Infographic of Survey on Inclusiveness
I developed an infographic based on the data received from my survey on how inclusive are Irish Catholic Primary Schools. I’ll be publishing my thoughts in the coming days.
Equality
How inclusive are Catholic Schools?
Recently, The Irish Independent carried an article with the headline, Catholic Schools are as inclusive as any other type by Father Tom Deenihan, during Catholic Schools’ Week. However, not everyone would agree with this sentiment. What does being inclusive mean in the 21st century? We surveyed Irish primary teachers to ascertain exactly what happens in their schools. … Read more
#GE16 and Primary Education: Religion in Schools
As we come up to the General Election, I’m looking at the various parties and their stances on aspects of primary education. While I am personally very glad that religion in schools is top of the list in terms of public interest, I know that most primary teachers don’t believe it is the biggest issue facing us. … Read more
The Mathematics of Patronage and Pluralism
Between 96% and 98% of Irish primary schools are denominational in patronage, which means that one or two particular religions are taught as truth as part of the school day. There is a lot of focus in the media about Catholic schools and non-baptised children. I believe this is very unhelpful as it pitches Catholic schools … Read more
What will removing Rule 68 actually do?
One of the rules of National Schools that has been causing much debate over the last few years is Rule 68, developed in the 1960s. Last night, the Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan announced she was going to repeal it in January. This announcement sparked a number of radio debates about the role of religion … Read more
Multidenominational: A long word, long-abused
The education landscape used to be an easy one to maneuver. Between the 1920s and 1978, you could go to a primary school and it would be easy to identify it: Catholic, Church of Ireland (or some branch of Protestantism) and then there was a Jewish school. Everything changed when Educate Together came along in … Read more
Can the new NCCA Ethics Curriculum work in Ireland?
It always strikes me as odd the stories about primary education that get noticed by the media. The majority of primary schools are wonderful places and have been through a terrible time over the last number of years with severe cuts to resources for children and yet primary schools seem to be able to achieve fantastic … Read more
Why Pluralism in Education Doesn’t Work
I was listening to a debate on the radio about the Angelus last week. The argument comes up every so often in the media and usually goes along the lines of somebody suggesting RTE should get rid of it from TV and lots of people spending their money texting about why it shouldn’t. RTE have decided, … Read more
Burren National School: A symbol of the divestment process
Today, Educate Together announced that the proposed new Educate Together school in Castlebar was not going to open because a suitable premises was not offered. The building that the church offered is a school that hasn’t been used in over 20 years, is inaccessible and is over 12km from Castlebar. Rather than providing a suitable temporary … Read more
Where do unbaptised children fit in?
I’ve been following the recent discussions about unbaptised children accessing primary education over the last number of weeks. In order to enrol in a Catholic school, often one has to produce a Baptismal Certificate. If a child hasn’t been baptised, schools must enrol the child anyway unless they are oversubscribed. Once a school is oversubscribed, they can enforce … Read more