HEADTOHEAD: John Murraysays denominational schools can serve a pluralist society by respecting religious traditions and offering choice to parents while John Carrargues that the State can not support a range of denominational schools in every area, and must shift to a system of community national schools
YES: JOHN MURRAY
THE PLACE of denominational schools in the Irish education system has come under attack recently. In the context of a shortage of school places at primary level in north County Dublin last September, it was said that denominational schools are socially exclusive, divisive and even a kind of education apartheid. And so, they are supposedly not suitable for an increasingly pluralistic Ireland of the 21st century. It seems to me, however, that denominational schools are suitable for a pluralistic society, as part of a pluralistic education system.
I am not arguing for an education system that is exclusively denominational. As I stated last Friday at a conference on the future of denominational education organised by the Iona Institute and The Word magazine, I am arguing instead for a system that is pluralistic, in other words a system that includes denominational schools that are supported by the State, and also other types of school. I am arguing against the position that our publicly funded education system should consist of only non-denominational schools and/or multi-denominational schools. I am also arguing against the idea that all new schools should not be denominational.
To fully address the value of denominational schools, one would have to include theological or religious reasons, but here I will present only philosophical ones. I want to show that people of no faith can reasonably support denominational schooling as part of a pluralistic system and that people of faith can support non-denominational and multi-denominational schooling, again as part of a pluralistic system.
Denominational schools have been a part of our Irish culture and history for a long time. Despite weaknesses and failures, they have served Ireland well. To remove denominational schooling completely from the publicly-funded system, or to exclude this type of school whenever new schools are built, would be a very big change.
To accuse denominational schools of being socially divisive is not a good reason for such a change. It is an unfair and even offensive accusation. Denominational schools are not inherently divisive. The problems with school places in Balbriggan, for example, were due to poor political planning and inadequate school supply, not denominational education itself. Denominational schools are committed to social equality, tolerance and peace. They often welcome pupils from outside their religious tradition. They teach all their pupils to be good citizens, to contribute positively to society as a whole, to love their neighbour as themselves. And they do this from within a particular religious tradition, showing how religious faith and practice can support civic and social values. It is important for our increasingly multicultural society that society supports schooling that shows how specific religious world-views and commitments can be sources of peace and social progress.
In a healthy pluralistic society we should show respect for people's deeply held convictions and beliefs, and a pluralistic education system does this by allowing and supporting faith-based education as part of the system. It would not serve social cohesion or peace to say, explicitly or implicitly, to the many people of faith who reasonably desire to have such schools that their beliefs are not worthy of any societal support or respect, and must be restricted to the private sphere.
Society should support parental choice regarding their children's education. This principle is found in our Constitution, the Education Act, and in international codes of rights. The point is not just to support personal freedoms, but also to support parents in their specific and challenging responsibilities to bring up their children as well as they can. Teachers and schools help parents in this task. It is not just parents and their children who can benefit from education that promotes the development of the whole person, but also society in general. It is society that is supporting denominational schools as part of a pluralistic system, not the State orthu taxpayer as such.
We should also keep in mind the principle of religious freedom. As human persons, each of us is called to search for truth, including religious truth, and to live by it. Schools can be a great help in this search for meaning and value (to use a phrase from the new Leaving Certificate Religious Education syllabus). Denominational schools help their students not only to question and search, and to have knowledge about religions, but also to make a religious commitment and to live by the distinctive answers provided by their religious tradition (in worship, for example). It would be odd if society were to support students only in their religious questioning, but not in their attempts to live intelligently and reasonably by specific answers. There are limits to religious freedom, of course, which must be respected. Still, society has a responsibility to support the common good, and this includes the goods of both religious searching and commitment, within a context of freedom and reasonableness.
John Murrayis a lecturer in Mater Dei Institute of Education
NO: JOHN CARR
Modern Ireland is increasingly diverse. It is clear that attempts to date to provide for a limited amount of faith and linguistic diversity are inadequate and responsible for many children being educated in Dickensian school buildings. An imminent increase of 100,000 in the primary school population should cause us to question if it is possible, never mind desirable, to have in every town and village different schools reflecting the individual wishes of every subset of parents.
In most parts of Ireland, parents send their children to the local primary school which is usually a denominational school. Current regulations do not permit children to receive religious instruction of which their parents disapprove and religion classes must be fixed to facilitate withdrawal of children. In reality, all children are obliged to be present during religious instruction because arrangements for withdrawal cannot be made. Even where such arrangements can be made, the period for religious teaching can scarcely be fixed if a religious spirit is to inform the whole work of the school.
Is this fair? The parent who does not share the ethos of the school may have fears about proselytisation. The teacher in the classroom is always open to the charge. In many cases, parents who actively seek a denominational education for their children may argue that it is being diluted by local arrangements to accommodate diversity including the increasing number of parents who are ambivalent about religious education, yet want their children in the local school.
In reality, many of our existing denominational schools are now de facto multi-denominational while being de jure denominational. Increasingly teachers find themselves providing religious instruction to a minority while being expected to provide alternative activities for the majority.
But for those issues, one of the great strengths of our system has been the fact that in general children can enrol in their local primary school. Indeed, I believe that not only do we owe a historical debt to the various churches but that denominational schools at present deserve much credit for their attempts to be inclusive and welcoming of diversity.
However that said, given the limited potential of denominational schools to fully accommodate Ireland's new diversity and the limitations of the exchequer to provide an unlimited choice it is time to consider how best to provide for a changing population.
I respect the right of a parent to choose a religious education for their child but I do not necessarily believe that henceforth, this should automatically extend to the provision of denominational schools.
Neither do I accept that it should extend to the provision of exclusively multi-denominational or non-denominational schools for that matter because these schools do not provide for parents seeking a denominational education for their children.
Therefore, and in that context, I believe that the concept of a community national school offers a good way forward. Such schools could accommodate the provision of separate or common religious education programmes or none during the school day in accordance with parental choice.
If such a model could be worked out so that it respects the wishes of parents then I believe that it would attract widespread support.
I disagree with the argument that religion should have no place in schools. Neither do I propose that all denominational schools should be forcibly changed into multi-faith schools. Such a position would simply be a reverse of the virtual monopoly situation that exists at present.
The comments by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin that he had 90 per cent of all Dublin schools under his control to cater for about 50 per cent of the population who actively wanted Catholic education seems to open up the possibility of providing additional diversity. But it could suggest that in future, a smaller number of denominational schools might severely confine enrolment and see the end of the "local" school in many areas.
So I suggest that the way forward is not to continue to provide different schools, denominational or otherwise to every group of parents seeking some form of exclusivity. A better way is to develop community national schools which have the capacity to meet the needs of all under the same roof.
Community schools exist at second level and are at the heart of many communities providing quality education to all students. Why can these not be replicated at primary? What is so special about religious education in primary schools that separate schools are required when at post-primary, separate classes will suffice?
When originally established in 1831 it was intended that primary schools would provide secular education for all children in the same school with separate religious education.
It was certainly an idea before its time, but has its time now come?
John Carris general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation