The right of Catholic schools to guard their religious ethos could be undermined by proposed education reforms in Northern Ireland, the Primate of all Ireland warned today. Cardinal Sean Brady expressed concern that the planned Education Skill Authority (ESA) will remove important responsibilities from school owners and governors.
The ESA will replace both the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and the state sector’s five education and library boards next year to become an all encompassing body running all schools in the region.
But the Archbishop of Armagh, representing the NI Commission for Catholic Education, told Assembly members the proposal to make the ESA the official employer of teachers and other support staff would compromise the independence of school trustees and governors.
“The proposal in clause three of the bill (draft Education Bill) that ESA will be employer of all staff in all schools is unacceptable,” Cardinal Brady told members of Stormont’s Education committee.
“This is a fundamental impediment to the ability of owner trustees to exercise their right and duty to promote and guard the ethos and defining character of a school.
“To exercise our duties as trustees adequately we require that the board of governors of each school shall be the legal employer of all staff in the school. As it stands the proposal in the draft bill appears to run contrary to this principle which we support of giving maximised autonomy to schools,” he said.
Voluntary grammar school representatives and the Governing Bodies’ Association have also raised concerns about ESA taking on the employer’s role.
Cardinal Brady said there was a real need for clarification on the issue.
Representatives from the CCMS also gave evidence to the committee.
Deputy chief executive Jim Clarke said the council was in favour of streamlining educational administration but called for more clarity around the issues of ESA as staff employer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: IT)