religious discrimination is still allowed by law in our schools. The idea that someone can lose his or her job because he or she holds beliefs contrary to the ethos of a school is abominable."

© The Irish Times

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Letter to the Editor, The Irish Times, April 24, 2003:

CONTINUING DIVISIONS AT DUNBOYNE GAELSCOIL

Madam, -

Eoghan Ó Laoire (April 16th) argues that An Foras Pátrúnachta, the gaelscoil patron body of which he is a director, is a "forward-looking voluntary body providing real choice to parents".

The "real choice to parents" of Church of Ireland children in the An Foras-run interdenominational gaelscoil in Dunboyne is as follows.

On those days when teachers are obliged to instruct the entire class to believe that the bread and wine of Holy Communion are in fact the real body and blood of Christ, Church of Ireland parents must either: (a) allow their children to remain in the class and be instructed so to believe; or (b) remove them from the class.

The Church of Ireland does not require its members to believe that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ, and the vast majority don't.

Most C of I parents do not wish their children to be instructed so to believe. But for C of I children in an An Foras-run interdenominational school, the only alternative to being instructed in this belief is to leave the classroom.

It is worth noting that An Foras's practice in this regard is identical to that of Catholic schools (which of course do not purport to cater for two denominations in equal partnership).

It is also worth noting that none of the An Foras board's 12 members belongs to the Church of Ireland. Despite this, An Foras never sought the opinion of the C of I's education authorities at any time between undertaking the patronage of Ireland's first interdenominational school in 1996 and belatedly formalising its discriminatory religious instruction practice into a written policy in 2002.

Finally, it is worth noting that in 2001, at a time when the An Foras policy did not yet exist in writing, the entire Dunboyne gaelscoil - teachers, parents, and board of management - collectively agreed and respectfully proposed a compromise ensuring that no child would be instructed to believe any doctrine contradictory to their own faith.

An Foras rejected the compromise and issued a directive to the school enforcing the status quo.

Half the C of I families in Dunboyne's interdenominational gaelscoil have since left the school.

- Yours, etc., MICHAEL DUNGAN, Parent, Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, Dunboyne, Co Meath.

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From the Irish Independent, April 12, 2003:

Connell defends role of churches in education

CARDINAL Desmond Connell last night went on the offensive in favour of denominational education. He said he did not accept that education could be "value free or neutral in its approach to the great questions of religion and morality".

Dr Connell said he was fully committed to upholding the value of denominational education whether Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian or Muslim. The cardinal's comments at the annual conference of the Catholic Primary School Managers Association were made against the background of the growing strength of multi-denominational education. The multi-denominational Educate Together movement is the fastest growing sector in primary education, with seven new schools last year and a further six due in September.

Although still accounting for only 28 of over 3,000 primary schools, last year Educate Together opened more than twice the number of schools for all other sectors combined. Cardinal Connell said that, at times, Catholic education and, in particular, Catholic schools had been portrayed as somehow sectarian and intolerant, but this was a misrepresentation. He said "to be sure" Catholic religious education was concerned to communicate clearly the full meaning of Catholic identity and faith. But, it was "also important to emphasise that Catholic identity and faith are, of themselves, both ecumenical in relation to other Christian denominations and respectful of their religious traditions".

He said that recent documents from the Catholic Church had clearly spelt out the ecumenical and interfaith dimension of Catholic religious education. Dr Connell also conceded that greater links had to be forged between the home, parish and school in the promotion of religious education and catechesis. He said teachers should receive more support from their parishes in areas of sacramental preparation and he was seeking ways of addressing this in the future.

Dr Connell referred to the development of new commuter belt communities, where schools were needed. The multi-denominational sector was making inroads in these areas. He said the Government, despite the difficulties in the economy, must continue to serve the education needs of these communities. The Church was obliged and glad to provide a Catholic school, with Government assistance, for the Catholic parents who wished to have a Catholic primary school in newly-developing areas, he said. Dr Connell also said that schools could not be expected to be the sole place to solve all society's ills.

Katherine Donnelly

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From The Irish Times, April 9, 2003:

Parents call for a debate on religion in schools

The National Parents Council Primary has called for a debate on the teaching of religion in schools.

The chief executive of the council, Ms Fionnuala Kilfeather, said many children of non-Catholic backgrounds are having their constitutional rights infringed by being forced to take Catholic religious instruction, She said that while the Republic is increasingly multi-cultural, many parents have no choice of school because there is only one in their communities. If religious bodies could not respect a multi-cultural Ireland by offering parents a choice of religious education, then the State, and not religious bodies, should be running the schools, she asserted.

The council was reacting to a decision yesterday by the former principal at the centre of a row over the teaching of religion in Dunboyne, Co Meath, to withdraw his case from the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Mr Tomas Ó Dulaing, who is now principal of a multi-denominational school in Lucan, Co Dublin, appealed to the tribunal after he was dismissed last August from Scoil Thulach na nÓg, in Dunboyne.

Mr Ó Dulaing had publicly challenged the policy of An Foras, which was that all children must sit in on all religious instruction classes, whether they be Catholic or Church of Ireland. In the Dunboyne Gaelscoil dispute, Mr Ó Dulaing successfully got the parents, teachers and the board of the school to agree on a plan of reconciliation. This was that religious instruction would be limited in the classroom to core Christianity, with children preparing for First Holy Communion outside school hours.

However, this plan was rejected by An Foras. Today at the Gaelscoil, Church of Ireland children are being forced to sit in on religious preparations for First Holy Communion. "The teachers are doing their best to implement this policy," said Mr John Carr, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation. At the time of Mr Ó Dulaing's dismissal, the INTO had defended him and demanding among other things the establishment of a convention on interdenominational education to examine all the issues. Significant progress has been made towards the establishment of this convention, which will offer "a new beginning in Scoil Thulach na nÓg in Dunboyne", said Mr Carr.

Kathryn Holmquist, Education Correspondent

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