Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE)
Including Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE), A guide for Christian parents
Parents may be worried about changes to Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). This booklet explains why.
Primary school children who attend denominational schools in Ireland should no longer be taught religious instruction during school hours, an activist has claimed.
Writing in the Irish Independent, Education Equality’s Communications Officer David Graham called for religious instruction and worship to be changed from an opt-out to an opt-in system, in which children would take part outside of core teaching hours.
Currently, patrons determine the ethos of each school in Ireland and they have the legal right to create religious education programmes in line with their religious or non-religious beliefs. In Roman Catholic schools, faith formation can form part of the school day.
Denominational
Graham claimed: “Mandatory religious indoctrination, faith formation, sacramental preparation, religious worship or any other form of confessional instruction woven into core teaching hours is incompatible with our vision of a human-rights based education system.”
Denominational schools, which are mainly operated by the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, account for around 95 per cent of primary schools. Multi-denominational schools, which are non-religious, teach pupils about several faiths and belief systems.
Read our guide for Christian parents in Ireland
Northern Ireland
Last year, Northern Ireland’s Education Minister emphasised that the Christian ethos of schools will not be swept aside in the Province.
In light of a Supreme Court ruling that Christian content in RE and assemblies must be objective and pluralistic, Paul Givan highlighted the Court’s statement that “the greater part” of RE can be Christianity-focused.
The Minister stated: “Both religious education and collective worship can, and legally is required to, continue in schools. Indeed there is a legal obligation that they must continue”.
The Supreme Court judgment did not remove Christianity from the classroom. Instead, it demanded that Christian content is taught in a way that fairly and objectively presents other viewpoints and in a way that does not assume everyone views Christian beliefs as fact.
TDs urged to protect children from ‘dangerous ideologies’
Irish Govt: ‘No legal obligation on schools to use preferred pronouns’
Irish 11-year-olds to be taught they ‘can be attracted to more than one gender’