RE certificate is a qualification not a barrier

Two Catholic education stalwarts have called the Catholic Religious Education Certificate “necessary” and “not a barrier” after a recently published RTE article asked whether or not the certificate was a barrier to diversity in teaching while outlining the experiences of a Muslim trainee primary school teacher who did not take it as she doesn’t want “to say something that is against” her own religious beliefs if assigned to teach classes about Catholicism.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Episcopal Vicar for Education for the Archdiocese of Dublin, Monsignor Dan O’Connor, emphasised that there are certain criteria that must be met to teach in Catholic schools and these stipulations have never been an issue.

“The requirements are that any teacher who is hired in a permanent position in a Catholic school has to be qualified to teach religion to the children. It’s a professional qualification in a Catholic school in the diocese … it’s not a barrier, it’s a qualification and a requirement in a Catholic school.

“There are teachers employed in this diocese who are not of the Catholic Faith but who are graduates of the training colleges and they have the diploma. There’s never been an issue.”

CEO of the Catholic Education Partnership Alan Hynes said that he “can’t see how this is a matter of controversy”, particularly when other denominational schools have employed the same policy.

“This is a necessary qualification to teach in a Catholic school,” he said. “I don’t see how this is a matter of controversy. Our colleagues in the Protestant schools have a similar qualification. These qualifications are open to anyone.

“The vast majority of teachers are professionals who do their jobs very, very well and understand that it’s not the role of teachers to determine the values taught to pupils, that is a role primarily for parents and they can be assisted by schools in doing so.

“This story comes up once every nine months and somebody has a run at it. There’s nothing more dramatic than it just being the necessary qualification to teach in a particular type of school.”