Insights into the career development of non-religious teachers in post-primary religious schools on the island of Ireland

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the lived experiences of non-religious teachers in post-primary schools with religious cultures on the island of Ireland, particularly with regard to career development and promotion. At the time of the research, both jurisdictions on the island had legal exceptions from equality employment law in schools. Based on 15 interviews with non-religious teachers and with reference to literature on school ethos, teacher beliefs and agency, we investigate how the professional experience of teachers is shaped by the religious environment. The predominant response of non-religious teachers in religious schools is to hide or suppress their worldview. There is evidence too that their relationships with colleagues and pupils are inhibited when the religious culture discourages openness and diversity. Overall, they have modest expectations for career development or promotion. We conclude that legislative change is an important corrective to reduce religious discrimination, but it is only part of the solution. Active steps should also be taken by schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland to cultivate an inclusive spirit in which the school is regarded as an ‘authentic community’ where difference is normalised and all teachers are empowered to have full participation in the life of the school.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment discrimination
• Ireland
• religious schools
• teacher professionalism
• ethos
• agency

Introduction

At the partition of Ireland in 1921, the system of national education inherited by the governments in Dublin and Belfast was almost entirely under the control of four Christian denominations: the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church (Coolahan, 1981). Subsequently, in each jurisdiction, different choices were made regarding rights of ownership or control, though what remained in common was that these churches retained a high level of influence in the education systems. As a result, the population of pupils and staff in most schools on the island formed homogenous Catholic or Protestant communities. While the level of religious influence on education has weakened, it remains high relative to many other European states, and a large majority of schools continue to claim a religious ethos. Yet, there has been remarkable social change on the island during the twenty-first century which makes it a particularly interesting location for exploring the dynamics of education, the law, religion and the state (McCrudden et al., 2024). One example of this is in the employment of teachers. Against the backdrop of the legal right to discriminate on the basis of religion¹ when appointing teachers, several societal shifts have taken place. Firstly, there is the changing demographics. The number of non-religious people across the populations of Northern Ireland and Ireland is rising steadily (Central statistics office [CSO], 2023; Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency [NISRA], 2022), while the number of schools with a strong religious ethos or culture remains largely unchanged. Secondly, there has been a cultural shift in the public role of religion (Gribben, 2021) which has meant that even though the majority of the population is associated with a religious tradition, there is decreasing support for religious control over publicly funded resources (Ganiel, 2016). This has led to a rising incongruity between the prominent status of religion in schools and religion in wider society. Thirdly, there is evidence from a number of sources that teachers coming into the profession across the island find a disjunction between their own beliefs and certain religious roles they are asked to fulfil in schools (Heinz et al., 2018; Kieran et al., 2020; Milliken et al., 2019). Further, focusing on the situation in Ireland, Heinz et al. (2018) speculate that the effect of this conflict could be to push well-motivated, competent student-teachers and teachers to leave the profession. Alternatively, those who remain ‘may experience significant, and likely unforeseen, difficulties throughout their ITE [Initial Teacher Education] and professional careers due to tensions between their personal and professional lives’ (p. 243). Yet very little is known about these teachers who hold non-religious beliefs and have taken employment in schools with a religious culture. This research aims to provide insights into the professional lives of a sample of such teachers in post-primary schools on the island of Ireland.

Teachers and religious schools

There is a well-developed field of educational literature which has debated the role of religious schools within democratic societies (R. Jackson, 2003; Martínez-Ariño & Teinturier, 2019; Parker-Jenkins et al., 2005). On one side, are those who assert the right to faith-based education (Judge, 2001) along with supporting arguments for their contribution to academic success (Andrews & Johnes, 2016; Schagen & Schagen, 2005), ability to support vulnerable minorities (Merry, 2015) and create an environment where positive values and a search for truth are prioritised (Sullivan, 2012). On the other side, publicly funded common schools which adopt a pluralist and objective stance on beliefs and values are held as fundamental for the preservation of liberal democracy (Levinson, 1999) and, in turn, faith-schools are accused of being indoctrinatory (Hand, 2003), inimical to children’s rights (Marples, 2005) and likely to undermine social cohesion (Judge, 2001). These arguments, on both sides, tend to presume a broad agreement regarding what is defined as a religious school, though the reality is often less than clear. Taken in a broad sense, ‘religious schools’ are those with religious cultures and can include ‘faith-based schools’ (whether publicly or privately funded) as well as schools which are ‘state-controlled’ but retain religious characteristics or practices (Alberts, 2019; Franken, 2021). The question of what counts as a religious school can also have significance for teachers, which is of particular interest to our research. Where teachers’ faith or beliefs of teachers are reflected in schools’ values, their choice of a teaching as a career is often seen as a vocation or mission (White, 2010). Faith can also influence their pedagogical choices (Baurain, 2012). However, when teachers’ beliefs are different from those in the dominant religious culture of a school, they can experience difficulties, including access to employment (Bakali, 2015; Worth et al., 2022).

In an Irish context, it is known that young people from under-represented groups, including minority religions, find it difficult to access routes into initial teacher education (Heinz et al., 2018; Keane & Heinz, 2016). It is noteworthy too that non-religious student teachers in both Ireland and Northern Ireland have reported challenges in accessing and progressing through initial teacher education (Kieran et al., 2020). This has been against the backdrop of employment legislation which allows teachers to be discriminated against on the ground of religion. Despite such discrimination, non-religious teachers do find themselves employed in religious schools, but little is known about their experiences. Knowing how non-religious teachers manage their beliefs and values is especially important given the growing awareness that teachers’ beliefs can have a significant influence upon a teachers’ professional identity (Biesta et al., 2015; Korthagen, 2009) and, in turn, the quality of their professional work-life in areas such as agency (Billett, 2006) and well-being (Day & Kington, 2008). The importance for individuals of finding meaning in work is not unique to teachers but it is the potential outcomes that successful or unsuccessful attempts at meaning-making may have upon their learners that give it especially salience to this group of professionals. The intention of this study is to investigate whether those teachers who designate themselves as non-religious find that their identity has a bearing upon their day-to-day experience of employment and their sense of professional progression.

Context: teachers, education and the law on the island of Ireland

Within each jurisdiction on the island of Ireland, teachers’ salaries are paid by the state although their contract of employment is generally with one of a range of arms-length bodies such as patrons, sectoral bodies, education authorities and, in some cases, schools themselves. Unlike some contexts such as the USA or Germany where the role of churches in employment has come under sustained scrutiny in the courts (Evans & Hood, 2012), the role of religious bodies as employers of teachers on the island of Ireland has not been tested. This may be a result of the cultural homogeneity that has existed around these schools for much of their existence. The education systems in both parts of the island arose out of a context where the state and religious bodies became interdependent in the establishment of a national school system (Armstrong, 2016; Coolahan, 1981). This overlap of interests was reflected in the role of teachers as guardians of religious values and eventually translated into employment law or the lack of it. Two examples can be used to illustrate this. Firstly, there is no conscience clause for teachers in matters of religion, with the exception of certain (‘Controlled’) schools in Northern Ireland. This means that most schools can expect teachers to provide religious education for pupils. Secondly, in respect of teacher employment, schools were made exempt from equality legislation when it was introduced (originally in the 1970s in Northern Ireland and as a result of European Law on both parts of the island in 1998). While this exemption has now been removed in Northern Ireland (Bain, 2021), it remains for the employment of teachers in the Ireland (Section 37(1), Employment Equality Acts, 1998–2015).

Despite having distinct political governance on both parts of the island, there has been much that is common in relation to the role of religion in education. This is due to the shared roots of the education system before 1921 and the all-island governance of churches which have had such a significant role in education. Yet there are also inconsistencies and differences emerging in how each system is addressing issues of diversity in education. Taking an all-island perspective provides a novel opportunity for researchers to understand the evolution of diversity within these education systems where the influence of churches has remained significant.

School ethos and schools as communities

The cultural homogeneity around schools noted above has traditionally been religious and is given formal expression in definitions of their ‘ethos’ and ‘characteristic spirit’.

In Northern Ireland,² schools with a Catholic foundation (Maintained and Catholic Voluntary Grammars) promote a Catholic ethos (The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, 2001); those managed directly by the state (Controlled Schools) tend to have majority Protestant populations and adopt a non-denominational Christian ethos (Controlled Schools Support Council [CSSC], 2022); Integrated schools intentionally bring together children from Protestant, Catholic and other communities and are Christian-based.³ In Ireland, there is a complex range of designations or types of school but religion plays a major factor in the ethos or characteristic spirit of the majority⁴ (Faas & Fionda, 2019). The three main types of post-primary schools are voluntary secondary schools, Education and Training Board (ETB) schools (which include community colleges) and community and comprehensive schools. Voluntary secondary schools are privately owned and managed. They are mostly under the patronage of a religious community, a religious charitable trust or a private charitable company. This sector includes a small number of post-primary Educate Together schools; these schools describe themselves as ‘equality-based’ and teach an inclusive ‘ethical education’.⁵ ETB schools are formerly vocational schools, many of which have a legacy of Catholic influence in the life of the school (McCormack et al., 2019). Community and comprehensive schools are established either by one or more private or religious patron coming together with the ETB or as the result of the amalgamation of voluntary secondary and ETB schools. These schools are managed by the ETB which, as noted already, promoted a Catholic ethos. Change, however, is occurring, and in 2022, the ETB sector launched the ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos (2022) to address a lack of clarity on what constituted the ethos of an ETB school and to address major cultural, religious, political, social and demographic changes. The ethos in ETB schools is now described as ‘state, co-educational, multi-denominational … underpinned by the core values of: excellence in education; care; equality; community; and respect’ (Education and Training Boards Ireland [ETBI], 2022, p. 3).

In general, therefore, the majority of schools on the island have a religious climate to varying degrees and a strong ethos is generally valued as an institutional asset. Indeed, in Ireland, the Education Act (1998) mandates the schools’ board of management to uphold the characteristic spirit of the school. A strong ethos is therefore regarded as something which has bonding power and builds community among pupils and staff, however academic literature around ethos reminds us that ethos can pull in contrasting directions—inwards and outwards (Donnelly, 2000; Stern, 2009).

Stern (2009, p. xv) sees ethos as inward when it is defined in terms of ‘the character and dispositions of members of an institution, a description that is essentially internal to the institution and indicates the potential of the organisation.’ His definition of ethos as something that is internal leads him to conclude that it is essentially ‘passive and continuing’. This can be seen in situations where a school’s religious ethos is presented as something to be maintained and safeguarded, and teachers are conceptualised as guardians of the ethos. In Ireland, this has become formalised, for example, through the exemption of teacher appointments from equality legislation, on the grounds that they are involved in religious activity which is core to their job.

By contrast, there is an understanding of ethos as outward. Rather than formalised and monolithic, Smith (2003) sees it as being constructed and reconstructed in an ongoing interaction between staff, pupils, parents and the wider community. To make this distinction clear Stern (2009, p. xv) prefers the term ‘Spirit’ which is ‘transcendent, active and changing’ and more likely to be seen in events and emotions than in codes and policies. From this perspective, a strong school spirit is not to be preserved but cultivated through positive relationships, including staff relations. The Scottish philosopher John MacMurray captures this sentiment in his view of schools: If the staff is a community the school will be a community. If the staff is a mere society of functional co-operation nothing will make a community of the school. (MacMurray, 1946, p. 6) in (Stern, 2017, p. 18)

The importance of staff relationships in the development of a positive school community is also affirmed by Stern (2012) although he stresses that those relationships must be authentic; community should enrich, not diminish, authenticity. As Stern (2012, p. 733) puts it: ‘Learning to live in a community cannot mean learning to merge with the community.’ Similarly, McDaid et al. (2022, p. 216) writing about minority teachers in Ireland argue that they should be enabled to be ‘authentically present’ in their professional settings. They explain, ‘Being “authentically present” means that teachers may be fully open about their intersecting identities (e.g. class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion) in all their relationships in school—with school leaders, colleagues, students, parents and the community’ (p. 216).

This returns us to the tension then of school ethos and teacher beliefs. McLaughlin (2005) believes that an ethos cannot be entirely untethered from some purpose (telos) but he argues that consideration of its dynamic potential can open creative ways of thinking about and evaluating school issues. To take a dynamic view of ethos points to seeing diverse teacher beliefs through the lens of relationships rather than competing values. In contemporary Ireland, we see value in bringing this dynamic view into play when considering the place of non-religious teachers in religious-culture schools. Rather than seeing ethos as inward and strongly bounded, it opens a wider question of how to build authentic communities within which teachers of many different beliefs and worldviews can feel valued and play a full part in the school community. Helpfully, academic discussion around themes of agency and teacher beliefs can help us to further develop our understanding of what this means.

Teacher beliefs and agency

The concept of agency has been a long-standing concern of social scientists (Eteläpelto et al., 2013), and increasing attention has been given to it in relation to the professional work of teachers. Indeed, a new group of scholars (Biesta et al., 2015; Priestly et al., 2015) have articulated an ecological perspective on agency. Rather than seeing agency as located solely within the individual, the ecological view argues it must be understood in terms of the teacher’s interaction within their environment, where their agency can be enhanced or diminished. Of course, in these simple terms this is not a novel view; Billett (2006) and Eteläpelto et al. (2013), for example, provide detailed accounts of many theoretical positions that are taken in respect of the freedom of individuals to act vis a vis their environment. The ecological perspective can be characterised, however, as an attempt to steer a middle course between those who tend towards social determinism and those who tend towards a view of the individual as a rational, autonomous, intentional actor. Their view of the relationship between the individual and social is not one of mutuality or reciprocity but is ‘relational’, that is ‘to different degrees, entwined and interwoven’ (Billett, 2006, p. 60)

Like McLaughlin, Priestly et al. (2015) believe that education is inevitably tied to issues of purpose, so the teacher’s choices cannot be reduced to ‘doing what I want’. Rather, teachers act within a school community which is tied to a particular set of values concerning education. Drawing on Emirbayer and Mische (1998, p. 971) they describe this as the ‘iterative’ dimension to agency whereby ‘past patterns of thought and action [are] … incorporated in practical activity thereby giving stability and order to social universes and helping to sustain identities, interactions, and institutions over time.’ There are therefore limits on a teacher’s actions. This identification of a power dimension that constrains freedom is well established across sociological theories of agency, primarily as a lens for deconstruction of power imbalances. However, it is just one element of the multi-layered notion of ecological agency which aims to offer constructive ideas of how agency can be enacted by teachers within the bounds of their context. Again, the theme of relationships is at the core of this work and, for a teacher, this means their professional agency exists within a network of relationships with peers, senior leaders, parents or guardians and pupils. According to advocates of ecological agency, for teachers’ agency to be enriched these relationships should have a ‘practical-evaluative’ dimension in which teachers are able to make choices ‘between different options in any given situation’ (Priestly et al., 2015, p. 141).

A third dimension of agency is ‘projective’ agency, which is a teacher’s ability to ‘visualise alternative futures in their practice’ (p. 130). Put another way, projective agency can be thought of as a teacher having a voice in shaping the school community and the ability to develop aspirations in their professional work. One wonders, though, how many teachers are likely to have the confidence to articulate ideas of this type if they run counter to the existing culture of the school. We know that how teachers practise agency is connected to their self-identity (Vähäsantanen & Eteläpelto, 2011), and that where teachers find themselves at odds with normative conceptions of professional identity they are likely to ‘foreclose’ on their identities leading to ‘isolation and marginalization’ (Zembylas, 2003, p. 125). Indeed, thinking of the context of this research, we might speculate that non-religious teachers who are aware that their minority views could be regarded negatively by the majority, are likely to lack confidence and therefore be less able to exercise projective agency. Keane (2023, p. 1) found this to be the case in relation to difference in social class. She described how student teachers from lower socio-economic backgrounds in Ireland engaged in ‘chameleoning’ or being ‘different people’ in different contexts, while on school placement. The behaviour was motivated by a desire to fit in and not to be looked down upon. A further example, is the sense of projective agency amongst LGBTQ+ teachers. An all-island trade union (Irish National Teachers Organisation [INTO], 2020) found that only 18% of LGBTQ+ teachers in Ireland and 12% in Northern Ireland have declared their orientation in the school community. In other words, the majority continue to hide their sexuality due to fears of discrimination and concerns about the impact of their sexuality on employment and promotion prospects despite the existence of legal protections in wider society. Perhaps, this is not surprising when the values of many religious schools outrightly reject non-heterosexual identities (Heinz et al., 2017), and it points to how teachers can be prevented from taking a full part in an institution when the formal values outwardly discriminate against them.

Adopting a post-structuralist view, Zembylas (2003) believes that teachers in such situations can be helped: Firstly, by coming to a theoretical understanding of the contingent and messy nature of identity and, secondly, by being provided with practical ways in which they can re-tell identity narratives that illuminate their position. He believes this could have the effect of giving permission for the teachers to take authorial power over their stories which can help them to resist and reshape normative and controlling practices (Zembylas & Barker, 2007).

Overall, we can see evidence that some teachers on the island of Ireland are struggling to find their agentic space within the current system, and their inability to imagine a future is forcing some to reconsider their career. Yet more needs to be known around this important area which has led us to pursue the following research questions:

1. How do non-religious teachers experience and manage expectations relating to religious belief and practice in religious schools?

2. What aspirations do religious teachers have for themselves as part of the school community?

Method and sample

To answer the research questions, a qualitative methodology (R. L. Jackson et al., 2007) utilising semi-structured interviews with non-religious post-primary teachers was adopted as the most valuable way to explore the lived experiences of non-religious teachers. The researchers used purposive sampling (Campbell et al., 2020) to recruit post-primary teachers who self-identified as non-religious and had experience working in a school with a religious ethos. The terms ‘non-religious’ and ‘schools with a religious ethos’ are subject to interpretation, so it is important to comment on our approach. In relation to non-religious teachers, the researchers were conscious of the need to de-centre non-religious identity from religion. As Silver et al. (2014) note, non-belief is a ‘cultural fact’ and those who identify as such should be free to do so on their own terms. Indeed, some may continue to belong to or associate with religious labels even if they don’t believe (Hackett, 2014; Lee, 2014). Similarly, the assignation ‘religious school’ is not straightforward. Other research has shown that the degree of religious culture cannot always be determined by the school type: not all religious schools have strong religious cultures (McGraw, 2015) and not all publicly funded schools are secular (Franken, 2021). Thus, teachers were free to identify themselves as non-religious in their own terms and, similarly, to identify the religiousness of school culture based on their experience. Interestingly, there was a wide variety of schools identified as such.

Recruitment of participants involved several strategies. Initially, a number of established humanist organisations and social network groups were contacted and permission was granted to advertise for participants. Similarly, the researchers advertised the research project on social media through their universities. Snowball sampling was also utilised, whereby participants were asked at interview if they had colleagues who may be interested in participating in the research. This enabled a wider reach to participants who were not members of non-religious groups or social media followers. The research was advertised between June and August 2020 at a time when, in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, schools were exempt from equality legislation when employing teachers.⁶ The criteria for selection shared in the invitation were as follows: a non-religious worldview and experience of teaching in a post-primary school on the island of Ireland which had a religious ethos. In total, 15 participants were interviewed 5 from Northern Ireland and 10 from Ireland. When interviewed, 14 were currently teaching and one had left the teaching profession (see Table 1). Due to the restrictions of COVID-19 video-call software was used to facilitate the interviews. Consideration was given to the ethical aspects of the research, and any risks identified were addressed through mitigations. There was no coercion, participants knew they could withdraw at any time and measures were put in place in relation to confidentiality and anonymity. The project received ethical approval from the SSESW Ethics Committee of Queen’s University Belfast (Table 1).

Table 1. Types of school where participants were employed.

Participant	Location	School-types
#1	NI	Controlled; Catholic Maintained
# 2	NI	Voluntary Grammar; Catholic Maintained
# 3	NI	Voluntary Grammar; Catholic Maintained
# 4	NI	Controlled; Voluntary Grammar
# 5	NI	Catholic Voluntary Grammar
# 6	IRL	Community School (ETB+Catholic patron)
# 7	IRL	Community School (ETB+Catholic patron)
# 8	IRL	Voluntary secondary school (Church of Ireland patron); Community School (ETB+ Catholic patron)
# 9	IRL	Community School (ETB+Catholic patron)
# 10	IRL	ETB Vocational School (ETB sole patron); Voluntary secondary school (Catholic patron)
# 11	IRL	Voluntary secondary school (Catholic patron)
#12	IRL	Voluntary Secondary school (Catholic patron)
#13	IRL	Voluntary Secondary School (Catholic patron)
#14	IRL	Community College (ETB sole patron)
#15	IRL	Community School (ETB+ Catholic patron)

Interview transcripts were generated by Microsoft Teams software and uploaded to NVivo 10 software. All interview transcripts were coded and analysed using a ‘codebook thematic analysis’ (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2022) whereby initial themes are conceptualised through several phases to form an overarching framework.

Findings and discussion

Of particular interest to us was how teachers made sense of their reality and the extent to which the wider school context influenced their sense-making processes. As the analysis developed, it was possible to see a reciprocating pattern between the teacher and school context around four core themes: school expectations; outer conformity; challenging expectations; ethical conflicts; career progression. Each of these is discussed in turn below.

School expectations

Given the dominance of religion in schools in Ireland, we were somewhat surprised to find that, for the majority of participants, entering a school with a religious ethos had a disorientating effect. Most of our teachers struggled initially to make sense of their place within the school. This may be partly due to the cultural encapsulation of many learners during their journey through education and into teacher education which limits their opportunity to experience a range of school types. However, a particular surprise for some teachers was in relation to schools which were not denominationally aligned and even advertised themselves as inter-denominational or multidenominational yet maintained a strong religious monoculture. Participants reported experiences of such in ETB schools in the South and Controlled schools in the North. One participant, for example, described her ETB school as ‘multidenominational with an overarching Catholic feeling’ where she was expected to ‘march’ students down to the Catholic Church. Confusion around school ethos has been reported in other studies. Both Liddy et al. (2019) and McCormack et al. (2019) highlighted uncertainty amongst teachers and other education stakeholders about the status of ETB schools and found that there were aspects of school life where religious belief of teachers was assumed and this went largely unquestioned. While in Northern Ireland, Barnes (2021) has observed that Controlled schools can be considered Christian, religious or secular depending on their context. Our evidence showed that such confusion allows conditions to persist where traditional religious expectations can have a silencing effect on non-religious teachers. One teacher in a Controlled school said,

… I remember mentioning when I was on playground duty to a teacher I’d become friendly with that I was an atheist and he said, ‘Don’t say that in here’. (P1)

The expectation for teachers to support the religious elements of school life was generally most explicit in Catholic schools. Another teacher from Northern Ireland spoke of feeling ‘bullied’ into making sure her pupils went to confession and got their ashes on Ash Wednesday (both are rites within the Catholic Church). Across the sample, the majority of participants were not only asked to take students to church but attend religious assemblies in school and lead prayers in classes. In a smaller number of cases they were expected to teach religious education, light candles as part of staff meetings, attend a pilgrimage or prepare religious music for services.

What stands out from the data is the tendency for ‘community’ to be experienced by these teachers as an expectation for uniformity in relation to a certain set of values and practices. For Donnelly (2000) and Stern (2009), this is the inward pull of ethos. While boundaries are an inevitable aspect of any community, Stern notes that a drive to strengthen community through uniformity and inwardness can result in passivity and stagnation. In addition, our data showed that an emphasis on an inward ethos in religious schools causes there to be a blindness to difference among the workforce. This lack of recognition makes difference an issue rather than a norm and so non-religious teachers feel they are faced with a difficult choice—should they resist the expectations and adopt a position as an ‘other’ or do they conform to expectations despite their personal beliefs. Some examples of these responses will be given below but it is also possible to see that teachers in our sample were keen to re-frame the narrative (Zembylas, 2003). They were of the view that this was an unnecessary choice and could be overcome if expectations were adjusted. The Controlled school teacher above elaborated, ‘I think that if you’re an atheist you should have the right to say, ‘Well, I don’t believe that’ and perhaps there’s a way round it.‘ (P1) She went on to explain that a combination of exemption and voluntary participation would create fairer expectations, although she recognised that the legislation worked against such provision. Similarly, the majority of our teachers, when asked how things could be different, felt strongly that legislation exempting schools from equality law should be rescinded, as one teacher from Ireland explained: I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it should be enshrined in law that you can choose somebody based on their religion if all of their other attributes fit. (P8)

Outer conformity

Faced with these school expectations, the majority of our non-religious teachers chose to suppress their personal views and conform outwardly. Many used the analogy of acting to describe their attempts to ‘merge with the community’ (Stern, 2012, p. 733), for example, a female teacher from Northern Ireland with many years of teaching experience in a Catholic Grammar school said:

I think I see it as playing a role, playing a game, you know, like an actor that’s been asked to step outside their beliefs for a role type thing. But it is, it’s awful because, again, I’m an educator and it’s not in our nature, you know. (P3)

This particular participant was clearly searching for a way to be authentic but was unable. As well as this, phrases were used which signalled participants’ limited agency such as, ‘toe the party line’ or ‘I had to ingratiate myself’ or ‘you don’t have a choice’. Often the reason for the lack of choice was expressed as fear although this arose from a variety of different sources—fear of losing their job, fear of the disapproval of other teachers and in some cases, fear of the pupils and what they might report back to their parents and other teachers.

For some this fear resulted in choosing to look for work in an alternative school and in one case a teacher who had been teaching in a Catholic school in Ireland chose to end her teaching career. Her decision had direct economic consequences:

So not only does it dislocate you in a career way, but socially as well, because there are economic results … … … . I could have got a mortgage with that job, you know, and I don’t have a mortgage. (P6)

Researchers in the USA (Bristol, 2020; Ingersoll et al., 2021) have reported that minority teachers are more likely to leave the profession early than teachers from majority-group backgrounds. No such data are available in relation to non-religious teachers in either jurisdiction on the island of Ireland but the evidence from our interviews shows that while the majority of our teachers chose to remain in religious schools, they experienced varying levels of discomfort in assimilating into the school culture.

The most common forms of conformity involved making a pretence of faith through attending church services, saying prayers in class and participating in religious assemblies. Conformity was also manifested as self-censorship. In our sample, only two of the teachers expressed a willingness to openly identify as non-religious. By contrast, others spoke of ‘forsaking’ their own values and one explained, ‘most of what happens is you suppress your own personal views in order to get by’. Unlike the teacher above who chose to take the difficult economic choice, others were more pragmatic about their choice. One Northern Ireland teacher said:

I would like to actually be a lot more outspoken in general about it and, you know, not feel such a hypocrite, but I’m also mindful, you know, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you either. (P1)

Challenging expectations

While the majority of teachers sustained an outer conformity, some teachers found ways to express their beliefs through non-compliance or challenging the expectations set for them. One chose to replace Catholic prayers in her classroom with a period of silence, another said she found the courage to say ‘I’m going to stand back’ when it came to involvement in a school Mass. One male teacher from Northern Ireland was the only one who at an interview for promotion made it clear that he was non-religious. Indeed, he asked the principal during the interview if that would impede his chances of longer-term career progression within the school. The response from the principal was that it might, ‘on the pastoral side of things’, and there would be ‘no problem otherwise’, though ‘… you should keep your opinions to yourself’.

Looking back to the definitions of agency above, it is clear that these efforts to speak honestly and authentically are best defined as individual attempts to exercise autonomy. They fall short of ecological agency as described by Priestly et al. (2015) as the teachers’ voices are not welcomed in shaping the wider life of the school.

In addition, the responses from participants revealed significant differences in their ability to reflect on their own beliefs. Priestly et al. (2015) conclude that an agentic teacher is aware of how their own educational and social histories influence their choices and actions. For many, the ability to sustain a career as a teacher in a religious school involved intentional or unintentional avoidance strategies in relation to reflection on their personal and professional values. One participant was not alone when she stated that participation in the research interview had caused her to bring issues to the surface which she generally preferred not to think about.

When asked how things could be different, teachers spoke of the need for a ‘culture of openness’. Resonant with Stern’s (2009) concept of the ‘school spirit’, responses contained within them a wish for an outward facing ethos that was dynamic and changing, and there was frustration about the expectation to conform to traditional religious modes. Interestingly, as Stern (2009) predicts, this was spoken of in relation to events and emotions rather than codes or policies. One participant from Ireland, for example, spoke in relation to ‘graduation’ or leaving ceremonies in an ETB school:

You’re sitting there with all your sixth years and all their families come, and it’s in a hotel, so it’s not in a religious setting, and yet the first half of it is a Catholic mass, and then they go up and get communion. You know, and you’ve got Muslim kids sitting there and you’ve got different Christian religions sitting there, and I just find it very exclusive. I don’t understand why it’s not interfaith, you know. It shouldn’t, in my opinion, be a Catholic mass, even if the school is a Christian ethos. That has jarred with me more and more over the years. (P12)

This teacher’s comments illuminate for us the nature of schools as ‘sites of cultural practice’ (Heinz et al., 2022, p. 230). Through her own experiences, she is clearly very conscious of how the uncritical reproduction of dominant cultures can have marginalising effects.

Ethical conflicts

Staying quiet and keeping a low profile was also a normal response by most of our non-religious teachers when ethical issues were to the fore. Sometimes these ethical issues arose from the lifestyle choices made by the teachers which were considered outside of religious norms. Neary et al. (2018, p. 439) found that religious ethos caused ‘uncertainty and fear’ for LGBT-Q teachers in Ireland and this reproduced a culture of ‘heteronormativity and silence’. Similarly, in our study, there was a wariness on the part of teachers from engaging with issues relating to sexual orientation and a concern from some that they would be judged. One woman described her experience as a young unmarried expectant mother:

I do remember sort of in the staffroom and at various places sort of talking about my partner and maybe how long we’d been together and how it wasn’t like some one-night stand or whatever, do you know what I mean, just kind of almost justifying it. (P7)

Others spoke of their deep discomfort in having to teach about abortion in Religious Education or Relationships and Sexuality Education classes, where there was an expectation that a religiously informed message would be conveyed. Unfortunately for some of our non-religious teachers, over time, ethical conflicts had resulted in them feeling the need to withdraw and one participant explained in relation to other non-religious colleagues, ‘It kind of affects their own chances of promotion or their own chances of, I suppose, involvement in everyday school life.’ (P13)

Similar to the feelings of fear above, the cumulative effect of avoiding conflict and suppressing their values was diminished relationships with colleagues, pupils and senior managers. There is an emotional cost or toll on teachers who try to hide their differences in order to fit in (Bristol, 2020). Individuals who had experienced isolation or hostility as a result of these types of conflict were passionate about the need for a respectful staff working environment where they would not be judged:

There have been things said in the staffroom that have really hurt me … You know, things that if I let them sort of get under my skin, you know, it’s because at the end of the day a school has to respect who it employs as well, I feel. I feel we’re all working together. (P7)

This participant understood from her experience what Stern and MacMurray have theorised about in relation to the fundamental contribution that authentic professional relationships have to the spirit of a school. From Stern’s (2009) perspective diverse ethical perspectives need not result in staffrooms that are sites of conflict; difference can be viewed as part of a rich tapestry of plural views. He is in no doubt, however, that a spirit of inclusion does not arise by default but needs to be cultivated.

Zembylas (2003) points out that it is through discursive practices that teachers can experience hurt, isolation or shame but it is also through changing these practices, especially the way people speak about difference, that teachers can position themselves and take confidence in their identity. This requires agency. Yet, encouraging teachers to take agency over their own narrative might result in a workplace of individuals with strongly held competing views, who feel authentic in themselves but in direct opposition with those who adopt different authentic positions. The response from those who adopt a relational or ecological view of agency is to frame the individual within a larger collective and point to the multiple ways in which the individual is interdependent on the social. Thus, agency is about ‘humanising social relations and social structures, and locating a legitimate and appropriate role for individuals in directing their cognition, learning, and the remaking of culture’ (Billett, 2006, p. 65).

Career progression

Of particular interest to us as researchers were the potential impact on career choices for non-religious teachers in religious schools. Previous studies have identified that student teachers on the island of Ireland have concerns in this regard, especially as they anticipate their transition into employment (Heinz et al., 2018; Kieran et al., 2020). We were not surprised then to find that many of our teachers described a chill factor in relation to career progression as other researchers have found that where teachers experience barriers on entry to the profession, these can become more pronounced as they move through the system (Worth et al., 2022). Our sample perceived a glass-ceiling around promotions and offered numerous examples of non-religious teachers who had been overlooked for senior appointments or of religious people being successful in promotion.

Interestingly, when they were asked about their own experiences, some explained that they had not applied for the promotions as they believed there was little point. Our teachers lacked the emotional and financial resources to confront the situation. Further, they had internalised a discursive practice around their limited opportunities which generally resulted in lowering their aspirations and not actively seeking promotions within a religious school. Their narrative was strengthened by the reality of formalised discrimination which they were unprepared to challenge. As one said:

I don’t want to be in the High Courts you know what I mean kind of testing that particular rule personally, I really wouldn’t want to be, you know. I couldn’t afford to lose my job first of all, I couldn’t afford to take legal action, I think so many people are in that position. (P7)

Nonetheless, they were keen for legislative change not just to secure equal rights but to provide a more diverse workforce, with diverse role models for young people:

I think that you cannot have an enriching environment for young people if you don’t allow them access to people with different opinions and give them the opportunity to immerse themselves in as diverse a community as they possibly can. Religious diversity is one of many different types of diversity, but it’s a very important one. (P4)

Heinz et al. (2022) have identified similar calls for ‘role-models’ and ‘diversity’ from their investigations of research into the diversification of the teaching workforce in Europe, but they note that such responses must also take seriously the ‘normative and dominant institutional culture in schools’ (p. 228) which act as barriers to many forms of diversity.

Similarly, our research shows in the key themes above, the context in which they found themselves was highly significant in shaping the way in which the teachers made sense of their reality. A combination of their lack of legal protection as non-religious employees, their sense that a religious identity conferred certain advantages as well as fears around speaking openly about their own values and beliefs created a reality for them in which career progression was limited or restricted in comparison to their peers.

Conclusions

We set out to understand how non-religious teachers experience and manage expectations in religious schools. Our participants painted a picture across the island where religious-culture schools would expect teachers to show support for the school ethos through a range of practices such as attendance at assemblies, leading prayers and teaching in line with religious values or doctrines. There was a strong sense of inwardness to this ethos. As a result, our research shows that the majority of teachers in our sample felt undervalued and unable to integrate fully into the school community. Most felt fearful to be themselves.

The most common way teachers found to manage the expectations was through conformity. These conformist teachers felt a social pressure to merge into the school community, withdraw their voice and internalise their lack of agency. Therefore, in answer to our second research question about the aspirations non-religious teachers have for themselves as part of the school community, we can say that in our sample they were generally weak.

The concept of an ecological view of agency (Biesta et al., 2015) is helpful in illuminating that teachers do not have power to change their fortunes alone. This was confirmed by the patterns evident in our data analysis which showed how teachers’ sense of reality was dependent upon their context. In other words, their identity was highly influenced by the school expectations, norms of discursive practice among their colleagues and awareness of the legal limits to their equality in the workplace. We also noted that these contexts possessed intersecting elements of marginalisation in relation to values, beliefs and identity. To address the challenges faced by non-religious teachers it is necessary, therefore, to create the conditions in which they can have their identity valued and their career opportunities enhanced. Changing the legal context is the most obvious way to address this. As such, it is pleasing that since the collection of data, one of the jurisdictions, Northern Ireland,⁷ has already made the change. Nonetheless, removing fear and formal discrimination is only one step and our research shows others are required.

Schools ought to strive to be authentic communities (McDaid et al., 2022; Stern, 2012) where teachers can exercise freedom within a school culture where difference is normal and valued. Conditions for participation include the freedom to choose when to be involved. This could be greatly helped by the introduction of a conscience clause for all teachers in relation to religious activities in schools. However, exercising freedom to step back from religious activities should not mean that teachers have no voice in discussion or decisions around educational values. Rather, schools should elevate the voice of minorities in discussions about the wider purpose of education. Lack of belief in the dominant religious culture of a school should not seal off access to discussions around the school vision or educational purposes, indeed an inclusive school culture would provide opportunities for all teachers to visualise alternative futures and participate in the wider purpose of an educational vision (Stern, 2018).

Finally, in terms of managing expectations, Priestly et al. (2015) remind us that teachers too need to find opportunities for reflection on how their beliefs and values influence their actions and participation in the wider school community. The self-reflection and creative responses brought forward from participants during our interviews suggest there is good reason to have confidence in teachers’ abilities to cultivate new subjectivities (Zembylas, 2003) when given space and time to do so.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North-South.

Notes

1. In Ireland, under Section 37(1), Employment Equality Acts, (1998–2015) school teachers are exempt from equality employment law; In Northern Ireland under Article 71 of the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998 school teachers have been exempt from equality law.

2. In NI, 47% are Catholic Maintained or Catholic Voluntary Grammar Schools, 44% are Controlled or Voluntary Grammar, and 9% are Integrated (ID 2019).

3. https://nicie.org/what-is-integrated-education/integrated-ethos/

4. In Ireland the Department of Education and Skills 2020/21 report based on each school’s October returns found 71% of post-primary schools in Ireland are managed by a religious patron or by a religious patron in partnership with the ETB (Department of Education 2021).

5. https://www.educatetogether.ie/about/overview/

6. In NI on March 24, 2022 a bill was passed to no longer permit discrimination on religious grounds when appointing teachers. However, at the time of writing, there has been no such change in Ireland.

7. Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.