Maeve

for them during the school day and they know they're different and they can sense that and it's just so unfair.

No.

No, I mean, I just don't think that's the solution.

I don't think that's something I'm willing to do.

I mean, we're not a religious family.

I mean, I was raised Catholic, but I have absolutely, when I don't practice it, it's not part of our faith, so it feels so disingenuous for us to do that.

And, you know, I just don't know how I could...

Yeah, how I could explain that to my children in a way that makes sense.

So the thing is, going along with... Sorry, go on.

And I think the other point to mention here too, which hasn't been raised, is the fact of the teachers as well.

I mean, they're another big, important part of this conversation where, you know, Section 37 of the Constitution states

states that they cannot be seen to undermine the ethos of the school.

And so that's already a huge barrier for a lot of teachers then who can't speak out freely.

They have to go along with teaching this curriculum that they themselves may not believe in, may not practice.

And so there's a huge amount of time and preparation.

We know our teachers are such dedicated people and will do justice to this curriculum, but they spend hours a week preparing material that they're not particularly

invested in or that they're not aligned in and so that's another part of the conversation as well I think that we have to be mindful of and I have plenty of teachers in my family who would say this you know and I'm sure

behind the scenes, they say, oh, you know, it's such a waste of time.

We could be spending it on teaching religious education more broadly, you know, having a more expansive, holistic approach to religion of all faiths.

You know, we know that our schools are diverse places now.