David Armstrong: Religious education ruling creates a double standard - while other faiths enjoy protected religious provision, the Protestant community is denied the same right to an education rooted in their Christian faith tradition

The present curriculum’s failure to be ‘objective, critical and plural’ was deemed a breach of European human rights law. A curriculum based solely on Christian beliefs was judged to be indoctrinatory. While Christian content will likely comprise a major portion of the new curriculum; its truth cannot be assumed. Instead, it must be taught, in a critical manner, alongside other faiths and worldviews. Paul Givan, the minister of education, has tasked a drafting committee to devise a new RE curriculum compliant with the court’s direction.

As these ‘objective’ and ‘plural’ requirements reshape RE, both the controlled and Catholic sectors are asking how this will impact their Christian ethos. However, the judgment focused narrowly on the RE core curriculum, rather than wider ethos issues. Since Catholic schools teach a sacramental faith-based programme that sits outside the statutory core, the new multi-faith curriculum poses a significantly greater challenge to the controlled sector where the statutory core effectively is the RE provision. Allowing controlled schools the same flexibility to integrate faith-based elements would ensure a more consistent approach across both sectors.

A recent scholarly article in the NI Legal Quarterly offers some justification for the above analysis; its interpretation of the judgment asserts that ‘the ruling does not apply in the same way to all schools in Northern Ireland’, noting that the specific facts of the case ‘did not allow the court to rule on the implications of its decision’ for the Catholic sector.

The judgment has elicited differing reactions: Humanists welcomed the ruling. The Catholic Church’s response has been notably measured – Bishop Donal McKeown was reported to be ‘sanguine’ about the verdict, while Bishop Andrew Forster, chair of the Protestant Churches' Transferor Representatives’ Council (TRC), expressed disappointment with the judgment.

Quoted in the ‘Irish Catholic’, Bishop McKeown points out what is noted above - the ruling impacts the statutory RE syllabus, not the 'Grow in Love' programme which is the basis of Catholic primary school faith formation. Bishop Alan McGuckian cites a line in the judgment which states that denominational religious education ‘is not prohibited in Catholic maintained schools’. It is worth noting that existing legislation also permits denominational religious education in controlled schools.

However, for controlled schools, the situation is rather more complex. This sector has historically fostered Christian values, particularly in its primary schools, where RE has been Bible-based. The challenge is to find a way to maintain RE’s Christian character while complying with the court’s ruling. What can be done to retain, as in Catholic schools, the element of Christian nurture in controlled schools?

Existing legislation allows teachers to provide denominational instruction - provided parents do not object. Where parents desire such teaching, a faith-based RE syllabus should be made available for controlled schools. This would operate as a voluntary, opt-in programme outside the statutory curriculum. This model may appeal to those parents who want their children to understand the Christian tradition before encountering a critical multi-faith curriculum. The proposal also addresses the concerns of parents who believe a plural syllabus could confuse younger pupils and devalue the faith taught at home to merely one of many equally valid options.

The controlled sector is frequently (mis)characterised as the ‘state’ sector. The Department of Education has previously encouraged this label with its mantra that controlled schools are ‘the schools that do not fit into any other category and are owned and managed by government. They lack the sense of shared identity and ownership that is evident in other sectors’ - treating them, in effect, as the only ‘state’ schools, despite all sectors being tax-funded. Naturally, this is disputed by the Protestant churches, who maintain that these schools are ‘church-related’ - the schools the churches transferred to state control on the understanding that ‘an education directly informed and shaped by Christian teaching and values’ would preserve their ethos.

However, this isn’t the complete ‘religious’ situation: the controlled sector also comprises some integrated, Irish-medium, and special schools, many of which provide Catholic sacramental preparation at the request of parents. With the introduction of a multi-faith RE curriculum, it seems right and reasonable that Protestant parents - whose children make up the majority of the controlled sector - should also have their requests for faith-based RE met.

The United Kingdom’s education system tax-funds Anglican, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh schools - all permitted to teach according to their specific religious tenets. However, the Supreme Court’s rejection of the current Christian syllabus combined with a ‘secular-state’ identification of the controlled sector creates a clear double standard - while other faiths enjoy protected religious provision, the judgment effectively denies the Protestant community the same right to a religious education rooted in their Christian faith tradition.

The judgment therefore creates a divide: a nurture gap as it were. Catholic schools will continue to ground children in a faith identity, while controlled schools, despite their Christian heritage, are prohibited from doing the same in religious education.

l David Armstrong is formerly Head of RE in a controlled school and Senior Lecturer in RE, Stranmillis University College (retired)