Education

"To teach well, kindness and patience though indispensable will not suffice without a solid foundation of a good education and a judicious method of imparting knowledge. If we in Catholic schools are not efficient teachers, our schools must degenerate, our scholars will seek education elsewhere"
Catherine McAuley.

Primary

Catherine McAuley’s involvement with Primary Education pre-dates the founding of our Congregation. The first classroom in Baggot St opened in 1827. Her aim was to provide Catholic Education for poor children but not wanting to set up a “ghetto-like” school she immediately aligned herself with the National School system.
Initially our schools had a sister teaching in every classroom. This remained the case well into the 20th century. Over the years the number of sisters in primary education has gradually decreased. At this point in time very few of our schools have sisters on the staff and fewer still have a sister-principal. However our schools still continue to have a vibrant Catholic/Mercy ethos.

Our society in the 21st Century is enormously different from those first one hundred and fifty years and the rate of change continues at a rapid pace. This dramatic change calls for us to look again at our Primary Schools to ensure that into the future Catholic schooling remains an option for those who wish to avail of it. Having assessed our inability to carry the trusteeship of our primary schools into the future we initiated a process of discussion with each diocesan Bishop. At this point we have decided, in principle, to entrust the Trusteeship of Mercy Primary Schools to the Bishop of each diocese. This process of transfer will take place over a period of three years. It will ensure that catholic education remains an option for those who desire it for their children.

In keeping with our Foundress’ call for her sisters to be efficient teachers, some of our sisters have, in recent years, trained in a Reading Recovery Programme. This is a highly effective short-term intervention of one-to-one tutoring for low-achieving infants. The intervention is most effective when it is available at a particular age to all students who need it. It is used as a supplement to good classroom teaching. Some of our trained sisters offer this service on a voluntary basis.
Many sisters across the province are also involved in teaching English to foreign nationals.

Post Primary

The Secondary school teacher deals with a variety of age groups – usually from twelve to eighteen or nineteen years. The incoming students from Primary Level have normally been taught by one person, so a wide variety of teachers can be both challenging and interesting for them when they progress to second level.

Secondary Education is student-centered and many helps are provided both for the weaker student and for those who have behavioural difficulties. Patience and perseverance can work wonders and teachers strive to instil in their charges a sense of their true worth and an appreciation of their innate gifts. In this way the obvious pitfall of the Points System at Leaving Cert., and its over emphasis on amassing high grades, can be played down.
We are involved with our students, not only academically but also in their joys and sorrows, in bereavements and in the ups and downs of life. Indeed we gain as much as we give, and contact with young people keeps one on one’s toes, but also young at heart. One does need God’s patience, a sense of humour, and a genuine interest in young people, but the work is never boring. As the late Oscar Romero put it:

‘ We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own’

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