03.03.2012
Address of Archbishop Michael Jackson to CIPSMA Conference
Address given by Michael Jackson archbishop of Dublin and bishop of Glendalough CIPSMA Conference March 3rd 2012 held in The King’s Hospital School, Dublin
We meet today at a time of tremendous strain and anxiety in Irish education generally. Many have described the current state of Ireland, as a nation, as a place and a people effectively devoid of solvency or sovereignty. It is a chilling sound bite but it does, nonetheless, push us all relentlessly to the recognition that things have changed; things have got worse; things will continue to get worse. And I mean not different but worse. The luscious economic backdrop which in the past has enabled us to turn ideals into practicalities no longer exists. Its return, furthermore, seems very far distant and, for our generation, may well prove to be a pipedream.
It is in this context that we approach the perennial questions. What in educational terms is in the best interests of the child? How do we secure the needs of a minority in contemporary Ireland? How do we give back something in an Ireland which is economically broke? The enforced cloud of gloom relating to future Governmental policy under which we seek to do any of this, with regard to the future provision for National Schools under Church of Ireland management and other Protestant management, has moved rapidly from one of concern to one of alarm. On one level, it is simply the implementation of austerity measures. On another level, it is the first phase of erosion which will be cumulative and progressive, leading from the fog of confusion to the depths of demoralization. Without a doubt, it is in significant part driven by the fall–out from economic activity which has seriously altered the shape of public service and has eaten at the heart of the public good in a way which nobody could have predicted. And it has invaded the Irish soul.
We are not so self–indulgent as to feel any automatic entitlement to privilege in today’s radically altered landscape of society. As members of the Church of Ireland, for whom alone I can really speak in this context, we have long sought to take our place and to play our part in the life of communities local to where we live and more widely in the life of the nation. This is not sectarianism. Nor again is it superiority complex. It does, however, entail the desire to contribute to the public good and to the weave of our society the following: who we are and what we stand for – and what we share. The word: ethos has largely gone out of fashion or perhaps it is too wispy to admit of ready comprehension. Our way of life flows from what we believe and what we practise and it is derived from our faith and our church tradition. It has become increasingly unfashionable in Ireland to talk of God, yet the faith component, as the findings of the Survey will show, is high on the Agenda of parents and, I suggest, also of pupils. The contribution to National School education on the part of willing volunteers with life–experience in a whole range of areas gives depth, resonance and belonging to the work of Boards of Managements. Simply stated, without this component, neither the Department nor the Patrons could do their job.
The contribution of teachers, other staff and parents to the life–experience of pupils and the contribution of pupils themselves as members of the local learning community – these are things for which we are all grateful and which Patrons treasure. They are also things which, in the absence of clearer expression of intention on the part of the Department, we feel to be under a creeping threat. We are not sure if it is both economic and ideological. We are not sure, either, if we are in a cynical way being left to starve through atrophy. Nor again are we sure whether the hope is that an externally manufactured ‘sector’ is being left to fight it out ‘among ourselves’ in order to show that we are somehow incapable of managing ourselves, behaving responsibly or indeed co–operating with a Government which is strapped for cash and itself unsure how to deal with us. We are not a fossil of a privileged past. We are not looking for the financially impossible in a world where public money is not available to us or to others. We are the citizens of today and tomorrow and we want to equip children, through the education which we offer in co–operation with the State, to contribute to tomorrow’s Ireland.
I feel it may be helpful again to rehearse some of the deepest general concerns. Our understanding is that the pupil–teacher ratio remains in place at 28:1 for the coming school year. However, small schools will be hit hard by the phased increase in pupil threshold for the allocation of teachers. While the needs of island schools and disadvantaged schools are to be considered in a special way, there is no clear suggestion that primary schools under Protestant patronage are to be afforded any such consideration. Secondly, the globalized solution seems to be one of resource–sharing arrangements for neighbouring schools in order to support children with learning needs, rather than any arrangement whereby such schools are allowed to seek a part–time post for themselves. There are real concerns about travel and travel time for vulnerable children. The fewer the children in any given locality, the greater the anxiety on the part of responsible adults. Thirdly, last summer there was serious concern that the Department of Education and Skills was trying to remove any separation across the various redeployment panels without the consent of Patrons. Thankfully this has been clarified to the effect that there can be elective cross–panel redeployment with the Patron’s consent. But fuzziness remains in that, if there still are surplus teachers on a particular panel, cross–panel redeployment can be made on a one–year temporary basis without reference to the Patron’s consent being sought or required. Not only does this torpedo below the water what is an essential link of courtesy and comprehension but it seems at variance with the Department’s allowing a separate panel to be set up for redeployment of teachers in the Gaelscoileanna on the premise of the preservation of the Irish language. Our desire is not to be reductionist and to suggest that such provision for others is inappropriate in a pluralist Ireland. Far from it! Our concern is to challenge the rhetoric of inclusivity when the schools under Protestant patronage are wilfully excluded from such provision. Cultural identity, generously understood, lies at the heart of what we, speaking for the Church of Ireland, wish to offer back into our society.
There is a degree of misunderstanding about the role and power of the Patrons in the minds of Boards of Management, parents and teachers, I am sorry to say. The role of the Patron is to safeguard and uphold the ethos and culture of the school and to do so, on behalf of the whole community. In this way, and at its best, school and parish are at one. The Patron is able to offer leadership but needs to meet with co–operation, if ethos is to have any impact on daily life. So many others need to want it, to understand it, to make a go of it – on the ground. Thankfully, in most places it does and I pray that it will continue to matter in this way. As the very diverse voices of parents hold increasing sway in school life, the influence of the Patron is changed and effectively reduced. This, to my mind, is a good thing, a creative place to be, as it enables those whose entitlements are enshrined in the Constitution to give voice to their concerns and to live their opportunities and responsibilities in relation to what matters most to them. It is, in so many ways, much more dynamic than the lone voice of a figurehead. It creates a rich and enriching tapestry of expectation and responsibility in each and every locality. But you must accept that it is already, by definition and by outworking, radically different and brings different consequences. It makes it imperative that parents mobilize, galvanize and also make coherent representation. Patrons will continue to advocate the ethos and the culture with both passion and compassion, but in today’s climate we have no option but do so with our eyes open to a number of contemporary realties.
Such realities include the following. The Department of Education and Skills pays the teachers and makes the decisions about their deployment. I would not want our voice to be discordant and ungrateful, nor again truculent and defiant. We have the glorious opportunity to live out what we believe in the life of our primary schools – funded in most part by the State. The Department also decides on the level of additional resources made available to schools along with grants for building works. Other state bodies, such as the National Council for Special Education, control decisions about the allocation of Special Needs Assistants and other resources for children with special educational needs. Patrons are not in any sense, either at the beginning or the end, partners in or party to such decisions. The other glaring reality is that the public coffers are very empty. Ireland is straining to meet its debt repayment, with the concept of capital itself looking increasingly like leprechaun’s gold. We who are willing recipients need to be mighty careful not to give out signals of rank ingratitude and truculent defiance. Co–operation with the Department is something I personally have been afforded and enjoyed as a Patron over the last ten years and I am profoundly appreciative of it. I have experienced structured generosity in rural as well as in urban areas and contexts. I remain grateful for such a hearing and for such provision for the children and school communities under my Patronage.
One final point: a secular state did not invent pluralism, despite its best attempts to convince us that it did. The Church of Ireland, among others, has sought in quiet and unspectacular ways to live pluralism in educational contexts right across the country. Everyone is concerned for her or his school – of course, it is self–evident. Small schools are particularly in need of understanding and support. We ask only that we be given serious consideration rather than being confused and tolerated as some sort of minor irritant of major proportions until we are forced to conclude that we are no longer welcome at the table of public service in our own country. That would be a very sad day for a tradition which, through The Kildare Place Society, celebrated 200 years in 2011 and from the outset has aspired to provide nothing other than free education for every child in the land.