The Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, delivered an important speech on school admissions policy last month.
There was much in it to be admired
and applauded: that non-religious parents should not feel unfairly
disadvantaged by attending the local school; that children should have
an opportunity to understand the differing views of other faiths and
none; that appropriate educational provision be made for children whose
parents do not wish them to take religious education; and that the
desire of religious parents to educate their children in their faith
should be welcomed and respected.
These are important principles to be welcomed and supported.
They are educationally even-handed, nuanced and inclusive.
All stakeholders agree that school types should mirror more closely the changing demographics and cultural needs of modern Ireland.
Pluralism requires diversity and
diversity enriches all.
In that regard one must also welcome Mr Bruton’s
plans to progress the divestment process and explore the potential of
community national schools as an alternative provider, alongside others.
Mr Bruton has said the patronage
and ethos of our schools is not something which this generation has
created. It is something, he said, we have inherited and change is
needed to meet the needs of today’s families.
This statement could give the
impression that the current patronage and ethos of the majority of
schools are somehow caught in a time-warp of another era.
The capacity of most primary
schools to be inclusive in the last 20 years in meeting the demands of a
new and diverse population has been remarkable.
More particularly, Catholic primary schools have changed significantly in the last 50 years.
For example, Catholic Schools Week 2017 took place across Ireland the week before last.
The theme, “Learning with Pope Francis to care for our common home”, was informed by Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter on the environment.
In his publication the pope calls
for a new “ecological education and spirituality” and a radical
“conversion” of all if we are to hand on a habitable planet to the next
generation.
Climate justice
Nothing could be more timely and
urgent at all levels of education than this global call for an “integral
ecology” and climate justice.
The ethos of primary schools has
also changed through the influence of the ecumenical movement on
religious education in Catholic and Church of Ireland
schools.
The relationship between the churches has changed
significantly and this is reflected in the sharing of religious
education resources.
Ecumenism and interreligious
dialogue were not a part of religious education of most adults in
Ireland in the last century. If anything, the attitude towards other
churches and religions was negative and this may explain the negative
sentiment of some towards Catholic schools today.
However, that has changed and is
changing, perhaps not as much as some would like. Yet, change is in the
air, especially under the leadership of Pope Francis.
Ecology, ecumenism and
interreligious education are not optional within Catholic schooling;
instead they are an essential part of Christian identity in the 21st
century.
New curriculum
The clearest expression of these
and other developments as part of the religious education programmes of
Catholic schools can be found in the Catholic Preschool and Primary
Religious Education curriculum for Ireland (2015).
This new curriculum is not
“something we have inherited” from a “different era”, but rather an
example of the church’s capacity to respond to the signs of the times.
One hopes that greater account
would be taken of these and other changes in Catholic thinking in the
current discussions about admissions.
There is a need for policymakers,
and the providers of denominational education, to go beyond stereotypes
and listen more carefully to the findings of recent consultations and
surveys.
Education is too important to
allow old prejudices to colour the necessary dialogue about what is best
for the teaching and learning of the next generation who will have to
grow up in a world very different to the present one – a world more
fragile, fractious and fraught – but where awareness of one’s identity
and values will be more important than ever.
Mgr Dermot A Lane is parish priest of Balally parish, Dublin, and author of Religion and Education: Reimagining the Relationship, Veritas (2013)