Report Calls For End To Religious Segregation And Christian Worship In Schools
A new report examining the role of religion in everyday life has criticised the admissions policies of faith schools, called for an extensive recruitment and retraining programme for RE teachers and questioned the requirement for most UK schools to devote time to religiojus worship. The report, titled Living With Difference, comes from the Commission on […]
A new report examining the role of religion in everyday life has criticised the admissions policies of faith schools, called for an extensive recruitment and retraining programme for RE teachers and questioned the requirement for most UK schools to devote time to religiojus worship.
The report, titled Living With Difference, comes from the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, which was first convened in 2013 by the inter-faith research organisation, the Woolf Institute. Its conclusions and recommendations are based on the findings of 20 commissioners, including a number of academics and religious leaders of different faiths, who took evidence from a range of groups and individuals across the UK.
Noting that successive governments have encouraged a rise in the number of faith and free schools in England in order to promote social inclusion, the report goes on to state that, “In our view, it is not clear that segregation of young people into faith schools has promoted greater cohesion or that it has not in fact been socially divisive and led rather to greater misunderstanding and tension.”
Reinforcing stereotypes
The report also takes aim at the current teaching of religion in schools throughout the UK. Describing the content of many school syllabuses as inadequate, it comments that “They tend to portray religions only in a good light, focusing on the role of religions in encouraging peace, harmony, and caring for the poor and the environment; and they tend to omit the role of religions in reinforcing stereotypes and prejudice around issues such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race, and the attempts to use religion as a justification for terrorism.”
The report goes on to cite a survey of 300 primary schools, of which only 19% received more than 11 hours of religious education teacher training, and calls for an extensive RE teacher recruitment programme at both primary secondary levels.
Finally, the report describes the arguments in favour of retaining compulsory Christian worship in UK schools as ‘No longer convincing’. Rather than propose outright abolition, however, the Commission endorses a joint initiative between the Church of Scotland and the Humanist Society Scotland that calls schools to hold an inclusive ‘Time for Reflection’ in place of assemblies that must legally include religious observance.
The Commission is Chaired by former High Court judge, Baroness Butler-Sloss; its patrons comprise Professor Lord Parekh of Kingston upon Hull, emeritus professor of political philosophy at the universities of Hull and Westminster; Sir Iqbal Sacranie OBE, former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain; the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Williams of Oystermouth; and Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
For more information and to download the report in full, visit www.corab.org.uk
