The problems of providing for minorities in state-funded denominational schools and the danger of elitism in denominational education have been highlighted at a Dublin conference.
A paper by the late Dr Daniel Murphy of Trinity College Dublin's education department, read by a colleague, examined denominational education in the US, Australia, Germany, Norway and France.
All state-funded schools in Germany are officially Christian: in areas with a high Catholic population, most schools are effectively Catholic. Dr Murphy's paper cited recent research which showed "widespread feelings of exclusion" by Muslim children in Bavaria's overwhelmingly Catholic school system.
Bavarian school regulations lay down that "Christian values are expected to pervade the general curriculum and the entire atmosphere of the school".
Interviews with school heads revealed fears that instruction in the Islamic faith would be fundamentalist and "a barrier to good relations between Christian and Muslim children".
Dr Murphy raised three main issues concerning denominational schools in pluralist societies. Firstly, he pointed to evidence from the US, Australia and France that Catholic schools perform extremely well on "school effectiveness" criteria such as academic excellence, attention to individual pupils' needs, sound disciplinary procedures, pastoral care, homeschool liaison and advancement of their pupils' careers.
Secondly, he pointed to the danger of social elitism in denominational schools, if fees are charged to compensate for inadequate state funding. Such schools frequently have high standards, making entry to them highly competitive and forcing them to operate selective admission procedures.
In the US, however, Catholic schools have a good record of catering for deprived minorities, with a 1989 survey showing that black and Hispanic students made up 22-23 per cent of pupils in Catholic schools, and generally reached higher academic levels than their counterparts in public schools.
Thirdly, he raised the question of how far denominational schools promote religious tolerance and multicultural consciousness among their pupils. He cited US and Australian research suggesting that pupils in Catholic schools are "less prejudiced in religious matters than those who attend public schools".
Finally, he echoed the "profound concern in many quarters" that denominational schools, whether Catholic or Protestant, "must not be absorbed into a multi-faith pluralism that will diminish and weaken their cultural distinctiveness, rendering them less effectual as schools, to say nothing of their effective promotion of their ethical and religious ideas".