WITH NEW education legislation pending and amid debate about teachers' rights under the draft equality hill Education and die Constitution is a timely book.
It addresses such thorny issues as the rights of children to free primary education, the duty of the State to provide for education, the denominational ethos of schools and the composition of boards of management, as well as staffing arrangements in denominational schools.
Although author Michael Farry acknowledges the difficulties inherent in writing about education law - many education cases take place in the lower courts and not reported in the official law journals - he cites an impressive number of cases in detail. These include the landmark Flynn v Power case, which is the authority for the view, under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, that conduct which "failed to uphold the moral ethos of a school and which affect the school and its pupils can constitute a ground for fair dismissal of a teacher".
Another area which has generated heated discussion in recent times is the limit of the State's powers in prescribing the composition of school boards of management. "In the writer's opinion, denominational school owners, trustees, or management cannot be required, as a condition of State funding, to forego or to act contrary to their own dogma or religious philosophy," Farry writes. There is a difference between State aid (which may encompass more than financial assistance) and State control, he notes. It can be suggested that if the State can prescribe majority representation on boards this means it effectively has control, he adds.
The role of the family and parents in education and the control of education under the Constitution are also addressed in the hook.
"The present Constitution, unlike its predecessor, the Constitution of the Free State of Ireland 1922, does not expressly provide that there is a right to free primary education," Farry writes. Indeed, the framers of the 1937 Constitution deliberately decided that a right to free primary education should not be included, he explains.
However the existence of such a right has since been acknowledged by the courts in the case of Crowley v Ireland, 1979. The Constitution Review Group has recommended that the right of every child to free primary education should be explicitly stated in the Constitution.
This book is an essential reference tool for teachers, parents and anyone interested in current education issues. It collects together much disparate information and provides a useful insight into the legal background to the White Paper and the forthcoming legislation.
Education and the Constitution grew out a series of lectures given by Michael Farry to teachers studying educational administration. Farry is a barrister and a law lecturer in Carlow RTC.
