Leaders of Scotland’s largest teaching union are up in arms about a demand from the Catholic Church that it should be able to require that applicants for teaching posts in its schools prove their piety before they can be employed.The protest came in the light of a statement from the Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES) saying that all teachers applying for a job should demonstrate appropriate “religious belief and character” but cannot demand that they are Roman Catholic.
The service wants all candidates to provide the name of a referee who can testify to their commitment to Catholic schools as well as agreeing to promote the values set out in the Charter for Catholic Schools in Scotland.
Under the 1980 Education Act, representatives of the Catholic Church can block teachers from employment or promotion in denominational schools on the grounds of their “religious belief and character”.
The law was passed to “protect the unique ethos” of denominational schools, which were set up in Scotland to provide an education for Scotland’s claimed 750,000-strong population of Catholics.
However, there is now a suggestion that the law conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects people from discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. Nor is it clear whether this breaches the 2003 Employment Equality Regulations.
Some local authorities, particularly those in the west of Scotland such as Glasgow have gone further than permitted the legislation by reserving specific posts, such as religious education teachers, for Catholics.
However, an employment tribunal last year restated the Church's right to approve all teachers in its schools, leading to the latest request from SCES.
Peter Quigley, president of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said no qualified teacher who was registered and had passed a Disclosure Check should be denied a job on “religious or moral grounds”.
He said: “It is time for political leaders in Scotland to address the extremely serious implications of this law. How can members of any religious denomination pass judgment on members of another denomination? Why should people justify their beliefs to get employment?”
However, Michael McGrath, director of SCES, argued that the Church was acting with the full support of the law.
In Catholic primary schools, where religious education is taught, it is thought upwards of 95% of teachers are Catholic, but in some secondary schools up to half of the staff may be non-Catholics.
Mr McGrath said: “What we are trying to do is to ensure approval is given to people whose beliefs and character is appropriate for a Catholic school. That doesn’t mean they have to be Catholic, but their beliefs should be suitable so it doesn't contradict with the Catholic schools ethos. It would be difficult to deliver Catholic education without staff who subscribe to its aims or who don’t know what its aims are.”
Writing to the Herald newspaper, James Forbes from Edinburgh said: “I taught in a Roman Catholic secondary for eight years. When the church pays the salaries of teachers, I shall accept its entitlement to veto their appointments and impose adherence to its charter for Catholic schools in Scotland.
Until that day, I would like to know what moral flaws would render a teacher good enough for employment in a non-denominational school but not good enough to teach in a Roman Catholic school.”
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