School student interest in religion raises problem of complusion
-28/08/06
According t
School student interest in religion raises problem of complusion
-28/08/06
According to the latest GSCE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) results, published last week, there has been a 7.5 per cent increase in the total number of UK school students studying Religious Education.
Seven per cent more students took the GCSE short course in Religious Education this year than last, representing an extra 20,000 students and taking the total to 271,251. There was a small rise in the number achieving A*-C grades in the course.
The full course, usually studied over two years, was taken by an extra 12,000 students – an 8.2 per cent rise to almost 160,000 students – with a 2 per cent rise in the number achieving A*-C.
Religious Education aims to provide students with a rounded picture of religion in the world. But it remains a controversial area because, by law, Christianity is supposed to be the predominant faith taught. Some schools put a great emphasis on ‘world religions’, but teaching about atheism, humanism and other life-stances is much less prevalent.
The purpose of RE is not generally supposed to be to inculcate belief of any particular kind, but to provide an understanding of the functioning and presence of different belief systems in society. But the law remains ambiguous on this point, and the positive work of many SACREs (local advisory committees) is hampered by this.
Both secular and faith community voices have called for a revision of the 1944 Education Act to end the privileging of one perspective within RE, which some would like to see re-moulded as education about life stances, religious and non-religious.
Canon John Hall, Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, commented on the GSCE statistics: “[These] figures are a testament to the hard work of students and their teachers across the country. It is no mean feat to increase the number of students taking a course by these sort of numbers, which are concrete evidence that young people are stimulated by the subject and fascinated by discovering more about what they and others believe and how that affects their day-to-day lives.”
“The false image of Religious Education as an easy option has been shattered by high quality teaching that allows students to explore a range of religious traditions and themes that in turn help them grasp the complexities of living in a multi-cultural world,” Canon Hall continued.
He added that the statistics give weight to calls to ensure the inclusion of Religious Education in the Government’s proposed 14-19 framework: “Implementation of the proposed flexible framework for study after the age of 14, aimed at boosting vocational study in the workplace, should reflect the fact that such a large number of students actively choose to take Religious Education as a qualification. We must not allow the subject to be sidelined or ignored altogether by those setting the curriculum for 14-19 year olds who take advantage of the new vocational study opportunities. Religious Education must be given due prominence in the compulsory elements of these students’ time in school, as the Government has recognised.”
However critics, like the National Secular Society, say that it is clearly wrong to make teaching about religion compulsory on the school curriculum, and that it constitutes a basic violation of the human rights of school students.
Commented Simon Barrow, co-director of the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia: “It is good news that students are wanting to study the role and impact of religious and other life stances and belief systems within society. If we are to understand each other better in a global society, this has to be encouraged. The price of ignorance or prejudice is deadly.”
“However”, he continued, “compulsion is not the way forward. In particular, it is not appropriate that UK law should continue to priviledge Christianity in the teaching of RE. This is bad for the health of both society and the churches, where open discourse needs to be encouraged.”
Barrow pointed out that a clear distinction needs to be maintained between teaching about religion in order to deepen undestanding, and teaching religion in order to inculcate faith. “The latter,” he said, “is the responsibility of churches and other faith communities, not the publicly funded education system. To blur this line is only to strengthen the cause of dogmatists who wish either to prevent students learning about religion at all, or who wish to impose one kind of religious or anti-religious viewpoint on this element of the curriculum.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Statement on religious education opens church schools up to accusations of double-standards; Why education should not divide on faith – by Andrew Copson, British Humanist Association; Churches told compulsory collective school worship is not on; Schools minister says creationism has no place in classroom science; RE can play key role in combatting extremism; New education minister walks into row on faith schools; Concern expressed over discrimination against the non-religious; Church schools told not to discriminate in employment; Government plans reopen debate on faith schools]
School student interest in religion raises problem of complusion
-28/08/06
According to the latest GSCE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) results, published last week, there has been a 7.5 per cent increase in the total number of UK school students studying Religious Education.
Seven per cent more students took the GCSE short course in Religious Education this year than last, representing an extra 20,000 students and taking the total to 271,251. There was a small rise in the number achieving A*-C grades in the course.
The full course, usually studied over two years, was taken by an extra 12,000 students – an 8.2 per cent rise to almost 160,000 students – with a 2 per cent rise in the number achieving A*-C.
Religious Education aims to provide students with a rounded picture of religion in the world. But it remains a controversial area because, by law, Christianity is supposed to be the predominant faith taught. Some schools put a great emphasis on ‘world religions’, but teaching about atheism, humanism and other life-stances is much less prevalent.
The purpose of RE is not generally supposed to be to inculcate belief of any particular kind, but to provide an understanding of the functioning and presence of different belief systems in society. But the law remains ambiguous on this point, and the positive work of many SACREs (local advisory committees) is hampered by this.
Both secular and faith community voices have called for a revision of the 1944 Education Act to end the privileging of one perspective within RE, which some would like to see re-moulded as education about life stances, religious and non-religious.
Canon John Hall, Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, commented on the GSCE statistics: “[These] figures are a testament to the hard work of students and their teachers across the country. It is no mean feat to increase the number of students taking a course by these sort of numbers, which are concrete evidence that young people are stimulated by the subject and fascinated by discovering more about what they and others believe and how that affects their day-to-day lives.”
“The false image of Religious Education as an easy option has been shattered by high quality teaching that allows students to explore a range of religious traditions and themes that in turn help them grasp the complexities of living in a multi-cultural world,” Canon Hall continued.
He added that the statistics give weight to calls to ensure the inclusion of Religious Education in the Government’s proposed 14-19 framework: “Implementation of the proposed flexible framework for study after the age of 14, aimed at boosting vocational study in the workplace, should reflect the fact that such a large number of students actively choose to take Religious Education as a qualification. We must not allow the subject to be sidelined or ignored altogether by those setting the curriculum for 14-19 year olds who take advantage of the new vocational study opportunities. Religious Education must be given due prominence in the compulsory elements of these students’ time in school, as the Government has recognised.”
However critics, like the National Secular Society, say that it is clearly wrong to make teaching about religion compulsory on the school curriculum, and that it constitutes a basic violation of the human rights of school students.
Commented Simon Barrow, co-director of the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia: “It is good news that students are wanting to study the role and impact of religious and other life stances and belief systems within society. If we are to understand each other better in a global society, this has to be encouraged. The price of ignorance or prejudice is deadly.”
“However”, he continued, “compulsion is not the way forward. In particular, it is not appropriate that UK law should continue to priviledge Christianity in the teaching of RE. This is bad for the health of both society and the churches, where open discourse needs to be encouraged.”
Barrow pointed out that a clear distinction needs to be maintained between teaching about religion in order to deepen undestanding, and teaching religion in order to inculcate faith. “The latter,” he said, “is the responsibility of churches and other faith communities, not the publicly funded education system. To blur this line is only to strengthen the cause of dogmatists who wish either to prevent students learning about religion at all, or who wish to impose one kind of religious or anti-religious viewpoint on this element of the curriculum.”
[Also on Ekklesia: Statement on religious education opens church schools up to accusations of double-standards; Why education should not divide on faith – by Andrew Copson, British Humanist Association; Churches told compulsory collective school worship is not on; Schools minister says creationism has no place in classroom science; RE can play key role in combatting extremism; New education minister walks into row on faith schools; Concern expressed over discrimination against the non-religious; Church schools told not to discriminate in employment; Government plans reopen debate on faith schools]