RE Changing the Agenda
By Colin J Hart

© 1993 The Christian Institute

Contents

Religious Education in state schools

The need for reform

National Model Syllabuses

RE - An international perspective

Practical Issues

The need for action

References



1. Religious Education in state schools

Churches have had a dominant role in the provision of education in Britain. With the 1870 and 1902 Education Acts the state began to play a much greater role. In 1944, as Parliament debated Rab Butler's education bill, one of the most significant problems was the lack of provision of Church school places, specifically for parents from a Free Church tradition. The problem of Free Church Christian denominations wanting their own schools was tackled by Archbishop William Temple through the creation of County schools - non-denominational Christian schools. Careful mechanisms were put in place to ensure that the RE and worship offered in the County schools truly was "non-denominational". RE was to be determined at local level.

There can be no doubt that it was Christian religious education which the legislators wanted. On the 21st June 1944 a government spokesman, the Earl of Selborne, said :

"I should, however, like to make it clear that there should be no sort of doubt that it is the intention of the Government and the intention of Parliament that the syllabus teaching to be given should be Christian teaching and that the worship should be Christian worship. There must be no doubt about that". (1)

The Act itself avoided specifying that RE was to be Christian because the legislators were concerned that different denominations might contest in the secular courts whether a particular syllabus was totally Christian. (2) The Bishop of Chichester pointed out that, whilst the omission from the bill of the word "Christian" was not important at the time, later on it could become significant. (3)

At the turn of the century 47% of state school pupils were educated in County schools. Today the figure is 82% following the closure or the loss of aided status of many Church of England schools. The percentage of pupils educated in Roman Catholic schools has steadily increased from 5.4% in 1900 to around 9% in 1992 . There are now more pupils educated in Roman Catholic schools than Church of England schools.(4)

After the war the arangements for RE in County schools worked well. There was no controversy or difficultly in drawing up syllabuses. The RE taught was non-denominational and Christian. The Christian faith was taught as true - this is known as the confessional approach. This same approach still used today in most European Countries, but the 1980s saw its abandonment in Britain and the growth of multi-faith RE.

The development of multi-faith RE
Influential reports published during the 1970s led the way in rejecting the confessional approach.(5) For the first time two local authority syllabuses (Birmingham and Hampshire) included the study of non-Christian faiths.(6)

With the Birmingham 1974 syllabus Christianity only needed to be studied as a minor course from the age of 12, but all children had to study a non-theistic life stance such as communism or Marxism. During the 1980s multi-faith syllabuses became the norm. The teaching about non-Christian faiths was generally not systematic, but thematic. Elements from different faiths were studied together under supposed common themes - either 'implicit' themes such as awe, friendship, water, fire, and light or 'explicit' themes such as priesthood, ritual, and pilgrimage. The development of multi-faith syllabuses, the inclusion of political ideologies and in some cases the occult has been well documented elsewhere. (7)

The new confessionalism
The aim behind RE being determined at local education authority level was always to take account of the local religious make up. The idea was to set minimum standards in RE and to co-ordinate schools ensuring proper continuity and progression in pupil's learning. These aims which undergird the 1944 Act were increasingly frustrated by the development of syllabuses which refused to be specific on content. Recent evidence has has shown that local syllabuses now lack credibility with classroom teachers.

Endless debates over indoctrination have dominated the world of teacher training over the past 20 years. Clearly it is wrong to manipulate young people into belief. It is also wrong to manipulate them into atheism or the belief that all religions are the same. The serious danger is that these last two strands are becoming the new confessionalism. There are grounds for optimism, but recent statements from union leaders have exposed the influence of secularism and relativism.

Nigel de Grucy, General Secretary of the NAS/UWT, recently writing in a personal capacity, called for Britain to follow the French or American model of having secular schools. He wants the statutory requirement for RE and worship to be scrapped and the whole matter left to the discretion of governing bodies. (8)

David Hart, speaking as General Secretary of the NAHT - one of the head teachers' unions - claimed that there was no serious link between RE and the raising of moral standards or the underpinning social values. He urged that schools

"should not be forced by legislation to overemphasise one particular religion....the government should allow schools to concentrate on the beliefs and values common to all religions" .(9)

This is educational nonsense. It is common practice for schools teach their pupils in the English language. There is a deliberate overemphasis on the English language. This is not an act of racism or of Western imperialism - it is simply common sense. This is not to deny the important influences of other cultures or to ban pupils from studying modern languages. It is clearly desirable that young people should learn French, Spanish or German. But to say that all languages should be taught equally or that no one language should be overemphasised is palpably ridiculous. Yet this in effect what is being called for in religious education. This is cultural relativism.

It does not make sense to teach all religions equally since it cannot be denied that it is the Judaeo-Christian tradition which has had the predominant influence on our nation. Neither are secular schools the answer. Our culture laws, democratic institutions, architecture, literature, art and science have been profoundly influenced by Christianity and cannot be understood without reference to it. Secular schools enslave young people in ignorance.

This ignorance is not only of our past history and culture. Today Christianity is the world's largest religion with most of its adherents to be found outside the West. It is the faith that guides vast multitudes throughout the world.

It has to be said that there is also an argument for the reasonable teaching of non-Christian faiths. In the same way that young people cannot understand British culture without understanding Christianity it must be acknowledged that the cultures of other nations cannot be understood without reference to the faiths which have influenced them.

There does need to be a sense of proportion. The statistics hardly support the claim that Britain is a multi-faith society. The 1991 Census indicates that 5.5% of the GB population are from an ethnic minority - but some of these ethnic minorities have a strong adherence to Christianity - eg Afro-Caribbeans. The percentage of non-Christian faith adherents given by British Social Attitudes is 3.3% of the population. This figure includes those who were brought up in a non-Christian faith but are now uncommitted and do not see themselves as belonging to a denomination or religion. The corresponding figure for Christianity is 91.8%, with 63% currently seeing themselves as belonging to a Christian denomination. (10)

It is worth being briefly reminded of the reasons why in 1988 Parliament sought to strengthen the place of Christian teaching in schools and then how after the reforms the legislation worked out in practice.
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2. The need for reform

A wealth of anecdotal evidence shows that young people left school in the 1980s with a remarkably poor grasp of the basic beliefs of the Christian faith. Professor Thomas Barden, Senior Fulbright Lecturer at University College, Swansea, himself an atheist, complained on a recent radio broadcast "I was shocked to find that my students at Swansea University did not know what the beatitudes were". (11)

People who left school in the 1980s are not just ignorant of the beatitudes. In 1991 a MORI poll found that 57% of 18-24 year olds could not say what happened on Good Friday. The same poll found that in this age group 62% could not name the Roman Governor who washed his hands after sentencing Jesus to death. (12) A 1993 Gallup Easter poll confirmed this picture. For the 16-24 age group, 76% had never heard of the ascension, and 71% didn't know what Palm Sunday commemorates. Barely a majority (54%) knew that Judas betrayed Christ. (13)

During the 1980s there was a marked decline in the amount of religious teaching in schools - particularly in the secondary sector. In many schools RE as a subject ceased to exist, whilst in many more RE had been absorbed into an amalgam of other subjects such as Personal and Social Education (PSE). Official statistics show that the percentage of curriculum time devoted to RE and taught by full time teachers fell from 3.0% in 1984 to 2.5% in 1988. (14) The influence of secularist head teachers goes a long way in explaining this fall. A recent report by OFSTED, the Office for Standards in Education, found that in 1992-1993 for pupils aged 11 - 14 (Key Stage 3)only 56% of schools they inspected timetabled RE as a locatable subject. (15)

As well as the subject not being given a proper place on the timetable, in a worrying number of cases RE was a confusing presentation of a kaleidoscope of faiths. (16) The late Edwin Cox, a very senior figure in the Religious Education world and strong advocate of multi-faith RE candidly admitted that teaching about non-Christian faiths was in some cases to the detriment of Christianity. He wrote :

"That this risk exists is shown by the tendency for religious education in some areas to consist of study of almost all religions except Christianity" (17)

The 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA)

As has been seen, there is strong justification for the RE reforms of 1988.

The final wording in the Education Reform Act emerged after consultations led by the then Bishop of London, Graham Leonard. His task was to satisfy an influential group of peers, led by Baroness Caroline Cox, who were dissatisfied with the parlous state of RE teaching and of the lack of teaching about Christianity in particular.

In her campaign, Baroness Cox had secured the support of the Chief Rabbi, prominent Muslim leaders and nine Bishops, including the current Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, then Bishop of Bath and Wells. (18) Baroness Cox and the House of Lords accepted the Bishop of London's amendment without a division. On 18th July 1988 the House of Commons considered the Lords' amendments. They voted, on a free vote, by 372 to 108 to require all new agreed syllabuses to :

"reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain" (19)

In this same vote, the Commons had accepted the Lords amendment to make clear that daily worship in schools was normally Christian. (20)

The Labour Education spokesman Jack Straw admitted in an earlier debate that "We can have no understanding of our history and culture unless we understand that we have a Christian tradition" (21)

Before the main vote was taken on the 18 July, Mr Straw tabled an amendment to allow the Secretary of State to exempt some LEAs from the "in the main Christian requirement" for RE and the "broadly Christian" requirement for worship. His attempt was heavily defeated by 224 votes. The Commons then voted in the reforms by a majority of 264. (22)

Prominent opposition members voted for the reforms including Labour's Win Griffiths (now Deputy Education spokesman), and Donald Anderson (Defence spokesman). From the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy (President), Sir David Steel and Matthew Taylor (Education spokesman) backed the amendments as did SNP Parliamentary leader Margaret Ewing and senior Plaid Cymru member Dafydd Wigley.

The 1988 Reforms still left religious education to be determined at local level in England and Wales. The mechanism for preparing syllabuses was left unchanged. Each LEA has an agreed syllabus of religious education drawn up by representatives of (1) the teacher's associations(unions), (2) the LEA, (3) the Church of England and (4) the other Christian and non-Christian denominations represented in the area. These four groups comprise a syllabus conference which must all agree the final syllabus. An LEA must adopt the syllabus if, in their opinion, it complies with the law. (23)

The 1944 Act had made it discretionary for LEAs to set up RE and worship watchdog bodies called SACREs (standing advisory councils on religious education). The 1988 Act required all LEAs to set up SACREs.

SACREs have the same four constituent groups as for a syllabus conference. Very often the same people serve on both the conference and the SACRE. The difference between the two bodies is that a conference is only called when a new syllabus needs to be prepared, whereas the SACRE is a standing body which has monitoring role.

The Ealing Case

The first syllabus under the new Act was adopted by the London Borough of Ealing on 22nd November 1988. In the spring of 1990, Mrs Denise Bell, a parent of children attending schools in the London Borough of Ealing, was the first to use the complaints procedures in the 1988 Act. During the local appeal hearing an official from the London Diocesan Board for Schools, Miss Elizabeth Wolverson, admitted that there was no specifically Christian content in the syllabus. In fact "God", "the Bible", or "Jesus Christ" were not mentioned at all. (24) A complaint was also made about the Newham syllabus - the next to be adopted after Ealing. It too was devoid of specifically Christian content. (25)

In April 1990 her complaint was rejected by the LEA. She then appealed to the Secretary of State. A local MP presented a petition of 800 signatures to the House of Commons calling for the Secretary of State to have the syllabus withdrawn. (26) By June 1990 the Department of Education had taken legal advice on the Ealing and Newham syllabuses. Counsel's opinion was that both failed to comply with the law. Not until March 1991 was Mrs Bell's complaint upheld and a guidance letter was issued to all LEAs. (27)

The thrust of the letter of guidance was that a syllabus must :

"give sufficient guidance to the reader, and thus the teacher, as to what Christian traditions, learning, teaching and festivals are going to be taught and what elements are going to be taught in respect of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain" (28)

The Ealing case meant the end of the "content free" syllabus which focuses on themes between religions rather than requiring systematic teaching on Christianity and the non-Christian faiths. A syllabus which contains only sketchy detail of what is to be taught and no indication of the amount of time to be devoted to Christianity cannot possibly comply with the law.

LEA Syllabuses since the ERA

It was the legal guidance issued as a result of the Ealing case which was used by the National Curriculum Council(NCC) to devastating effect. In March 1993 the NCC published a report on all the syllabuses adopted under the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA). It commended some aspects of the syllabuses but concluded :

"In the NCC's view, no single syllabus matched all the legal requirements" (29)

"...there is no existing syllabus which could be recommended....only four [syllabuses] went even part of the way towards fulfilling the specific requirements with regard to what should be learned about religions" (30)

The main grounds of criticism was the lack of specific content on Christianity and the non-Christian faiths. Syllabuses were vague and focused on skills and aims or themes between religions. They did not set out a body of knowledge to be studied in Christianity and the other faiths. The full report on the NCC's analysis of agreed syllabuses has never been published.

The implication of 27 syllabuses failing to comply with the law was that the Church of England had failed to exercised its right of veto. This fact led a group of 30 senior members of the Church's General Synod to write to The Times on Easter Saturday 1993. They attacked Church authorities for their negligence. (31)
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3. National Model Syllabuses

The NCC working groups

Soon after the highly critical NCC report, John Patten, the Secretary of State for Education asked the NCC to define the significant content that ought to be taught about Christianity and the other principal faiths. David Pascall, the NCC Chairman, took a close personal interest in this area. Working groups were set up for Christianity and five non-Christian faiths. Each group was asked to set out the essential content of their faith. It was never believed that young people would study all 6 faiths. In fact on 10 March 1993 David Pascall said publicly on Radio 4 news that he thought detailed understanding of Christianity and two non-Christian faiths was a reasonable achievement for school leavers.

The Christian denominations were very supportive of the report produced by the Christianity working group, and representatives of the 5 non-Christian faiths were all satisfied with the content on their faith in their reports. All the reports were widely praised and there was a general recognition of the considerable amount of consultation.

The SCAA monitoring group

The NCC was merged with the Schools Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) in the Autumn of 1993 to form the new School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) with Sir Ron Dearing appointed as Chairman.

After the highly successful consultation on the working group reports, in August 1993 the Minister of State, Baroness Blatch, asked SCAA to work on the production of (non-statutory) national model syllabuses to guide local conferences in their work. The aim was to produce a range of models suitable for different areas and schools.

Mrs Barbara Wintersgill, the newly appointed curriculum officer for RE, made such rapid progress that a committee was appointed to supervise the production of the model syllabuses even before the Council of SCAA had met. The title of the group was called the "monitoring group". The official press statement of 8 October 1993 listed the members. Those who had hoped to see the same sort of balance and commitment to academic rigour that SEAC had achieved on its Religious Studies committee were to be disappointed.

Of the 21 members, 2 were there as representatives of the Religious Education Council (REC). In fact many other senior members of the REC were also asked to join the group. It was the Religious Education Council which in 1988 was publicly quoted in the House of Commons as opposing the RE reforms. (32) Two members of the group (Hindu and Evangelical Alliance) were RE Advisers for LEAs which had produced syllabuses criticised by the NCC. The representative for the Baptist Church is an ordained Methodist minister and a former teacher trainer. The representative for the Methodists was a retired HMI staff inspector for RE. The Sikh representative is an LEA Adviser. Only two members of the group were practising teachers in state schools.

Of the 11 religious groups represented, 6 were Christian and 5 were non-Christian. There was no representative for the Black Churches, the Salvation Army, the Orthodox Church, or Pentecostal denominations.

Clearly there were differences of view within the monitoring group, but SCAA officials ensured that conspicuous supporters of the legislation were most notable by their absence.

The consultation syllabuses

During the writing of the model syllabuses, the Department for Education(DFE) issued new legal guidance on RE. Some of the most vocal critics of this guidance served on the SCAA monitoring group. In one newspaper article alone three prominent members of the group vilified the new Departmental circular. Gwen Palmer chairwoman of the Religious Education Council declared that her members were "overwhelmingly opposed" to the interpretation of the law found in the circular. (33)

The 21 members were joined by 3 members of SCAA's Council. At an "extremely tense" final meeting of the monitoring group the recommendation that Christianity should be studied for at least 50% of the time was removed from the consultation syllabuses. This followed an ultimatum letter which had been sent to Sir Ron Dearing by the non-Christian faith representatives on the monitoring group. The letter criticised the DFE Circular and stated :

"At a time when fascism and religious persecution are on the increase and the British National Party has succeeded in a democratic election, pupils and teachers need clear guidance that although Britain is a nominally Christian country, citizens of all faiths or none are indeed equal under the law. In our view, this is not the message being delivered by the model syllabuses as they currently stand." (34)

Just before the syllabuses were published for consultation, the bar chart indicating that Christianity should be taught for 50% of the time was restored.

SCAA published the national model syllabuses for consultation on 25 January 1994. (35) The syllabuses suggested that schools devote between 50 and 75% to Christianity, but from the age of 5, non-Christian faiths should be studied in depth. By the age of 11 the norm was for pupils to cover at least 3 non-Christian faiths.

Edward Norman writing in The Times accepted the percentage balance between Christianity and the other faiths but said that :

"the simultaneous presentation of different religious traditions is likely to be relativising; it is likely to foster what used to be called 'indifferentism' or the conviction that one religion is as good as any other". (36)

The Revd David Streater of the Church Society called on all schools to devote at least 75% of RE time to Christianity. He attacked the proposal to teach 3 non-Christian faiths in the primary school :

"We believe such a policy is misguided and will lead to young children being confused about the different beliefs of the various religions" (37)

The Chairman of the Religious Education group on the Church of England General Synod said that the new syllabuses "could lead to an educational disaster". (38)

On the day of the launch the Daily Telegraph ran an editorial against the proposals under the title "Religious Indigestion". By contrast The Times lent support in its editorial.

Four of the 5 non-Christian representatives on the monitoring group issued a press release denouncing the Christian bias of the consultation documents. (39)

Members of the public were not invited to comment on the SCAA proposals. Unlike other SCAA consultation documents for other subjects, the draft model syllabuses were not distributed to schools. An article in the Times Educational Supplement informed readers about the main thrust of the proposals and invited comments.

Despite the fact that consultation was restricted, hundreds of letters objecting to the proposals were sent to the DFE and SCAA. (40) There was even a 4,000 signature Parliamentary petition from constituents in the North East of England rejecting the proposals for primary schools. In his reply to the petition the Secretary of State indicated that the SCAA proposals should allow for only Christianity and Judaism to be studied in the primary school. But his comments are impossible to squarewith the overwhelming impression left by the SCAA models that 6 faiths should be studied in detail. There is also the problem of the way in which SCAA tries to restrict the choice of units to ensure that primary RE becomes multi-faith RE. (41)

The final version

The final version of the national model syllabuses, published on July 5th, 1994 reject much of the thematic approach and it has to be said that the second model syllabus does allow faiths to be covered in a systematic fashion. There have been significant cut backs in content relating to Christianity and the other faiths. This is a pity since the content on Christianity and the other faiths has always been recognised as helpful and accurate.

The problem is an overloaded curriculum with too many faiths being taught too soon. It would be perfectly possible to construct a reasonable course from the available units, but for the rubric at the head of every Key Stage insisting on what should be the norm. The norm in the rubric means studying 2 or more likely 3 non-Christian faiths by the age of 11. The most significant change in the final version is the complete omission of the "bar chart" which in the consultation version indicated that Christianity could be studied for between 50 and 75%. The key issues relate to (a) to the number of faiths to be taught and at what stage and (b) to the percentage of time devoted to Christianity.

The number of faiths taught

The SCAA models assume that primary school children will have normally covered 3 non-Christian faiths by the age of 11. Under the guidelines it would be possible to study 2 non-Christian faiths by the age of 11, but the strong implication from the models is that 3 is preferred.

Age
Key stage
Normal number of non-Christian faiths
5-7
1
1
7-11
2
2
11-14
3
2
14-16
4
1

The latest guidance from the DFE states that :-

"The syllabus as a whole must also include all of the principal religions represented in this country"(42)

The law gives the responsibility to local conferences to determine how many "principal religions" there are. They are free to decide which religions should be studied. It is one thing to include a religion, quite another to study it in detail. SCAA have opted for the latter. SCAA should have called on schools to cover one or two non-Christian faiths by school leaving age, with introductory work on further "principal religions". The Church of England General Synod's Board of Education have stated

"Experience has shown that two, or at the very most three, religious systems can be studied at any worthwhile depth within the constraints of the normal time provision for RE, even at its most generous. An 'introduction' is the most that can be expected in respect of the remaining 'principal religions'" (43)

During questions in the House of Lords, the Minister of State, Baroness Blatch, expressed her concern about what SCAA was proposing:-

"There is a real anxiety, which I share..that young children aged between five and eleven are required to cover too many religions" (44)

The percentage of time devoted to Christianity
With the abandonment of the "bar chart" the SCAA models will allow Christianity to be studied for less than 50% of the time.

Earlier in 1994 the Church of England officially called for a minimum of 50% to be devoted to Christianity in all schools, with a norm of 66% and up to a maximum of 75%. (45) The guidance booklet is absolutely clear that the 50% minimum should apply even in schools where there are significant numbers of the non-Christian faith communities.

Given this stand and its earlier views on the number of faiths that can be studied in detail, it is curious that the Anglican Church has given its backing to the national model syllabuses. It amounts to a remarkable volte face.

The latest circular from the Department of Education states that

"As a whole and at each Key Stage, the relative content devoted to Christianity in the syllabus should predominate" (46)

In its use of the word "predominate" the circular is clearly indicating that Christianity should be taught for a majority of the time. This stand is important because some teacher trainers have claimed that Christianity could comprise only 20% of the syllabus with five other faiths each at 16%. (47)

The word "predominantly" was used in various probing amendments by Baroness Cox during the 1987 Education Bill. In 1986 the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Science called for RE "to reflect the predominance of the Christian faith" (48)

The SCAA monitoring group representatives chosen to represent the Jewish and Muslim faiths are appalled at the use of the word "predominate". But it would be wrong to suggest that non-Christian faiths are united on this issue. The current Chief Rabbi and his predecessor supported the legislation. Lord Jacobovits supported Baroness Cox's amendment for "predominantly Christian RE". (49) So too did the Imam at Regent's Park Mosque who in 1988 prayed that the name of Christ might once again be revered in British schools. One prominent educationalist from the UK Muslim Education Co-ordinating Council, Mr Nazir Mustafa, said on a recent radio programme that he did not object to Christianity comprising 75% of RE provided that in schools where Muslims predominate the same amount of attention could be devoted to Islam. (50)

Classroom Realities

It is argued by supporter's of the SCAA syllabuses that agreed syllabuses already require non-Christian faiths to be taught. Many official syllabuses do include elements of non-Christian faiths at key stages 1 and 2 but in response to this two things can be said.

First, most agreed syllabuses are sketchy on what they require to be taught about non-Christian faiths. This is why the syllabuses were criticised by the NCC. There is no syllabus which specifies that children by the age of 11 should normally study 3 non-Christian faiths in the level of detail envisaged in the SCAA proposals. Even where a syllabus does include specific content there is no indication for how long this content should be studied. It could be for 1 lesson, 5 lessons or a term.

Second, there is evidence from OFSTED that it is common practice in primary schools for teaching to focus on Christianity. In their recent report they state " pupils were rarely introduced systematically to material from faiths other than Christianity". (51) OFSTED are clearly unhappy about this since they believe that teaching about non-Christian faiths should begin at the age of 7. At least in this regard they are more moderate than SCAA who opt for the age of 5. Primary schools are simply ignoring the multi-faith content of their agreed syllabus. OFSTED says that school RE guidelines "focused almost exclusively upon Christianity" (52). The inspectors even complain that there is "an overemphasis in teaching placed upon Bible stories". (53)

Of course though this may be the general picture, there are many primary schools which do have strongly multi-faith RE. Those which teach themes from five or six religions are strongly criticised in the OFSTED report. Inspectors found that "pupils had difficulty in gaining a clear impression of the coherence and distinctiveness of each tradition." (54)

In secondary schools the OFSTED report found that "about one third of lessons seen dealt explicitly with non-Christian contemporary faiths". (55)

Sometimes teaching about non-Christian faiths was "confined to a single year - usually year 9". (56) The national model syllabuses are less revolutionary as far as secondary education is concerned. Secondary schools do pay more attention to the agreed syllabus than primary schools, but even so "few schools have fully implemented the Agreed Syllabus or adapted their own scheme of work". (57)

If the evidence from inspections is to be believed, where RE is taught in schools there is a serious mismatch between what teachers are actually teaching and what LEA agreed syllabuses require. The new SCAA models will undoubtedly accelerate the trend.

One of the main reasons for the mismatch is simply because agreed syllabuses are inherently impossible to implement. Though skimpy in detail, they nonetheless advocate the teaching of large numbers of non-Christian faiths using methods which confuse both pupil and teacher alike.

Without doubt religious education has been subject to many fashionable fads. Britain has probably the most multi-faith RE in the world, despite having one of the lowest percentage adherents to non-Christian faiths. Whilst RE in this country has been subject to dramatic change, other countries have had comparative stability.
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4. RE - An international perspective

All European Countries, save France, have Christian religious education in State schools. Almost without exception, RE is taught from a confessional perspective, that is, Christianity is taught as true - either in its Protestant or Roman Catholic form.

Non-Christian faiths, if they are taught at all, are taught in the secondary school. It is not unusual for a denomination to have the final say in the selection of teachers of RE. In Europe, "other faiths" is a term usually applied to other Christian denominations. Teachers tend to be highly qualified - in some countries secondary specialists need a masters degree to teach.

In 1992 the Inter-European Commission on Church and School published a survey of religious education in 15 countries. What follows draws heavily on this report. (58) Germany, Denmark and Sweden are countries which come nearest to the situation in the UK, but the proportion devoted to non-Christian faiths is comparatively minor.

In Denmark teaching is in accordance with the Evangelical-Lutheran tradition until the secondary stage where it becomes non-denominational. Church confirmation classes are offered in secondary schools. Teaching about non-Christian faiths is featured in the final year of higher secondary education, although in an earlier secondary year it is possible to do non-Christian religions as an optional course within social studies or RE.

In Sweden RE is basically non-denominational Christianity, but there are new moves to introduce non-Christian faiths in the upper secondary school.

Under the Constitution RE in Germany is either confessionally Protestant or Catholic depending on the area. Textbooks have to be endorsed by the state and by Church authorities. There is an element of teaching about non-Christian faiths, particularly Judaism or Islam.

In Finland RE is taught according to the Evangelical-Lutheran tradition. In the secondary school 97% follow this course, but there is provision for pupils to receive Orthodox denominational teaching or a course in the philosophy of life.

In Greece teaching is in accordance with the doctrine of the Greek Orthodox Church. All teachers in Greek schools must be practising adherents of the Orthodox faith - no matter what their subject. At Secondary level the Church's perspective on non-Christian faiths is given.

Roman Catholic religious education is given in all Italian state schools (bar the Muslim schools) and is taken by 95% of all young people. Those who do not take part in this have to follow a course on civil and human rights. There is no Protestant RE in state schools.

In the Netherlands only one third of all schools are directly run by public authorities. RE is provided by Churches in state primary schools but not in secondary schools. Non-Christian faiths are also permitted to provide RE for those pupils who wish it. The other two thirds of Dutch schools are private schools. In these RE is given in accordance with the policy of the governing body and is usually either Catholic or Protestant with no right of withdrawal. There are small numbers of other schools with a special character. The beliefs of non-Christian and secular faiths are covered to a limited degree in subjects other than RE.

Norwegian RE is in accordance with the teaching of the Church of Norway(evangelical-Lutheran). Since 1987 alternative RE can be provided if parents request it, but so far very few parents have decided to exercise this right. Elements of non-Christian faiths may be touched on in other subjects of the curriculum (eg the equivalent of History & Geography)

Meeting the concerns of minorities

In a number of European countries there is provision for religious minorities to have teaching according to their own faith and to opt out of confessional teaching. This may be automatically triggered in a particular school by a certain number of pupils being reached. In Austria, although RE is a compulsory subject with no rights of withdrawal in most provinces, ten pupils from a minority faith qualify for 2 lessons a week in that faith. If there are sufficient pupils to form a class, the state pays for a teacher. In Belgium parents can opt to have humanist or Jewish RE. Similar arrangements exist in Norway, Finland and in German Lower Saxony. In Italy Islamic pupils have their own schools and RE is in accordance with an official Islamic syllabus. In Dutch state primary schools Muslim and Humanist parents can nominate to have their children taught according to their beliefs by teachers whose pay is subsidised by a local authority. Holland also has state funded schools run by Muslims and Humanists.

Separate provision for non-Christian faiths is the approach generally adopted in European countries. In Britain, LEAs lay the emphasis on common provision for all even though the law permits separate provision. The concern is that separate provision leads to divisiveness. The current Chief Rabbi takes a different view. He attended a Church of England primary school where Jewish boys had separate assemblies. He says of this :

"The effect of this schooling on our Jewish identity was curious. It made us, of course, acutely aware that we were different. But because those around us were taking their religion seriously, it made us consider our Judaism seriously too...From living with those who valued their traditions I learnt to cherish my own". (59)

The former communist nations

A majority of former communist states now provide Christian religious education in state schools. This applies even to the formerly hard-line Marxist states.

In 1992 the author met with two senior state officials from Romania supervising the re-introduction of Christian teaching into Romanian schools. Ministers from the Orthodox Church teach the RE, and other Christian denominations are also permitted to have their own teachers in schools. There is a possibility of new Christian schools and a Christian University being set up. Theological education for Baptist ministers includes training on how to teach in schools.

In 1992 the religious press reported that Christian teaching being put back on the timetable of Albanian schools after 40 years of atheism. (60) In the Czech and Slovak republics ministers of religion can go into school and offer RE according to their faith. This right is now guaranteed by the Constitution. In Hungary the Christian schools which were nationalised by the Communists are now being given back to the Churches.

The United States

School prayer was common place until legal action by Madalyn Murray brought the issue before the US Supreme Court. She objected to the Bible being read and prayers being said at her son's school. Within 2 years and after series of Supreme Court judgements she succeeded. On 17 July 1963 the highest American court ruled that school prayer and the reading of the Bible was unconstitutional. (61) This judgement has now led on to further judgements which in state schools bans the display of the ten commandments and even the use of the word "God" in official correspondence. Parents have had to go to Court for permission to hold a voluntary Christian union on school premises or to have prayers said at graduation ceremonies. Last year the separation of Church and State led to a Court ordering that a picture of Christ hung in a school corridor becovered up. A crib nativity scene placed on state property was also challenged. The case turned on how many plastic reindeers needed to be placed in front of the crib in order to render it secular and therefore constitutional! (62)

The Supreme Court ruling is now being widely challenged in states all across America. One national poll found that 73% of parents wanted daily school worship in state schools. (63) After Mrs Murray's victory in banning school prayer and the use of the Bible in schools she went on to work at the American Atheist Centre. Ironically it is now Mrs Murray's son William who is now one of the leading campaigners to have the judgement overturned. (64)

It seems likely that the 1963 Supreme Court decision will be overturned at some point in the future. Clashes with individual states on this issue are likely to arise since the state of Utah has passed a law specifically guaranteeing the right of religious teaching in schools. (65)
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5. Practical Issues

The purpose of Religious Education

It is a great irony that those who object most fiercely to indoctrination have not been slow to treat religious education as a tool for engineering beliefs, attitudes and values into young people.

The untested assumption in much thinking about RE is that learning about as many religions as possible will promote tolerance and understanding. Academic considerations have been made subservient to the notion that anti-racism is the purpose of RE. Studying a person's religious faith can be an act of respect and it can further understanding. But at its heart racism is not due to ignorance - at least in Christian understanding it is a moral issue - sin in the human heart. What is needed is a moral challenge - not a course in as many world religions as possible.

The content of RE must be based on the academic needs of young people. They clearly have a need to know about the faith which has woven its way through our culture and been so profoundly influential in promoting social reforms such as the setting up of hospitals, schools, the factory acts and the abolition of slavery.

There is an argument that young people need to know about non-Christian faiths. It might be desirable and very useful for school leavers to be able to speak 5 languages but no one would seriously attempt to teach them all. Yet this is precisely what is attempted in the name of RE. Moderation is thrown out and LEA syllabuses commonly require school leavers to have studied six religions. The new County Durham RE proposals will require the teaching of seven faiths from the age of 5.The new SCAA models will make matters worse because of the insistence that all principal religions are studied in detail rather than just one or two in detail with an introduction to the rest.

So far there is evidence that classroom teachers have not bought in to the multi-faith fruit cocktail approach. Many of them are simply ignoring the agreed syllabus. According to OFSTED many primary teachers are focusing on Christianity and nothing else. The national model syllabuses will make life more difficult for such teachers.

Where schools do try to teach 3 or 4 faiths by the age of 11confusion results. In 1989 a study by committed multi-culturalists Janet Graham and Susan Lynn raised serious questions about children's stereotypes of third world countries. They blamed the habit of celebrating non-Christian festivals in primary schools for giving children "a false and exotic" image of Africa. (66) One advisory teacher in the South of England has complained that some children coming to secondary schools could not name the religion in which "Jesus" features.

Religious relativism is one of the main reasons why multi-culturalists believe it is so important to study large numbers of religions. In their view, no religion is more true than any other. Differences do not matter. This is actually a faith position held with sincerity by a number of liberal theologians such as Professor John Hick. It is not the view of an orthodox Muslim or Jew or that matter a Christian who adheres to the historic creeds of the Church.

The differences between faiths are profound. A Muslim does not believe Jesus died on the cross. A Hindu believes that Jesus was divine but rejects the belief that Jesus is exclusively divine. A Sikh can never accept the divinity of Christ. Some faiths hold to the existence of many gods, others are monotheistic. The various claims to truth are irreconcilable. This has been the accepted view of believers in all the main religious traditions.

The pluralistic view that all religions are cultural expressions of the same divine reality has dominated thinking in University theological and teacher training departments. This is why it is seen as perfectly acceptable to study religions through trivial themes such as "water", "food" and "light" or more explicit themes such as "ritual", "priesthood" and "pilgrimage". Religion is one, but there are different forms in different cultures. The pluralist view holds that people's religious experience - their sense of the numinous - is the same in all faiths.

Pluralism is itself a religious belief, but in Western culture there are those within most faiths which hold to its central tenets. Most of the new teaching methods in RE pre-suppose a belief in pluralism - all religions are true. This has often meant squeezing religions into a contrived structure in order to give the impression that Christianity and the other faiths are mere variations on a theme of religion.

Christian, Muslim, and Sikh theology and so on are downplayed. The existence of "Religion" with a capital "R" is dependent upon a faith position such as that held by Hick. It is encouraging to see that the SCAA models are a move away from pluralism. Each faith is studied in its own right. This is clearer in the second model.

The most useful thing to emerge from the models are the working group reports which set out detailed content about Christianity and five other faiths. These reports are remarkable achievements and they will be a very useful resource to those who design syllabuses.

Resources

It is often said that RE teaching is crippled by a lack of resources and qualified teachers. Certainly the highest class sizes are found in RE with an average of 28.1 compared to an average for all subjects of 24.5. (67) A careful look at the statistics reveals that there are 13,100 full time teachers who are qualified in RE, but half of these are actually teaching a different subject to religious education. (68) Some teachers have changed subjects because they see no future career in RE teaching. Others were not given the choice. Over the past 20 years many head teachers have cut down the amount of time given to RE or removed the subject entirely from the timetable.

There would appear to be more religious education taught now than there has been for 18 years. (see Table I) The latest report from the Government Statistical service concludes that "The compulsory subject of RE was recorded as offered as a specific subject in an increasing proportion of schools to all year groups, but more particularly to Key Stage 4 pupils. (69) This change is taking place from a low base. The amount of time devoted to RE is small at Key Stage 4, but the statistics show that large numbers of pupils receive it (see Table II). The conclusion is that at this stage "most pupils were given a small amount of RE lesson time in a week" (70)
Table 1: Percentage of overall curriculum time devoted to RE in Secondary schools.
Source : DES/DFE Statistical Bulletins 6/80, 10/87, 18/91, 5/94
Year Group
7
8
9
10
11
1977 (England & Wales)
4.1
4.1
4.0
2.7
2.6
1984 (England)
4.1
4.1
4.0
2.7
2.5
1988 (England)
3.6
4.2
3.9
2.2
2.1
1992 (England)
4.3
4.3
4.3
2.8
2.6

Table II: Percentage of pupils studying RE in maintained Secondary Schools.
Source : DES/DFE Statistical Bulletins 10/87, 18/91, 5/94
Year Group
7
8
9
 10 11
1984 (England)
84
90
95
62
58
1988 (England)
80
86
91
46
45
1992 (England)
93
92
93
63
61

These figures are a cause for optimism. The key issue is to tackle demand which has been suppressed by schools refusing to give the subject adequate time. The time has come to consider whether schools should face financial penalties for refusing to teach the subject. In secondary schools a school budget should fund the eleven subjects of the basic curriculum - yet many schools are only teaching 10 subjects. Questions should be asked about where the money intended for RE has been spent.

The lack of time given to RE has undoubtedly had a knock on effect in reducing the number of students taking the subject to degree level. This has in turn reduced the number who go on to train as teachers. This negative spiral needs to be reversed. Enforcement of the law will create the demand for RE teachers.

Some have suggested bursary schemes to attract more to train as RE teachers. (71) The Government should consider developing more school based routes into teaching, perhaps by groups of schools taking on this responsibility as currently occurs in the Smallpeice Trust Project for the initial training of technology teachers.

The Church of England

The credibility of the elaborate mechanism to draw up agreed syllabuses has been undermined by the fact that the first 27 adopted after the 1988 Act failed to comply with all the legal requirements. Furthermore inspectors say that schools are simply ignoring official syllabuses on a fairly wide scale.

Legislation assumes that the Church of England will be the guarantor for RE. It has a right of veto to stop illegal syllabuses being adopted, but has never used it. As has been seen the Church's Board of Education has issued guidelines which advocate that a minimum of 50% is always devoted to Christianity up to a maximum of 75%. Unfortunately the Church has chosen not to press this guidance.

The SCAA models could effectively not have been published without the consent of Board of Education officials.

The Board also seems reluctant to press its advice at local level. Church of England representatives are have recently endorsed a syllabus which in the opinion of LEA officials could allow Christianity to be studied for only 20% of the time.(72)

The number of Church of England aided schools has plummeted since the 1944 Act, whereas places in Roman Catholic schools have steadily risen. There are signs that the religious teaching and ethos in many Church of England schools is becoming little different than that offered in County schools. By contrast Roman Catholic schools have a reputation for being clear on what they believe.

The new Manchester Diocesan syllabus permits Christianity to be studied for only 50% of the time. Church schools in the Diocese are encouraged to follow the Church's national guidelines for County schools. (73)

In an academic study, the fomer head teacher of a Church of England primary school, Noel Todd, has shown the secular drift that has occurred in the official stance of the National Society - the Church's main agency for promoting RE. One Christian parent was quoted in the study as saying "I am on the National Society's RE development committee and have been encouraging the Church of England money to be used for the teaching of Christianity, but I feel a lot of resistance to this". (74)

Despite many discouraging developments the evidence is that Church of England schools which retain a strong Christian ethos are extremely popular with parents. There are still many excellent Church of England Aided Schools. There are still thousands of lay people, Anglican clergy and Church leaders in other Christian denominations who spend time going into schools and assisting them with RE and worship.
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6. The need for action

A relativistic approach to RE can not be sustained. As the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has said in his Reith Lectures:-

"The problem is that giving many religions equal weight is not supportive of each but instead tends to relativise them all.It produces a strange hybrid in which the primary value is personal choice...that is a little like glueing together slices of Leonardo, Rembrant, Van Gogh and Picasso and declaring the result the best in Western art."(75)

There is parental demand for schools with a clear Christian ethos and for RE which is predominantly Christian. Ways need to be found of encouraging County schools to develop a Christian ethos. At the same time thought needs to be given to the concernsof the faith communities. Faster routes need to be found to create faith-based schools.

SCAA's national models for RE are seriously flawed because (i) no minimum percentage is fixed for Christian teaching and because of (ii) the insistence that all "principal religions" are studied in depth. This goes well beyond what the law requires. It would, if implemented, necessitate a radical shake up of primary school RE where it is common practice to focus almost exclusively on Christianity.

The following should be the new agenda for RE:-

The government should simplify the process of an existing County school acquiring voluntary aided status. This would allow schools to develop their own religious ethos. This should be made possible by a parental ballot along the lines of existing ballots to become grant maintained. In order to encourage this process, the school should continue to be funded as a County school for a period of 5 years. This would relieve the school of finding 15% of all capital funding and external repairs until the voluntary body or trust is well established. This proposal would be at virtually no cost the tax payer and after the five year period the State will save this 15%. Like other aided schools, the school would still retain a relationship with the LEA, but after a successful ballot and approval from the Secretary of State, the Foundation governors would form the majority on the governing body.
Voluntary aided schools must be made to keep to their trust deed or else lose their aided status. The government should issue new legal guidance to Church schools on this responsibility.
Schools which fail to teach RE should face financial penalties.
Even in County schools, OFSTED inspectors must respect the ethos of the school. Inspectors recently criticised one middle school which had daily Christian assemblies. They called for the addition of multi-cultural features.(76)
The rubric in the SCAA models should be re-written so that primary schools can concentrate on Judaeo-Christian traditions and secondary schools concentrate on Christianity and the study of one or two non-Christian faiths in detail. In this way there would still time to cover introductory work on other "principal religions". The various aims that SCAA gives to RE reflect the thinking of the religious education establishment. They should be scrapped.
With SCAA's publication of the working group reports there is now an agreed definition of what constitutes a course in Christianity. The same is also true for the non-Christian faiths. The SCAA models could be put right with very few changes. If these were made, the national models could provide the basis of a national syllabus which county & GM schools should be allowed to adopt instead of the locally agreed syllabus.
The membership of any future RE committees of SCAA must have the approval of the Secretary of State.
Parliament has not voted for schools to abandon the nation's Christian heritage. Quite the reverse. Britain already has the most liberal religious education of any European country. The time has come to address young people's woeful ignorance of Christianity.
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References

(1) House of Lords (HL): Hansard : 21 June 1944 col 368
(2) HL: Hansard : 11 July 1944 col 778
(3) Ibid col 776
(4) See Murphy, J Church, State and Schools in Britain 1800-1900, RKP, 1971 pg 125 and school statistics (Table A12/92) supplied by the DFE Statistics Branch.
(5) eg Schools Council : Religious Education in Secondary Schools, Evans/Methuen Educational, 1971 and "The Swann Report" : Educational For All : The Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups, (Cmnd 9453), HMSO, 1985
(6) Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction, Birmingham LEA, 1975 and Religious Education in Hampshire Schools, Hampshire LEA, 1978
(7) See Burn, J and Hart, C J The Crisis in Religious Education, Educational Research Trust, 1988
(8) The Daily Telegraph 20 April 1994
(9) NAHT Press release 22 April 1994
(10) Jowell, R et. al. / Social & Community Planning Research (SCPR), British Social Attitudes : The Ninth Report, Dartmouth, pages 268, 269
(11) Just Another Sunday ; Radio 5live 10th April 1994
(12) Easter Poll Research Study, 22 March 1991 (n=1,100 adults aged 18 + ), MORI, 1991
(13) Gallup Easter Sunday Survey (CQ 313) 30th March - 5th April 1993 (n= 1160), Table 1.
(14) Secondary Staffing Survey 1988 : DES Statistical Bulletin 18/91 Table 24
(15) OFSTED, Religious Education and Collective Worship 1992-1993, HMSO, 1994 , page 19
(16) See Burn, J and Hart, C J Op. cit.
(17) Cox, E. Reforming Religious Education, Kogan Page, 1989, page 31
(18) see the Letter to The Times 3 May 1988 ; HL 3 May 1988 col 418 -421, 515
(19) The Education Reform Act 1988, section 8(3)
(20) HL : Hansard 21 June 1988 Col 639
(21) House of Commons (HC) : Hansard 23 March 1988 col 418
(22) For the debate on the clause see HC : Hansard 18 July 1988 cols 815 - 848.
(23) See schedule 5 to the 1944 Education Act. The 1988 Education Reform Act permits representatives within each of the four groups to take a vote as to how the group vote is to be cast.
(24) For details of the case see The Times Educational Supplement 22 June 1990; The Times 6 June 1990;
(25) Religious Education : Agreed Syllabus for the London Borough of Newham, Newham LEA, 1989
(26) HC: Hansard : 8 June 1990 col 925
(27) DES Letter to Chief Education Officers, 18 March 1991.
(28) Loc. cit.
(29) The National Curriculum Council, Analysis of Agreed Syllabuses, 1993, section 7.2
(30) Ibid section 7.3
(31) The Times 10 April 1993
(32) HC: Hansard 18 July 1988 Col 823
(33) The Independent 1 February 1994
(34) The Sunday Telegraph 2 January 1994
(35) The School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Model Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education : Consultation Document, 1994
(36) The Times 26 January 1994
(37) The Guardian 25 January 1994
(38) The Daily Telegraph 26 January 1994
(39) The Guardian 25 January 1994
(40) see HC: Hansard 14 June 1994 written answers
(41) HC: Hansard 9 March 1994 Col 370; see also Supplement to Votes and Proceedings- reference details not yet available at time of going to press.
(42) DFE, Circular 1/94: Religious Education and Collective Worship, 1994, para 35
(43) Religious Education, The National Society, 1989, page 8
(44) HL: Hansard 15 February 1994 col 92
(45) Brown, Alan, Christianity in the Agreed Syllabus, The National Society, 1994, page 5
(46) DFE Op Cit para 35
(47) See the Editorial in The British Journal of Religious Education 12(1) Autumn 1989.
(48) The House of Commons : Education, Science and Arts Committee, Session 1985-86, Achievement in Primary Schools : Report, HMSO, paragraph 6.41
(49) HL : Hansard 3 May 1988 col 418 - 421
(50) BBC Just Another Sunday ; Radio 5live 10th April 1994
(51) OFSTED, Op. Cit, HMSO, 1994 , page 9
(52) Ibid page 17
(53) Ibid page 9
(54) Ibid page 20
(55) Ibid , page 14
(56) Ibid page 20
(57) Ibid page 17
(58) Spinder, Hans, RE in Europe, Intereuropean Commission on Church and School, 1992 - available from the National Society's RE Centre, 36 Causton Street, London, SW1P 4AU
(59) Quoted in HL : Hansard 3 May 1988 cols 419-420.
(60) The Church of England Newspaper 11 December 1992
(61) US Supreme Court Reports 374 US 203, 10 L ed 2d 844, 83 S Ct 1560 see also The Times 26, 27, 28 June 1962; 18 June 1963
(62) See Rutherford (The Journal of the Rutherford Institute), January 1993, May 1993, December 1993 available from The Rutherford Institute, PO Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
(63) Jowell, R et. al./SCPR, Op. Cit.page 59
(64) The Christian Herald 21 August 1993.
(65) See Rutherford Op. Cit. June 1993
(66) See The Times 12 October 1989 and Graham, J & Lynn, S Mud Huts and Flints: Children's Images of the Third World, Education 3-13, June 1989 pages 29-32
(67) DFE Statistical Bulletin 5/94, para 2
(68) DFE Statistical Bulletin 24/93, Tables 21, 22
(69) DFE Statistical Bulletin 5/94, para 20 .
(70) Ibid para 24
(71) Gates, Brian Time for RE and Teachers to Match, RE Council, 1993
(72) Comments were made by LEA Officials about the revised Ealing syllabus. These comments were endorsed by the then Conservative Chairman of the Education Committee.
(73) Syllabus for Religious Education, Manchester Diocesan Board of Education, 1994
(74) For a summary of the main themes in the MEd thesis see Todd, Noel The Church of England School : In pursuit of a Christian Tradition in Aspects of Education No 35, The Institute of Education, University of Hull , pages 73 -88.
(75) Sacks, Jonathan The Reith Lectures : Lecture 4, The Listener, 6 December 1990, page 18
(76) OFSTED Inspection Report of Chapel House Middle School, Newcastle upon Tyne,

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