Parents have long been regarded as the primary educators of their children. This is recognised in some of the foundational human rights documents of the post-World War 2 world. But a new UNESCO document now demotes parents to the role of children’s ‘first educators’ and promotes the role of other bodies in the educating and...
Last week, a publisher issued an apology for the stereotypical portrayal of an Irish family in a textbook. The volume, which was withdrawn following public outrage, was produced for the new Junior Cycle course on Social, Personal, and Health Education (SPHE) introduced last year by the Department of Education. A closer examination of these SPHE...
The Department of Education has published it new specifications for the Social, Personal, and Health Education (SPHE) for Senior Cycle. It will become mandatory from September 2027 and includes Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). Quite apart from what’s in the programme, what is concerning is what is left out. For example, the new curriculum, unlike...
A major new paper criticises so-called “comprehensive sexuality education”, raising concerns about its content, effectiveness, impact on parental rights, and psychological effects on young people. Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) focuses on the broader concept of ‘sexuality’ rather than just ‘sex’. It is promoted by international institutions such as the UN, the World Health Organisation (WHO),...
June 2024 Introduction: We have two concerns about the draft curriculum for primary schools that we would briefly like to draw attention to in our submission. One is the treatment of religion and spirituality in the draft and the other is the increase in political content in the draft. We believe the current curriculum...
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), an advisory body for the Minister of Education, is currently tasked with reviewing the 1999 Primary School Curriculum. One of the proposed changes is the almost complete removal of spirituality and religion as an aspect of human existence from the ‘wellbeing’ course. In this blog I will...
Catholic schools in Ireland are undergoing the same tremendous changes as Irish society itself. They are becoming more secular and less Catholic as the same happens to Ireland. Only a minority of teachers are practising Catholic and pupils and their parents rarely go to Mass. They are struggling to maintain a truly Catholic ethos. In...
In our new briefing note, we examine what a selection of leading voices in the field of sex education want teenagers in our schools to be taught about consent, pornography and gender identity. A great deal of what they want is already in the new Social Personal and Health (SPHE) curriculum for Junior Cycle pupils (12-15 year-olds),...
David Quinn of the Iona Institute was interviewed on Premier Christian Radio in the UK about the draft of a new Social Personal and Health Education programme for Leaving Certificate students. He expresses concerns about what it will teach about abortion, sexual consent, gender ideology, “allyship” and “privilege”. He says if denominational schools are forced...
David Quinn, Chief Executive of The Iona Institute, recently delivered the 4th Rosemary Sheehan Memorial Lecture. His theme was ‘In Defence of Catholic Healthcare’. In his talk, he reminded people of the immense contribution Catholics have made to healthcare in Ireland and worldwide both historically and down to the present day. He explained the origins...
