An analysis of two articles featuring the role of the Catholic Church in Irish Schools
This week the two most prominent Irish media outlets — the Irish Times and RTE — featured separate articles on the role of religion in Irish primary schools. Emma O’Kelly examined the breakdown of the 2022 Census results which showed that only 53% of 25–29 year olds identify as Catholic; and Peter Maguire wondered whether to become a primary teacher in Ireland one needed a certificate in Catholic education.
Both articles take a different angle on the stranglehold the Catholic church has on the primary education system and I thought I’d give a reaction them. I am featured in the Irish Times article, talking very briefly about my first interview so I think I’ll start there.
‘Only Catholics need apply’
Peter Maguire’s article would seem provocative to many except to those who it directly affects. Luke Lennon is a teacher in an Educate Together school who decided to reduce his commute to work by applying to a Catholic primary school. Lennon realised he had no chance because he didn’t do the Certificate in Catholic Religious Education. In order to teach in a Catholic primary school in Ireland, (which is roughly 90% of all primary schools in Ireland), one needs the certificate. Nobody denies this is the case, which is why most people do it. I asked a senior lecturer in DCU about this and he said that in the previous ten years, only four students had opted not to do the course.
“A person does not need to be of the Catholic faith to gain the qualification and religious affiliation is not something asked of candidates in interviews,” says Alan Hynes, the partnership’s chief executive. “Candidates are asked to demonstrate a knowledge of the Catholic ethos.”
If you didn’t flinch as that quote, read it again, but change it to a different religion that you have no history with. In fact, pick Islam. Almosr everyone does. In my case, I picked Judaism, because that is my faith background. To ask a person of the Jewish faith to do the certificate in Catholic Education is straightforward religious discrimination. The purpose of the course is, according to the Irish Bishops’ Conference who set the course to give teachers the “skills for ‘communicating the Catholic faith to children at primary school’, something that goes against one of the fundamental tenets of the Jewish faith: the first of the ten commandments.
I inadvertently put Hynes’ theory to the test in my first job interview. I was asked in the interview whether I would uphold the ethos and I answered saying that I would, after telling them that even though I wasn’t Catholic. My interview lasted 5 minutes. The only correct answer to the question was: “yes.” Actually, the real answer is a lot longer:
I would encourage the children to develop a living relationship with God and others. I would encourage a philosophy of life inspired by belief in God and in God’s creations. I ensured the catholic school ethos was at the centre of my teaching in my previous school. Prayer was a part of every-day classroom life. We had a sacred space table, and a prayer tree, where we offered intentions for those in need of assistance. The school, parents and parish must work in conjunction to uphold the catholic school ethos in primary schools, and this is of the utmost importance for the faith of the child to blossom to its fullest.
The above is a tip for teacher interviews from the well-known and respected teacher influencer, Múinteoir Valerie.
However, even had I have answered that question, word for word, because I also don’t possess the Religious Certificate, my chances would have been limited. Luckily for me, the requirement to have the certificate didn’t really kick in for a couple of years after I qualified. It was only “desirable” at that time, possibly because there was a huge teacher shortage and there was a presumption that everyone that went to teacher training college possessed a baptismal cert. (I am told a baptismal cert was requested from students in St. Patrick’s College up until 2003, but I have not found evidence of this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.)
The article asks a number of people for their views on the certificate. The Migrant Teachers’ Project coordinator Garrett Campbell bemoans that it is yet another obstacle for migrant teachers. However, John Boyle, the secretary general, of the teachers’ union, INTO, appears unsympathetic:
“The Constitution give primacy to religious education, so if a teacher doesn’t want to teach it, they can teach in a multi-denominational school.”
Given that my 45 minute conversation with Maguire was shortened to a few sentences, I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to Boyle as I’m sure he would have offered the union’s official stance, which would have been backed at recent congresses. I will ask for clarification.
The report concludes with the stark fact that there are over 2,750 Catholic primary schools and less than 170 multi-denominational schools according to government records. That doesn’t tell the full story because the government now include interdenominational schools in their statistics for multidenominational schools. In reality, the number is under 150. There are still a number of counties in Ireland where there isn’t a single multidenominational primary school. Almost all counties have fewer than five.
Speaking of not giving the full story, Emma O’Kelly’s article talks about the recent breakdown of the census records according to religion.
Census data highlights need for religious ethos change
I was initially optimistic when I read the headline of O’Kelly’s article. However, by the end, I felt deflated. The article begins with O’Kelly visiting her old alma matter, an all-girls’ convent school. She notes how the make-up of the classroom she visited more or less matches the religious make-up of Ireland’s latest census. About 65% of the girls identify as Catholic. As O’Kelly says:
They reveal the growing mismatch between family religious beliefs versus those of the schools that in most cases parents have no choice but to send their children to.
She continues to talk about the reconfiguration process that was attempted in Limerick, of which her own former primary school was one of nice schools asked to move away from Catholic control. None of them did. In fact, of the sixty-three communities involved in reconfiguration, only two schools moved from Catholic to multidenominational patronage. Rather than explore this in more detail, O’Kelly quotes “one person who was involved in the process in Limerick,” as her sole source.
The failure of 61 towns to reconfigure a single primary school away from Catholic control warrants far more investigation than some anonymous person whose only qualification is involvement in the process, without naming that involvement. According to this source, “The communities did not want reconfiguration. There was a massive majority that said no.” Case closed.
Sr Bridget O’Connell, who is named, says of the school: “it’s an inclusive school and everybody is welcome there.” (She fails to see the irony of them being not open to boys, which always gives me a smile.)
O’Kelly interviews Claire Rea, the principal of the school. I always feel sympathy for principals of Catholic schools because they have to talk out of both sides of their mouth, no matter how they genuinely feel. Rea gives the usual answer without irony — we are a Catholic school but… which doesn’t warrant any scrutiny. Rea believes: “I think it will happen over time”.
If Claire Rea had been born Meira Riya (which is the closest Jewish-sounding name I could find) I don’t think she’d find herself as the principal of the school. It’s easy to pontificate in an abstract sense when the problem doesn’t affect you. As someone who has to suffer the direct discrimination that the system puts directly in front of non-Catholics for over 20 years, I wonder just how long more do I have to wait before people like me and people called Meira Riya have to wait until we get equal respect, or even if one buys into patronage, access to a school that fully respects your beliefs. However, I believe Rea is genuine. Not many will admit “the constraints of ethos” but Rea states it unequivocally.
However, I was disappointed by O’Kelly’s conclusion where she says:
If we swap this [Catholic system] for a system that results in the segregation of non-Catholic children from their Catholic neighbours, or of children from ethnic minority backgrounds from white Irish children, then something very valuable will be lost.
She states this as if this is the only other option. The only alternative to a Catholic-controlled monopoly is one where children are segregated into different schools. If we don’t keep the status quo where Catholic children get all the power while non-Catholic children must fit in or be tolerated, the consequence will be segregation. While this isn’t a nonsensical conclusion given the Forum of Patronage and Pluralism’s aims that everyone would have the right to a school of their preferred belief system, it is nonsense to believe it is the only option.
Both articles outline two different and significant problems in the Irish primary education system. They describe an education system that is rooted in discrimination — sometimes overt, most often covert. They describe a system that puts in barriers for people that aren’t Catholic. When the so-called Baptism Barrier fell in 2018, I quipped that the barrier had simply moved from the entrance of the school to under the mat inside the doors where it can’t be seen.
However, when we don’t examine the root of a problem, we get no closer to solving it. The answer is simple. No private entity should control a public service. A Catholic school by its definition promotes Catholicism and thus excludes any actors within it — whether that’s the staff or the pupils.
The reconfiguration pilot, and the divestment programme before it has failed because they don’t solve the problem. They pit communities against each other, nothing more. They can’t fulfil their promise because few areas in Ireland can accommodate a different school for every belief system within it. We are no longer a country of two faiths.
Funnily enough the solution lies in the argument that Alan Hynes of the Catholic Education Partnership makes against change. He believes that a one-size-fits-all solution is unwanted by the people of Ireland. It may be unwanted, but it may be what’s needed. A one-size-fits-all approach gives everybody equality of access. Choice is a luxury that I, Luke Lennon and my new imaginary friend, Meira Riya, certainly don’t have.
