Time to pave way for secular schools
Time to pave way for secular schools - The Labour Party
of schools
Labour education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny TD said it is time to tackle the role of religion in education once and for all.
As an INTO survey finds that the majority of primary school teachers believe faith formation should not take place in the classroom, Deputy Kenny said it is Labour’s mission to provide an inclusive secular system of State run education where every child is treated equally.
Deputy Kenny said:
“Ireland has the resources, it is just lacking the political will necessary to transform how we educate our children. In a modern and diverse society, we need to ensure our education system is fully inclusive, providing every child with an equal start in life.
“The Government target was to divest 400 schools by 2030, and it is nowhere near achieving that.
“We have seen a complete lack of ambition from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to make real structural reforms within our patronage system.
“The INTO survey is clear, the majority of national school teachers believe it’s time to take faith formation out of the classroom. As a nation, our objective should be to secure a State run school system where religious instruction takes place outside of the school teaching day. It is important to state, that while we believe that faith formation should take place outside schools, this won’t and shouldn’t affect the teaching of the subject of religion in all schools, inclusive of those of faith and those without.
“As a secondary school religion teacher, I see the enormous value in an education in world religions, in philosophy and sociology as a means to understand and place students in the world. However, it is time that the school system catches up with where parents and families are at and take faith formation out of the school day. The subject of Religion is pivotal in the development and outlook of every child. I know that from experience in the classroom.
“We are in the height of confirmation and communion season right now. Receiving the sacraments is one of the few occasions that many people attend mass, yet we know that so much class time goes in those years to preparing for sacraments rather than focusing on core curriculum subjects. Respect must be shown to the sacraments. It is important that to be very clear, the Catholic Church are making changes to this themselves. The Archdiocese of Dublin in 2022, began changes to how they believe sacraments should be received, by giving parents the role as opposed to our schools.
“With a new Education Minister in situ, there is a real opportunity to transform our education system. We need to have a national conversation about how we achieve a modern, secular and equality-based education system for the Ireland of today, and what we hope to achieve tomorrow, as we stated in our General Election Manifesto, we need a National Convention on Education, and most importantly, inclusive of all stakeholders.”