Religious training hours defended

The hours dedicated to religious training at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick have been defended.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic following the contention in a Teaching Council report that religious training hours - 48 over the two-year B.Ed - far outstrips other subjects. 

Lecturer in Religious Education, Dr Daniel O'Connell said a number of factors currently at play demanded the emphasis given to religious training.

''Two and a half hours per week - a half hour a day - is a heavy load to place on a teacher along with other subjects,'' Dr O'Connell said of the reality today for young primary school teachers.

''For a trainee teacher to engage in his or her subject to that extent, and in a thoughtful and reflective manner, the time offered at Mary Immaculate is required.''

Pointing to the ''market reality'' of a continuing Catholic predominance in Irish schools, Dr O'Connell stressed that ''this is the context into which our graduates enter, and that requires them to be well trained to teach [RE] a curriculum subject. How are they to do that in a competent manner without a 'religious literacy'?''

Last week's publication of the Teaching Council report prompted comment in some media quarters as to the ongoing influence of the Church in the Irish education system, despite the fact that the religious training hours were matched by the visual arts and Gaeilge.

In this, Dr O'Connell further pointed out that those closest to the issue, the students themselves ''have never approached the college with any criticism of the hours dedicated to religious training''.

Diversity

On the question of a 'changing Ireland' with more religious diversity and potential future declines in Catholic schools, Dr O'Connell acknowledged that Mary Immaculate, as with other institutions would have to examine adequate responses to such issues, but for the moment, ''over 91 per cent of schools are Catholic with an expectation that their teachers can engage in a catechetical element''.

SIC: IT/IE