Secret Diary of an Irish teacher: Is it time to take religion out of the classroom?

Secret Teacher: I always felt a bit cheated when my kids had their first day at school. I’d imagined, before having them, that I’d get to cry at the school gate, spend my morning consoling myself in my empty nest — folding their little dinosaur pyjamas, looking wistfully at the empty garden swing.

I always felt a bit cheated when my kids had their first day at school. I’d imagined, before having them, that I’d get to cry at the school gate, spend my morning consoling myself in my empty nest — folding their little dinosaur pyjamas, looking wistfully at the empty garden swing.

I got none of that. We’ve never had much of a garden. And I was always far too busy getting to work on time to wallow in nostalgia.

This week, strangely, is the first time it might happen. I might get that pensive reprieve, that extended exhale I’ve been looking for. I’m working at home and two of my kids will be back in school. I’ll get to actively miss them. And because we’ve been in the same small space for the last two months, miss them I will.

This week also makes me think about my role as parent and teacher and where those roles begin and end. I think most parents struggled through ‘home schooling’ in one way or another. Didn’t they? We like the natural run of things — our kids being taken under the wing of teachers and schools five days of the week. We support their learning of course, but most of us feel the hand-over is appropriate. We are willing to cut the parental cord — at least when it comes to our children’s education.

But our constitution reminds us that we are still ‘the primary and natural educator of the child.’

So, whilst we happily return our little charges to school, we must remember that. The constitution goes further, committing to ‘not oblige parents in violation of their conscience and lawful preference to send their children to schools established by the State, or to any particular type of school designated by the State.’

Schools in Ireland have developed in accordance with this parent choice. It’s why we have a huge variety of schools and an unusually complicated system. It wasn’t always so difficult to put parent choice first. In 1937 we were homogenous as a country. We were predominantly either Catholic or Church of Ireland. Two peas in a pod.

Now, it’s not so easy. And so, we’re left with a highly tiered and fractured system lacking cohesion, with a convoluted network of boards and patrons. We also have an intricate interweaving of church and state, particularly in primary, a hangover from our fight to teach the Catholic ethos in our schools following independence from Britain.

This protection of choice remains enshrined in our constitution and our law. While that remains the case, we can’t have one cohesive state system, as many European countries boast. Is it worth it?

Maybe people think it is. Maybe, for many families, choice is more important than cohesion? Who am I to say? It’s unfortunate that plenty of non-Catholics attend Catholic schools because the choice isn’t there for them in any real sense. Schools with new patrons like Educate Together fail to get facilities and adequate buildings in a timely fashion. This is also an issue.

But maybe striving for choice is still the most important thing. Maybe it’s okay that a secondary school has sprung up in Cork City offering no relationship or sex education but teaching creationism. That’s a matter of choice, parental choice. Maybe it’s okay that proper sex education is denied by a staggering percentage of Catholic schools too. Presumably, it’s the right of a parent to choose.

I suppose I just wonder what education is for. And where the role of the family should end. Our constitution, written by religious white males, holds the family to be sacred. ‘Family’ in our constitution still pertaining to married parents that is.

But is family always sacred? Should it always be the primary educator? Sometimes, in certain cases, an objective education, without dogma, can liberate a person, right? Sometimes echoing a single narrative can be highly dangerous. Right?

I wonder, how many parents would give up their choice of education for one cohesive system. We could keep Gaelscoileanna of course, because they are equally objective, but what if we took religion out of our classrooms altogether. I wonder if it’s even a conversation people are willing to have. If people supported it, could we then demand that our department begins to uncouple from the church, handing over property and assets to a state system?

Obviously, our constitution is one hurdle, what are the others?

I wonder how many parents are aware that they’re still considered to be the primary educators of their children. How many reflected on that when they navigated seesaw and zoom from home. I know I didn’t. I know on that front, I’m happy to leave schooling to educators and everything else to us at home.

Am I alone in this? Am I alone in desiring a cohesive state system that provides fact based objective teaching across Ireland?

Maybe I am. Maybe I cut the cord more easily than others.

I’ll certainly savour our goodbyes this week and wish my two daughters a lovely day of learning. For me, learning means encountering new things, different viewpoints, perspectives. It means making connections between different ideas. I want their education at school to open them up to what exists beyond our home, our ideas, our beliefs and borders.

I want to say goodbye, really say goodbye at the front door. Does anyone else?