Since Irish independence in 1922, the Catholic Church has played a central role in the provision of education in Ireland. Currently, 91.1% of primary schools and over half of second-level schools in Ireland are Catholic run (Lodge and Lynch 2006)[1]. These state schools have mandatory religious instruction at all grade levels and are guided by an explicit Catholic ethos that shapes the discourse of educational instruction (Coolahan 1981/2004). 

While Boards of Management of primary schools are subject to national employment legislation which prohibits discrimination across nine grounds: age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, marital status, family status and membership of the Traveller community, Section 37 of the Irish Employment Equality Act 1998 provides an exemption clause that allows religious-owned institutions to discriminate against employees or prospective employees if that is necessary to protect the religious ethos of the institution. When this provision was introduced into Irish law in 1998, the Supreme Court considered it to represent a fair balance between the competing rights of freedom of religion and the right of employees to be protected from discrimination. Since then, this “fair balance” has been contested by Irish LGBT and atheist groups as well as by the United Nations Human Rights Committee who have called for legislative reform to assure equality of access to state-funded schools and to the teaching profession.  

While the endevours of LGBT teacher groups have recently born fruit, leading to the introduction of a new Section 37 Bill prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, calls by atheist Ireland and the United Nations Human Rights Committee for respect and equality for atheist and minority religious students and teachers in Irish education have not received a similar response.  Considering that the vast majority of Irish schools are controlled by the Catholic church, that teachers in Catholic schools must uphold the religious ethos of the school and, in the case of primary schools, need to obtain a Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies, Atheist Ireland (2015) argues that Irish teachers need to be prepared to be missionaries for the Catholic church.

There has been extensive research internationally (Schleicher, 2014) and in Ireland (authors, 2015) describing student and practicing teachers’ homogenous socio-demographic backgrounds and associated equity and diversity issues, most especially with regard to ethnicity and gender, and to a lesser extend in relation to social class and disability. Yet, teachers’ religious affiliations and/or convictions have rarely been explored (author, 2013). Given the highly complex and historic interconnectedness of publicly funded education and religion characterising the Irish school system and the associated employment (and more general) equality issues, a critical investigation of the religious affiliations and convictions of Ireland’s teaching body is long overdue.

This paper explores the religious affiliations, and religiosity of applicants and entrants to initial teacher education programmes (ITE) in Ireland, and analyses potential similarities and differences between primary and post-primary ITE cohorts and between ITE entrants and non-entrants (applicants who were unsuccessful in the selection process or who didn’t accept places on ITE programmes). As such it will describe and discuss:

1)    the composition of Irish ITE applicants (entrants and non-entrants) in 2014 in relation to their religious affiliations;

2)    the religiosity (i.e. religious activity, dedication and beliefs) of applicants (entrants and non-entrants) to ITE programmes in Ireland; and

3)    ITE applicants’ (entrants’ and non-entrants’) attitudes towards the teaching of religion in Irish (primary) schools.

[1] In addition to this, 5.1% of Irish primary schools are denominationally Church of Ireland (Protestant) (Lodge and Lynch 2006).

Atheist Ireland (2015). Irish school teachers must be Catholic missionaries. Available at: http://atheist.ie/2015/07/irish-school-teachers-catholic-missionaries/ Accessed: 15/01/2016. Coolahan, J. (1981/2004). Irish education: Its history and structure. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration. Coolahan, J., C. Hussey, and F. Kilfeather. 2012. The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary School: Report of the Forum’s Advisory Group. Dublin: Department of Education and Skills. EVS (2010): European Values Study 2008: Ireland (EVS 2008). GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4765 Data file Version 1.1.0, doi:10.4232/1.10160. O'Toole, B. (2015). 1831–2014: an opportunity to get it right this time? Some thoughts on the current debate on patronage and religious education in Irish primary schools. Irish Educational Studies, 34(1), 89-102. Schleicher, A. (2014) Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness in Education: Policy Lessons from around the World. Paris: OECD.