INFORMATION

This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are essential to make our site work and others help us to improve by giving us some insight into how the site is being used.

For further information, see our Privacy Policy.

Continuing to use this website is acceptance of these cookies.

We are not accepting any new registrations.

Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from GCSE

For discussions related to education and educational institutions.
Message
Author
User avatar
Tetenterre
Posts: 3244
Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am

Re: Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from G

#21 Post by Tetenterre » December 8th, 2015, 7:25 am

Latest post of the previous page:

Alan H wrote:I think this exposes one of their 'debating points': the equivocation of the phrase 'public arena'. It is meant both to mean public life (politics, law, etc) and simply what people do in public (go to church, express their views in public). Secularists would always be referring to the former when talking about getting rid of religion, but never the latter as that would be an infringement of personal rights and freedoms, but it suits the religious to conflate the two.
Good distinction, well made.
Steve

Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from G

#22 Post by Alan H » December 28th, 2015, 11:27 am

The Tory solution? Schools must teach children that Britain is a Christian country
Schools must teach pupils that Britain is a Christian country and are entitled to prioritise the views of established religions over atheism, the Education Secretary has said.

Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, today publishes new guidance to non-faith schools which makes clear that they do not need to give "equal parity" to non-religious views.

It comes after humanists won a landmark High Court victory which found that the Education Secretary had unlawfully excluded atheism from the school curriculum.

Mrs Morgan is concerned that humanists are using the courts as part of a "creeping ratchet effect" which will ultimately see primary schools forced to teach children about atheism.
A source close to Mrs Morgan said: “Nicky has had enough of campaign groups using the Courts to try and force the teaching of atheism and humanism to kids against parent’s wishes.

"That’s why she’s taking a stand to protect the right of schools to prioritise the teaching of Christianity and other major religions.”
A spokesman for the British Humanist Association said: "We welcome the Department for Education acceptance that schools need to teach not just about religions as part of RS but also about non-religious worldviews such as humanism but we fear, as a result of the Secretary of State's original error, that many schools will continue to assume that delivering the GCSE will meet their legal obligations. We look forward to working with the Department, as with schools and other bodies setting curricula, to find a way to make their obligations clearer to all schools, in the interests of a broad and balanced curriculum."
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Dave B
Posts: 17809
Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from G

#23 Post by Dave B » December 28th, 2015, 1:31 pm

Morgan le Fey strikes again :sad2:

If this the way it is to be it is a sad day for kids.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from G

#24 Post by Alan H » December 29th, 2015, 1:15 pm

And the BHA's response: BHA responds to new Government guidance on Religious Studies GCSE
Following new guidance on the Religious Studies GCSE, published yesterday by the Department for Education (DfE) in the wake of a High Court judgement earlier this year, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA), Andrew Copson, has made the following statement:

‘The BHA is glad that the DfE seems to have accepted that it stood no chance of winning an appeal against the judgement that its planned new GCSE in religious studies contained “an error of law”, but we are disturbed that the Department has plainly not understood either the basis of the judgement or its implications.

The new guidance claims that “Curriculum balance (and, therefore, compliance with statutory requirements) can be achieved across the key stages”. Hidden in this statement is a welcome acceptance that non-religious worldviews such as Humanism must be taught as part of religious education – but Mr Justice Warby specifically rejected as inadequate a ‘balance’ achieved across a pupil’s complete school career. He said: “GCSE is a vitally important stage in the development of a young person’s character and understanding of the world. I do not consider it could be said that a complete or almost total failure to provide information about non-religious beliefs at this stage could be made up for by instruction given at earlier stages.”

Far more importantly, the entire judgement was based on the finding that religious education in non-faith schools must be ‘neutral, impartial and pluralistic’ and so must cover non-religious beliefs. For the Department now to say “The Government considers the judgment to have no broader impact on any aspect of its policy in relation to the RE curriculum” is not only obtuse, it risks leading schools and teachers into breaches of the law. The judgement in fact requires a complete rethinking of RE so as to meet the legal need for a neutrality, an impartiality and a pluralism that embrace non-religious beliefs such as humanism and reflect the fact that half the population – and a greater proportion among young people – is non-religious.

The BHA is consulting its lawyers about the Department’s new guidance and will be seeking an early meeting with the DfE. The judgement should have been an opportunity for the Department to sit down and think about the curriculum and how it can be improved in the interests of all children. That it has not only wasted that opportunity but issued guidance that makes the situation worse is a slap in the face not just for the parents who brought this case and won, but also to parents nationwide who want a balanced education for their children.’
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Parents sue Government over exclusion of Humanism from G

#25 Post by Alan H » December 29th, 2015, 9:43 pm

Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

Post Reply