The Patronage System in the Irish Education System

This article discusses the patronage system in the Irish education system and its inability to meet the needs of a multicultural society. It explores the historical background of the system and the impact it has on rejecting children based on their religious affiliations. The article argues for the abolition of this system to promote multiculturalism and equality in education.

Running head: EDUCATION
Education
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part B
The patronage system in the Irish education system has not been able to meet the needs of
the modern society. As a result of the globalization, most nations have to adopt the
multiculturalism within their society (Rougier and Honohan 2015). From the beginning of the
17th century, the education system in Ireland was mainly dependent on the Catholicism. The
historical background of these schools should be discussed to get a better overview about this
whole scenario.
The scenario is more important since most countries have become very much
multicultural and multi ethnic. One of the main issues that have been seen in the recent months is
the fact that some children in the neighborhood have been rejected from their schools because of
their religious affiliation. As the purpose of education is teach students about all important things
about society and history, it is not at all justified to reject them just because of their religious
affiliations (Rougier and Honohan 2015). The influence of the churches in numerous schools has
definitely worked as a backdrop in the recent times. Therefore, it is completely an injustice over
the children.
The modern society in Ireland has seen a rise in the population of different ethnicities
with different religious backgrounds. If this practice goes on in the future, the students of Ireland
will be largely deprived of the education regarding other cultures, ethnicities and religions that
exist within the society (Hyland and Bocking 2016). However, some contrasting views have
been presented here as well. When the parents wanted to admit their children to these schools in
Ireland, the management of a school like St. Oliver Plunkett’s School stated these parents that
the staffs of the school wanted to remain under the Church patronage system.

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It is because a change in this system would surely result in large scale implications (Faas,
Darmody and Sokolowska 2016). They also gave their opinions in favor of not bringing the
change within the school. They mentioned the facts that the First Penance, First Holy
Communion and the Confirmation would no longer be taken care by the school. They also added
that a change in the church influenced patronage system would surely hamper the way the school
management is run. The financial support from the churches would be stopped as well. Other
things that could suffer are the resource allocation systems for the school and recruitment process
(Anderson, Byrne and Cullen 2016).
Amidst these problems, an array of criticism has been faced by the makers and
controllers of this system. The rule that pervades within the primary schools in Ireland should be
abolished indeed. This is because the children would not be able to learn a range of things from
their school syllabus at all (Hyland and Bocking 2016). This will hamper their growth of
knowledge when they will face the international competition. Many advisory groups within
Ireland have mentioned that this practice should be abolished very quickly in order to save the
children.
In this way, those children would not be able to learn anything except for the Church and
Christian proceedings (Anderson, Byrne and Cullen 2016). The incremental change should be
brought upon in this scenario to bring improvements in the scenario. The recommendation is
always there to abolish this method of preaching Catholicism within the primary education in the
schools. This Rule 68 should be abolished because children must learn the multiculturalism
within their syllabus so they can mix with other children of their age and interact with them
irrespective of their religion and caste (Faas, Darmody and Sokolowska 2016).

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According to the statistics, it should be mentioned that the 96% of schools in Ireland have
been subjected to the denominational patronage system. The updated society needs to inculcate
the different visions of different ethnicities (Gleeson, Sugrue and O'Flaherty 2017). The parents
of these children have seen the fact their children have not been able to deal with the
multicultural aspects and they are not able to mix or interact with these people. So, this is also
hampering the national integrity as well. This is not the proper way of how the schools should be
run in the modern times. Another negative point of this religious practice can be identified here
(Gallagher 2016).
Some children have been baptized within the country without any reason and the purpose
of this Baptization is simply to get the First Communion. This just cannot be supported since the
religion and education should not be mixed at all. Education has a far wider purpose because it
engages the children to look out for the ideas of a society without any ethnical and religious
boundaries. Therefore, it is very much evident that the educational institutions within Ireland
should keep away from these Catholic practices within their education. This also does not fit
within the modern society for number of reasons (Hull 2018).
At first, the purpose of the modern society is to interpret the role of humanity within the
education. The teachers’ responsibility is to show the children that they should always interact
with people from different sections of the society (Gallagher 2016). Students from different
sections of the society should not feel uncomfortable within the social circle. If the Christian
Catholic students get all the benefits within the country, children of other religions will feel
themselves to be inferior to others (Hull 2018). This is an unfortunate fact from all aspects. The
management of the primary schools might believe that this is an easy and wise practice.

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On the contrary, it is not at all a good thing for the overall development of the society.
This will bring about dangerous consequences within the minds of the children (Rougier and
Honohan 2015). Apart from that, the basic of these children will be put in utter jeopardy indeed.
The implications of these religious teachings would be huge from different aspects. The children
of the primary schools will grow up to be communal and they will begin to hate the children of
other religions. The national unity of Ireland will be hampered badly as well. More corruptions
will take place within the society and this is not at all accepted within the constraints in terms of
globalization and corruption-free world. The threats of hatred towards other religions are not
accepted in this 21st century at all (Rougier and Honohan 2015). Therefore, this thing should be
stopped to build a better society in Ireland.
Part E
Some factors are very necessary for the proper learning and teaching of the people. The
children should always be motivated to understand the essential things within their syllabus and
learn good things for their overall personality development. The purpose of the teaching practice
is to enable motivation among the different students (Taylor 2017). The psychology of the
students should be analyzed properly so better outcomes can be expected. On the other hand,
some theories are also very much important to be understood in this aspect. Two elements that
can be discussed here in this aspect are curriculum studies and history of education. Some
theories that can be addressed in the development of the arguments are humanistic r cognitivism,
behavourism, trait theory and constructivism (Bernard 2014).
The behaviorism theory is not much suitable in the concepts of education that much as
the proponents of this theory believe it does not focus on the independent activities of the

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students in trying to understand the curriculum of their schools (Taylor 2017). Children possess
lots of creative thinking in their minds but these things are not given that much importance in
this theory. On the other hand, this theory can be useful in interpreting the history of education
from certain aspects (Meltzer 2018). The behavior of the students has to be understood according
to this theory.
The different traits of the students can also be understood if one follows the responses of
the students on the basis of different curriculum. Another theory that can be discussed in this
scenario of motivation learning among the students is the constructivism theory. It is very
important in the course of the curriculum studies. This can be applied in the context of education
directly since the students would be able to acquire knowledge through learning their syllabus
(Meltzer 2018). Students tend to learn new things within their syllabus and they come in touch
with ne knowledge every time.
When students come across different types of knowledge, they adjust with it and motivate
themselves to implement that knowledge within their practical world (Biesta 2015). The
construction of knowledge is very much needed to understand the subject much better. When
they come across these experiences, they also become aware of the historical evolution of
knowledge and education. The constructivist theory by Piaget indeed has large implications on
the human motivation of the students. This theory is regarded as the basis of many educational
reform movements (Biesta 2015). So, it is quite probable that this constructivist theory is quite
helpful from both the aspects of the curriculum studies and historical context of the studies
(Jarvis 2014).

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The third theory that can be described here is the trait theory. This theory is very well
evident in the case of education in some cases. This theory is crucial for the development of the
human personality (Bada and Olusegun 2015). This development is also important for the
understanding how the children would be able to cope up with the challenges in their studies.
Sometimes children face many de-motivating factors in their curriculum studies that need to be
overcome. Critics have viewed this factor as a very significant one since children would be able
to interpret their curriculum in a better manner if their personality is improved.
Their level of maturity will be developed through the proper implementation of this
theory (Jarvis 2014). The thoughts, behaviors and emotions are controlled by using this theory.
These are the ways the students will be able to develop their learning skills once they are
motivated by their respective level of talents.
Another theory that will be discussed here is the humanistic theory of learning in
inspiring and motivating the students for a better future. There are some important elements in
the human history that should be there within the learning motivations of the people within
different countries (Amineh and Asl 2015). This theory has focused on the things like freedom,
potential and dignity. Very often people tend to use the values to show their behavior in the
world. Discovery of knowledge is a very integral part of the learning for the students. Therefore,
students will be able to gain knowledge and construct their understanding based on the types of
learning.
The maturity level and potential of a person grows with the time. Therefore, it is very
much essential that the human beings should always evolve when they grow with their
knowledge (Bada and Olusegun 2015). Students should also be looking to get motivated so they

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can achieve a better and glorious life in the future. Students should be able to identify their
particular areas of interest. In this manner, the students can upgrade themselves and achieve new
successes (Morley, Marginson and Blackmore 2014). The two very important proponents of this
humanistic theory of education are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. So, students can get
motivated by the challenges that they face.
On the other hand, these theories are also important to note the evolution of the learning
experience of the students in the learning atmosphere (Amineh and Asl 2015). These experiences
will surely be helpful for them once they understand their limits and realize their goals. This is
the manner in which the students will be able to get motivated in achieving their goals. The
humanistic theory and trait theory are important theories that help the students to get motivated
(Magill and Rodriguez 2014). The developments of the human nature will lead to the betterments
of the students. Thus motivation will play a big part in the psychology of education. Students
will be highly benefitted by the application of the above mentioned theories as well.

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