Catholic Schools Statement on the Department of Education Consultation on Relationship and Sexuality Education
The Catholic Trustee Service (CSTS) today publishes its submission to the Department of Education consultation on Relationships and Sexuality Education and calls on Parents, Carers and others who share its concerns to express these by responding to the consultation before it closes on November 24th. See: below
https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/consultations/relationships-and-sexuality-education-rse-consultation
The Trustees Service comments that the legislation brought forward by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland through Westminster in June of this year places significant new responsibilities on Board of Governors and principals; it directly undermines the rights of parents; and it challenges the rights of Trustees to promote a faith-based education within the largest education sector in Northern Ireland. CSTS is concerned that this has been done to impose on schools a particular ideological view of abortion and the prevention of early pregnancy.
In its response to the consultation, CSTS asserts that the June legislation ‘undermines the parent’s/ carer’s right to have their children educated in accordance with their ethical, religious, and philosophical convictions, as is recognised through international human rights legislation. Legislative topics of such sensitivity should have remained, it says, a matter for a locally elected assembly to consult upon, debate, and agree a way forward that best meets the needs of the people in this jurisdiction.’ CSTS goes on to say, ‘it is incomprehensible that, in bringing forward such legislation, it was determined that no formal consultation was required.’
CSTS notes that the incorporation of the UN CEDAW report directly into UK LAW was legislatively unusual and makes drafting guidance all the more complex. Interpreting what is ‘scientifically accurate’ on sexual and reproductive health brings into play key existential questions on when life begins. The CSTS response to the consultation maintains that the legislation uses imprecise and opaque aspirations from the CEDAW report including phrases such as ‘age-appropriate,’ ‘comprehensive’ and ‘scientifically accurate education,’ without including any definition of such, leaving the legislation open to vastly different interpretations and understandings.
The CSTS explains that the vision of life in Catholic schools is inspired by Gospel values and presents an understanding of human sexuality as a gift from God which determines our capacity to give and receive love.
Bishop Donal McKeown, Chairperson of CSTS, explains “Our vision of education asserts the rights of parents and carers to have their children educated in accordance with their ethical, religious and philosophical convictions.”
Bishop McKeown continued: “The background to this consultation is in legislation brought forward by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland through Westminster in June 2023. This legislation has created significant concern in that it potentially imposes a specific ideological view of abortion and the prevention of early pregnancy which directly challenges the rights of Catholic schools to offer a faith-based worldview on such matters. There is no ethically neutral or value free approach to the question of when human life begins. The expectation that schools should become engaged in the delivery of an allegedly neutral curriculum which highlights access to abortion shows no understanding of the foundational principles of Catholic education.”
Bishop McKeown continued: “The background to this consultation is in legislation brought forward by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland through Westminster in June 2023. This legislation has created significant concern in that it potentially imposes a specific ideological view of abortion and the prevention of early pregnancy which directly challenges the rights of Catholic schools to offer a faith-based worldview on such matters. There is no ethically neutral or value free approach to the question of when human life begins. The expectation that schools should become engaged in the delivery of an allegedly neutral curriculum which highlights access to abortion shows no understanding of the foundational principles of Catholic education.”
https://catholiceducation-ni.org/csts-response-to-the-rse-consultation
Notes: The Catholic Schools Trustee Service is the sectoral body for, and represents the Trustees of, the Catholic Managed school sector.
CSTS provides advice and support to Trustees in their responsibility for the strategic direction, organisational nature, and shared Catholic values of the Catholic family of schools and in relation to the specific character of their individual schools. It is within this context that CSTS responds to this consultation.