Teacher conferences take place shortly. The role of religion in schools is under scrutiny. There is no value-free education system. Pupils grow up in a society that lives by a set of values, writes James Cassin.
SEÁN COTTRELL in his recent article ("Now Is the Time to Reconsider Who Runs Our Schools"; Education Today, January 29th) was the useful catalyst that led me to search for guiding principles in the debate on the future of education in Ireland. What follows may prove useful.
In Ireland, the State provides for education. The Constitution and the Education Act locate the core responsibility for education with parents. State provision for schools is exercised by a patronage system.
Patrons establish schools in response to the needs of parents in the local community. For historical reasons, patronage has been undertaken in large part by the main churches in Ireland. This system has served Irish society well but in the present context of a rapidly developing pluralist society and major social change there is need for re-evaluation of current school provision.
This re-evaluation should, however, be informed by certain principles.
Provision for education is the responsibility of the State. It is therefore the role of the State, through the Department of Education and Science, to provide the infrastructure for education and to regulate such provision within the State.
Education mediates the values of the community and society. There is no value-free education system. Each pupil grows up in a family and in a society that lives by a set of values. It is by the appropriation of these values and choosing values for oneself that a young person arrives at mature adulthood.
The school offers a locus where such a project is facilitated. To suggest that schools can be value-free is disingenuous or naive.
As Cardinal Brady pointed out when addressing the Primary Schools' Principals Conference last week: "Teaching value-free facts devoid of meaning and skill is an unsustainable and fundamentally flawed approach to education."
The pattern of education provision is dictated by the needs of parents and pupils and is provided by school patrons and trustees through the board of management. Because of the history of educational provision in Ireland, schools have been in the ownership, for the most part, of the main churches.
In the case of the Roman Catholic Church this ownership has been held in trust by parishes, dioceses and religious congregations on behalf of the people whom the schools were established to serve. The dominance of Catholic schools in the overall provision simply reflected the demographics of religious affiliation in the country and the wishes of parents for schools informed by a Catholic philosophy of education.
While the schools operated according to a faith philosophy, they provided a public service and as such were entitled to State funding. Parents of other faiths and none are not precluded from choosing Catholic schools for their children if they so wish nor are the rights of other interested parties to establish schools to meet the needs and wishes of a changing, pluralist society denied. Indeed it is desirable that such choice of provision would be actively encouraged and fully supported by government policy and funding. This was clearly signalled in a recent policy document published by the Irish Episcopal Conference.
Education has an important role in community building and cohesion. Core values in contemporary schooling include respect for the other, inclusion and tolerance - fundamental elements in community building.
The school is an integral part of the community in many areas and itself plays a unique role in community building. It provides a focus where families are united by a common interest in the welfare of their children. It gives the community a sense of ownership of the educational endeavour and a corresponding commitment to its flourishing and success.
Religion is part of human living and consequently is reflected in education provision. Religious belief and religious belief systems are part of human life and in many instances define human society in its mode of living, its customs and its culture.
Central to the human project is knowledge of one's own religious beliefs and knowledge and respect for the beliefs of others. Without such knowledge and respect there is the constant danger of descent into fundamentalism at best and at worst serious conflict as caricatures of religious faith are pitted against each other. It is therefore essential that an education in religious beliefs forms part of schooling. While there are many models as to how religious education is included in schooling it cannot be excluded from the education project.
Education is committed to the holistic formation of the person. Education is concerned with the overall development of the pupil in all facets of human life. So the school will be concerned not only with academic achievement but also with growth and maturity of the young person at all levels including, personal, human, psychological, spiritual and physical.
Education responds to the needs of society. The school prepares the student to be a responsible citizen in modern society.
This includes making a contribution to the modern world in all its complexity, socially, scientifically, politically and technologically.
An overview of Irish primary schools, the majority of which are under Catholic Church patronage, reveals a system that has made an outstanding contribution to Irish society and is remarkably inclusive. To quote Prof Tom Collins of NUI Maynooth: "The primary sector has absorbed multiple nationalities into the sector practically unnoticed and now the second-level sector is doing it."
Provision for the education of the young into the future is a challenging concern for Irish society. It is urgent that it is approached with clear guiding principles.
Mgr James Cassin is executive secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Education Commission.