Recommendations

The findings of this research suggest the following recommendations for consideration by the Irish Government, patrons of Community National schools, the NCCA, Colleges of Initial Teacher Education and the Roman Catholic Bishops:

1. If the Irish government wishes children to learn into their beliefs and to offer faith formation during the school day in their state-run schools, as was stated by the Minister for Education during their inception, they will need to provide the necessary resources for Community National schools to achieve this. Although a limitation of this research is that it did not explore comparative approaches to RE in other countries, the approach taken in state schools in Finland is worth considering. In these schools ‘Religion or Ethics’ is one of the compulsory core subjects. Faith formation is arranged in accordance with the religion of the majority of the pupils. Pupils of other beliefs are entitled to instruction in their own religion if their parents/guardians so wish, and if there are three or more pupils of the same religion to form a group. If instruction in a pupil’s own religion is not available, the pupil must be provided with some other form of instruction or supervised activity (Coolahan et al 2012). This approach in Finland seems to correlate with the original vision described for Community National schools in 2008 and shows that such a model is possible if the financial resources are provided.

2. A recommendation for those reviewing the junior GMGY programme in the NCCA is that clarity and consensus is needed around terminology such as ‘belief nurture’ and ‘inter-belief dialogue’ and ‘inter-belief conversation’. Confusion was expressed in this research by the majority of the principals and teachers regarding the meaning of the term ‘belief nurture’ and many were unsure how to facilitate it in the classroom. A lack of confidence was also expressed by some teachers around facilitating inter- belief dialogue in their classrooms. Therefore continuing professional development on how to facilitate belief nurture and inter-belief conversations is required. CPD support and resources for teachers and principals are needed from their patron. A CPD certificate programme was designed by ETBI and Marino Institute of Education in 2017 to address the themes of cultural diversity, English as an additional language, religious diversity and human rights in the context of Community National schools. This has been received well by teachers and principals. Another matter that was specifically requested in this study was the need for CPD for teachers on how to respond to global incidents related to religious extremism with children.

In addition to this there is an evident need emerging from this research for reflective practice groups to be organised in the schools. The groups would be for teachers or for principals and would focus on the daily encounters they experience in religiously diverse contexts. The facilitator of these reflective practice groups would create space for reflection and encouragement to consider one’s own assumptions and identity needs. This should be a pre-requisite to teaching in a Community National schools.

3. This leads to the next recommendation for effective ITE in the various colleges of education. Knowledge about different religions and beliefs and the skills needed to manage religiously diverse classrooms is essential in initial teacher education. Teachers require facilitation and moderation skills. They also require the skills to foster the dispositions in the children for respectful listening, empathy and personal expression (NCCA 2016a). While colleges of education are responding to the need to prepare students adequately for teaching in religiously diverse settings, there is still need for greater development in this area. Students should be offered more than optional electives in teaching in diverse school contexts. These modules need to be integrated into the mainstream programmes in the colleges. Colleges of education also need to be proactive in recruiting students from minority religious groups to a career in primary education.

4. Another recommendation for ETBI patrons and also in particular for the Catholic Bishops is the establishment of clear delineations between the roles and responsibilities of parents, the school and the belief communities associated with their schools. Whilst they are inter-dependent and rely on one another, they have different purposes. The present blurring of these responsibilities could be argued as one of the main challenges to Community National schools regarding religious diversity.

There is also a need for regulation around sacramental preparation in Community National schools. While the conclusion to this research project was being written up, the Catholic Bishops have indicated that the sacramental preparation and belief

specific lessons provided in Community National schools are not adequate for the faith formation of Roman Catholic children (Leahy 2017). Four weeks prior to the submission of this thesis it was announced by Minister Richard Bruton that the ETBI intends changing their policy regarding sacramental preparation during the school day and belief specific teaching (Donnelly 2017; O’Brien 2017). He indicated that belief nurture will remain as an aim within the GMGY programme but children will no longer be divided for belief specific teaching in the junior programme. The schools will continue to support families in the practice and celebration of their beliefs, including sacramental preparation, but this will be done outside of school time, facilitated on the school grounds. This policy change seeks to offer more equality in the opportunities offered to the various beliefs in their schools (Donnelly 2017; O’Brien 2017).

This poses a challenge and opportunity for Roman Catholic parishes to now consider how the parish can become the focal point for the faith development of children and indeed of adults. As stated in Share the Good News, primary schools can offer support to the parishes and parents, not the other way round (Irish Episcopal Conference 2010).

5. Finally, more engagement is needed between the patron and the schools regarding how the Community National school ethos acknowledges and celebrates festivals and whether the schools should display religious and secular iconography from the various beliefs in their schools. Engagement with parents at a local level around what they would like to be marked in the school and how this can be done at classroom level may be one way of approaching this challenge.