Sir, – In her recent article "Bruton ignores practical problems of letting students opt out of religion class" (Opinion & Analysis, February 24th), Breda O'Brien accuses the Minister for Education of using religious education in second-level schools as a decoy to avoid facing the "real" issues in schools.
What goes unacknowledged is the fact that the Christian-centred nature of the current religious education curriculum is a real issue for some students and their parents who are entitled to access to an education system that does not discriminate on the basis of religious beliefs or worldviews.
There appears to be a dichotomous argument put forward: that for these students, “there is no problem about opting out”, while for everyone else, section nine of the Education Act 1998, which states that schools must “promote the moral, spiritual, social and personal development of students”, applies. One may have cause to question how valuable this “broad-based syllabus” is, if despite it being a subject for “students of all faiths and none” and one in which all students “do equally well”, it fails to foster respect for, and equal treatment of, people that hold different worldviews and beliefs.
The Ethical Education curriculum taught in Educate Together second-level schools involves learning about different worldviews, values and beliefs as well as ethical decision-making and equality and justice issues.
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This curriculum is supported by both resources (via learning.educatetogether.ie) and professional development opportunities for teachers (via the Ethical Education Network) and is freely available from the Educate Together website (educatetogether.ie). – Yours, etc,
Dr LAURA DOOLEY,
Second-level
Education Officer,
Educate Together,
National Office,
Equity House,
Dublin 7.