Name of Student: Ciaran Porter

Article/Reading: Minister announces plans to remove religious criteria in Catholic

school admissions - Vivienne Clarke, Carl O'Brien

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The Baptism barrier was a policy used by schools which allowed them to refuse any
student that is not of the same religious background; this is a major issue we have in our
educational system at present and has been thoroughly analysed in an article wrote in
The Irish Times. In this article it outlines that 90 per cent of schools in Ireland are Catholic,
and in the most recent census it shows that 20 per cent of children have absolutely no
religious background. What this means is that people were being forced to baptise their
child/children in hope they would receive a place in the local schools.
Minister for Education Richard Bruton made the announcement that “Catholic
primary schools will not be able discriminate on the basis of religion in their admissions
policies”. This now means that any child, from any religious background can attend any of
these schools. However there are minority faiths, such as the Church of Ireland, that are
permitted to continue with their ‘barriers’ in order to protect their ethos in cases where
they are over-subscribed – meaning if there are enough pupils of the same faith to fill the
school, there is no policy to suggest they need to enrol any students from alternative
religious backgrounds.
Like any change/alteration in national policies – not everyone involved is going to
agree or be completely happy about it. Despite this, Mr Bruton spoke on RTÉ’s Morning
Ireland and said that he did not believe his proposals were unfair but instead dealt with
the problem in a proportionate way. He also made the point that there will most likely
always be over-subscribed schools and that new schools are being built constantly –
which will in theory eventually stop any of these problems. Minority religious schools,
such as the Church of Ireland schools, would quickly cease to be religious schools if they
were not allowed some special terms to work by. However this is not the case with
Catholic schools – as 90 per cent of all schools in Ireland are Catholic.
On the same topic - Labour’s Education spokesperson, Joan Burton, requested that
Mr Bruton remove the baptism barrier as soon as it were possible, and to build more
schools where the population is expanding. She makes the point that it is unfair to have a
baptism barrier in state funded schools and that parents should not be forced to baptise
their children simply to get them a place in a local school.
Ferdia Kelly, chief executive of the Catholic Schools Partnership, said the plans will
not solve the problem of access to over-subscribed schools as no extra places are being
provided in said schools. In contrast to this, the Church of Ireland’s board of education,
welcomed the plan which it said took account of concerns among minority faiths.
Although this is an issue in the process of being altered – Catholic schools which are
over-subscribed, are legally entitled to prioritise students of their own religion;
irrespective of other children living closer to the school. (Clarke & O'Brien, 2017).
This is a very insightful article which offers excellent points on both sides of the
argument. One of many issues surrounding the education system at present – however
there is good progress being made in this particular area.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

Based on my reading of this article, I now have a clear understanding of the baptism
barrier and the problems the government and other organisations are facing, surrounding
these policy changes. This is a very well structured and logical article by Clarke and
O’Brien, which highlights excellent points when arguing both sides of these changes;
however I am more inclined to agree with Richard Bruton’s ideas on the need for this
baptism barrier to be removed from Catholic schools.
As we know from the article, 90 per cent of all schools here in Ireland are Catholic –
meaning that if this barrier remained, any child that was not baptised in the Catholic
church would be forced to attend alternative schools. Regardless of how close they lived
to any of these Catholic schools. Personally I believe a person’s faith/religion is their own
business and should not be used to dictate which schools they are and are not allowed to
attend – especially in these schools which are funded by the state.
 After reading this article in The Irish Times, I decided to research this topic further
and found some very interesting and compelling articles surrounding this area. It has
become abundantly clear in the last number of years that Ireland’s cultural make-up has
changed; and is continuing to do so.
Although Ireland claims to have an intercultural society, problems such as this
baptism barrier are still an issue for families with alternative ethnic and religious
backgrounds. The NCCA have outlined that ‘Intercultural Education’ has two main focal
points – firstly it “celebrates and recognises the normality of diversity in all areas of
human life and sensitises the learner to the idea that humans have naturally developed a
range of different ways of life, customs and worldviews, and that this breadth of human
life enriches all of us.” (NCCA, 2008). If this is the case, it is difficult to oppose any
argument that would wish to oppose these changes – because what interculturalism
represents is a country which not only recognises its populations cultural diversity; it
celebrates and embraces its differences in hope that we can all learn and develop as
human beings together.
In relation to my new findings I decided to investigate the population of Ireland to
get a clear picture of the number of culturally diverse families which are now living here.
In the latest census carried out, the results show that Ireland’s population has increased
by a staggering 173,613 persons in the five year period since the previous census. “This
represents a total increase of 3.8 per cent over the 5 years, or 0.8 per cent on an annual
average basis. This compares with an annual average increase of 1.6 per cent over the
previous inter-censal period 2006 to 2011”. (Central Statistics Office, 2017) These
statistics clearly portray how the population in Ireland is ever growing and changing into a
more culturally diverse society. The Oxford Dictionary defines this as “The existence of a
variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society.” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). This new
diverse society will provide children with new opportunities to learn from their Non-Irish
national peers and gain new learning experiences surrounded by a variety of ethnic
backgrounds.
In contrast with this, Ferdia Kelly, chief executive of the Catholic Schools
Partnership, has said that this will not solve the problem and that the only way to ensure
this problem doesn’t happen again is to build more schools. I do understand why he
would be suggesting this, as a large proportion of Catholic schools are near capacity
already. However the point is that there are new schools being built constantly – this
policy removing the baptism barrier in my opinion will take a tremendous amount of
pressure off the government while they are building and setting up these new schools.
This policy will also promote interculturalism in schools around the country – in my
opinion resulting in a society which is more understanding and accepting society to live in.
I believe this article, and overall topic will assist my professional development as a
teacher because cultural diversity is something we should be embracing rather than trying
to fight it. We should be encouraging all students from all backgrounds to come together
and learn as a whole. In my opinion this will not only eliminate any cultural stereotypes
but it will also assist in the holistic development of each student – as they learn of
different cultures together. One of the ways I hope to address this when working in a
school, is to discuss different countries as part of the class. For example, when teaching
MTW and discussing the various topics – I plan to relate each process back to how it is
carried out in a number of countries. This is because different areas/countries may have
alternative means of solving a problem – such as adhesives. I would look at any
differences we may have, the type of adhesives they are using, but also I would look at
the similarities between each; as Jo Cox, a British politician once said, “we are far more
united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”. (Cox,
2016).

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

 Central Statistics Office. (2017, April 1). Retrieved from www.cso.ie:

http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/census2016summaryresul
tspart1/Census2016SummaryPart1.pdf
 Clarke, V., & O'Brien, C. (2017, June 29). The Irish Times. Retrieved from
www.irishtimes.com: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/school-baptism-
barrier-is-unfair-on-parents-says-bruton-1.3137790
 Cox, J. (2016, May 17). We Are Far More United Than The Things That Divide
Us.
 NCCA. (2008, January 8). Retrieved from www.ncca.ie:
http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Inclusion/Intercultural_Educati
on/
 Oxford Dictionaries . (2017). Retrieved from oxforddictionaries.com:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/culturally diverse