Atheist Ireland | Education Archives

19/02/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

The Constantly Shifting Ethos of ETB Schools and Colleges

The Department of Education has told Atheist Ireland that the Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, gave incorrect information about the patronage of ETB schools, which we reported on in an article on 10 January. Minister McHugh was answering a parliamentary question on 6 December 2019 from Ruth Coppinger TD. It ...

10/01/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Minister confirms that many ETB schools are denominational

UPDATE: The Department of Education has told Atheist Ireland that the Minister for Education gave incorrect information in the response to this parliamentary question. You can read about the updated situation here. The Minister for Education Joe McHugh has confirmed that a quarter of ETB Community Colleges are denominational (61 ...

11/12/2019 Atheist Ireland

NCCA report avoids the question of how to deliver objective sex education

The NCCA has failed to recommend that the Education Act be amended to ensure that students get objective sex education that is not influenced by a religious school ethos. Its new report has simply described the problem of ethos, instead of addressing how to resolve it. And the Minister for ...

24/11/2019 Atheist Ireland

Religion should not, and can not, be made compulsory in Irish schools

Michael Nugent was on Newstalk Radio this week, debating whether religion should be made compulsory in Irish schools. Alan Whelan of the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Partnership argued that it should be. Religion should not be compulsory in Irish schools, because it would be a bad idea, and it can ...

15/10/2019 Atheist Ireland

UN to raise racial and religious discrimination in the Irish Education system

In Geneva this December, Ireland will be examined by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Last Friday, the UN CERD Committee published a List of Themes for the examination of Ireland in December. Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland,  and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community ...

15/10/2019 Atheist Ireland

Catholic School lesson plan promotes sexist, violent, antisemitic, forged Bible passage

A lesson plan in the Catholic Grow in Love series, for sixth class students, has the students acting out the Bible story about “the woman caught in adultery." This will be taught in about 90% of State-funded primary schools in Ireland, and teachers who want a job in these schools ...

07/10/2019 Atheist Ireland

Internal ETBI report vindicates Atheist Ireland claims about religion in State schools

Today the Irish Times published details of an internal ETBI report that vindicates what Atheist Ireland has been saying for years about the teaching of religion in Education and Training Board schools. ETBs are supposed to be the State-run alternative to denominational schools, but unfortunately many of them are run ...

24/09/2019 Atheist Ireland

Dail to debate Objective Sex Education Report this Thursday

This Thursday the Dail will be debating the Oireachtas Education Committee Report on Objective Sex Education, which was published last January. Please contact your TDs between now and Thursday to ask them to speak on the issue in the Dail debate, and to support the recommendations of the Report. The ...

12/07/2019 Atheist Ireland

Please ask your TDs to ensure that all abuse victims in Louise O’Keeffe case get compensation

Please contact your local TDs and ask them to ensure that all the victims of abuse in Irish schools, similar to that in the Louise O'Keeffe case, get justice and compensation. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar has apologised to victims of abuse in day schools. But the State has for the ...

25/06/2019 Michael Nugent

How parents stopped Castleknock Educate Together school using Catholic agency Accord to deliver sex education

Guest post by Graeme Carter, of the parents' group No Accord in Educate Together As of Friday 7th June, the Catholic charity agency Accord will no longer be delivering the Relationship and Sex Education curriculum in Castleknock Educate Together National School. The school’s announcement of this fact was a pleasant ...