Inspectors from the Teaching Council have accused Mary Immaculate teacher training college of spending too much time on religion.

The report by the Council said that the time allocated for religion in the college was four times that for science. It also found that the time allocated for visual arts and Irish was four times that for science.

The Teaching Council, the professional body for teachers, has previously put forward guidelines for teachers which critics say could harm the religious ethos of schools.

Its new professional code could lead to religion teachers being found guilty of “professional misconduct” for teaching core parts of their faith such as sexual morality and the truth of their own religion.

The Council’s report on Mary Immaculate expressed concern at the amount of time allocated to religious education within the Bachelor of Education (B Ed) programme. It recommended that the college authorities address what it called “some inconsistency in the balance of time allocated to various programme components.”

It suggested that the college look at “the fact that subjects such as science, social, personal and health education (SPHE), geography and history are currently allotted 12 hours each, as compared with the 48 hours each allotted to other subjects such as visual arts, religious education and múineadh na Gaeilge”.

In the report, Mary Immaculate College is praised for the excellent work ethic of staff, its positive ethos and atmosphere and the overall positive feedback from recent graduates, principals and external examiners.