Religion in the classroom

Sir, – The continued contractual obligation on teachers to promote a religious ethos in their schools causes real harm to staff and children (“Younger teachers in Catholic schools less likely to believe in God or attend religious services”, Education, April 23rd).

As teachers, we are obliged by law to teach that Jesus is our saviour, irrespective of whether we share this belief. We are forced to prepare students for first confession by telling them that they are sinners, and that they must confess their sins to a priest.

This inevitably leads to a sense of exclusion for the growing number of “opted-out” pupils, who do not receive adequate teaching engagement each day.

They are visibly excluded not only in the classroom but also in school hallways, where they are noticeably absent from class photos taken at religious events.

A three-day family trip around Co Waterford: ‘the most amazingest day ever’ are the kids’ verdicts

---

How Roger Bannister left his everlasting impression on the four-minute mile

---

‘We don’t speak, we don’t eat, we don’t do anything together’: Inside an Irish divorce court

---

Cliff Taylor: New developments in housing emerged this week - none of them are good news for those trying to buy a home

---

This aspect of our education system causes real hurt to children. It affects their sense of wellbeing, makes them feel othered and impacts on their home lives as their loving families attempt to counterbalance the discrimination they face at school.

It should come as little surprise that many teachers try to minimise the amount of class time they spend on religious education. In doing so, they risk running foul of Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act, which allows “religious institutions” (ie schools) to take “action which is reasonably necessary to prevent an employee or a prospective employee from undermining the religious ethos of the institution”.

Minister for Education Norma Foley will be aware of the INTO’s recent move to establish a union taskforce on faith formation and school patronage. She must finally engage with this issue by setting out clear timelines for the long-awaited citizens’ assembly on the future of education.

Momentum is building behind this issue, whether the Government chooses to recognise it or not.

Teachers are education professionals, not missionaries. It’s time our schools reflected that reality. – Yours, etc,

ALANA WILHELM,

Teacher Representative Education Equality,

Blessington,

Co Wicklow.

Sir, – The results of recent research into attitudes to religion among catholic teaching staff in Ireland should add considerable weight to the removal of formal religious instruction within schools.

Young teachers, 44 per cent of whom have professed to have no commitment to the faith and one in every three primary principals, are being asked to educate children in an area that is alien to their personal beliefs.

The anomaly is that parents are happy with the standard of general education but are lukewarm towards faith-based instruction.

Dr Alexander O’Hara underlined this in his article stating that non-Catholic families are switching their children into Catholic ethos schools because of the high calibre education (“Ireland may be the only place in the world that does not fully appreciate benefits of Catholic education”, Opinion, April 22nd).

The principles of respect, inclusion and equity should form the cornerstone to any school ethos and can be found in the general pillars of most religions.

As a former principal of a Catholic ethos school, I would be confident that teaching staff were well trained to promote these principles. Based on research figures and personal experience, I am less confident about the suitability of teachers to educate children in an area where a large portion of the teaching body do not share a belief. – Yours, etc,

AIDAN BOYLE,

Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.