School patronage

In concluding its 2012 report, the Forum for Patronage and Pluralism recommended the divestment from church to community patronage for primary schools on a phased and incremental basis.

With 96 per cent of all primary schools patronised by a single religion, the forum stated that it would be inadvisable to recommend “a big bang radical upheaval” and cautiously called for a softly, softly approach.

Little did the authors of the report realise that eight school years later, the rate of divesting could be measured by a junior infant on one hand with a spare thumb to suck, with single-faith school patronage continuing on a dominant 96th percentile.

Admission policies to these schools invariably claim to be welcoming to children of all faiths and none.

The welcome mat is rolled out for all children, but for those whose parents do not wish them to receive religious instruction it reads “welcome but . . .”.

The “but” is the opt-out, where those children must sit out religion class. While the class teacher works with his/her class in fulfilling the faith (including a majority who do not practise this faith with their families outside of the school), the opt-outs sit down the back of the class and count down the 30 minutes while colouring in yet another dinosaur.

In my 20 years as a principal of a Catholic school, parents acquiesced to this mono-ethos system without question.

The only times issues arose might have been at time of First Communion and Confirmation, when rehearsals impinged hugely on the integrity of the school timetable, with their children more clearly left on the outside.

However, the daily teaching of religion directly affects this integrity of the school timetable.

Children who opt out are denied teaching for half an hour every day. With 1,464 days in the eight-year primary school cycle, this amounts to 129 full school days.

This equates to 26 full school weeks in a child’s primary school career. That’s a lot of time for colouring dinosaurs.

Surely this time would be better spent being helping all our children to “know about and understand the cultural heritage of the major forms of religion, beliefs, traditions and world views which have been embraced by humankind”.

These are the aims of the Education about Religion and Beliefs (ERB) programme proposed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) as part of its new primary school curriculum

The parent of a child at Yellow Furze national school, in Co Meath, has made a formal complaint, claiming her son was one of two out of 33 in his class who was “penalised” with homework for not attending a religious ceremony.

“He came out of school crying. He told me the teacher had told the class that children who did not participate in the Communion choir would not receive a homework pass,” said the mother, who declined to be named on the basis that it would identify her son.

Many parents are finding it “impossible” to opt-out their children from religion classes despite their legal right to do so, according to campaigners.

Under both the Constitution and the Education Act (1998), parents have a right to have their children opt out of religion classes if they wish.

A spokesman for the Department of Education confirmed this was the case and said practical arrangements to accommodate children whose parents have chosen this option is a matter for each individual school.

However, the campaign group Atheist Ireland claims it is aware of dozens of cases where parents have been told the subject is a core subject and the right to opt-out should not arise. “It’s like the public services card – it’s mandatory, but not compulsory,” said Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland.

“If you do manage to opt your child out, they’re given no other subject and you’re asked why do you want to do this. Parents are questioned as to their reason. It’s like a form of coercion.”

KWAG2019 wrote: »

I agree with you that it should not be but as long as the current legal structure remains in place in Irish education it is.

The evils of the 1998 Act are very clear now and the underlying outrage that is the whole "patron" system sails merrily on. In a new area parents should realise that there are huge advantages to not having RE taught in school: you get the same amount of teachers but they can all teach real subjects. It gives more choice at 2nd level and more options for kids be it in subjects or smaller classes. For example if there are 20 class groups in a school across 5 years and each group has to get 2-3 classes per week in RE that means 40-60 periods in all. That means the school has to set aside 1-2 teachers to do that from its allocation of teachers. If they could teach Maths then think of smaller groups or maybe bring in a new subject. Parents in a new area being "advised" about the type of school need to know that.

Sir, – It would be fair and just if Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin matched his statement on sacramental-preparation being moved from school-responsibility to family-and parish-responsibility, with a clear direction from him, as patron of the vast majority of Dublin primary schools, to demand that all such schools immediately design and implement a comprehensive “opting-out of Catholic religious-education policy” for all non-religious and minority-religious children and teachers (Home News, December 4th). The current policy fundamentally abuses their human and constitutional rights to be free from indoctrination and daily exclusion and discrimination in his state-funded schools.

He could take action today by way of a letter from his education secretariat along the lines of the assertion and urgency with which they, for example, unilaterally directed their schools to enact Catholic-first school enrolment policies in 2005 which required, in the end, state-legislation to dismantle. – Yours, etc,

Dr FINTAN MCCUTCHEON,

Swords, Co Dublin.

one world order wrote: »

The best gift I was given in school was my recognition of the existence of God and why it is important to put God first in life, instead of a mass produced mainstream media that is ultimately controlled by evil at the very top in this fallen world.

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The idea that the majority of people are not in favour of non-denominational education is without basis.
Several surveys carried out indcate the opposite. As do empty churches, declining baptism rates, rapidly declining rates of religious marriage...

smacl wrote: »

Most likely another generation will change it. Whatever about tradition, I think the percentage of younger people in this country that actually believe in god is tiny. Catholicism in this country is just about hanging on by its teeth through dint of control of the national school system but given that most young teachers aren't religiously inclined and pretty much no clerical involvement, that isn't the ace it used to be either.

Atheist Ireland says WRC finding ‘important win for right to freedom of belief’


The atheist parents of a boy who was found to have been discriminated against by a Catholic primary school have expressed their “absolute delight” with a Workplace Relations Commission ruling.

The commission found that Yellow Furze primary school in Co Meath discriminated against the boy by assigning him homework and rewarding his classmates who attended a First Communion choir ceremony with "homework passes".

The finding is like to have implications for Catholic schools who reward students for attending religious ceremonies. About 90 per cent of all primary schools are controlled by the Catholic Church.

The boy’s mother, who declined to be named on the basis that it would identify her child, said the family was delighted with the ruling.

“We never doubted that our position was correct but we do feel vindicated as it became apparent at the hearing that there were teachers in the school and families in our community that felt our position was wrong,” she said.

She told the commission that her son was deeply upset after being “penalised” with homework for not attending the choir ceremony in May last year.

The mother also argued that he did not have the option to take part in the ceremony as the family are atheist.

The school, which did not respond to requests for comment, told the commission during the hearing that the complaint of discrimination was “wholly unfounded” and said all children were able to participate in the ceremony.

As a Catholic school it said it enjoyed a proud tradition of participating in religious ceremonies and that music was an integral part of this.

However, the commission found there was clear evidence of discriminatory treatment under the Equal Status Acts towards the boy on religious grounds.

It also found that the parents were deeply hurt and upset by the treatment of the school to the point they have removed their boy from school. It awarded them €5,000.

Under both the Constitution and the Education Act (1998), parents have a right to have their children opt out of religion classes if they wish.

In practice, many parents say they find it difficult to exert their right to opt their children out of religion classes.

Atheist Ireland said the commission’s ruling was “an important win for the right to freedom of belief”.

“You have a constitutional right to attend any school without attending religious classes or ceremonies. This ruling shows that schools cannot get around that right by punishing children who don’t take part in religion,” said Jane Donnelly, human rights officer with Atheist Ireland.

“For years, schools just directly forced children into religious classes and ceremonies. When parents complained to Atheist Ireland about this, we have always succeeded in getting the schools to back down.

“Now schools are trying to make it harder to exercise your right to opt out of religion. They tell you to go to another school, or sit at the back of the religion class, or use rewards and punishments like this. That’s not what homework is for, and it’s not what religion is for.”

However, groups such as the Catholic Schools Partnership have pointed out that there are clear guidelines on the inclusion of non-religious pupils in Catholic schools.

These include recommendations that schools provide students who are opting out with alternative activities during religious instruction or ceremonies.

It has also pointed to research by the Economic and Social Research Institute and Department of Education inspectors’ reports which have found an “overwhelming majority of parents and students find their schools to be well-managed and welcoming”.

The family of the boy, meanwhile, said they plan to give the sum of money they were awarded to charity.

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Wasn't the suggestion that non-theist kids be allowed study or do homework while sitting out of religious classes rebuffed by religious schools? As doing so would give the non-theist kids some educational advantage over the religious kids?

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Does that mean this Yellow Furze school giving theistic kids homework passes for religious attendance really mean that they don't care about education if it means more religious indoctrination?
Or is it an admittance that homework is not an education advantage, but a punishment?

smacl wrote: »

I think that is very weak justification. In the school my daughter went to for example, they were still teaching religion through the senior cycle with no alternatives and yet they failed to finish the honours maths syllabus prior to the leaving cert. It wasn't free time gained by doing maths homework in class so much as having to get expensive and time consuming grinds to do what should have been covered in class. For those who already have an academically busy schedule and no interest in religion, forcing them to waste time on religion seems entirely unreasonable. I disagree that there is no resentment that those who skip religion could gain academic advantage as I've seen it expressed first hand.