Between a rock and a hard place. That is the uncomfortable position Glasgow City Council and other local authorities with a significant number of denominational schools have found themselves in when seeking to reconcile the stance of the Roman Catholic Church with the desire of teachers to secure employment or promotion in state education. Many non-Catholic teachers believe that the church's right to approve candidates is discriminatory and anomalous as there is no such test for Catholic teachers applying for posts or promotion in non-denominational schools.
It is not a new problem and has its origins in education legislation of 1918, when denominational schools were absorbed by the state. The veto over appointments, based on the church's right to approve or reject an applicant, was intended to preserve the distinctive ethos of denominational education. The tensions this created have been thrown into sharp focus by two pieces of legislation.
The Education (Scotland) Act of 1980 states that a teacher in a denominational school must be approved on grounds of religious belief and character by the church or other religious organisation. But employment equality regulations of 2003 make it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an individual on the basis of religion or belief. Can the two be reconciled? The question was tested in an employment tribunal by David McNab, a teacher prevented from applying for a promoted post in a denominational secondary in Glasgow because he did not have the church's approval for the specific job. The tribunal found in his favour as the 1980 act did not allow the church to preserve certain posts for Catholics.
This had the effect of overturning an agreement by the church and the former Strathclyde Region that excluded non-Catholics from certain posts. Given that outcome, the Scottish Catholic Education Commission then produced criteria against which all teachers in RC schools would be tested, including a commitment to uphold the moral teaching, faith tradition and sacramental life of the church. As The Herald reveals today, Glasgow City Council has drawn up plans that, if approved in August, would result in the criteria being applied. The council hopes the plans will clarify matters and, in the process, defuse tensions over teacher employment opportunities. But it recognises that, if put in place, legal challenges and test cases could be the result if non-Catholic teachers working in denominational schools use the creation of a level playing field (in the sense that no jobs are "off limits") to apply but are still rejected because they fail to meet the church's approval.
There could be red letter days for lawyers elsewhere if other councils in the west of Scotland with many denominational schools followed suit. But the anomaly would still exist as a cause of resentment among non-Catholic teachers. Glasgow City Council is not alone in concluding that the plans are not ideal. There will still be conflicting interests. This is a situation to which there is no easy solution.
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