Stephen Law's speech on religious schools - 7 May 2008 - 2

Stephen Law suggests that an important debate that people like Richard Dawkins are not considering much is not the Atheism v Theism debate but the Liberal v Authoritarian debate.

BHA welcomes Ofsted report on RE, calls for national curriculum

The British Humanist Association has expressed its support for a national curriculum for RE, to replace the current system where syllabuses for RE are drawn up by committees in each local authority in England and Wales . This call comes in light of the Ofsted report on RE released today, which demonstrates the variable provision of RE in schools in the absence of a national syllabus.


Andrew Copson, BHA Education Officer, said, ‘We know that many non-religious parents and young people are concerned about the quality of RE provided by their school. Although in some areas RE is good, makes room for the humanist perspective to be included, and contributes to the development and education of non-religious pupils, in others it can exclude their perspective and undermine their developing values. RE needs more resources for the training of teachers and the development of innovative pedagogy, but we don’t believe any of this will achieve a lasting change without a statutory national syllabus against which to measure standards and attainment.’


In 2004, a Non-Statutory National Framework for RE was issued by DfES and QCA to encourage good practice in the drawing up of local syllabuses for RE and it included a recommendation that ‘secular philosophies such as humanism’ be included at all key stages. It was welcomed by humanists at the time as being a big step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, as Mr Copson continued, ‘Research commissioned by the BHA, and in the process of being presented as a final report for release later in 2007, has shown us that the current system of locally determined syllabuses has presented a major barrier to the inclusion of the humanist perspective in RE. It seems that without a statutory national syllabus, we will not achieve the best RE for all our children.’

NOTES

For further comment, email Andrew or telephone on 07855 380633

Further information on the BHA’s position on making RE part of the national curriculum can be found here

Humanists: stand up and be counted

June 18, 2007 10:35 AM - reposted from The Guardian

Atheists: stand up and be counted

Recently on these very pages, Theo Hobson called me pretentious and cowardly. It was not directed personally, but to all atheists, and particularly to those he describes as "militant".

One of those so-called "militants", AC Grayling, a BHA Vice President dealt quite adequately with Hobson's muddled and unnecessarily straw-clutching logic, and I need not add to Grayling's reply or the staggering 971 responses that the original comment generated.

But Hobson's rhetoric exemplifies a cultural position of mistrust towards atheism, that this default and rational position has negative connotations, associated with amorality and pessimism. This, of course, is nonsense. Wanting to live a life free of superstition is not cowardly, but increasingly brave under the government's burgeoning endorsement of faith. Realism is inherent in atheism, in contrast to the false promises of life eternal, and if morality simply follows a divine command, it is not moral at all.

Mercifully, although many of our politicians may be openly religious, Britain's political landscape is such that candidates do not have to be overtly religious to even stand a chance of election. There is even a cross-party Humanist Group. Compare that to the US, where in 2006 atheists were not represented in Congress at all. Perversely, the US has secularity protected by the constitution, whereas we Brits are subjects of the Defender of the Faith. But as Andrew Copson (BHA Education and Public Affairs) pointed out, the UK is moving at a menacingly creeping pace towards a government that is in thrall to religion.

The indoctrination that occurs at the ever-increasing faith schools can only promote the mistrust of atheists, and move us towards the deplorable situation in North America, where a 2006 survey revealed that atheists rank lower than "Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of American society'."

I recently gave a talk to science students at a secondary school about the risible promotion of intelligent design and creationism as an alternative to the theory of evolution in science lessons. One of my biggest worries before delivering this lecture was not the validity of my arguments, or whether I might offend any of the faithful, but is a bunch of 17-year-olds really going to give a shit?

I was pleased and relieved to find that they did. In conversation with some of them afterwards, they revealed that creationism was indeed a topic in science and religion classes, and the (admittedly self-selecting) audience was largely opposed not only to ID, but also all forms of Biblical literalism. I made a point of asking students what they think of Richard Dawkins, and to my horror, the vast majority had not heard of him.

Now, I support Richard Dawkins in his words and his manner, which while forthright, is also polite and thoughtful, as this video of him chatting to the Bishop of Oxford shows. It is a very rare occasion for me to disagree with anything he says. But it is shocking to think that in schools atheism's most vocal defender is unknown. I can only assume that Professor Grayling and Christopher Hitchens are similarly unheard of. While this debate bats back and forth in the pages of Comment is free and in the grand halls of the Royal Society, schoolchildren are being fed government-endorsed indoctrination into religion, and conversely are not exposed to the intellectual freedom that is inherent in atheism.

I call upon atheists everywhere to stand up and be counted. Take pride in being rational. I'm a humanist and a Darwinist, but not all atheists are. There is a positive message in atheism, which is that it is a position of intellectual curiosity, and our children should not be subjected to the bullying negativity of faith schools towards the atheist. I live a full and moral life. It is untroubled by fear or deference of supernature, and I am proud of that.

Call for 'post-9/11' RE teaching by Ofsted

By Robert Pigott - BBC Religious Affairs correspondent

In many schools, religion is linked with contemporary religious and moral issues

RE teachers must provide children with a more sophisticated understanding of the subject in a post-11 September world, Ofsted says.

After a five-year inspection of RE classes which began in the year of the attacks on the US, Ofsted says rote learning of RE is no longer adequate.

It says teachers should include ways in which religion is not always a force for good.

Increasingly pupils have been opting to study RE for GCSE and A-level exams.

Ofsted says that in England, which it covers, RE is being taught better.

'Standard responses'

In many schools, religion is linked with contemporary religious and moral issues, such as whether the war in Iraq was morally justified.

But all too often, say the inspectors, the exam system encourages "standard, mechanistic responses" running the risk of "trivialising significant religious issues".

It says students are often denied the profound understanding they need of the impact of religion on society.

This has raised people's awareness of religion and raised the importance of considering religion's role in society Miriam Rosen, Ofsted

"Religion is much more in the media than it has been in recent years" says Ofsted's Director of Education, Miriam Rosen, "and this is, of course, because of events like the bombings in London in July 2005 and the New York incident back in 2001.

"This has raised people's awareness of religion and raised the importance of considering religion's role in society, and the impact of it."

One of the most radical suggestions in Ofsted's report is that religion should be taught warts and all. The inspectors called on teachers not to shy away from controversy, but to accept in their classes that religion could be a force for bad as well as for good.

"Pupils should be taught that religion is complex," says the report, "and should be given the opportunity to explore that ambiguity."

'Solve issues themselves'

Angus Dawson, RE teacher at Royal Manor Arts College in Portland, has long found that pupils enjoy the ambiguity of religion, enjoying the "struggle between ideas" where there are often no right answers.

"We embrace the idea that religious ideas lead to conflict," said Mr Dawson. "The skills we teach (pupils) allow them to unpack the ambiguity and tension between ideas in a clear and straightforward way and to solve the issues for themselves."

But that level of achievement is too rare says Ofsted.

Miriam Rosen said: "They're not really concentrating on teaching about the role of religion in society and its contribution towards community cohesion. The very best are, but this is not consistently done."

Ofsted says attempts to raise standards are hindered by no curriculum

Schools minister Andrew Adonis said RE can help educate children about issues surrounding community, diversity and tolerance.

He said: "Religious education is an important academic subject in its own right but it can also make a positive contribution to pupils' broad personal development and well-being, as well as bringing in issues of community cohesion, diversity, tolerance and respect.

"We agree that the potential of RE to contribute to children's education and understanding in these areas should be fully realised."

RE has long suffered a lack of specialist teachers, but Ofsted focuses on weakness in how progress is assessed, and the way the curriculum is planned, for the inadequacies in the subject.

It says that lessons often fail to build on prior learning. There is no national curriculum in RE.

Instead, all 151 local authorities are responsible for developing their own locally agreed syllabus (SACRE). Ofsted says that hinders attempts to raise standards in RE, and consistency, across the country.

And those improvements are overdue. Ofsted says only a quarter of schools - albeit on its fairly small sample - were recorded as producing "good" achievement or better in pupils. One in eight were failing to produce even "adequate" achievement.