Lessons from a classroom with a view on the whole world

Teaching matters:At a meeting in Diswellstown in Dublin 15 in March last year on the issue of school places, a number of parents stated that places which had been promised to their children in the local school had now been withdrawn because they were not Catholic.

The introduction in the past week of a new admission system in Catholic schools in the Dublin archdiocese - where a third of all junior infant places will be reserved for non-Catholics - has been generally welcomed and should at least address this problem. It is a solution however which fails to deal with the underlying problem and which throws a spotlight on a number of concerns which remain to be addressed in Irish education policy.

Firstly, while the decision should relieve the distress of parents in Dublin seeking school places for their children in their local school, it also exposes the inadequacies of current school patronage arrangements in Ireland. It is hardly acceptable that in a publicly funded system, some children have preferential access. The allocation of public resources (school places) based on religious affiliation is a doubtful principle upon which to build social policy. It is difficult to imagine this principle being applied to other spheres of Irish life. Would it be acceptable, for instance, that public hospital beds, many of them also within denominational control, be allocated to patients on the basis of their religious affiliation?

Surely it is more reasonable to propose the neighbourhood principle as the basis for the allocation of school places, i.e. that children within a designated hinterland of any publicly funded school would be given first preference, regardless of the patronage of the school.

Secondly, as a society, we should be wary of such broad categories as Catholic and non-Catholic, which define groups of children by reference to what they are not rather than what they are. They also cloak significant variations and diversity within such bands. It is ironic, for instance, that the category non-Catholic includes a multiplicity of Christian denominations as well as the entire range of non-Christian denominations. All these groups must now accept the designation "non-Catholic" if they are to benefit from the new quota arrangements.

The decision also raises some general points regarding the issue of "diversity" in Irish education. There are many processes at work in both broader society and in school-admission arrangements, designed to segregate children with reference to social, economic, ethnic or ability levels as well as on religious grounds. This tendency towards mono-cultural school populations is both socially regressive and reduces learning opportunities for the children.

This is particularly so in the area of multi-culturalism. There is now a convincing body of evidence with regard to third level that students benefit significantly from education that takes place in a culturally diverse setting. A study by the RAND corporation found that, while universities are producing technically skilled students, many graduates lack cross-cultural competencies. Increasingly, employers are seeking these intercultural competencies as a primary human resource for workers in a diverse domestic and global economy. Racially and ethnically diverse school campuses provide the perfect environment for students to develop these much-needed competencies.

Scoil Mhuire in Navan, Co Meath, is precisely such a campus. Established in 1957, the school has in the intervening years witnessed the transformation of both its local environment and of wider Irish society. In recent years, the school population has doubled, and has been reinvigorated by an influx of gifted children from all over the world and by a teaching staff ready to welcome them. The school now plays host to 27 nationalities. The welcome sign on the door is in 13 different languages. The school yard is the quintessential global village, where children from all corners of the world converge in an environment that is welcoming, uplifting and utterly respectful.

Lessandro introduces himself. He is 10. He arrived from Brazil in Christmas 2006 with no English. He now converses in perfect English but also finds common cause with Jess from Angola as they both share their native Portuguese.

In sixth class, Fabio from Italy shares a desk with Shelly from Lucan, Christian from Nyanga in Zimbabwe and Amen from England. All are die-hard Navan O'Mahony fans- with the exception of Stephen who holds out bravely and alone for Simonstown Gaels. Four of the children have just completed Ramadan. All join in a verse of Silent Night in English, Irish and Arabic. Bolena from Slovakia and Karol from Poland describe the winter snows in their home countries. Colin, the school principal, shares a high-five with Matthias, a five-year-old Junior Infant from Lithuania who joined the school two weeks ago.

It is arguable that no county in Ireland does new beginnings better than Meath. The people who built Newgrange were not just Celts; they were Meath Celts. With the stubbornness so characteristic of the Meath psyche, they chose the shortest and darkest day of the year to celebrate light and rebirth. Thousands of years later, St Patrick would choose another part of Meath, Slane, to mark the dawn of Christianity in Ireland.

There is a sense in which Scoil Mhuire is now pioneering another new beginning and that it provides a preview of 21st-century Ireland. If this country can celebrate the new diversity and multi-cultural content of its population in the way that is modelled in this school, the country can be reinvigorated and revitalised in the same ways that this school has been.

Scoil Mhuire shows that diversity in education should be a goal rather than an imposition, a target rather than a quota.

Prof Tom Collins is head of education at NUI Maynooth