Aoife Cassidy: Teachers are afraid to speak out about religion in schools

While children cannot be discriminated against by religious schools, teachers can. And they know it.

The law allows Catholic schools to discriminate against employed teachers where they fail to uphold the Catholic ethos of the school, by virtue of section 37 of the Employment Equality Act 1998. File photo: iStock

I had an overwhelming response to my recent Irish Examiner article on taking faith formation and sacrament preparation out of schools. I wasn’t surprised by the huge reaction from parents. 

What did surprise me though was the sheer volume of messages I received from teachers, and the content of those messages. Teachers told me they are afraid to speak out.