Principals back reduced religion classes in favour of other subjects

27th January 2016

Eight out of 10 primary school principals who took part in an online survey would like to see less time devoted to religious education in schools, a new poll has shown.

According to The Irish Times, the poll, which was conducted by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), reveals that of 600 principals who took part in the survey – a fifth of all primary schools principals in the country – 90% believe that more time should be given over to subjects such English, maths and physical education, while 85% nominated religion as the subject to be sacrificed to make this possible.

Under current legislation, specifically the 1998 Education Act, schools have the right to give reasonable time over in the school day to subjects relating to the school’s ethos. Traditionally this has been accepted across schools as meaning that of a school day of five hours and forty minutes, religious education is afforded 30 minutes of teaching time, with some increases in the run-up to events such as First Communion.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many schools allocate less time than this to religion class.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment stated there are no plans to cut the time denominational schools can spend on teaching their own religion. The group is currently involved in a consultation process towards a new curriculum for primary schools – separate to existing faith-based classes in denominational schools – named Education about Religions and Beliefs (ERB) and Ethics, which, when introduced aims to introduce children to the major forms of religions, traditions and worldviews of people around the world, including secular beliefs.

Concerns have been voiced that ERB and Ethics will implicitly teach an agnostic attitude towards religion.