Key questions in an increasingly multi-faith and secular country
In an extensive report in The Irish Independent on Wednesday, Feb 16, Kim Bielenberg states in the concluding part –
The key question is: should children be given religious instruction inside school hours as part of the curriculum, or outside school hours?
The fast-growing Educate Together national schools have taken the second approach. In place of faith formation, students follow an Ethical Education Curriculum, where they learn about different religions and belief systems.
Under this system, religious instruction by specific churches takes place outside school hours.
A second type of multi-denominational primary school has emerged under the patronage of the Vocational Education Committees.
At five VEC Community National Schools, pupils follow a common religious programme — “Goodness Me, Goodness You” ( nicknamed in some quarters “Goodness, Gracious Me”).
The children are taught together most of the time, using stories, songs and poems from a number of religions.
At other times, children are divided into two groups. One group, which includes Christians and Muslims, say prayers to God. A second group, including Buddhists and Atheists, spends this time meditating on the lesson.
Many of the new primary schools that are opening across the country follow a multi-denominational model, but there are concerns that teacher training has failed to keep up with the pace of change.
At present all the teacher-training colleges apart from the online Hibernia College are organised along religious lines.
Until recently there was little or no training of teachers in education colleges for the ethical programmes in the fast-growing multi-denominational sector. But that is now changing.
For the first time ever, St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, is allowing trainee teachers to take a course entitled Ethics and Education as an alternative to Religious Education.
Emer Nowlan, head of education at Educate Together, said: “We welcome this historic development and look forward to working with the college to develop and deliver the course.”
Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Irish Vocational Education Association, said the training colleges need to adapt.
“We need to take into account the changing mores of society. When teachers are being trained, there needs to be a much more integrated approach so that they are prepared for different types of schools.”
A survey by the INTO almost a decade ago showed that only 36% of primary teachers were in favour of continuing with denominational training of teachers while 46% were against.