Only countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan share the requirement of Irish primary schools for teachers to have religious certificates in order to teach in most settings, a teachers’ conference has heard.
Almost 90 per cent of primary schools are under Catholic patronage where a religious certificate is required to teach due to the way religion is integrated into the curriculum.
At the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s (INTO) annual congress in Galway on Wednesday, primary teachers backed calls for the removal of the Catholic certificate requirement.
They also supported calls for the repeal of legislation which permits schools to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion.
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Jason Kenny, a Dublin-based teacher, told the congress that Ireland was an outlier internationally.
“I looked at other western democracies – countries like the UK, the United States, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. All of them maintain secular public-school systems. Even in Catholic-majority countries like Spain and Italy, the vast majority of public schools are secular,” he said.
“Religious certificates are only needed to teach religion – not every subject. Ireland is the outlier. Who else requires religious certificate to teach in the majority of public primary schools?
“Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt and UAE – many of these are countries without a clear separation of church and state; some are not democracies at all.”
Alana Wilhem, a primary teacher based in Blessington, Co Wicklow, spoke of having to “hide her non-religious identity” until recently.
“I taught in my school for 14 years. My colleagues are kind, but genuine belonging means being able to share who you truly are without fear,” she said.
“Only recently ... did I speak openly, a moment that was both terrifying and necessary. I knew I might be risking future employment opportunities, but I’m an adult and I can carry that weight.”
She also spoke of how one of her children – who attends a local Catholic school – was upset when she had ashes placed on her forehead against her wishes.
“She was upset and afterwards the teacher tried to wash them off. These moments of othering happen every day through ritual, routine and message that imply ‘you don’t belong’,” Ms Wilhem said. “We cannot champion inclusion while reserving systems of exclusion.”
Delegates adopted the recommendations of a union taskforce on the future of religious education and primary school patronage, which calls for an acceleration of divestment of religious schools and a more “equitable, inclusive and modern” education system.
Some delegates, however, spoke in favour of maintaining choice within the education system rather than moving towards a secular system.
Hazel McWey, a school principal in Co Carlow, said she was a practising Catholic and that parents were entitled to school choice under the Constitution.
“We don’t need to throw the baby out with the Baptismal water,” she said.
Helena Teehan, a teacher from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, said Catholic schools were very accommodating and made “wonderful efforts” to include all children, regardless of their background.
She said the religion of teachers did not come up in the staffroom and that having choice in the system helped to vindicate parents’ rights.
