Keynote Speech at Ethos Conference

Educate Together Keynote Ethos Conference Speech The Origin, Development and Potential of the Educate Together Ethos By Paul Rowe Introduction The Educate Together model of education is a unique product of the Irish National School system. It has it origins in 1975, the year of the foundation of the Dalkey School Project. Now at a time when it is fast becoming an option of choice for many new parents in Ireland, the movement is making itself open to evaluation and research on an unprecedented scale and needs to define its central characteristics with greater clarity and to a larger audience. This paper is being presented in an attempt to present the dynamic experience of the movement in such a way as to clearly identify the fundamental values and objectives at its heart and to prevent misunderstanding or dogmatic interpretations. In the words of one of its founding personalities, Bill Hyland, such documents are always a draft, always work-in-progress and the discussion always continues. The emphasis has been in creating processes around values rather than a set of rules, static formulae or regulations and it is very important to all of us that we adhere to this focus. Identifying fundamental values, creating organisational forms that allow these values to evolve in changing circumstances and creating definitions that are inclusive and that embrace diversity in interpretation have emerged as one of the fundamental strengths of the Educate Together model. In many ways this is an extraordinary story. The personal and organisational history is one of the great examples of cooperative Irish enterprise in the last quarter of the 20th century, one that spans people of widely varying backgrounds from many differing parts of the country. All the thirty-one Educate Together schools have their own marvellous story of achievement against formidable difficulties. It remarkable that from the original document at the founding meeting of the Dalkey School Project 28 years ago to the current definition in the Educate Together Charter there has been only minor textual changes. This is a testament to the accuracy with which these principles and aims were defined at that time. Now that many aspects of this definition are now being looked at as fundamental features of a state funded, inclusive, national school system for the future means that it is timely to assess it from today’s perspective The national school system The Dalkey School Project was an initiative that right from the start considered itself to be part of the national school system. In many ways, the objectives of the Dalkey School Project were an attempt to reclaim some of the original aims of the national school system that had been diluted and undermined in the century and a half since its foundation. At the same time as attempting this reclamation, the Dalkey School Project sought to address some of the main modernising features in contemporary educational thinking both at home and abroad. I do not intend to review here the origin of state funded education in Ireland. This task has been ably undertaken by Professor Áine Hyland in her article “Educate Together Schools in the Republic of Ireland The First Stage 1975 – 1994” which is published on the Educate Together website. However, the national school system as set up by the Stanley Letter of 1831, saw as one of its objectives to unite in one system children of different creeds, while taking the most scrupulous care not to interfere with the religious beliefs of any of them. Even the name of the system was significant. Not used for any other education system funded by the British Empire, the word “National” was specifically chosen to emphasise the objective of promoting a harmonious relationship between families of differing faiths. The concept was one of providing "combined moral and literary and separate religious instruction". The rules of the system emphasised this. Even today, if you visit the restored national school in Bunratty Folk Park, you can see the sign that the schoolmaster had to display to show the community when religious instruction took place. This facilitated parents removing their children from any inappropriate religious instruction. The state refused to grant aid any school that did not adhere to these regulations or refused entry to those of faiths differing from the patron. Although the main churches quickly moved to ensure exclusive control of individual schools, this underlying structure remained an essential part of the regulatory framework of the system and continued after the formation of the state in 1922. The rules state that "no pupil shall receive or be present at any religious instruction of which his parents or guardians do not approve" and also "that the periods of formal religious instruction shall be fixed so as to facilitate the withdrawal of pupils”(whose families do not hold the religious views being taught). However, during the whole of the 20th century and right up today, the denominational nature of the system was paramount. Despite the liberalising ideas prevailing in many churches during the latter part of the 20th century, the Irish government took measures to reinforce the denominational nature of education and to render meaningless the guarantees made to minorities that existed in the established rules. In 1965 the Rules for National Schools were revised to specifically recognise the “denominational nature” of primary education. In 1971, the introduction of the New Curriculum - often called the “integrated” or “child- centred” curriculum – decisively broke down the separation between secular and moral education on one hand and religious instruction on the other. It made it effectively impossible for a parent to remove a child from the inculcation of the religious beliefs of the school’s patron. In the last few years, the Education Act 1998 firmly copper fastened the legal power of patrons to define the ethos, select key staff and decide key policy in schools. It has provided a legal form of control in a situation in which hitherto for the weight of property and personnel had sufficed. It is important to note that much of the thinking behind the invention of the Dalkey School Project in 1975 was rooted in a wish to restore - in a modern context – the inclusive intent and minority safeguards inherent in the national school system. St Patricks National School and Marley Grange The 1970s were years of great debate in education in Ireland and throughout the world. Quite apart from this debate, this was a period in which citizens were asserting their rights in many areas of society that had previously been closed to their influence. In Dalkey and in other suburbs of Dublin –notably Highfield and Marley Grange in Rathfarnham – parents were seeking a more respectful and inclusive form of education for their children. The particular dangers of segregated education were highlighted by the eruption of sectarian tensions in the north. Parents were seeking rights that had been present on paper in the constitution and other laws but had never been acted upon. In St. Patrick’s National School, Dalkey, a rapidly growing school under the patronage of the Church of Ireland, parents formed a Parent Teacher’s Association and voted one of their number as secretary of the Board of Management. Supported by a progressive rector and an inspirational principal teacher, the school community created what was in effect a multi-denominational school. At roughly the same time, the residents of Marley Grange conducted a survey in their new housing estate that showed a strong preference among the new residents for a school that would operate with patronage shared between Catholic and Church of Ireland. In both cases, the educational establishment, notably the churches, and the Department of Education moved to oppose these developments. In Marley Grange a new Catholic school was established with unusual speed and later a very small Church of Ireland school was set up. In Dalkey, the expansion plans of the school were rejected and the Board was instructed by the Minister to restrict its intake according to religious criteria. In fact all new entrants to the school in 1974 were cancelled. These events were mirrored in other areas. A similar survey – with similar results was also organised in the Firhouse district of Tallaght and around this time the organisation that created the integrated schools in Northern Ireland – “All Children Together” was formed. With the institutional frustration of the attempts to create a multi-denominational school with either democratic model of management or one of shared management between differing denominations, parents were left with few options and no support from the educational establishment. Shared management could only exist with willing partners. Those who had preferred the democratic approach in Dalkey had however had a glimpse of how such a model of education could work and had been left with no possibility for their younger children to attend. Unless they provided an alternative they would be compelled to send their children to schools that conflicted their conscience and lawful preference or embark on the difficult task of home education. It is a testament to this group of parents, to their courage, foresight and the particular cooperative dynamic that bound them together that they decided to reject their rejection and seek an alternative. Dalkey School Project The Dalkey School Project emerged from a period of intense discussion and debate in the area between summer 1974 and spring 1975. The constitution of the project was formally adopted in February 1975, and by the end of this year the words “Educate Together” appeared at the top of all correspondence. At a public meeting that year, the group had considered and rejected a narrow definition of multi-denominationalism and had stated their aims was a school in which “No Child was an Outsider” and that the definition they endorsed was one of “All Faiths and None”.

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