Irish Teacher: Sex education must be taught free from the influence of religious ethos

"...because in Ireland, we foster compassion, not hate"

Jennifer Horgan: moving for change in Irish sex-ed. Pic: Larry Cummins

“Thank you. Thank you, Ireland. I really mean that. It’s nice to know you’re here.” This moment from last weekend is replaying in my head. It’s Sunday. I’m sitting in an auditorium having just finished a three-day workshop on forum theatre. Forum theatre uses theatre to achieve social aims, to conquer oppression.

These are the facilitator’s parting words to us, and our country. The voice belongs to Julian Boal, son of the world-famous creator of forum theatre, Augusto Boal. It’s gravelly, vulnerable – rooted in his father’s story and the story of his country – Brazil. A group of us teachers, activists, artists, and social workers are sitting in front of him, brought together by the wonderful creativity and change department at MTU.

Julian Boal is thanking Ireland because he visited 15 years ago when a mention of women’s rights was enough to split the room. He’s celebrating the changes many have fought to make happen.

He’s thanking us because we’re not like Brazil, the country where his father was imprisoned and tortured by the military police for his subversive theatre activity, and later exiled. Throughout the day, he’s been checking news from France, fearing the upward creep of votes for far-right politician Marine Le Pen.

He’s thanking Ireland because it’s not a country like his own, where every year countless young black men are killed or “disappeared” by Jair Bolsonaro’s police force.

The workshop in and of itself, was wonderful. But it was also a gift, reminding me that in Ireland, although our fight isn’t over, it’s moving in the right direction. Here, the hollow and hateful rhetoric of the far right is drowned out by the voice of a compassionate majority – and that voice carries across the world.

We hear the same voice often in education because classrooms are inherently political. Between the whiteboard and the classroom door, the textbook and teacher, run the battlegrounds between indoctrination and freedom. What’s happening in our classrooms tells us what’s happening on our streets, in our homes and offices. Our past becomes our present and our future in the spaces reserved for our children.

So, it’s vital that Irish teachers and parents pay attention. And we’re doing just that. We’re demanding that our children receive an education in safe and inclusive environments. Parents are leading that fight and we must make sure to back them.

On April 5 parents of children attending Lacken National School, Blessington, Co Wicklow, received a letter in relation to the school’s Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) Programme. Education Equality described itself as “appalled” on reading the letter assuring parents that: “Teachers do not discuss topics like contraception and same-sex friendships.” 

The letter then informed parents that any such issues beyond the “designated curriculum” would be re-directed to the home. Same-sex friendships, not even relationships, were deemed inappropriate for a classroom inside the same democratic republic that voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

In June 2021 the same parents, representing most children at this school, wrote to the principal and board of management to oppose the introduction of the Catholic Flourish RSE programme which, they said, was “discriminatory to LGBTQ+ children and families”. The parents wrote: “What is taught to all children in Ireland, particularly with regard to sexual education, should be fact-based: everything that the children hear should be free from the influence of a religious ethos.” Still, the school sent this latest letter home.

This tells us that we must keep on fighting. There are many classrooms across Ireland where such battles are not being won and we must shine a light on them. As commentator Simon Lewis put it, the only difference in this case was that the sentiment was committed to paper.

But we must also remember that we are not Brazil. We are also not Florida. Florida’s parental rights in education law, prohibiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students from kindergarten to third grade, was signed into law in March by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. It has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The same politician may well be positioning himself to become President of the US someday. It is no coincidence that he is laying the foundations of his power within schools.

We will never let that happen in Ireland, will we? We will foster compassion, not hate. We will keep doing what we’re doing. We might have a way to go in Ireland, but I’m convinced we’re getting there. That’s a good thing to remember.