{"id":45233,"date":"2018-09-10T13:21:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T20:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45233"},"modified":"2018-09-10T13:21:17","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T20:21:17","slug":"teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nWhat\u2019s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where\u00a0a majority of people<\/a>\u00a0have \u201cno religion\u201d?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0new report<\/a>\u00a0of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of \u201cno religion\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that religion isn\u2019t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important than ever that young people in Britain understand and engage effectively with diverse religions and worldviews.<\/p>\n

The report proposes a radical overhaul of RE. This is most obvious in the new name it recommends for the subject: \u201cReligion and Worldviews\u201d. Non-religious worldviews like humanism, secularism, atheism and agnosticism would be studied alongside different traditions within Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.<\/p>\n

The authors of the report \u2013 Religion and Worldviews: A National Plan for RE \u2013 are explicit about their reasoning for the name change: it \u201cremoves the ambiguity in the phrase \u2018Religious Education\u2019, which is often wrongly assumed to be about making people more religious\u201d. The roots of the subject, in the Christian Religious Instruction of the 1944 Education Act, are being thoroughly overturned.<\/p>\n

It also asks for a review of the right of parents to withdraw their children from RE, which seems motivated by\u00a0concerns that some parents<\/a>\u00a0are removing their children from classes in order to prevent them from learning about Islam. Further, the report recommends a new statutory \u201cnational entitlement\u201d for all pupils in all publicly-funded schools. This is intended to secure and enhance the position of RE across the country. The commission was in part motivated by evidence that the quality of RE provision has been plummeting in recent years, with some schools dropping it altogether.<\/p>\n

The national entitlement identifies nine requirements that pupils \u201cmust be taught\u201d, including how religions and worldviews \u201care interpreted in different times, cultures and places\u201d; key concepts such as \u201creligion\u201d, \u201csecularity\u201d, \u201cspirituality\u201d and \u201cworldview\u201d; and the idea \u201cthat worldviews are complex, diverse and plural\u201d.<\/p>\n

These requirements are very broad and therefore potentially open to misunderstanding. But they are generally in line with the way that religions and worldviews are conceptualised and taught in anthropology, sociology, religious studies and other disciplines in higher education institutions.<\/p>\n

Taken together, these changes could result in a significant advance for RE, securing its future as a rigorous academic subject.<\/p>\n

Faith-based schools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The explicit broadening to include worldviews appears to accommodate the rise of people of no religion in Britain, ensuring that their perspectives are represented in the classroom. British Social Attitudes surveys\u00a0have found<\/a>\u00a0that around 50% of the population has identified as having no religion since 2009. Young people are most likely to choose this category. In 2017, 70% of people aged 18-24 said they had no religion, an increase from 56% in 2002.<\/p>\n

Only a minority of\u00a0people of no religion<\/a>\u00a0are atheists; most believe in some sort of god or higher power and engage in a range of practices that could be described as religious. So pupils would be invited to explore the complex worldviews and practices of people who do not identify with a religion \u2013 including, it seems, most of their peers.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the prioritising of religion as a subject in urgent need of study might be expected to reassure believers who feel that their perspective is increasingly marginalised in the public sphere, ensuring that the growing no-religion majority can understand and sympathise with their devout friends and neighbours.<\/p>\n

But while the Church of England\u2019s chief education officer has welcomed the report, the most stinging criticism has come from representatives of schools with a religious character. The Board of Deputies of British Jews\u00a0criticised<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe dilution of religious education through the inclusion of worldviews\u201d; while the Catholic Education Service said \u201cthe quality of religious education is not improved by teaching less religion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Schools with a religious character exist in part to promote faith formation and ensure that the faith is passed on to the next generation. This was not the commission\u2019s aim. But beyond recognising this divergence in priorities for the commission and for faith schools, it is not clear if or how the National Entitlement would help faith schools maintain their distinctive ethos. For example, would Catholic schools be able to prioritise Catholic teaching and faith formation within the hours allotted to Religion and Worldviews, or would they need to make provision for this to happen after hours?<\/p>\n

In this regard, all seems to hinge on the commission\u2019s recommendation for a national body to develop programmes of study and training for the teachers who would deliver the new curriculum. Although some Catholic campaigners have asserted that this\u00a0would result in<\/a>\u00a0\u201ca state-imposed version of Catholicism\u201d, this is an oversimplification. If the national body adheres to what seems to be the intent of the commission, a variety of perspectives on Catholicism (and Islam, secularism and so on) would be included.<\/p>\n

At the same time, those who favour and patronise schools with a religious character may overestimate the importance of these schools in passing on the faith. The passing of religion from one generation to the next is a complex and multi-causal process \u2013 of which a child\u2019s attendance at a faith-based school is just one factor.
\n

\"\"

Parents play a stronger role than schools in promoting faith. Shutterstock<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Studies have found that a more important factor for ensuring faith stays alive is\u00a0the role parents play<\/a>\u00a0in their children\u2019s lives: if they practice their religion at home and in their local faith community, their children are much more likely to remain religious.<\/p>\n

While this may not reassure those who perceive the commission\u2019s recommendations as a threat to faith-based schools, it shouldn\u2019t distract from the opportunity that these proposals represent. If it is properly resourced and phased in over a reasonable period of time, could enhance \u2013 not undermine \u2013 the teaching of religious education in Britain.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Gladys Ganiel is a Research Fellow, The Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where\u00a0a majority of people\u00a0have \u201cno religion\u201d? The\u00a0new report\u00a0of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of \u201cno religion\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that religion isn\u2019t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":45234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[224408],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-45233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-religion-and-worldviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where\u00a0a majority of people\u00a0have \u201cno religion\u201d? The\u00a0new report\u00a0of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of \u201cno religion\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that religion isn\u2019t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"382\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1014,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/childwithhindustatue.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Religion and Worldviews\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/\",\"name\":\"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/childwithhindustatue.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/childwithhindustatue.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/09\\\/childwithhindustatue.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":382},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"What\u2019s the purpose of Religious Education (RE) in a country where\u00a0a majority of people\u00a0have \u201cno religion\u201d? The\u00a0new report\u00a0of the independent Commission on Religious Education in England and Wales provides a clear answer: the rise of \u201cno religion\u201d doesn\u2019t mean that religion isn\u2019t important. Rather, the report makes a strong case that it is more important […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":382,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools","datePublished":"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/"},"wordCount":1014,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg","keywords":["Religion and Worldviews"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/","name":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg","datePublished":"2018-09-10T20:21:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/childwithhindustatue.jpg","width":680,"height":382},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/teaching-worldviews-could-enhance-religious-education-in-schools\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teaching worldviews could enhance Religious Education in schools"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45233"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}