Launch of What is an Educate Together  School

April 20th, 2005

A Chairde, it is a great pleasure to be here with you for the launch of this important promotional booklet explaining an Educate Together School.

The Irish primary school system is church managed, church owned and denominational in nature, with the notable exceptions of the multi-denominational Educate Together schools.

The system allows for primary schools to be established by a patron, understood to be a church leader such as a bishop. The patron is endowed with the responsibility for managing the school, including an influential role in the appointment of board members, setting up interview panels, and the sanctioning of appointments. 

Educational establishments are built with taxpayers’ money, usually on a site that is owned by the relevant church. The title for the property, on which schools have been built, is held by the patron who appoints trustees on behalf of the church. Thus schools are effectively owned by the churches:

There are 3,157 primary schools in Ireland,the vast majority of which are Roman Catholic, 190 are Church of Ireland (Anglican), 18 Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Jewish, and two Muslim.  One fascinating aspect of this highly denominational structure is that the national or primary school system was set up in 1831 with an objective  “to unite in one system children of different creeds”.  However, the main Christian Churches decided against establishing schools in partnership, with the result that by the mid-nineteenth century only 4 per cent of primary schools were under mixed management.  

In the Irish Constitution de facto denominational status was granted to the national school system by supporting, albeit ambiguously, the denominational character of the primary school system in Article 42.1 in which the State guarantees the right of parents to provide for the religious education of their children.

A level of constitutional ambiguity exists with some provisions justifying State support for denominational education while others point towards a policy of State neutrality towards the financing of religion generally.  Article 44.2.2, “The State guarantees not to endow any religion”  is the clearest statement in this regard.

This system where the religious ethos of the school, the religious education taught in the school, and all the structures associated with the school are focussed on one denomination, in a situation where many families have no choice but to send their children to these schools, runs contrary to human rights.

It was against this backdrop that Educate Together was established to promote multi-denominational education in a democratic system at primary school level.  The first multi-denominational primary school was established in Dalkey, near Dublin, in 1978.  Since then the organisation has grown substantially, and this year hopefully, we will see a total of 40 multi-denominational schools throughout the country.  Educate Together has a full time secretariat which aims to further develop and expand the movement in Ireland. 

All Educate Together schools subscribe to four fundamental principles; the schools are multi-denominational, child-centred, co-educational, and democratic. The patron body of the school is a democratically elected group that is normally made up of parents.  Similarly, the Board of Management is elected, and there is a democratically elected parents’ committee.  Through their organisational and management policies, and their religious education curricula, the Educate Together schools seek to provide education in and for human rights.

As Educate Together has grown over the years, we have seen a parallel and welcome increase in the number of ethnic and religious minority children seeking an education in Ireland.  With this demographic change comes a responsibility on the State and the Department of Education, including an obligation to provide non-denominational education, anti-racism education, and democratic education.  While it is certainly true that many denominational schools have responded excellently to these challenges, without appropriate levels of state support it must be said, the reality is that it is Education Together and the multi-denominational schools that have been at the cutting edge in providing the open, inclusive and exciting learning environment wherein diversity, and difference are celebrated..

Indeed, this publication is timely given the recent recommendation by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which expressed concern about existing laws and practice here in Ireland. 

“The Committee, recognising the “intersectionality” of racial and religious discrimination, encourages the State party to promote the establishment of nondenominational or multi-denominational schools and to amend the existing legislative framework so that no discrimination may take place as far as the admission of pupils (of all religions) in schools is concerned.”

The key question that this reflects is whether a denominational school with denominational religious education can be compatible with the cultivation of a democratic human rights school?  And as I mentioned earlier, I think not.

Issues like freedom of thought, religious freedom, freedom of expression, and equality could be undermined, perhaps unwittingly, by an eager teacher, one serious result of which could be a situation where religious instruction would not be compatible with human rights education. 

Arguably it is only in a multi-denominational school, where a multi-denominational religious education curriculum can be taught, that we can truly educate in and for human rights.  In the first instance the concept of equality is a fundamental cornerstone of the multi-denominational school.  All religious belief systems and none are seen as equal, regardless of whether they are represented in the school community or not.  All the teachers and families subscribe to this notion before joining the school community and contribute to the ethos.  All school plans, and policies must reflect this principle.

Secondly, schools with a multi-denominational ethos have a democratic management structure.  They are managed by a patron body that is in fact a democratically elected board of directors.  Open management structures, a free-flow of information, and transparency characterise the Irish multi-denominational school.  Ironically just about the only thing that is not open to democratic debate is the ethos of the school, for in a country which is very homogenous and largely Roman Catholic it would be too easy to erode the delicate principle of multi-denominational education if it were challenged regularly.

Let me close with a call to government to continue to expand its investment in multi-denominational schooling, and to take steps to infuse the principles of democracy and human rights that are the hallmark of Educate Together schools across the entire system.  It is a pleasure to launch this publication, and I congratulate all in Educate Together for their work on this important booklet.

Colm Ó Cuanacháin

Amnesty International

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