A new report raises concerns about the quality of religious instruction in Irish schools.
Two academics from UCC say Ireland's programmes of religious instruction have not kept pace with those available in other countries and do not generally educate children well about religions outside the Catholic faith.
They also raise the issue of religious education being regarded as a 'doss' subject.
Currently 90% of our primary school are under the patronage of the Catholic church, who are allowed to devise their religious education programme without interference from the State.
However, in a climate where it is expected that schools will be divested from the church the authors say they are worried about our teachers' qualifications to teach an ethical curriculum that includes information about all religions.
This is despite the fact that long hours are spent on religious study both at training colleges and at schools.
According to a report in the Teaching Theology and Religion journal "One explanation for this is that in order to be recognised by the Catholic Bishops to teach in a Catholic school, student teachers must have 120 contact hours in RE... A recent Review Panel from The Teaching Council expressed concern that subjects such as Science, Geography and History are currently given only 12 hours in the B.Ed programme, while RE has 48 hours."
Prof. Brian Bocking, who co-authored the report with Prof. Áine Hyland, and who teaches at UCC's Religions and Global Diversity programme told Newstalk.com's Lunchtime programme "the prize really is access to young children and influencing their minds at an early age."
A 'doss' subject
Despite the fact that secondary students can now sit Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate examinations in religious education the authors raise concern about its perception as a 'doss' subject.
They believe "A significant increase in the number of pupils taking the new NCCA RE curriculum to Leaving Certificate level may provide an effective driver for change, but while total numbers of Junior and Leaving Certificate students have risen in recent years, the proportions taking RE as an examination subject remain unchanged at 50% and under 3% respectively."
