Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn will has initiated a consultation process on religious and cultural inclusion in
primary schools.
The move comes as an agreement
was reached on the transfer of the first Catholic primary school in the
State to become multidenominational and to move out of Catholic Church control.
A
deal was agreed last week for the former Christian Brothers’ school on
Basin Lane, near Dublin city centre, to be taken over by Educate Together, a multi-denominational education provider.
The eight-week consultation process also
occurs as Atheism Ireland announced its plans to develop a course about
atheism, for primary level, to be piloted at Educate Together schools.
The
Minister’s consultation process is aimed at parents, urging them and
other interested parties to make submissions about catering for
inclusion and children from different cultural, religious and belief
traditions and to cite good examples of how schools cope with inclusion.
Leaflet for parents
The process is in co-operation with the National Parents Council for primary schools.
The council will facilitate the
distribution of a leaflet specifically for parents, to parents’
associations across the State.
The process is part
of Mr Quinn’s response to the report of the advisory group to the Forum
on Patronage and Pluralism in the primary sector and is expected to
inform the Minister’s white paper.
The advisory
group dealt with divesting of patronage of certain schools by the
Catholic Church and it also made recommendations about ensuring schools,
especially standalone schools catering to entire communities, were as
inclusive as possible.
Recommendations included
accommodating students with various belief systems and cultural
traditions, and dealt with issues such as equitable enrolment policies;
the constitutional right to opt out of religious instruction;
establishing school policies on the conduct of religious and cultural
celebrations; and ensuring denominational school boards of management
reflect the diversity of the local community.
Mr Quinn and Ms Lynch believed it would be a chance for parents to have their say and to share their views with the department.
The
Minister would be strongly encouraging parents, teachers and all those
with an interest in this area to use the opportunity to make a
submission.
“Many schools are already doing a good job in catering for
children from different cultural, religious and belief traditions. I
also want to hear about these good practices,” he said. The deadline for
submissions to the Minister is November 22nd
Atheism
Ireland announced at the weekend its plans for a primary school course
about atheism.
The organisation insisted the lessons “will teach about
atheism, not teach atheism”.
The initial project, to be piloted at
Educate Together schools, will involve 10 lessons aimed at one of four
age groups at primary level and will be taught “in an objective,
critical and pluralist manner”.