21st Century RE for All
We want every pupil to have the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religion and belief. We want to see all schools preparing young people for life in modern Britain by teaching pupils about the diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews.
We're campaigning for an end to the arbitrariness and unfairness of local determination in Religious Education and for a national religion and belief education syllabus as part of the National Curriculum.
What’s the problem?
Religious education is out of date and in need of reform. Almost thirty years after the introduction of a national curricular entitlement for all pupils, one subject remains exempt – religious education. Unlike any other compulsory subject RE is determined at a local level.
In each local authority the local agreed syllabus for religious education (RE) is determined by 'Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education' (SACREs), largely made up of religious representatives, with non-religious representatives either excluded or barred from voting.
Even worse, many faith schools don't even need to follow the locally agreed syllabus, and can instead teach their own syllabus and teach religion from their own exclusive viewpoint.
If there is a body of knowledge called 'Religious Education', which is worthy of being taught at all, it should be offered to all children wherever they live. There are simply no grounds for discriminating on grounds of geographic location or school type. If a programme of study covering religion and belief deserves to be included in the school curriculum, it should be offered to all as a basic entitlement for every future citizen. This is simply a matter of fundamental justice and equality.
Importantly, the subject must be broad, balanced and inclusive. Religious interest groups should no longer determine what gets taught. As with other subjects, the syllabus should be nationally determined by independent educationalists without an agenda motivated by a specific religion or belief.
"The structures that underpin the local determination of the RE curriculum have failed to keep pace with changes in the wider educational world. As a result, many local authorities are struggling to fulfil their responsibility to promote high-quality religious education"
OFSTED report 'Religious Education: Realising the Potential'
Get involved
With the General Election coming up, as a nation we're thinking about our future. Please consider asking your candidate to support common sense secular reforms — such as reforming religion and belief education — that will make our society, education system, and laws fairer for all.
It’s time to take religious education in schools out of the hands of religious councils. Support a national entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religion and belief.
Sign the petition-
A selection of comments from the petition. Supporters on what this campaign means to them and the need to reform religion and belief education.
Find out more
NSS submission to the Commission on Religious Education
We’ve called on the Commission to support pupils’ basic entitlement to non-partisan education about religion and belief, and an end to RE controlled by religious groups or faith schools.
Religious Education and the law
RE is a statutory part of the basic curriculum in all schools, but is often shaped by local religious groups and faith schools.
Your rights: Withdrawal from RE and Collective Worship
We advocate comprehensive non-partisan reform of religion and belief education and an end to compulsory worship in schools, so no one has to withdraw from any part of the school day.
Why Religious Education must be reformed before ending parental opt-out
The right to withdraw from RE may sometimes be problematic, but is still necessary when until vestiges of confessionalism, proselytization and poor practice remain.
Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education
Dominated by religious representatives, SACREs determine the RE syllabus at a local level.
Related news and opinion
Broad consensus for reforming RE at NSS event
Posted: Wed, 18 Apr 2018 16:18
Experts have called for reform of the way religion and belief issues are taught in schools in England and Wales at an event hosted by the National Secular Society.
The 21st Century RE For All conference, which took place on Saturday, brought together panellists from educational backgrounds, philosopher AC Grayling, teachers, NSS supporters and members of the public.
During the keynote address Grayling called for teaching to look broadly at "the history of ideas", including topics such as classical mythology and different types of thought.
Education about religious traditions, he said, should be "one but only one component" of teaching about how humans have tried to make sense of the world.
"If you take religion out of the context in which it belongs you give it a false importance," he said.
Grayling also said that in "too many schools" children are given "education in a religious outlook rather than education about religious outlooks" and said it had been too difficult to get non-religious worldviews such as humanism on the curriculum.
He also reflected on the history of religiously-inspired suppression of thought and the challenges to it, criticised religious "moralists" and cited the history of religious conflict. He said religions should be subject "to exactly the same kind of scrutiny" as philosophy or the sciences.
He said religious instruction, which schools were required to teach under the Education Act 1944 until it was replaced by religious education, was "an attempt to keep religion alive" and "a powerful reinforcement of the role of religion in society".
During panel discussions Keith Sharpe, of the NSS's Secular Education Forum, called for a national entitlement to teaching about religion and belief.
He also recommended that: teaching should be broad, balanced and objective, with no inculcation of dogma; the requirement for religious education to be Christian should be scrapped; relevant teaching should be subject to Ofsted inspections; parents should not have the right to withdraw their children once the subject is reformed; and the content should be decided by a range of stakeholders, with no veto from any interested party.
He contrasted France's inclination to "find ways of keeping religion out of schools" with England's to "find ways of keeping it in".
Kate Christopher, a national RE adviser and former teacher of the subject, described the way RE was currently taught as "an absolute fudge". She said the subject was "labouring under incompatible aims", citing attempts to teach both "personal inspiration" and "critical intellectual enquiry" within the subject. She said the subject should focus on the latter of the two goals.
Martha Shaw, a senior lecturer in education at London South Bank University, said the main purpose of RE should be the academic study of religion and belief. She added that students should be taught to question their own beliefs and presumptions.
Alan Brine, a former national adviser for religious education, said there were two competing narratives in contemporary debates over teaching about religion. An "enthusiasts' narrative" suggests "RE is wonderful but there is not enough of it", while a "darker narrative" says there are major problems in the subject. He said a new national entitlement should reaffirm the secular nature of the curriculum within which the study of religion and belief fits.
Attendees also took part in two round-table discussions, focusing on issues including how religion and belief literacy should be defined, what pupils should learn about and where religion and belief education should fit in the curriculum. There was some enthusiasm for the possibility of covering freedom of religion and belief within citizenship.
Alastair Lichten, the NSS's education and schools campaigner, thanked the speakers and attendees and said the event had been "an important reminder of the case for change".
"The discussions made clear that there is plenty of good work being done in schools. But too often teachers are hamstrung by the excessive control which religious groups exercise over the subject and the often deferential curricula resulting from local determination.
"Last year the Commission on Religious Education said the subject needed 'strategic, urgent intervention'. We now need to ensure all pupils get a broad, rigorous education which covers a diverse range of religious and non-religious worldviews in a critically-informed way."
The NSS is campaigning for reform of teaching about religion and belief across the UK. RE curricula are determined locally in all of the UK's constituent parts. Locally constituted Standing Advisory Councils for RE (SACREs) only set the curricula in England and Wales.
See also: The panellists have shared the notes from their speeches at the conference.
The row over right of withdrawal highlights the need to reform RE
Posted: Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:59
Teachers from the ATL union have voted to demand a clampdown on parents selectively withdrawing their children from RE. But Stephen Evans says the right to withdraw should only be scrapped once the subject is reformed.
A teaching union warned recently that "prejudiced" parents are pulling their children from Religious Education classes because they don't want their children to learn about particular religions.
Members of the ATL section of the National Education Union voted in favour of a motion demanding action from government to prevent "racist" parents from selectively using of the right to withdrawal, claiming the practice is increasingly fuelled by antisemitism and 'Islamophobia'.
Parents and carers currently have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE. Our experience at the National Secular Society is that many 'selective withdrawers' do indeed have an issue with the teaching of Islam. NSS staffers have received numerous enquiries from and about parents unhappy about visits to mosques or school visits from imams, and it's clear that some requests to withdraw pupils from RE stem from bigotry. But we also regularly receive complaints from parents who are concerned about external representatives of evangelical groups being invited into schools, where they use RE as a platform to promote their own religion. Parents should have the right to know who is 'educating' their children – and the right not to have their children subjected to unwanted evangelism.
In some cases, it may also be that parents simply aren't confident that the schools will approach the subject matter objectively, and will perhaps teach Islam, and other religions, uncritically and with undue deference. RE is regarded by some as 'advertising space' for religion in schools. It is understandable that some parents many not want their children pumped with specious nonsense such as 'Islam is a religion of peace' because as most people have worked out, it's a bit more complicated than that. Islam, like other beliefs, has diverse manifestations and unless the study of religion is regarded as an objective, critical and genuinely academic inquiry, who can blame parents for being somewhat sceptical of its merits.
Proposing the motion to end the selective right of withdrawal at the NEU Conference, Richard Griffiths from the union's Inner London branch said that RE today has developed into a subject "that allows for critical thinking, big questions, allows children to explore their own and other religious beliefs and non-beliefs".
Whilst it is true that in many schools, RE is no longer the vehicle for Christian evangelism it once was, I'm not so sure the rosy situation he paints quite presents the full picture. A recent interim report from the Commission on Religious Education, which has been set up to consider the subject's future, casts doubt on RE's fitness for purpose. It says teachers are "not always clear on the purpose of the subject" and many "lack the subject knowledge necessary to teach about sensitive and crucial issues with skill and nuance". It adds that "low standards predominate across too many schools" and "pupils are experiencing a lottery in their access to high quality RE".
Even worse is that some faith schools are still permitted, indeed required, to teach RE in accordance with the tenets of their faith – a situation that fundamentally undermines RE's credibility. The subject's status is further diminished by representatives from religious communities having privileged input into the syllabus in our supposedly non-faith-based community schools.
Rather than tinkering around the edges, it would be great to see teachers demanding root and branch reform of RE. Learning about religion and non-religious philosophical worldviews is part of a balanced education and pupils are being short-changed by the reluctance to wrest the subject away from religious interests. In fact, until we learn how to approach religion objectively in schools, there's a very good case for extending the right of withdrawal from RE and collective worship to pupils, too.
So whilst it is right in principle that parents shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose what subjects their children are taught in schools, the parlous state of RE and the religious exceptionalism that characterises it makes the right of withdrawal – even partial withdrawal – a necessary evil for now.
Majority of Britons see religious studies as unimportant
Posted: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:23
The British public considers religious studies one of the least important subjects which secondary schools teach, according to a YouGov poll.
The National Secular Society has responded by reiterating its call for "fundamental reform" of the way religion and belief issues are taught in schools.
YouGov asked a sample of the British public how important they considered 18 subjects. The poll placed religious studies 15th, ahead only of Drama, Classics and Latin.
More than half of respondents said RS was either 'not very important' or 'not at all important', with more than a quarter saying the latter. Just 12% said it was 'very important'.
In contrast 60% of people said citizenship was either 'very important' or 'quite important' and 85% said the same about sex and relationship education, which came fifth on the list. Last week the NSS told the Government that young people's access to sex education should not be restricted on religious grounds.
RS was far behind the other traditional humanities: history gained the support of 84% of people and geography 83%. 'Religious education' was not included on the list.
The NSS's education campaigner, Alastair Lichten, said: "While there is value in learning about different worldviews and their influence in society, these findings should prompt questions about the hubris of those that overstate the importance of religion in society and wish to elevate its status."
In December the NSS called for a new national entitlement for religion and belief education to ensure pupils learn about a diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews and an end to local determination of the way it was taught. This was in response to a report by the Commission on Religious Education which said RE in England faces "a perilous future" unless it is subject to "strategic, urgent intervention".
Mr Lichten said: "All children and young people should be entitled to a basic, broad and balanced education about different worldviews. But with little enthusiasm for religious studies, as this poll reveals, it's questionable whether a specific timetabled subject called 'religious education' is the best way to achieve that."
In July Luxembourg's Government set a precedent in this regard when it announced plans to replace religious education lessons with 'life and society' classes. Mr Lichten said this was an "interesting" approach, adding: "We could have a strong 'worldviews' strand within citizenship studies. Such a subject could integrate well with politics and philosophy – which were not included in the poll."
On Friday the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC), warned that a shortage of religious education teachers could contribute to religious stereotyping and discrimination. Less than two thirds of the targeted initial teacher training spaces for RE in England have been filled this year.
Mr Lichten said: "We agree with the REC that 'specialist teachers are crucial for keeping young people properly informed'.
"We also have to consider whether the fact that one in three schools can apply a religious test when hiring RE teachers, may discourage recruitment. If an RE teacher is a 'specialist' in helping pupils learn about religion, not how to be religious, then there should be no justification for such discrimination.
"Part of the purpose of education is learning to live together. That has to include understanding of how different worldviews affect the society we share. However, 'religious literacy' is often held up as a panacea, or used as code encouraging a positive or aggrandising view of religion. In actuality, there is no convincing evidence either ignorance of or hostility to religion correlates with bigotry towards religious people."
Secularist conference to explore ‘21st Century RE for All’
Posted: Thu, 11 Jan 2018 11:22
The National Secular Society is to hold a one day conference on reform of religion and belief education in schools, with speakers to include Prof. A. C. Grayling.
The conference will take place at Conway Hall in Central London on Saturday 14 April, and takes its name from the NSS campaign to reform RE. The campaign aims to bring RE into line with other subjects by ending local determination and introducing a balanced curriculum in all schools drawn up by educationalists, not faith groups, and inspected consistently by Ofsted.
Speakers include NSS honorary associate Prof. A. C. Grayling, who will offer a philosophical perspective on 'Learning about worldviews'. A panel of experts from the RE community will offer a range of opinions on what '21st Century RE for All' should mean. There will also be a series of roundtable discussions, for attendees to get involved with.
Panellists include: Dr Keith Sharpe, chair of the Secular Education Forum and a former professor of education; Alan Brine, former Ofsted national adviser for religious education; Kate Christopher, RE Today's national adviser who is completing a PhD in Philosophy of Education; and Martha Shaw, a senior lecturer in education at London South Bank University and an author of REforReal.
Education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "We hope this event will be an exciting opportunity to bring different groups together. Whether you're a teacher of RE who wants to bring balance and best practice to the classroom; an academic working on reform; a parent concerned about proselytisation; or an activist challenging religious groups' privileged control of the subject, this conference will have something for you.
"Although the reforms we argue for are widely supported in the RE community, there are powerful vested interests that see RE in schools as 'theirs'. Some who accept RE shouldn't be used to promote their faith, still see the subject as about promoting the idea of faith more generally.
"We hear a lot about problems in RE, vestiges of confessionalism, a narrow focus, poor inspection and confusion over its aims. But it's worth remembering there is a lot of good practice out there, parents, pupils and teachers are interested in exploring worldviews in a balanced, critical way, and in an education that prepares young people for life in 21st century Britain."
Tickets: Tickets are just £10, including lunch
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL
Date: Saturday 14 April 2018, 10.30-15.30 (registration from 10.00)
Details: Click here for more details including speaker bios
Faith schools using RS IGCSE loophole to teach just one religion
Posted: Thu, 7 Dec 2017 10:53
The number of pupils being entered for a religious studies IGCSE exam which allows them to learn about only one religion rose by 40% last year.
Schools Week has reported that the number of English entries for the IGCSE offered by the international for-profit exam board Pearson rose from 436 pupils in 2015 to 608 in 2016. Schools such as Yavneh College in Hertfordshire, a Jewish faith academy, have switched to the IGCSE in that time.
Since 2016 a change in the curriculum has meant schools have had to teach a second religion for at least a quarter of their RS GCSE course. Yavneh was among schools which initially responded by dropping its RS course.
But now more are responding by taking up the offer of an international qualification from Edexcel, which is owned by Pearson. Reports suggest the change is particularly driven by Jewish schools. According to the Jewish Chronicle Immanuel College in Bushey is switching to the course, while Hasmonean High School in Hendon and King David High School in Manchester are considering doing so.
The National Secular Society's education campaigner Alastair Lichten said the development highlighted the need to tackle religious power over schools' curricula and governance structures.
"Even if this loophole was closed, learning about a token extra religion for a quarter of a GCSE course really isn't a sufficient requirement. This is a reminder that what children learn about should be dictated by what's best for children and society, not the interest of faith groups.
"And it's inevitable that religious organisations will behave like this when they have so much power in English schools. The state shouldn't be funding schools which build their ethos around religion at all."
The NSS is campaigning for an end to faith schools and reform of the way religion and belief are taught.
The development has also been criticised by some in the education community.
Deborah Weston, a research officer at the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education, said Pearson had made a "business decision" rather than one based on the "principle of what RS teaching should be like". Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leaders, said the decision was "at odds with us as a society".
Spencer Lewis, the executive headteacher of Yavneh College, told Schools Week he felt the IGCSE was "an appropriate course" that would "interest and challenge" pupils. He said the focus on a single religion was "not the motivating factor" for the switch and pupils would still learn about other religions.
The schools do not appear to be trying to boost their official standing in performance tables. The Government does not recognise IGCSEs when it calculates these.
A spokesperson for Pearson told Schools Week its RS IGCSE was "informed" by the Department for Education's requirements, but the company had to make sure the content was "appropriate for schools worldwide, delivered in many different cultural contexts".
Pearson added that while most questions in the IGCSE could be answered "from the perspective of one religion", pupils also needed "knowledge and understanding of key religious ideas which are not specific to any one religion", as well as of non-religious beliefs.
For RE news stories click here.
