There is no such thing as a value-neutral education, the Catholic Bishops have told the Government’s Forum on 
Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector, which began today.
Both the Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference and the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) are appearing before the Forum.
In their written submissions to the Forum, both groups defended the right of parents to continue to send their children to denominational schools and defended the education provided in Catholic schools.
In their submission, the Bishops said that there was “no such thing as a value neutral education”.
It said: “All schools, whether established by the State or by one or other voluntary group, necessarily and implicitly espouse a vision of the human person and give expression to a particular ethos by their choices, actions and priorities.
“There is a tendency among some commentators to equate a secularist view with neutrality. They tend to represent religious beliefs as inherently irrational and less worthy than a secularist worldview. Secularism is not the same thing as pluralism; indeed many secularists adopt a position that is anything but pluralist when it comes to the free expression of religious belief in schools.”
It also said that parental choice was “the critical principal in education” and added that any process of change of patronage “must be driven by parents from the ground up”.
The Bishops’ submission also challenged the use of the term multidenominational, saying that it was used “in numerous, often contradictory, senses”.
It said: “There needs to be clarity with regard to the meaning of this term and the meaning of denominational and non-denominational schooling. We look forward to the forum clarifying the meaning of these terms so that parents and other stakeholders will clearly understand the various options available to them.”
The CPSMA submission also defended parental choice, pointing out that both international and domestic law “recognises the right of parents to have their children educated in a school which conforms to their religious convictions”.
In terms of respecting parental choice, it said that it was “important to seek a balance between the rights of those who want to ‘opt in’ to denominational education vis a vis the rights of those who wish to ‘opt out’”.
The CPSMA also defended the inclusivity of Catholic schools. Catholic schools, it said “are to the forefront in providing for social inclusion and are diverse”.
It said: “This relates not just to children from socio economically deprived backgrounds but also to children from migrant and travelling backgrounds.
“It is the view of CPSMA that the Department of Education’s audit which led to the invitation to the OECD to conduct its review on migrant education supports the finding that Catholic Schools are the most inclusive in providing for immigrant pupils.
“Catholic schools are indisputably to the forefront in providing education to members of the travelling community.”
Its submission also said that it was “incorrect to equate pluralism with secularism”.
It added that those who expound secularism “also impart a viewpoint and are not neutral”.
Pointing to the recent judgement by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the Lautsi case, it said that “the terms religious and philosophical convictions refer not only to religious convictions but also to the views of the supporters of secularism”.
Their submission also said that, given the recent increase in the Catholic population, it was “likely that new Catholic schools will be required”.