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Jobs bar on non-Catholic teachers 'iniquitous'

Teaching leaders yesterday reiterated their criticism of the Catholic Church's right to select teachers for denominational schools on the basis of their faith.

The attack was made by John Quigley, outgoing president of the Educational Institute of Scotland.

He described the power as "iniquitous", saying: "How do you measure somebody's religious commitment and moral standing with a view to establishing whether a skilled and qualified teacher should be denied employment on these grounds alone.

"Yet we have a law which says you can make such judgments and on these grounds alone deny jobs to people in schools which they are funding through their own rates and taxes."

Under the 1980 Education Act, the Catholic Church has the right to veto teachers on grounds of faith. But there are concerns the law conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights which protects people from discrimination on religious grounds.

Full story at The Scotsman.