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Birmingham goes out on a dodgy limb over its RE teaching

3 replies

hamburgercheeseburger · 12/06/2014 19:42

I find this pretty shocking: humanism.org.uk/2014/06/12/birmingham-taxpayers-money-used-council-urge-systematic-discrimination-non-religious-re/

In summary, the committee that sets the RE syllabus for Birmingham community schools is trying to block Government guidance to include non-religious viewpoints, and is encouraging other areas to do the same.

OP posts:
hamburgercheeseburger · 13/06/2014 11:08

Just a bit of background to put this story into context ...

RE is unique because it is compulsory, but has no national curriculum. Some people think it should have a National Curriculum, but the nearest thing to that at the moment is the Non-Statutory National Framework for RE, first published in 2004, and more recent advice from the Religious Education Council for England and Wales following a comprehensive review. Both of those say that RE should include study of non-religious world views.

Faith schools usually use a curriculum set by their Diocesan Authority or equivalent, whereas Community schools usually use a curriculum set by a Local Authority committee, called the SACRE. Most SACREs follow the non-statutory national advice.

It is the Birmingham SACRE that is the subject of the story. They want to ignore the advice in the National Framework and remove any acknowledgement of non-religious values from the RE curriculum. They also won't allow any non-religious representation on their committee. They are encouraging other SACREs to go down the same route.

As a parent, I think that stinks. I want my child to grow up learning about the major world religions, but also to understand that many non-religious people also have strong values, many of which are similar to those with faith.

OP posts:
Messygirl · 14/06/2014 20:37

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tiggytape · 14/06/2014 23:28

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