A chara, – Rob Sadlier (Letters, October 9th) comments on the question, “Is religion a barrier to getting a job as a primary teacher?” (Education, October 8th).
One could also ask, “Is lack of competence in the Irish language a barrier to getting a job as a primary teacher?” Or even, “Is lack of a teaching qualification a barrier to getting a job as a primary teacher?”
In the case of schools with a religious ethos, lack of a qualification in that specific ethos may be a barrier, just as in the other two scenarios. But Mr Sadlier sees this as “unethical practice”. How otherwise can we have an educational system which offers a choice of different types of school?
He writes, “In Ireland, around 88 per cent of publicly funded schools are controlled by Catholic patrons.” Just as other schools are “controlled” by their patrons and managerial bodies. “Control” is not a flaw, but a part of the service to the community. The fact that so many have Catholic patrons arises for historical reasons. Over time, they, like other patrons, have been pro-active in setting up schools to serve communities. That there is a dearth of non-religious schools is because our governments have failed to make appropriate provision for the changed circumstances.
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Rob Sadlier writes, “Regarding ‘religious instruction’, any form of indoctrination is wrong, be it religious or otherwise.” Agreed. This does not mean that it does not happen. Indoctrination is to teach (a person or group) to accept content uncritically, the opposite of true education. Mr Sadlier uses the words indoctrinate and indoctrination six times. Does he equate religious instruction with indoctrination? It certainly was not my experience at school in the 1940s and 1950s. In view of the numbers of people in Ireland today who profess no religious faith, whatever “indoctrination” there may have been must have been highly defective.
Finally, in relation to “proselytism” he writes, “The system that pertained in 1831 was more progressive and in keeping with the nature of a modern liberal democracy than the one that pertains in 2024.” The system proposed in 1831 was interdenominational. It was the established Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian churches that withdrew from that, not the Catholic church, as Prof John Coolahan recounted in 1981 in his book Irish Education: Its History and Structure (Institute of Public Administration). – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.