Press Releases18 Apr 11

Bishop Richard Clarke, 'Patronage & the National School' - a Church of Ireland perspective

A speech given at an Educational Studies Association of Ireland symposium on the theme of ‘patronage of primary schools by the Bishop of Meath, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke.

Mine is the perspective of the second largest of the patron bodies for national schools, also the second largest involved from a religious / faith base. Clearly it is very much smaller patronage body than the Roman Catholic sector but it is also significantly larger than any others at present, whether of a religious or a secular foundation.

Historically - in a much less complex Ireland, when virtually all education (whether primary or secondary) came under the aegis of one or other of the religious traditions - the Church of Ireland took the role of care for members of the Church of Ireland, but also for those of other of the reformed Christian traditions. This evolved over time to mean that the admissions policy for Church of Ireland national schools was reasonably flexible, to include many who were not Church of Ireland, but with the caveat that the sponsoring body should not cease to be a majority holding in terms of overall pupil enrolment. This was the intended underlying philosophy, with an attendant assumption that the schools would be Church of Ireland in spirit and character, with an involvement (and the active volunteerist support) of the local parish community, and with an important place for religious education and also for school worship. The religious education programme was designed, however, to be broader than the narrowly confessional, and to leave proper space for the role of family and of parish in the spiritual formation of the individual child. This is and it remains - in broad-brush strokes - the philosophy behind Church of Ireland patronage of national schools, and it is one which seems to accord with the wishes and the declared will of many parents and families throughout the whole country.

This being the case – that it is at this time the will of thousands of parents and families throughout the country and also very much in the spirit of the Constitution of this country (which aspires to nourish and to support those of minority communities) – I believe that the Department of Education and Skills should give proper and reasonable support to the patrons of the 180 or so Church of Ireland national schools into the foreseeable future. On a wider basis, although I cannot predict the findings of the state census recently undertaken (and nor am I in denial with regard to an increasing secularisation in Ireland), in a country where a massive majority at the last census – I think over 90% - declared themselves as having some religion, I do not accept that there is any moral onus on government to rush into radical changes with regard to school patronage.

I believe emphatically in the principle of what is called in a cliché “a mixed economy” in the matter of education, that there is a respected place for schools of different types, but I would ask for an honest and unequivocal statement from the Department of Education and Skills and indeed from the Government as a whole that this is also their understanding of the matter. There is no doubt but that present policies – in an undifferentiating redeployment of teachers on a cross-patronage basis, in reductions in support for school transport, in the cutting of numbers of support teachers, in a very blunt threat to smaller schools in the name of a very strange educational principle of crude “value of money” – are making patrons of Church of Ireland national schools wonder how we are meant to secure a proper future for our schools. Since becoming involved in the management of national schools (and at local level this is now some thirty years ago) I have certainly never known a time when national school teachers felt so insecure and so utterly unvalued by Department and Government.

We need to know if this is the proverbial “law of unintended consequences”, in which case we need to have very serious discussions with the Department on how to mitigate the effects, even in a time of severe recession. If it is however a policy that represents “intended consequences” but by subterfuge – the intentional dismantling of denominational education for minorities by attrition and strangulation, then I would like to hear some honesty in order that we can all look at the moral and legal implications for all concerned.

I have no detailed picture of what future Irish generations will require for primary or for secondary education. I suspect that it will be a mixed economy of (1) more broadly Christian-based (as distinct from specifically single- denominational) schools, (2) entirely secular-based schools, and (3) particular provision for religious or cultural minorities that cannot reasonably be accommodated within either of the first two categories. But this is not the present situation nor is it the present requirement.
To return in conclusion to an earlier comment - if the Department has a particular alternative ideology with regard to national school education, we need to hear it, honestly and openly. Then we can respond or react to it. If not, then we as patrons need to be allowed to do our work properly for the good not only of those who are our specific responsibility, but (I believe) for the common good also.

    +Richard
    Bishop of Meath & Kildare