Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive response to my earlier questions. When my time came to an end, she was in the middle of talking about the concerns I raised about how some parents I encounter who worry the curriculum is getting a bit political - I might even say a bit "woke" in places - or at least there are moves afoot to push values in schools that might or might not sit well with the characteristic spirit of the schools. The worry is that the State needs to acknowledge more clearly and in a more up front way that education is a partnership between schools and patrons. The Education Act clearly recognises the responsibility of patrons for characteristic spirit. The Constitution clearly established the State is in the position of supporting parents in how they educate their children. When issues like pornography come over the horizon, everyone will agree it is important that the right information is communicated and that staff who are talking about these topics should be offered training. However at the end of the day, a school that has an ethos that sees pornography as clearly immoral will probably have a different approach to teaching that topic than a school with more libertarian values. It will alleviate a lot of concern if the Minister were to say, the curriculum is the curriculum but it is viewed through the lens of the characteristic spirit of a school which is chosen freely by parents and that diversity exists. We talk a lot about diversity in one way, but we, or at least the State, does not talk about diversity much when it comes to respecting that there are different types of school, different types of parent and different types of characteristic spirit. As the curriculum becomes more demanding, we must balance this with respect for the characteristic spirit of schools. Any reassurance that the Minister can give on that score would be welcome.