Required Qualifications to Teach Catholic Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools on the Island of Ireland
The Catechetics Council of the Irish Bishops’ Conference currently (as of January 2018) recognises the following providers of this programme in Religious Education/Religious Studies, or its equivalent.
NOTE: Only candidates holding one of the following qualifications may be selected for interview in Catholic primary schools. Candidates holding a Certificate programme approved by the England and Wales Bishops’ Conference (e.g., the CRRS cert, Lifelight) must, if they are to be selected for interview, have completed a supplementary module on Religious Education in Ireland, available through DCU.
Candidates who do not hold these necessary qualifications may not be selected for interview.
DCU Institute of Education (St Patrick’s Campus)
• Certificate in Religious Studies (CRS) in conjunction with Catholic Religious Education in the BEd
• Certificate in Religious Studies in conjunction with Catholic Religious Education in the PMEP
• Certificate in Religious Studies (part-time)
• Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies Supplementary (in fulfilment of Appendix A of this document for those in possession of a CCRS from the Bishops of England and Wales)
Froebel College/St Patrick’s College, Maynooth
• Certificate in Catholic Religious Education and Theological Studies as part of BEd
• Post-Graduate Certificate in Catholic Religious Education and Theological Studies as part of PMEd
Hibernia College
• Certificate as part of PME
Marino Institute of Education
• The Certificate Course as part of the BEd
• The Certificate Course as part of the PME
Mary Immaculate College
• Certificate in Religious Education in conjunction with the BEd
• Qualification to teach Catholic Religious Education as part of the Professional Masters in Education (PME)
• Certificate in Religious Education (Graduate Programme)
St Angela’s College, Sligo
• Certificate in Primary School Religious Education (part-time)
St Mary’s University, Belfast
• Certificate as part of BEd Primary
• Certificate as part of PGCE (Postgraduate qualification)
The St Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education, University of Glasgow
• Catholic Teacher’s Certificate in Religious Education
A booklet explaining the necessary qualifications to teach Catholic Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools is available here.
Details of the CCRS Supplementary Course are available here.
