The Accord Coalition has welcomed an announcement by Welsh Government Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis AM, that he is exploring reforming Religious Education so it also investigates philosophy and ethics.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘We await further information on the Government’s plans, but this is a welcome development. Challenging young minds to explore ethical options is an important educational role. The Minister should not stop there though, but ensure that all state schools pursue a broad RE syllabus and that faith schools in particular should ensure their pupils are informed about a broad range of religion and beliefs in society at large, not just their own one.’
The Minister’s comment follows publication in February of a Government commissioned curriculum review by Professor Graham Donaldson, which recommended that one of four purposes of the school curriculum should be to produce ‘ethical, informed citizens’. Speaking to the Senedd Huw Lewis said:
‘I would, though, if you’ll allow me, take the opportunity to also mention this afternoon my intent that schools individually, and as a whole, need to rise to the challenge of community cohesion, and I believe that Professor Graham Donaldson’s four purposes, one of which is that children should be ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world, demands that we take action. And, in that regard, I’d like to take the opportunity to announce this afternoon that I believe we need to transform our current religious education curriculum. My contention would be that we rename the RE curriculum and transform it into the religion, philosophy and ethics element of the curriculum, where there is an explicit commitment to allowing children to ponder ideas around ethics and citizenship and what it means to be a citizen of a free country.’
Notes
In 2004 the Department for Education in England published ‘The non-statutory national framework for Religious Education‘, which provided a widely accepted and popular template for RE that advocated schools teach about a range of religious and non-religious beliefs. It prompted a rise in the number of pupils sitting RE exams.
Religious Education in Scotland is called ‘Religious and Moral Education’ from ages 5 to 14, and ‘Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies’ from 14 to 18, reflecting its broad and educational approach.
