Changing Times - Are We Entering a New Phase in the Study of Religion?

New Phase?

Are we entering a new phase in the study of religion in education? A UK report on religion and belief in public life, Living with Difference, has recommended that change in religious education is needed on a number of fronts, from a reform of the law on collective worship to improved inspection procedures. In addition it states: "In Northern Ireland the present subject of RE should be renamed and broadened to include more religions and non-religious worldviews on the same basis as religions. It should be given an explicitly educational rather than confessional focus, and applied to all state-funded schools."

Some of our close neighbours, including the Republic of Ireland and England, have already made a  start in debating these issues.

Education about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics - Ireland

The focus of innovation in the Republic of Ireland is the introduction of a new curricular area in Primary Schools: Education about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics. As yet, the form the area will take in the curriculum is not settled, for example whether it will function as a discrete subject or will be integrated in a cross-curricular way in related areas such as personal and social education, history and geography. However, there is a clear sense in the proposals for ERB and Ethics which are currently out for consultation that the study of religions, beliefs and ethics cannot be identical with forms of denominational religious education. In contrast to faith formation programmes, ERBE is to be based on an approach that is pluralist, inclusive and constructivist in relation to values formation. This formal separation of two approaches to the study of religion - one confessional the other inclusive - is an attempt to balance two rights: a parent's right to an education for their child in conformity with their faith tradition and the right of children to learn about religions and cultures in an inclusive environment where one tradition or set of values is not privileged over another.

A New Settlement - England

 Similar to the debate in Ireland, a report In England has noted the need to distinguish between different types of religious education as a starting point to debating the future of the subject. The report  by Charles Clarke and Linda Woodhead A New Settlement: Religion and Beliefs in Schools distinguishes between three forms of learning about religion: indoctrination, faith development and religious education. In this context 'religious education' represents the inclusive approach (while in Ireland the same title is likely to be used of confessional approaches). This confusion about names indicates just how important it is to give attention to what actually is taking place in different classrooms under the title of religious education. Researchers at Goldsmiths College (in RE for Real) have found that there is general sympathy with the suggestion for a name change among parents, teachers and pupils in England; some examples they have suggested are: Religious Awareness, Religious Literacy, Belief, ethics and values education.

However, commentators, such as Mark Chater in his blog post, are quick to point out that a change in name will only be of value if it is accompanied by structural change including a rewriting of the legislation around religious education and the development of new structures for support, resourcing and organisation of the subject. Without these, he believes the subject will merely stumble on in its current state ('low status, weak and decaying structures, confused purpose, and low standards') until it fades away.

Change in Northern Ireland

So what does all of this mean for Northern Ireland? Well, none of the reports mentioned above have any authority over policy here but they do signal that a shift is taking place in the conceptualisation of religious education on these islands and it is likely that this will impact upon the local scene at some point in the future. In order to understand what these impacts might be it is worth noting what the reports above have in common: they recognise that a broad understanding of religion is part of a twenty-first century education; current arrangements for Religious Education are based upon legal frameworks from a very different era, elements of which are no longer fit for purpose; issues of religious plurality (internal and external to faith traditions) must be taken seriously when studying religion; and secular perspectives must not be ignored when studying world-views in schools.

If similar assumptions become accepted locally it will raise a large number of questions for debate, some of the most interesting being:

• What types of religious education are taught in our schools and do we need to formally distinguish between confessional and inclusive forms? If so, how might this be organised at Primary and Post-Primary level? And what should the subject(s) be called?
• Is our current provision of religious education capable of preparing our young people for life in an increasingly plural and increasingly secular twenty-first century? For example, to what extent is the current syllabus capable of delivering a 'diverse' and 'real' education about religion across all Key Stages? (The RE for Real report indicated that young people are keen to learn about religion in broad terms (reflecting a wide diversity) and as lived in the real lives of people)
• Are the existing arrangements and support structures for the subject adequate? What changes to current arrangements, including the legal status of the subject, should we be considering as we move further into the twenty-first century?