|

|

|

|

|

|

|

| | |

| | | |

| | | | |

| | | | |

| | |

| | | | | | | | | | |

Over the centuries, education has been a key area of concern and influence for the Christian churches, building, as it does, on a strong Jewish tradition of investing in our children for their future and for the future of society as a whole. Christian based education adds an additional dimension to how society generally understands the nature and purpose of education, as it considers a young person as a whole being, who should be allowed to develop not just intellectually but also physically and spiritually. This stands in stark contrast to seeing schools as merely preparatory places for university or work.

Education in Northern Ireland, has always been closely connected to the major churches and because we are so used to this as part of our history, we can take the Christen ethos and dimension of our schools for granted. This is a dangerous position to hold, as there are those interests in wider European society, who see the future in terms of secular schools and I am sure that it is only a matter of time before the case for removing religion from schools will be made here too.

Consider the nature of the debate raging within Great Britain at present around the issue of what is loosely referred to as ‘faith based’ education. This has not yet reached Northern Ireland in the same way, but I have no doubt it will. Broadly speaking there are three premises which lie at the core of the argument against this type of provision, all of which are offered as somehow self evident to ‘intelligent people’.

Firstly, faith, or perhaps better, organised religion, is under close scrutiny and has no inherent right to exist in a civilised society and certainly not at the core of education (following Dawkins et al). Secondly, and by extension, faith based schools are seen as sectarian and inherently divisive (Northern Ireland often being held up as one example of this - without any justification) having little to offer a modern, pluralist society. Thirdly, the advent of increasing numbers of other faiths and religions raises questions about the role of education in faith and the formation of personal identity (Islamaphobia perhaps is one example of this?).

It is my belief that here in Northern Ireland, our existing faith based educational system has an opportunity to challenge the stereo-type perpetuated by those who oppose it as a system. Yet we have an opportunity to do more even more, by way of considering the possibility of creating shared schools, set within an unapologetically Christian context. Consider what might happen if we saw sharing as our default rather than separation. If we asked our churches to come together and imagine jointly managed schools as they do elsewhere, as an option.

So, unless God is geographically limited or culturally confined, joint initiatives could be an answer to some of our questions here. Imagine what a challenge it would send to the world and our own politicians, if our churches decided that co-existence supported through a tacit policy of ‘equal but separate’ was no longer an option, as we take one small step together towards a truly “Shared Future”?

Michael Wardlow