Ask Brian: What can my son do during Communion class time?

QUESTION: My son has just started second class in our local State-funded national school. I hear from other parents that Communion preparation will dominate class time this year. Our child won't be making his Communion, and I am aware of a few others in the class in the same situation. What are our rights in terms of alternative learning experiences while most of the class are preparing for Communion? I sense the school will resist any responsibility, but I resent the class time lost in what the parents of older children in the school describe as a doss year educationally.

ANSWER: Denominational schools operate under the ethos of their faith community, and, unless they are oversubscribed, they enrol children of all faiths and none, respecting and tolerating children with other religious beliefs or with none.

Primary-school classrooms today typically include children and teachers representing the entire spectrum of religious beliefs: from the totally committed to occasional attendees at Christmas and Easter; cultural members of a faith who have no problem with baptism and Confirmation and those who baptise their children only to secure a school place. There will also be those of other faiths, and those of no religious beliefs.

Given the tight staffing arrangements in primary schools, there is usually no facility to safely withdraw children from class during sacramental preparation or visits to the church.

When parents conscientiously object to their children’s involvement in faith formation, schools offer parents the option to remove the child from the school for the period. Due to health and safety, it is generally not possible for the child to be out of their teacher’s sight, however.

This situation must be deeply frustrating for parents who do not want precious class time used for faith formation and sacramental preparation.

The Catholic Church, which is patron of more than 90 per cent of primary schools, and the Minister for Education, want parents to agree to hand over a proportion of schools to other patronage models. If parents in areas surveyed in 2013, for whom religious practice is not a priority, were concerned about this issue, we would by now have many schools transferred to non-religious patronage.

Unfortunately, for those who want either truly faith-based schools or other models, many parents see Communion and Confirmation as just a social rite of passage with little religious significance, but they are happy for their children to participate. They don’t want to upset the status quo and so there has been little support for divestment.

Many teachers delivering sacramental preparation may privately hold similar views, but they accept the situation as part of what being an Irish primary school teacher involves.

• Your questions answered by education analyst Brian Mooney. Email queries to askbrian@irishtimes.com