Less than half of primary school teachers teach religion willingly in schools across the State, a new survey has found.
The research, carried out by the Irish National Teachers Organisation
(INTO) also shows more than 70 per cent of primary
teachers are spending more time preparing students for religious
sacraments than officially allowed for in the curriculum.
The time allocation suggested for religious instruction by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
(NCCA) is 2.5 hours per week. According to the survey, schools are
going over this time allocation by anything from 30 minutes per week to
nine hours per week.
In a similar survey conducted by the INTO in
2002 only 20 per cent of teachers reported time overruns in sacramental
preparation.
The findings are part of an INTO survey on Religion in Primary School that was conducted by the INTO Equality Committee in October/November 2012. The survey mirrors a similar survey carried out in 2002 by the union.
In addition to the extra time spent on
sacramental preparation during the school day, teachers reported
spending between half an hour and 10 hours per week on sacramental
preparation outside of school hours.
Approximately 10 per cent of teachers surveyed
stated that they would prefer to teach a broad religious education
programme and not to teach religious instruction in a particular faith.
This figure has doubled in a decade. Nine out of 10 teachers surveyed
work in denominational schools.
There was also an increase in those “not opposed” to teaching religion compared to 2002, from 12 to 20 per cent.
About two-thirds of teachers surveyed supported
the teaching of religion during school hours, a 20 per cent decrease on
the 2002 result.
Eighty per cent of schools in the survey have
pupils attending who are not of the faith of the school.
The approach to
provision for these pupils varied from school to school with some
participating in the full religious programme and sacraments and others
participating in the full religious programme but not partaking in
sacramental preparation.
Overall only 49 per cent of the 363 teachers surveyed stated they teach religion “willingly”.