TDs have called for a “forensic scrutiny” and a “full review” of the SPHE programme being taught in schools as parents continue to raise additional concerns on other issues covered in schoolbooks after an uproar arose regarding the portrayal of a traditional Irish family as narrow-minded bigots.
Carol Nolan TD said that the controversy had thrown a spotlight on the “radical colonisation of our school curriculum” and that a “forensic scrutiny” was now required of the “underlying agenda at play” in the design of SPHE classroom texts.
The Laois Offaly TD said that because schoolbooks were not now going home in schoolbags, parents were possibly unaware of what was being taught in some of the revised curricula.
“Clearly, given what has happened, we need more oversight of what’s going into SPHE books,” she told Gript. “There are other very serious concerns being expressed by parents in regard to unscientific claims based on gender ideology, for example, being presented as fact to students from first year onwards”.
“The recent controversy has served to throw a much needed spotlight on the relentless and radical ideological colonisation of our school curriculum by fringe perspectives that have no support or appeal outside the academic echo chamber,” she said.
“What we need now is determined, forensic scrutiny of the underlying agenda at play; who is supporting it and signing off on it and what is being done to prevent a repeat of the SPHE textbook fiasco. That is what I mean to achieve,” she said.
“I find it extremely difficult to believe that this approach is an accident, an oversight or unintentional. They may try to take us for fools by claiming this, but anyone who has been close attention will easily identify the deliberate nature of these and other similar texts,” the Independent TD said.
The SPHE book ‘Health and Wellbeing, SPHE 1″, published by Edco, which included the description of Family A which caused significant controversy for the past week, also has a chapter which repeatedly tells school students that their sex was “assigned at birth”.
Other SPHE books, including ‘From ‘You’ve Got This. Book 1. Junior Cycle SPHE, First Year” published by Educate.ie, contain similar lessons, including one where students, typically aged 12-13 if in first year, are told to reply to a teenager who said she felt trapped in a “stupid body with stupid breasts”.
SPHE textbooks which tell children they are ‘cisgender’ if their biological sex has been “assigned at birth”, have been described as “misleading” – and as presenting a “theory that is not supported by scientific evidence”.
Despite widespread concern from parents regarding the inclusion of gender ideology in the school curriculum, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) pushed ahead with telling school students that “gender” is a “social construct” – meaning that whether you are make or female is decided by something other than your biological sex.
Last year, parents complained that they felt that the voices of the “vast majority” of the 4,353 parents who made submissions to the NCCA on the SPHE curriculum were being ignored.
They claim that “thousands of parents who made their voices heard to the consultation process on the curriculum were ignored and dismissed” while “undue emphasis was given to a select group of NGOs and individuals whose views are radically at odds with parents.”
This week, other TDs and Senators in addition to Deputy Nolan, also called for a review of SPHE programmes in schools. Fine Gael TD, Charles Flanagan, said the depiction of the traditional Irish family was “degrading, offensive and insulting”.
He said he had raised aspects of SPHE last year directly with Minister Norma Foley.
“Curiously she told me she had no role in the matter which I find strange. I’m now pleased there’s a rethink but sadly only after a public backlash. Minister Foley needs to review the entire programme,” he told the Irish Times.
Independent Senator Sharon Keogan urged “an immediate review into the manner in which curricula and text books are set in the education system”, adding that she believed that: “this ideological indoctrination is nothing new from the Department of Education” and that “this is a recurring pattern”.
Tipperary TD, Mattie McGrath, and Peadar Tóibín of Aontú have also called for an examination of how the material was published and a review of SPHE programmes.
Parents have contacted Gript since the furore broke regarding the depiction of Family A to say that they were unhappy that further examination of the SPHE schoolbooks had uncovered areas of concern regarding gender ideology in particular.
This week, the Department said that “the Curriculum specification and prescribed material for any subject are determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). It is the responsibility of each individual school to select the resources (other than prescribed material) that it will use to support its implementation of the curriculum. Any concerns regarding material published in textbooks should be raised with the publisher themselves.”
“Following a recommendation from the NCCA Report on the Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in 2019, a portal site was developed by the NCCA where teachers can access Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE)/RSE teaching and learning resources.”
“These online toolkits are published by the NCCA at curriculumonline.ie to provide supports for teachers in preparing for and teaching SPHE/RSE, and have been carefully selected to support planning for quality teaching and learning in SPHE linked to the current curriculum,” the Department said.
Publishers of the SPHE book ‘Health and Wellbeing, SPHE 1’, which led to the controversy in the past week, have apologised for the “upset” and “hurt” caused by their depecition of Family A
Edco said that: “By means of background and context, the main function of this Activity (‘Looking at Difference’) is designed to help students understand the importance of diversity in our lives, to introduce students to the Equal Status Acts & to highlight the types of discrimination they cover”.
“Following the students’ introduction to the Equal Status Acts, the activity uses exaggeration and hyperbole to convey the nature and effects of inclusion and bias. On closer inspection, we now appreciate that our approach should have been different and accept that it has caused upset and anger, even though this was not our intention”.
“We have taken the decision to replace this activity and we apologise for any hurt caused,” they added.