The Labour Party’s proposal to move religious instruction outside of denominational schools’ daily teaching hours has prompted a senior figure in Catholic education to question what they would introduce in its place.
CEO of the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP), Alan Hynes, said “It’s likely that they will go with something like an ethics course of some form or another because when last in government and holding the education portfolio they pushed a separate ethics course that they wished all schools to teach. The thing is, every ethics course comes from a particular world view, so what world view do Labour wish to impart?”
“Labour are now purporting that the pupils attending Catholics schools will, in fact, receive another world view. So there’s kind of a slight-of-hand for parents – you might send your child to a Catholic school but we’re going to teach them something else … Something else that Labour has not defined. So what ethical view do they hold that the public holds in so little regard?”, he said.