CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL PATRONAGE:RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION must form an integral part of the curriculum in the new State-run primary schools, a senior Catholic Church figure told a Department of Education conference on school patronage yesterday.
Bishop Leo O’Reilly, chairman of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Education, said he welcomed the department’s decision to have religious instruction delivered during the school day in the new schools.
But he said that the Catholic Church would not support a model “consisting only of a common religious education programme delivered simultaneously to children of different religious traditions . . . A one-size-fits-all approach cannot respond adequately to the current needs of our Irish school-going population.’’
Dr O’Reilly said the church was seeking a new mechanism to ensure that teachers of religion were appropriately qualified to teach the faith to children of a particular religion.
“What was being sought was not a veto but a mechanism for ensuring that teachers of religion were appropriately qualified to teach the faith to children of a particular religion.
“We would want this for other faiths as well as our own. The appointment of teachers of religious education would be most appropriately arrived at by church and State working together.”
The conference on school patronage is attempting to map out the future management of schools in a multicultural Irish society. At present, the Catholic Church controls more than 3,000 of the 3,200 primary schools in the State.
This September, the State will pilot two new community primary schools – run by the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee – in rapidly growing areas of Dublin.
But the department has still to decide how religious instruction will be delivered in these schools, which are likely to be the template for future primary schools.
During the conference Paul Rowe of Educate Together raised concerns about this proposal to allow faith formation during regular school hours.
Young children, he said, should not be “segregated and separated and labelled by religion . . . Equality in education is not the same as the inclusion of minority children in a dominant faith environment.’’
Catherine O’Brien of the Humanist Association of Ireland said children aged 4-12 years should not encounter segregation in schools because of their religion.
There was no reason why religious knowledge could not be delivered outside school hours, she said.
In response, Dr O’Reilly said the argument against segregation in schools can be exaggerated. Children were already separated from the class for resource teaching and other lessons.
Dr O’Reilly said he supported a model for the delivery of religion based on that adapted successfully by the VEC at second level.
This includes:
Designated community colleges under the co-trusteeship of the VEC and the local diocese;
Community schools where the joint trustees are the VEC, religious order(s) involved in education and/or the bishop or other trustee.
In this model, he said, children are instructed in religion in accordance with their parents’ wishes by teachers who are qualified to do so.
