News Release 24th March 2008

As published in the Irish Examiner 24th March 2008

The Educate Together Way- Article Title published: "School Curriculum covers every holy angle"

Religion and Education
Educate Together schools address the issue of religion and education in a new and different way. Rather than being set up to maintain a particular religious view, the schools are built from a legal obligation to provide equality of access and esteem to children “irrespective of their social, cultural or religious background”. In so doing, the schools aim to mirror our contemporary social space in which division and discrimination on religious grounds is illegal.

The founding concepts are those of human rights and equality. This provides a rich discourse between different world outlooks that is inherently educational and respectful. Very often we forget just how fruitful and important the discussion of rights and responsibilities is during the education of children. From the earliest stages in school, a firm foundation of kindness and friendly interaction can be built using these guiding ideas. Far from being value-free, the discourse on rights and community provides a powerful set of ethical ideas that are echoed in almost all religions. The Educate Together model is built around this discourse. It places the responsibility for faith formation on the child’s family and if they belong to one, their religious organisation. The responsibility of the school is to provide a learning environment that is safe and supportive of the identity of the child - whatever that is.

In practice, the Educate Together schools deliver a programme of ethical education called the Learn Together programme. This is given the same amount of time in the school day that is given to the Alive O or Follow Me programmes in Catholic or Protestant schools. The Learn Together programme has been designed to fit the methodologies of the revised curriculum that is used in all national schools. It is an interesting framework that has recently been recognised as an example of best practice in inter-cultural education by the EU anti-racism authority.

The programme has four strands, Moral and Spiritual Development, Equality and Justice, Belief Systems and Ethics and the Environment. Religion is mainly explored in the Belief Systems strand. In this, children are helped to find out about the main belief traditions in the world including the great religions and the the humanistic and non-religious outlooks. The school promotes a respectful interchange between these viewpoints while carefully declining to promote any one. During the school year, children will participate in relevant project work that covers art, music, drama, geography, history other subjects. Where appropriate these involve parent and community interaction. In the early spring, the Chinese New Year affords an opportunity to find out about eastern traditions. Lent and Easter allow the great Christian ideas and festivals to be explored including the Celtic forms still under pinning some of our own traditions. With summer comes Bealtaine. During the autumn term, Harvest Festivals, the Hindu and Sikh Festival of Lights(Divali), Celtic Samhain and Islamic Ramadan and Eid can all be the subject of class and whole school projects. In winter the same is true of the great solstician festivals - the Jewish feast of Hanukah and Christmas.

The aim of this programme is to allow young children to appreciate and be informed and comfortable with those of differing faiths to themselves. This empowers them to critically interact across viewpoints within a common language of human rights and respect.

At the same time, the Board of Management of an Educate Together school makes its facilities available to any group of parents who so wish to run specific faith-formations classes. These take place outside the compulsory school day. For instance, Catholic parents organise sacramental preparation classes this way and many Educate Together children are prepared for Confession, Communion and Confirmation in services organised by their local parish.

This approach ensures that no child is made to feel that they are an outsider as a result of their identity. It avoids situations in which children are separated or absented from any part of the school programme because of their family’s religious views. It also ensures that no teacher is placed in a position where they must teach as religious truth a viewpoint they may not believe. The out of hours faith-formation facility assists the full rights of families. In many Educate Together schools, these are held as part of a range of extra-mural activities that ensure that they are fully integrated with the life of the school community.

It is this approach that is becoming increasingly popular amongst Irish parents. Irrespective of their own religious views, they see that this model of education provides an excellent social and educational preparation for children growing up into 21st Century Ireland. It promotes the knowledge and social skills that children will need in a vibrant multicultural society, with close links to Europe and confident place in the world.

The Author
Paul Rowe, is CEO of Educate Together, one of the fastest growing sectors of Irish education. There are now 44 Educate Together schools (19 in the Dublin area) with at least 10 more planned to open this year. The schools are fully recognised by the Department of Education and Science and operate under exactly the same regulations and funding as other National Schools. The sector is also planning to establish its first second-level schools in the near future.
For more information see http://www.educatetogether.ie

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