Part of SPHE programme was ‘drafted by a moron’

Parents need to be aware that some aspects of the mandatory SPHE programme in schools are racist, anti-Irish and disturbing, members of Westmeath County Council warned at their September meeting.

Cllr Andrew Duncan moved a motion proposing that the council write to Norma Foley, TD, Minister for Education, calling for the removal of the mandatory aspect of the secondary level Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) classes and that the entire SPHE curriculum be reviewed.

He was seconded by Cllr Denis Leonard.

Cllr Duncan claimed that one book which is being used depicts a redheaded family outside a traditional Irish cottage.

The family is depicted as backward and insular. A second family, of mixed nationality, is depicted as progressive, cultured and forward thinking. Members were alarmed that such material should “get through the net” and find its way to the curriculum, and demanded to know who had “signed off on it”.

Cllr Duncan said he spoke to teachers who felt that the programme was “a load of something beginning with b and ending with x”, but they feared that if they spoke up they would be “targeted and called bigots”.

He believed that the programme was worthwhile at the beginning, but now was “absolute drivel”, that there was an agenda behind it that was anti-Irish, and that “it was drafted by a moron”.

Cllr Duncan urged parents to get a copy of the entire SPHE curriculum and “they will realise what it contains”.

Other members supported the motion, some of them saying that several aspects of the SPHE programme were disturbing and others suggesting that more energy should be put into stamping out bullying.

Cllr Aoife Davitt said the SPHE curriculum is based on respect for others and is anti-bullying. She submitted that there was “lots of good in it and lots of very positive things in it”.

An outright ban of the programme might not be the right approach, she said.

Cllr Duncan assured the members that he was not looking for an outright ban, just the removal of the mandatory aspect of the programme.

He agreed to his motion being circulated to Oireachtas members and to other local authorities and to a clarification of what aspects of the programme were opposed.