Job interview for SNA. Is religion relevant?

monagt, I can't tell if we are agreeing or disagreeing.
- > Yes

The area is a mine field and the Act needs to be redrawn rather than amended in the light of our new social makeup.
Should Irish Travellers have special status under the act? What about Roma or other ethic groups?
Can we force an Islamic Madrasa to accept homosexual teachers or students?
Can we force a Catholic School to accept Muslims?
Freedom for one may not be a freedom for the other so a delicate balance is needed.

And you are correct, a school can discriminate based on its ethos. (I neither agree or disagree)
 

Well you're totally wrong there Monagt. You can be fired for being homosexual, for being pregnant without being married (that would of course only apply to females), living with a married person would also be grounds for dismisal. And since about I think, 90% of primary schools are Catholic that restricts your choices of job, unless you do what most do, pretend to conform, and don't be blatent about your homosexuality or whatever.

It's also the case that a Minister, I think Quinn, recommended that all teacher trainees do religion as part of their studies, in order to get a job. So much for religious freedom.
 
If the Principal wants you , I would think you would get the job.From experience it is naturally strongly loaded in the principals gift to select.
Just don,t be silly and say you are a teapot worshipper.
I would think most of us carry at least a lingering catholic ethos (hopefully the better parts!)
 
Well you're totally wrong there Monagt.............................

Have you the data to support these statements? Can you post a link?

Religion, I agree, should be out of schools and into religious classes outside of school system.
"Catholic system restricting job choices" - much like many other countries which does but of course does not make it right but we "are where we are" and until society changes we are stuck with it.

So go for the job, put on the persona required to get it and good luck with your interview.
 
Fintan O'Toole wrote an article touching on this topic a while ago. I can't find the other article he refers to but I do remember reading it at the time - about the requirement for those doing teaching degrees to take religion. There was quite a lot of discussion on boards (on the atheism forum) about it, too.

From the Irish Times in June: Church won’t have to kick out the awkward teachers because it won’t let them in
"I’ve raised here recently the extraordinary situation in which State-funded teacher training colleges are telling their students that their degrees will be of limited use unless they also take a diploma in “faith formation” for Catholic or Protestant schools. In effect, public universities are colluding in a system of open discrimination in which atheist, Muslim, or Orthodox would-be teachers have to sign up to become missionaries for faiths to which they do not belong if they are to be eligible to work in the bulk of taxpayer-funded teaching jobs.

Astonishingly, last Friday, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn endorsed this message, telling The Irish Times that “Teachers seeking to maximise their job prospects would be advised to study religious education”.
 
Astonishingly, last Friday, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn endorsed this message, telling The Irish Times that “Teachers seeking to maximise their job prospects would be advised to study religious education”.

Better to tell them to learn another language!
 


No they don't, no more than French or Spanish teachers aren't required to become "missionaries" for France or Spain, or economics teachers are required to believe 100% of the economic theories that they will learn.

Their job is to learn and impart a syllabus, not dump their own personal identity or beliefs.
 

No that's incorrect.

An Economics Teacher can be fired for being homosexual, or not hired in the first place for being an atheist.
This is not about the subjects they teach. It is about how the individual would or could influence the ethos of the school.

There should be no state funded religious schools. Period.
 

That doesn't contradict anything I said above.

Fwiw, the provision within Section 37 in relation to sexual orientation is soon to be scrapped and good riddance. That said, I've yet to find a case of a teacher who has been sacked for being gay and there are plenty of openly gay teachers.
 

You are correct to a point. Just go into an interview for a primary teacher position, tell the interview panel that you're gay and see what happens. One thing's for sure, you will not get the job. If the person looking for the position did their homework, they would be aware of certain rules and regulations in regard to the placement. Some people would say they don't care if their child was taught by a gay teacher, others wouldn't tolerate it. We don't want to open a debate about gays, etc, but there are rules and regulations and people will never agree on all of the rules. Just like the 10 commandments, some think they're silly, others don't. But, it's surprising the amount of Irish people in particular, who like to have a God on their side when things go wrong, even though they've convinced even themselves that religion is insignificant to their lives. I wonder what all those that don't believe think is going to happen in the end, where did they stop the God in their lives, what made it happen and why? Personally, I don't have a problem with religion in our schools one way or the other, but where would we be education wise without the priests and nuns in the 1st place? Just like parents that were/are bad people, there were only a small section of clergy that were bad. We would do well to remember who we are sometimes. We can have very short memories when it suits us, or is convenient.
 
Go into an interview for a primary teacher position, tell the interview panel that you're not gay and see what happens.

The vast majority of interviewers don't care tuppence about a candidate's sexual orientation or personal political beliefs -and they don't want to know, either.
 

They haven't gone away you know.....

If we had a State that in any way had any pretence to being a proper Republic we would have a secular educational system and would have had it since the foundation of the State. It was cheaper and easier to leave it to those with a vested interest in providing sectarian education (and healthcare too).

Those who want religious education should pay for it without any capitation grants or teacher payment from the State.

It would be nice if, in this decade of commemoration, that we actually finally became a proper Republic.
 
Those who want religious education should pay for it without any capitation grants or teacher payment from the State.

Why should the state teach religion to children of an Atheist couple?

As far as they are concerned its complete nonsense......
 
Why should the state teach religion to children of an Atheist couple?

As far as they are concerned its complete nonsense......

If you want to go down that road, why should the State teach children about evolution, anthropogenic global warming, the necessity to fluoridate water, or any other random subject, if their parents think it's complete nonsense?
 
If you want to go down that road, why should the State teach children about evolution, anthropogenic global warming, the necessity to fluoridate water, or any other random subject, if their parents think it's complete nonsense?

Evolution??

No, I don't want to down any road, what a person chooses to believe is his/her business and if they choose to believe that evolution is nonsense, then thats OK with me.

I do think that France has the separation of State from Religion right.
 
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Evolution??

No, I don't want to down any road, what a person chooses to believe is his/her business and if they choose to believe that evolution is nonsense, then thats OK with me.

But should parents be allowed dictate that their kids not be taught evolution, if they request this? Common sense would suggest not, but that seems to be the logical extension of what you want in relation to the teaching of religion in schools.