Responding to the launch of a report by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) on a case for reform of Relationship and Sexuality Education in Schools (RSE) today (12 June), the Transferor Representatives’ Council (TRC) , which represents the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Church and Methodist Church in education issues in Northern Ireland, has criticised the Commission for ‘a paper-based exercise’ that doesn’t reflect the day-to-day reality of how RSE is taught in many of Northern Ireland’s schools.

Speaking about the report, Dr Andrew Brown, Chair of the Transferor Representatives’ Council, said, “TRC will take time to consider the report from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and its recommendations. However, a few issues immediately stand out for comment.

 “That the NIHRC was able to access RSE policies from over 120 post-primary schools across Northern Ireland is in stark contrast to claims within the 2018 CEDAW Report, which formed the basis for the Commission’s investigation, that RSE is ‘underdeveloped or non-existent’,” he said.

“It is very disappointing that during the course of their 16 month-long investigation the NIHRC did not speak to teachers, students, governors, or parents, or find time to observe the teaching of RSE in the classroom. The recommendations put forward in the report are based on a paper exercise and not at all reflective of the day-to-day reality in many of our schools, or of the professional competence and capabilities of our teachers.”

Dr Brown continued, “It is also highly concerning that the NIHRC is advocating that RSE can be delivered in the classroom in a way which is value-neutral and outside the parameters of school ethos. High-quality RSE within our schools is much more than just information based on legal, biological or medical facts. It involves consideration of behaviours, values and attitudes that bring meaning and purpose to our understanding of healthy and flourishing relationships.

“As an organisation committed to our schools, their governors, teachers, and pupils, TRC also remains committed to supporting the delivery of excellent RSE within our schools, which respects the needs of young people, and provides them with the opportunity to explore their own personal morals, values and beliefs,” he said.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Issued on behalf of the Transferor Representatives’ Council by Mark Smith, Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s press officer:
0 (48) from RoI 28 9041 7292 or +44 (0) 7802 264 354 / Email: msmith@presbyterianireland.org

Transferor Representatives’ Council

The TRC represents the interests of the Church of Ireland, Methodist Church in Ireland and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in education issues in Northern Ireland. Controlled schools are ‘church-related schools’ owing to the fact that in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, the three churches transferred their school buildings, pupils and staff into state control (hence the terms ‘transferor’ and ‘controlled’) on the understanding that the Christian ethos of these schools would be maintained in perpetuity. Between 1926 and 1947, the churches transferred approximately 500 schools to the government of Northern Ireland.

During the transfer process at the time, the Church leaders stressed that it was not simply buildings, which were being transferred, but pupils, and a concept of education directly informed and shaped by a Christian ethos. In return for transferring their schools into state control, the transferor churches were accorded statutory rights of representation on Boards of Governors. The TRC nominates over 1,500 governors to serve on the boards of controlled schools in Northern Ireland, who are known as ‘transferor governors’. The TRC works closely with statutory bodies and nominates four members to the board of the Education Authority to represent the interests of the Transferring Churches.