IN THE wake of a report that religious education is “inadequate” in one in five secondary schools in England, the Church of England is calling on the Government to invest more heavily in the subject, which the National Secular Society insists holds no interest for either teachers or pupils.
In its study, schools watchdog Ofsted suggested many teachers were unsure of what they were trying to achieve in the subject.
This is all pupils need to know about religion
Inspectors, who visited 183 primary and secondary schools in 70 areas, also criticised schools for not providing enough training in religious education.
The survey, which did not include faith schools, recommended a government review of the way religious education is handled across England.
Reverend Janina Ainsworth, the Church of England’s chief education officer, said:
These findings suggest an urgent need for the government to invest in religious education, both in terms of high-quality resources and attracting and training specialist teachers.
The National Secular Society insists the report showed more people were drifting away from religion. Said NSS President Terry Sanderson:
Teachers as well as pupils are mostly indifferent to the subject and it is wrong to force it on to them.
Ofsted have reached entirely the wrong conclusion. Religious education should now become an optional subject, like languages.
He said that if RE was to continue in its current form, it needed to be used as a “springboard” for exploring issues in a multi-faith society.
Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert said:
This report highlights two things – first the need for better support and training for teachers and, secondly, the need for a reconsideration of the local arrangements for the oversight of RE, so schools can have a clear framework to use which helps them secure better student achievement in the subject.
The report, Transforming Religious Education, found the quality of religious education had declined since 2007.
Students who took part in the survey were unable to describe their progress in RE, with many young people unsure of what they needed to do to improve.
In the primary schools questioned, many teachers were uncertain whether Christian material should be investigated in class or whether it should be used to consider moral or social themes.
In one school, some teachers used Jesus’s parables to explore personal feelings or to decide how people should behave, but without using any reference to their religious significance.
Hat tip: BarrieJohn
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
June 6th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Frankly who cares anymore what is taught in Religious Education. The fact of the matter is, true Christian education should be the preserve of the family and the church. It is not the responsibility of a publicly funded education system to pump out Christians. The only folks who can truly teach Christianity are those who are themselves Christian.
Some Christians will be up in arms over all of this, but for me personally, I learned nothing of Christianity from my RE teacher and looking at my sons school work, it might be better all round if the public education system removed religious education altogether.
This is a snippet from my sons school RE book:-
Uh huh!
June 6th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I’d take a C of E Education Officer’s opinion on teaching RE about as seriously as I’d take David Irving’s opinion on how to teach kids about the Holocaust.
June 6th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
……” Christians have been responsible for two millenia of suppressing women and Christians believe that if they are good they will go to heaven.”
“Islam was cited as bringing science and mathematics to humanity.”
Hard to believe that religion could be dumbed down, given that it already is, but these folks appear to have done it. wow! Let’s hope the rest of the school curricula have more substance
June 6th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Isn’t this a simple matter of supply and demand? Many people have had it with religion keeping them poor, ignorant and scared. Any industry selling goods or services nobody wants anymore has to adapt or go belly-up, simple economics; when is the last time anyone suggested investing in steam-engines?
As religions can’t adapt without losing even more credibility, disappearing from the face of the Earth seems to be the only option.
June 6th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
In my early years of teaching I was coerced into taking RE classes, as no one else wanted to do it, and I was a Christian at the time. I wasn’t happy about this (Science being my subject), but did as I was asked anyway for one year, before taking a firmer line. There was no curriculum of any sort, and no supervision or advice form the head of RE or anybody else, apart from something along the lines of “Tal about the parables” from the head teacher, so I did the same as I did in Sunday School, and taught Bible stories, emphasising the Christian message! Said head of RE (a bitter enemy of mine at the time, being a “John Robinson”-type ex-Methodist minister who seemed to me to deny practically everything that most Christians held dear – if he still believed in God even – used to bore his classes half to death with philosophical discussions that went right over their heads, so I think the kids saw my classes as a breath of fresh air, actually! I am sorry to learn that things don’t seem to have progressed very far in the intervening years!!
June 6th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I think it is a good idea to teach comparative religion. Ie teach about all religions without indoctrinating any of them. Religion has shaped our past. Religion must be taught to understand The Enlightment among other things.
June 6th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
They live in a little fantasy bubble that has nothing to do with reality. What could they possibly teach that didn’t immediately hit the rocks of an imagined god, a bible based on ancient tribal folk lore, and values that have left women as inferior and excluded as far as they are able from the C.of E. And that is before we get on to their bigotry about gays.
The BBC devoted scores of hours every week to religion and at huge cost. How much progress is that making. None. Not only that, they are terrified to open up the flatulent Thought for the Day to anyone not a confirmed faithhead.
June 6th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I agree with Ihedenius that children need to be taught ABOUT religion, because of its historical importance, and its influence in the world today. What I think we are all opposed to is that CHRISTIAN education should be allowed in our nation’s classrooms, and I can tell you that a lot of evangelical Christians enter the profession with the single aim of proselytizing wherever and however they possibly can. I even ran a “Christian Union” myself for some years, which only had one aim as far as I was concerned. It seems from Stuart’s example that little has changed!
June 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
It seems to me that there is a belief that teaching about religion as a subject is the same as teaching it to convert to, or confirm a faith.
I am an atheist and I would like to see schools teach about all faiths – not in the touchy-feely, we must share, way that RE is taught nowadays, but simply as an academic subject – the history, the beliefs, etc.
To give a small example of why I believe this to be so important. A reporter was questioning a muslim student about why he wanted Israel to be destroyed. He said something along the lines of ‘the Jews should all go back to Germany and Poland where they came from’. The reporter said ‘but what about the bible, the fact that the Jews have lived in the middle east for millennia. The reply was “I don’t know anything about that.” This was in Los Angeles.
It’s not the only time I’ve seen this notion that the Jews were simply plonked down in Palestine in 1948 given credence. People who believe that this is what happened can perhaps be forgiven for being angry at – as they see it – having their land confiscated in such a way.
Surely there is a good case for ensuring that all children have a working knowledge of the world’s religions, I repeat, as an academic subject.
Of course there should be no question of any one religion funding any of the teaching.
I’m reposting this because my first attempt seems to have disappeared into the ether – if the result is a double posting, my apologies.
June 6th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Bjohn said:
“I agree with Ihedenius that children need to be taught ABOUT religion, because of its historical importance, and its influence in the world today.”
Education about religion from an objective and secular viewpoint generates freethinking students. Those with an open mind, when confronted with thousands of years of attrocities committed in the name of some psuedo-prophet or some imaginary creator, will decide that enlightenment is not found in tent dweller scribblings, it’s found in science. Discovery of what is real, not convenient belief.
In a previous thread, “John” stated that he was a humanist, and that he thought that there was wisdom to be found in all the great religions. Well, I guess, I’m misguided, I thought that was a universalist philosophy. No matter, from my point of view, history shows the only things of value, such as treat others as you want to be treated, are not supernatural wisdom, it’s common sense for any civilization that desires to live in peace.
Putting the facts together, one finds that organized religion is a cancer on civilization. Surgically removed in time, we may survive extinction. We’re behind schedule.
NeoWolfe1
June 6th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Something that often strikes me is the ignorance, by christians, of their own religion. The know little about its history and have no interest anyway. They go through the motions, floating along on the surface and think that the charade with fancy dresses before them represents reality. For many of them this is down to lack of education and also no intellectual curiosity.
The clergy know this. And this is a major reason why it is so important to keep debates with atheists away from prime time TV. Instead the sad meaningless pap is poured over the viewers endlessly.
June 6th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
You can bet your life that “faith schools” and academies won’t be teaching comparative religion in an objective way. Why waste their money if there’s no quid pro quo?
June 6th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
At school I was taught the Greek and Roman mythology and enjoyed the stories. Then was taught RE (it was Notre Dame Convent School) I really couldn’t see what the difference was. It was pointed out by a very irate nun that christianity, unlike the myths was TRUE. I remember thinking even then that they were the same why was one lot of stories fiction and the other one not? All these subjects should be taught well as they underpin our civilisation, but they must not be presented as true. I think most people as I did will spot the similarities.
June 7th, 2010 at 6:44 am
They’re losing hand over fist and they know it.
If any teacher tries to stand in front of a 14 year old nowadays and tell them that stories in the Bible are literally true, and that a half man was sacrificed by himself his own father, but then came back to life again, and somehow this meant that we wouldn’t burn forever because of our mistakes, they’ll laugh you into an early breakdown cause they know it’s a whapping great lie, and an obvious, unjust and immoral one at that.
The same holds true if they are told the same by their parents.
This is the generation that has the entire spectrum of human knowledge and viewpoints on google on their phones in the school bag that’s closer to them than the teacher and their ancient (or modern) books.
You have to raise children in a particular kind of social and intellectual vacuum for religion to really stick – the religious know this, ask any Amish, or study the isolationist tendencies of both the David Koreshs, Fred Phelps or the monasteries of the last 1000 years.
A kid curious about religion can spend an evening on a site like this absorbing the finest and most thoughtful insights into that shady world, whilst listening to God Is Not Great, doing their Math homework, and sending 500 texts to their friends.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Michael T said:
“they’ll laugh you into an early breakdown cause they know it’s a whapping great lie, and an obvious, unjust and immoral one at that.”
Response: There ARE more and more each day. But, I remember in my late twenties occasionally burning a blunt with a nineteen year old. As soon as he got high, he’d go on a Mormon guilt trip and insist it was the one true religion, which, of course, meant that he was evil. Myself, I was twenty four when I made my break. I’m coming up on fifty three, and there are still bits and pieces of that brainwash hiding in shadows of my dreams. I think some part of me always knew that religion was bullshit, but, the brainwash told me that was just weakness in my faith.
My point is, that the reaction of young children to free thought depends greatly upon the intensity of their indoctrination. Some are being enslaved before they can even speak. It’s a tough, painful recovery.
NeoWolfe