QUINN: WE MUST STOP TEACHING RELIGION IN SCHOOL
Church outraged but teachers welcome proposal
RELIGION should be t a ught a t home by parents and not in school, Ruai r i Qui n n said yesterday.
The Education Minister’s declaration has opened up a divisive debate that goes to the heart of our school system.
Outraged Church leader Fr Kevin Doran has warned that any such move would suggest that religious education is irrelevant.
However, teachers union l eader Brendan McCabe welcomed the development, saying: ‘It’s an on-going issue but we’ve been whistling past the graveyard until now.’
Yesterday, Mr Quinn told primary school principals that teachers should be allowed to get on with the job of educating children, while parents and
parishes should take responsibility for their faith.
He told a conference at Dublin’s Citywest Hotel: ‘I do believe, in other countries, where you have faith formation, it takes place within the parish of whatever denomination, whatever belief system there is, and parents and families and parishes take responsibility for that and teachers are left with the professional business of educating children in the classroom.
‘I think that’s the direction in which we should go.’
However, Sheila Nunan of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation described his comments as ‘a red herring to deflect attention from the indefensible increases to class sizes’ in this country, which she said were among the biggest in the European Union.
Earlier, in his opening address to the Irish Primary Principals’ Network conference, the association’s president, Brendan McCabe, said principals and teachers faced a major problem trying to fit all 11 subjects into their schedule.
Teachers say they have also been asked to dedicate more class time to literacy and numeracy, but say it is impossible with current classroom schedules.
‘It’s like trying to fit a quart into a pint jug,’ Mr McCabe said.
Mr Quinn suggested that the 30 minutes allocated to religious education every day could be used to i mprove l i teracy and numeracy skills. He said: ‘ I believe that faith formation and religious instruc- tion is as much, if not the primary responsibility, of the family, as it is of the teacher,’ he said.
‘And if teachers are pressed for time and the timetable is fixed – and incidentally we don’t have a clue how much time is spent on faith formation because the department inspector doesn’t measure it – but if the time is fixed and more time is needed for literacy and numeracy, and there is discretionary time of 30 minutes per day, that is where I would start.’
He added: ‘ That’s a choice that should perhaps be discussed by the boards of management, and by parents.’
However the idea was opposed by Educate Together, which has almost 70 multi- denominational primary schools across the country.
Chief executive Paul Rowe said: ‘We think it’s important to retain the amount of time allocated to our ethical education curriculum, which gives children the skills they need for modern life.
‘We feel that high levels of literacy and numeracy can be best achieved through a properly i ntegrated approach to the entire primary curriculum,’ he added.
And Mr Quinn’s statement on the role of religion in the classroom was met with mixed reaction from other quarters. While Mr McCabe was pleased that the subject would lead to a debate on the matter, Fr Kevin Doran – secretary general of the International Eucharistic Congress, which was held in Dublin in 2012 – said he was totally opposed to the idea of schools losing their faith.
‘If you take religious education out of that, then effectively what you’re saying is religious education has nothing to do with human life, it’s effectively putting it on the margins saying it’s not relevant to life,’ he said. ‘Needless to say as a priest I completely reject that.’
And the Catholic Communications Office said the Church’s schools ‘provide a service to the common good of society and are the bedrock’ of Irish culture.
Ms Nunan, the INTO’s general secretary, said: ‘ The minister’s concern for literacy and numeracy standards might have some had credibility if primary school children were not taught in over- crowded classrooms.
‘Irish classes are the second most over-crowded in the EU,’ she said, adding: ‘The comments about the teaching of religion were a red herring to deflect attention from the indefensible increases to class sizes in small schools.’
In September last year, Minister Quinn began a consultation process on religious and cultural inclusion in primary schools. The move came as an agreement was reached on the transfer of the first Catholic primary school in the State to move out of Church control.
A deal was arranged for the former Christian Brothers’ school on Basin Lane, close to Dublin city centre, to be leased to the Government.
The vast majority – 96 per cent – of primary schools in this country are owned and under the patronage of religious denominations.
Approximately 90 per cent of these schools are owned and under the patronage of the Catholic Church.
The Department of Education classifies primary schools as denominational, inter-denominational and multi-denominational.
Under the current rules, a school under the patronage of a single r eli gious community provides religious education according to traditions, practices and beliefs of the members of the specified religious community.
It may also provide a wider education about religion and allow parents or guardians of other faith traditions to provide for religious education in their belief system if they want to.
Inter-denominational schools provide for a variety of religious education opportunities.
Some multi- denominational schools don’t provide religious education but do provide education about religions and beliefs.
If they wish, parents or guardians may arrange for denominational religious education outside school hours in these schools.