Religious Education is outdated, unpopular and opens the door to proselytising.
There are many more subjects children and young people need to learn.
It's time to replace RE with something more appropriate for 21st century students.
It is important for children and young people to learn about different religions and beliefs. But we don't think our schools need a dedicated subject to do this – especially a subject as out-of-date and as irrelevant as Religious Education (RE).
Surveys consistently show RE is one of the least popular school subjects, an indication of its increasing irrelevance.
58% of British adults think religious studies is unimportant at secondary schools. And a quarter of England's secondary schools do not offer RE.
Unlike any other compulsory subject, RE is determined at a local level in England. In each local authority the agreed syllabus for RE is determined by committees representing the Church of England and other religion and belief groups, as well as the local authority and teacher's groups.
As a result, schools not only face a local lottery regarding what their RE syllabus will contain; they will have to teach a subject under significant control from religious interest groups. These groups are strongly motivated to ensure their religion is represented in an overwhelmingly positive light. The current arrangements mean the subject lacks objectivity.
Many faith schools don't even need to follow the locally agreed syllabus and can instead teach religion from their own exclusive viewpoint.
A new nationally-determined civics and citizenship subject could encompass teaching about religious and nonreligious worldviews and allow students to consider moral and ethical issues. Religion and belief could also be explored in other relevant areas of the curriculum.
In Wales, RE has recently been replaced with Religions, Values and Ethics (RVE). While we welcome this broader and more inclusive subject, problems remain regarding the influence of religious groups and exceptions allowing faith schools to teach confessional RE.
We need a reformed subject to ensure education about religion and belief is broad, balanced and proportionate.
We've created a series of resources – Exploring Secularism – for anyone wishing to explore issues of religion, belief, ethics, and worldviews in schools. The resources aim to provide teachers with the material they need to engage with secularism in an informed way.
As British society considers how to respond to greater religious diversity and growing irreligiosity, it is become increasingly important for children and young people to develop their understanding of the interaction between religion, society, and politics. The study of secularism explores this interaction, together with questions about how we balance freedom of, and from, religion with other rights.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Support our campaign to ensure every pupil has the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religious and non-religious worldviews.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
NSS broadly welcomes changes to RE and RSE in Welsh curriculum
Posted: Wed, 1 May 2019 15:07
The National Secular Society has expressed broad support for reforms to the teaching of religion, relationships and sex which have been announced in the new curriculum for schools in Wales.
The curriculum includes an explicit reference to pupils learning about "non-religious worldviews" for the first time and moves religious education (RE) into a wider area of Humanities study.
It also includes a statutory requirement on schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), which it describes as "a key enabler of health and well-being".
But the NSS has warned the curriculum will allow faith schools to continue to use RE to promote their worldview and to distort RSE.
The NSS has engaged with Welsh education ministers and officials throughout the drafting process.
The curriculum, which will be introduced in 2022 for all children currently in Year 3 or below, will see teaching organised around six "areas of learning and experience" (AoLEs).
RE will remain a statutory requirement and be contained in an AoLE on Humanities.
Humanities
The Humanities AoLE is described as "central to learners becoming ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world through engaging with contemporary and historical issues, exploring human experiences on their own doorstep and across the globe, and contemplating different perspectives".
The new curriculum means that RE must cover a range of religious views and "non-religious worldviews" that are "analogous to religions". This replaces a requirement that RE syllabuses reflect that "the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of other principal religions in Great Britain".
The curriculum will allow faith schools to continue to teach RE from a religious perspective.
It will also continue to allow religious groups to inspect RE in voluntary aided faith schools and some voluntary controlled (VC) faith schools. The Welsh education inspectorate Estyn will inspect RE in other VC schools.
Under the proposals bodies which determine RE curricula locally – Standing Advisory Councils for RE (SACREs) and Agreed Syllabus Conferences (ASCs) – will adapt and oversee, rather than create, the RE curriculum. SACREs, ASCs and faith schools will still have significant influence over syllabuses.
The NSS campaigns for the abolition of SACREs and ASCs and the introduction of a national entitlement to an impartial curriculum about the diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews.
Through the RE element of the Humanities AoLE, pupils will be expected to:
- engage in philosophical enquiry considering the diversity, complexity and plurality of religious and non-religious world views.
- understand that ultimate questions are complex, and answers are often partial and inconclusive.
- appreciate, empathise with and critically evaluate sources of wisdom and authority, and religious and non-religious world views, in order to form their own reasoned conclusions.
- observe and investigate forms of religious expression.
- critically evaluate how aspects of religion and belief impact upon them, other individuals, local society and global society.
National Secular Society education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "We welcome the move away from religious exceptionalism and opportunity for a fresh approach by embedding religion and belief education within a wider humanities area of learning. Policy makers in England, where even modest reforms have been blocked by religious interests, should take note.
"The focus on the real world impact of a diverse range of beliefs on issues from the local to the international should improve the relevance and esteem of this often maligned or confused subject."
Despite the new curriculum, faith schools will retain existing powers to teach their RE syllabus from a faith perspective or to promote their religious ethos. In voluntary aided schools RE will continue to be inspected by religious groups and in voluntary controlled schools by both Estyn and religious groups.
Alastair Lichten said this split inspection regime would "lead to continuing confusion over whether RE is designed to teach children about different beliefs or to inculcate religious views".
"While including non-religious worldviews is essential in a modern, religiously diverse and increasingly non-religious Wales, limiting this to those 'which are analogous to religions' risks giving students an impoverished understanding of the diversity of non-religious and irreligious worldviews.
"The retention of SACREs means that RE content will continue to be unduly influenced by those selected for their religious or Humanist views rather than educational experience. We hope this continues to be re-examined and alternatives such as local education networks made up of teachers and educational experts explored."
Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)
A new statutory RSE requirement will be provided through an AoLE on Health and Wellbeing and recognised as a key enabler of wellbeing.
Despite the new curriculum, draft RSE guidance makes clear that faith schools will continue to be allowed to teach RSE from their own perspective. Last year the NSS revealed that all 12 of the secondary state faith schools in Wales with sex and relationships education (SRE) policies were teaching the subject within the tenets of Catholicism or the Church in Wales.
Alastair Lichten said: "The commitment of the Welsh government and the new curriculum take a significant step towards our aim of a non-discriminatory, inclusive approach to RSE which prepares students with an age appropriate understanding of the diversity of human relationships and the rights and responsibilities they entail.
"However, despite our positive engagement with education officials, we remain concerned that a lack of clarity and core content could mean that faith schools continue to distort the subject, denying pupils comprehensive non-discriminatory information about sexuality, contraceptives and reproductive choices.
"While a non-proscriptive approach which focuses on what matters and leaves independence for schools has much to recommend it, this should not lead to large gaps and inconsistencies between schools based on religious designation."
What's next?
Public consultation on the draft curriculum (statutory guidance) is open till 19 July 2019. The Welsh government is also expected to publish its response to consultations on the legislative changes necessary for the new curriculum (NSS response) and the draft guidance on relationships and sexuality education (NSS response).
NSS expresses support for RE and RSE reform in Wales
Posted: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 10:45
The National Secular Society has expressed qualified support for proposed reforms to religious education and relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in Wales in response to two government consultations.
The responses came after the Welsh government proposed a new curriculum which would change the role of RE and said it would reconsider parents' right to withdraw children from RSE.
In January the Welsh government said it planned to make RE part of a humanities area of learning and experience (AoLE), along with history, geography and business and social studies.
It said "essential aspects of learning" would be outlined across each AoLE, rather than within individual subjects.
In its response the NSS wrote: "We broadly support the proposed moves towards a modern more inclusive RE curriculum that addresses the diversity of worldviews in Wales. It is good for this to be embedded in a wider humanities area of learning, rather than being treated as an exceptional area."
But the NSS criticised provisions which allow faith schools to continue to teach RE in accordance with their ethos and the retention of SACREs – local bodies which determine RE curricula.
The Welsh government's plans would see non-religious representatives admitted to SACREs. The NSS welcomed "efforts to make SACREs more inclusive" but said the influence of groups who wished to present their religion or belief in a positive light was "educationally inappropriate".
The NSS also said the parental right to withdraw children from RSE should be removed.
"Parents do not have a right to selectively withdraw their children from science or history lessons that may conflict with their religion or belief, and we argue that the same should hold true for RSE.
"The right of withdrawal is most likely to deny knowledge to children from conservative religious backgrounds, who most need impartial, appropriate education in this area. This can place both themselves and others at risk."
This week education minister Kirsty Williams told the BBC she was considering whether allowing parents to remove pupils from the lessons was "still appropriate".
The NSS expressed support in principle for the end of the right to withdraw from RE. But it added that the right should only end if it can "be guaranteed that RE is not promoting a particular view of religion".
The NSS said current guidance meant some parents had "legitimate concerns about RE being used to promote particular religious views or a positively biased view of religion".
The society added that older children who wished to overrule parents who opted them out of RE and RSE should have their opinions taken into account.
The NSS expressed disappointment that the proposals did not include plans to reform Wales's collective worship law.
The law in Wales currently provides that children at all maintained schools "shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship". In community schools, the worship must be wholly or mainly of a Christian character.
In a separate response to guidance on RSE the NSS expressed concern that faith schools would continue to distort the way they taught about relationships and sexuality.
The guidance says education practitioners should be "aware of, and sensitive to, the personal circumstances of individual learners". It adds that this should enable them to "deliver suitable tailored content to the religious and cultural background of learners".
The NSS said this should not be allowed to interfere with schools' duty to deliver "a rights based, comprehensive and non-discriminatory RSE curriculum for all pupils, regardless of school or background".
In May 2018 NSS research exposed the way Wales's secondary state faith schools were distorting sex and relationships education (SRE) by teaching it through a religious lens. All 12 of those schools which had an SRE policy were teaching it within the tenets of Catholicism or the Church in Wales.
Shortly afterwards the NSS welcomed plans to make LGBT-inclusive RSE compulsory in Welsh schools from age five but warned against allowing faith schools to teach it on a religious basis.
The NSS's response on RSE also said education should not be considered less "age appropriate" depending on "the sexuality of examples used".
"If it is age appropriate for pupils to receive certain information about sex, it is age appropriate for them to receive this information about LGBT and non-LGBT sex. If it is age appropriate for pupils to receive certain information about relationships, it is age appropriate for them to receive this information about LGBT and non-LGBT relationships."
The NSS campaigns for an impartial religion and belief curriculum, education about sex and relationships which is free from religious influence and an end to compulsory worship in schools.
The society has made the case for these reforms in meetings with Welsh education officials over the last two years.
