Humanists UK’s Curriculum and Assessment Review response: calls for RE, RSE and collective worship reform
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014
Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Publication: Freethought Newswire
Original Link: https://humanists.uk/2024/11/08/humanists-uks-curriculum-and-assessment-review-response-calls-for-re-rse-and-collective-worship-reform/
Publication Date: November 8, 2024
Organization: Humanists UK
Organization Description: Humanists UK is the operating name of the British Humanist Association. We are a charitable company (no. 228781), formed in 1896 and incorporated in 1928, and registered in England and Wales. Our governing document is our Articles of Association, which can be viewed here.
Religious Education (RE) is in need of significant reform so that it meets the needs of today’s society and is relevant to young people, says Humanists UK in its submission to Curriculum and Assessment Review’s call for evidence.
Reform of the subject so that it is taught in a broad, and balanced manner in all state-funded schools regardless of religious character, a suggested name change to ‘Religions and Worldviews’ with subject inclusive of non-religious worldviews like humanism, and the removal of any faith-based opt-outs to the subject are some of the changes suggested to improve the quality of the subject. Humanists UK also argues that the subject should be brought into the national curriculum to make the subject consistent across all schools.
The review was launched following the 2024 King’s Speech and aims to make sure the curriculum ‘appropriately balances ambition, excellence, relevance, flexibility and inclusivity for all children and young people’. The call for evidence, which closes on 22 November, is the first stage of the review, with an interim report based on submissions expected in early 2025. There has been no review of the curriculum since 2013 and is already falling out of date, particularly in relation to RE. Earlier this year an Ofsted report into RE found that the current RE curriculum often lacked ‘sufficient substance to prepare pupils to live in a complex world’.
Alongside RE reform, Humanists UK also calls on the review panel to make sure Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is taught in an unbiased and impartial manner, with no allowance for faith-based teaching or any parental right to withdraw children from any aspect of the subject. Mandatory daily Christian worship in schools of no religious character should also be replaced by the introduction of inclusive assemblies for pupil development into the curriculum. A recent poll found that 70% of school leaders opposed collective worship.
Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said:
‘The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s call for evidence has been a welcome opportunity for us to show the panel that there is a real need for meaningful reform to RE, RSE and other subjects to make sure they are fit for purpose and relevant to the needs of young people.
‘We also hope the panel will seriously consider the inclusion of inclusive assemblies for pupil development into the curriculum, and replace 80 year old mandatory Christian collective worship laws that leave so many non-Christian and non-religious pupils feeling disengaged. We look forward to working with the review panel as review processes to develop these proposals.’
Humanists UK campaigns for RE to become an inclusive, impartial, objective, fair, balanced, and relevant subject allowing pupils to explore a variety of religions and humanism, sitting alongside other humanities subjects in the curriculum and with the same status as them.
Notes
For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson at press@humanists.uk or phone 0203 675 0959.
Read more about our work on progressive reforms to the school curriculum.
Read our submission to the Curriculum and Assessment Review panel’s call for evidence.
Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 120,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.
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