Madam, – Fr Seán McDonagh (March 31st) appears to believe that a sense of awe at the wonders of photosynthesis can be evoked only from students in a faith- based school. Such a generalisation may be judged on its own merits, but I am concerned at his belief that all non-faith based schools are secular, that their position is value-neutral, that it denies the existence or relevance of the spiritual dimension of life.
Educate Together schools are multi- (not non-) denominational, welcoming children and their families from all faiths as well as none. There is a clear distinction drawn between religious instruction, which is facilitated by the schools outside of class hours and often taught by qualified catechists, and religious education which is taught on a daily basis by class teachers. A formal programme, the Learn Together Curriculum, underpins the whole ethos of Educate Together schools. This curriculum has four strands – moral and spiritual; equality and justice belief systems, and ethics the environment. Surely a holistic education.
I speak as someone who has been a member of the board of management and parent, and is currently a teacher in an Educate Together school. We are not perfect, what group is? But I would ask Fr McDonagh to engage with us and find out what is happening on the ground rather than dismissing us a small, campaigning secularist minority. – Yours, etc,