PRIMARY EDUCATION:PRIMARY SCHOOL teachers should not be obliged to teach religion in their classes, the Green Party convention has agreed.
A motion adopted by delegates accepted that “teaching of religion should be an optional subject for primary teacher training and should be multi-faith and multi-denominational, except where parents want denominational schools”.
The conference, however, rejected an amendment by Duncan Russell that “all faith formation instructions should be taught outside school hours”.
Minister of State Ciarán Cuffe said: “I think we do need to keep a line between what the State does and what the churches do. We have to think again about the references in our Constitution to a Christian God. We have to think again even in the Oireachtas about having a Christian prayer before we start our day’s work.”
It was “important that we do have a distinction, that we do cherish and uphold different faiths. Particularly in schooling, a line needs to be drawn”.
Bernie Connolly of Cork South- West, who proposed the motion, said “the seven teacher-training colleges in Ireland funded by the State require all students to learn and pass exams in Christian doctrine. Those of other or non-faiths can become primary school teachers but this means that they must be silent about their own beliefs or pretend to be of a Christian persuasion”.
The motion was “about eliminating discrimination and to allow for change in the manner in which religion is taught in primary schools”. Provision of education “is a statutory function. Religion within State-funded schools should be focused on learning rather than faith formation”.
John Goodwillie of Dublin South Central said the current system seemed to be “imposing a one-size fits all sort of situation. There needs to be diversity in schools”. Louth delegate Rachel Pearson opposed the motion because “it’s basically a fundamental change in the ethos of our education system”, and was “a bit premature”, requiring more discussion and research.
Carlow-Kilkenny delegate Rian Coulter said in Ireland “we have one of the most extreme relationships with religion in the western world, most notably in Northern Ireland, where culture, politics, and religion are intrinsically wedded together in an unhealthy marriage that, to say the least, has not been made in heaven.
“At this unique juncture, where both religion and politics are associated with scandal, we are provided with a chance to turn a crisis into an opportunity and make a formal, complete separation of institutional religion and state.”
Graham Dowling of Dublin Mid West, a former member of a religious order, said that “because the Irish language was used as a barrier to entry for the gardaí in this new Ireland, that barrier was removed. An adult faith life should also be removed as a requirement for primary teaching”.
Pat Pidgeon of Wicklow believed the motion was “sectarian”. “It’s not the business of the State to be involved in this thing at all. It’s for the parent to decide how to teach and how to bring up their children and it’s for the State to ensure they’re protected in doing so.”
