It seems someone in Germany has woken up and smelled the coffee

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

This from Reuters..

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/following-the-path-of-the-paris-terror-weapons-a-1083461.html#ref=nl-international

Germany is proposing to demand that refugees integrate into German life or loose rights of residency.. It appears to include learning Grman and not treating women as second class...If only some of our politicians would do likewise.

I think even RE should be taught more as philosophy and spirituality rather than just a pat version of the major religions. Maybe teach the origin of religion and spirituality. Include more about alternative ways of thinking regarding this. Show kids there are many ways to express this side of themselves outside the narrow confines of organised religion. Teach them a bit of critical thinking maybe.

I was shocked by the report saying that radical teachers are still in post in the school. That is unacceptable, and the report of the parents wanting the equality and diversity curriculum tailored to their beliefs, just no, no, no! If it is a secular school then no, their or any other religion has no place saying what should and shouldn't be taught. After all they are impacting on other parents whose beliefs are otherwise, and in the end it is part of the laws of this country and not for them to decide.

But if it's taught as RE/philosophy there will always be the 'opt out' option for parents who don't agree with their kids being taught anything with a whiff of religion.

There was recently a news report of insievtors finding highly violent racist material in a school library (I think in London) and the schools attitude was along the lines of 'well it was there, not sure where that could possibly have come from (try Saudi Arabia where a lot if this type of thing is sent from), why are you picking on us?'

Yes mavis I heard about that. Quite apart from the fact that anything containing that level of violence not being anywhere near under 18's (why would we ban then from GTA then put that under their noses). Why would a good school librarian have no knowledge of what is on the shelves. In my day they went through the shelves most days with returns of books anything improper would have been taken straight down. It suggests it was there because it was PUT there. And it isn't picking, if a porn mag was found in a school library there would be the same amount of focus or indeed a copy of Mein Kampf!

I didn't see the Sunday times report. They were all sold out apart from one copy when we got to the shop - and when we got it home the magazine had mtsteriously/miraculously turned into the Saturday issue of the magazine (culture and style still OK though).

I hadn't heard of the school with extremist texts in its library, so I looked it up and am sharing a couple of links now in case anyone else is interested:
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/636689/Islamic-school-failed-Ofsted-report-after-books-on-STONING-TO-DEATH-found-in-library

The school's response on its own website is here:
www.jamiatulummah.org.uk/

This bit is odd:
"The mosque is not part of the school and our students have separate provisions for performing prayers. We are managed by an independent board of governors, and cannot therefore possibly comment on which speakers may have been invited by and have attended the mosque."
It doesn't say what mosque is involved or what criticism has been made of the speakers, but obviously they want to disassociate themselves from it.

Finally, "Jamiatul Ummah was ranked the 47th best school in England in the Telegraph league table published for 2014." The Telegraph has a number of league tables, and it's in the GSCE results table that Jamiatul Ummah comes 47th:
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/11374645/Top-100-secondary-schools-by-GCSE-results-2014.html
The table says nothing about how good the school is in any other way. Clearly its librarian isn't too bright.

Oh, and Ofsted had already downgraded the school from outstanding to inadequate in 2014.

In 2014 Ofsted recommended among other things that the school "Actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs" together with principles that:

• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;.
• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions that further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
• encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010;
• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic process, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England;
• preclude the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school.

So the school knew they needed to be careful, and they still couldn't keep a check on what was available for the kids to read...

Part of the school's action plan to tackle this includes organising visits to places of worship... It would be interesting to know which ones, and how they present these visits.

Oh, and if British values are defined as "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs" then I don't see why it is culturally insensitive to teach them.

I would personally like to see RE scrapped altogether and replaced with "classics" in the broad sense.

Greek myths, Roman myths, Greek and Roman authors (in English translation), Norse legends, cultural literacy-type knowledge of the world's major religious texts (Bible, Torah, Koran etc.), brief run-through of classical texts like Shakespeare's works, Dickens and the other greats... Just taught as knowledge ("this is what some people believe, and knowing about it makes you a more educated person") and not getting into the whole spirituality crap.

Critical thinking is very important but it is impossible to teach CI as a "skill"--they have been trying and failing for decades.

I agree with that NewStatesman, I think critical thinking tends to come more from how you are taught to look at the world from a very early age.

The idea of a classics based subject sounds fab, I would have loved that at school. Too bad I had to do RE at GCE/CSE, I messed about because it wasnt important to me so got a low CSE grade. My mum told me just not to bother revising for that one because it was more important to get good grades in the others.

Someone upthread said that the Far Right is a threat. Yes, but the Far Right is most of the migrants who are flooding into Europe. Now they really are Far Right and intolerant, far, far worse than any European organisation. We've already seen some of their handiwork, and there is worse to come.

interesting - getting a good grade in that one is so easy if you are basically able to show an ability to appreciate the views and beliefs of others whilst also expressing your own.

thegoldencalfre.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/res-knowledge-vacuum/

This blog is pretty scathing on the low standards of much of school RE.

Yeah Honey, but I just didn't bother with it. I needed to concentrate on others far more, soI just literally did a very bare minimum. I put a lot more energy into my art o level which is a good job as that is now my profession!

I do have the ability but I decided at that point other things were more important.

I'm not sure about RE teaching today as my son is only 6. They have done some but he still appears to have only the haziest of ideas as to what it's all about. I don't think it's the time to go into these things more deeply at that age though.

Extremes of all kinds are a threat waffle, those kind of views are what brings out the worst in people. We need to challenge views that foster hatred at all times and no matter who they are expressed by. Hate speech and the promotion if hate is wrong and needs to have adequate penalties attached for anyone promoting it.