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Rewriting Oxfordshire's agreed syllabus post 1988 Introduction
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Rewriting Oxfordshire's agreed syllabus post 1988
Derek Gillard June1992 © copyright Derek Gillard 2001
Citations
Chapter 1 The context In 1981 Tim Brighouse, then Chief Education Officer for Oxfordshire, wrote in the preface to the county's Agreed Syllabus: "Religious Education involves a personal quest for meaning and a search for values through encounters with Christianity and other living faiths." (Oxfordshire Agreed Syllabus 1981) The syllabus itself was in fact a reprint of the 1978 Hampshire syllabus, a syllabus used by a number of local education authorities as well as Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire was by no means the only authority considering a revision of its agreed syllabus at this time: many other authorities were making similar decisions. Why was this large-scale revision of syllabuses taking place? What had happened in the period since the 1944 Act which had persuaded local authorities that it was time for a change? To be in a position to suggest answers to these questions we need to examine briefly the provisions of the 1944 Act (some of which are still in operation today) and the history of religious education in the intervening period. The religious provisions of the 1944 Education Act In the years leading up to the second world war the rivalry between the churches in relation to what should be taught in religious education lessons in schools had declined and their willingness to co-operate with the local authorities had increased, so that some "thorough and relatively enlightened syllabuses were circulating among the various areas." (Hull 1984) [1] Edwin Cox and Jo Cairns have suggested that, in this pre-1944 period, "the aim of religious education can be broadly defined ... as to enable the young person to find meaning in experience as a result of embracing the values of Christianity." (Cox and Cairns 1989) [2] And in their view the White Paper which preceded the 1944 Education Act, 'Educational Reconstruction', "called upon the schools and religious education in particular 'to revive the personal and spiritual values of the nation'." (Cox and Cairns 1989) [3] The 1944 Education Act gave statutory backing to many of these developments. The main provisions of its religious education clauses were that:
However, he goes on to suggest that this was taken for granted: "it was tacitly assumed that Christianity was the only faith that pupils were likely to encounter, the only faith about which they, therefore, need be educated." (Cox and Cairns 1989) [5] Elsewhere he suggests that "all the syllabuses are based on a study of the Christian scriptures and the history of the Christian church and this is beyond doubt what the legislators intended." (Cox 1966) [6] The aims of religious education at the time might well be summed up in those of the 1963 Surrey Syllabus which stated that children should "gain knowledge of the common Christian faith held by their fathers for nearly 2000 years; seek for themselves in Christianity principles which give a purpose to life and a guide to all its problems; and find inspiration, power and courage to work for their own welfare, for that of their fellow-creatures, and for the growth of God's kingdom." (Surrey 1963) [7] Teachers (and others) were not to subscribe to such aims for long. As Ninian Smart has written, "propaganda is not the aim of teaching, but the production of a ripe capacity to judge the truth of what is propagated. In brief, the role of the teacher is not that of taking advantage of the young." (Smart 1966) [8] Changes in the sixties in education and society In education, the period from 1960 to the mid-seventies saw intense interest in developmental psychology (Piaget, Bruner etc); the publication of Readiness for Religion (Goldman 1965) and the Plowden Report (1967), both of which were grounded in the work of, especially, Piaget; the abolition of the eleven-plus exam and the introduction of comprehensive schools. Education began to change (albeit slowly) from being the "authoritarian imparting of facts which the teacher knew and the pupils respectfully accepted" (Cox 1983) [9] towards an 'inductive' or child-centred approach. This change was strongly promoted by the Plowden Report which recommended that "there is an urgent need for a reconsideration and reappraisal of what aspects of religious faith can be appropriately presented to children, at what time and in what way." (Plowden 1967) [10] In society, it was a period of rising prosperity and increasing immigration but decreasing interest in religion - or at least in organised religion. Society was thus becoming more secular and pluralist. These factors led Birmingham, for example, to revise its syllabus in the early 1970s, to include work on a variety of faiths, taking into account the "considerable numbers of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu children (who) were attending Birmingham schools." (Hull 1984) [11] And religion itself was coming to terms with what many described as 'the new theology', which, perhaps surprisingly, became "the subject of popular interest" (Cox 1983) [12] with the publication of John Robinson's 'Honest to God' in 1963. All these factors persuaded local authorities that their syllabuses needed revision. And, in any case, it was natural that, fifteen years or so after the 1944 Act, "interested parties should begin to enquire how far it (the statutory framework set up by the 1944 Act) was succeeding." (Cox 1983) [13] Several research projects appeared to indicate that "there had been no obvious increase in national godliness ... churchgoing had further declined and juvenile delinquency had increased. Nor had the subject aroused noteworthy enthusiasm in the majority of pupils." (Cox 1983) [14] But perhaps the main reason for the revisions was the increasing concern that the existing syllabuses were simply not appropriate for pupils whose intellectual and linguistic abilities and limitations were now being intensively researched. Goldman summed up the conclusions of many writers and researchers in six points: the complexity of religious concepts as compared with the limited intellectual development of the young; poor attainments in terms of Bible knowledge; an increasing sense of the unreality and irrelevance of religious teaching; the importance of motivation and attitudes; the incremental nature of religious growth and learning; and a unanimous conclusion that the current syllabuses and methods were quite unsuitable. (Goldman 1965) [15] The beginnings of change can be seen in the syllabus published by Cornwall in 1964. It suggested that "most teachers in this country shrink from the idea that they should assist in propaganda and indoctrination." Furthermore, "this is a subject which ... involves the most private and intimate of the pupil's reactions and experiences." And again, "another way of avoiding commitment or undue pressure is to give all religions a fair hearing." (Cornwall Agreed Syllabus 1964) [16] It is difficult to overstate the change these views represented as against the old confessional, purely Christian, syllabuses. Here can be seen the beginnings of the phenomenological approach to religious education, but also the beginnings of attempts to help pupils in their own quest for beliefs, values and meaning in life. The sixties, then, saw intense activity in terms of research into children's intellectual and spiritual development, and important changes in society and its attitudes and values, all of which began to be reflected in the aims and principles underlying the agreed syllabuses. Significant changes in the content of the syllabuses would have to wait still longer, however. Phenomenology, mentioned in passing above, was to become the watchword for the seventies. Confessional teaching and indoctrination were out (at least in theory). John Marvell has described phenomenology as being "concerned with a 'propositionless' approach to that which is essential and unique to the essence and manifestation of religion. Thus, unlike the empirical approach it does not avoid the central issues, nor ask, as does the theological approach, that certain a priori assumptions be made which are not universally acceptable." (Marvell in Hull 1982) [17] The processes which had resulted in changes (research into children's learning, societal changes etc) continued apace during the seventies and early eighties, and much debate ensued about the role of religious education. Edwin Cox (1983) discussed the problems of dealing with sacred literature, of religious language, of the relationship between religious and moral education. But perhaps more importantly, Britain was perceived, at least by those actively involved in the debate, as no longer a Christian society. The 'post-Christian era' was talked about, and Edwin Cox, among others, discussed secularism and religious pluralism. "What is the existing situation? It is that in Britain ... we have a multiplicity of religious and of non-religious faiths. Some are Christians in the old church-going style. Others have a kind of residual Christianity or folk faith ... There are those who think all religious beliefs are non-scientific and superstitious ... these are the Humanists, the scientific determinists, the Communists and the like." To this list he adds the agnostics and then "those immigrant faiths that have come among us, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, and others, and those fringe cults that attract the young for a while." (Cox 1983) [18] In this educational and societal context the new agreed syllabuses no longer required teachers to turn their pupils into practising Christians - or practising anything else, for that matter - pupils would now study religions as things other people believed in and did. The Hampshire Syllabus of 1978 The phenomenological approach was quickly reflected in the aims of new syllabuses, and it is in this context and against this historical background that we can now examine Hampshire's new syllabus of 1978. It is, in my view, a remarkable document which still sounds fresh and relevant today and displays a philosophy of religious education with which, I suggest, few would argue. It begins with a statement of Aims and Approach. It states that "the principal aim of religious education in schools is to enable pupils to understand the nature of religious beliefs and practices, and the importance and influence of these in the lives of believers." This aim is, in isolation, a concise statement of the phenomenological approach, but there is more to come. The syllabus argues that Christianity should be the main subject matter since Christianity is the religious faith "which has most influenced our culture." However, it goes on to say, importantly in the context of earlier syllabuses, that "it is no part of the responsibility of a county school to promote any particular religious standpoint." Furthermore, Christian content alone would not be adequate. "A syllabus relevant to the needs of our children must also provide an introduction to other religious commitments and world-views found in contemporary British society." There are clear echoes here of the Birmingham Syllabus of 1975. The Hampshire syllabus goes on to suggest that "religious education is concerned with making pupils aware of experiences and concepts basic to all religion." However, this in itself is not enough; neither is it enough simply to investigate "the visible features of particular religious and non-religious belief systems." Rather, religious education must go deeper than this, "evoking sympathetic appreciation of the meanings and values enshrined within such systems; and, with older pupils, critically examining them." I suggest that the syllabus here goes beyond phenomenology: a strictly phenomenological approach would be concerned with looking at the phenomena of religious belief and practice and no more. The phrase 'critically examining them' introduces an element of evaluation - something syllabus writers are still struggling with today, as we shall see later. The inclusion of this aspect of religious education is important because "pupils will thus be helped to discover some of the ways in which human beings have approached and answered questions of the meaning and purpose of existence, and some of the ways in which these approaches and answers have shaped social life and attitudes." And this leads on to the next suggestion of the syllabus, that a religious education which is not trying to indoctrinate or persuade should help pupils in their own personal search for "meaning, purpose and values." The inclusion of the word 'values' opens up another huge dimension of religious education. Certainly the earlier syllabus writers had been concerned with values: Christian values with which teachers were supposed to indoctrinate the young. How Christian some of these values actually were could be the subject of a long debate: I suspect many of the values which successive governments would have liked the young to espouse have had more to do with maintaining the status quo in society rather than anything Jesus said. The Hampshire syllabus, however, avoids such interpretations. It does talk about "the less immediately obvious values in the civilisation to which they are heirs" but it goes on to talk about children being "better able to play a responsible part in the generation of their own culture." These carefully chosen words seem to me to observe just the right balance between turning children into what the present society wants (skilled workers etc - the utilitarian approach) and seeking to offer children the skills and competencies to change society - to make it their own. The syllabus goes on to discuss the experiential dimension of religion, arguing that if pupils meet and engage in dialogue with believers, and encounter their practices and customs, art, music and literature, they will become aware of "the reality, strength and consequences of religious convictions." Here again the syllabus goes a step further than the purely phenomenological: rather than simply examining the phenomena of religions in isolation, pupils are invited to consider the consequences of these phenomena. And today there are plenty of consequences to consider, from personal racial and cultural intolerance to international issues like the Gulf War and the middle east peace talks. The syllabus suggests that tolerance and empathy should be fostered by "an attitude of fairminded enquiry towards the whole range of religious and non-religious convictions." It is interesting to note the inclusion of 'non-religious' convictions: a few years earlier the Birmingham syllabus had provoked a storm of argument over its suggestion that pupils might undertake studies in Marxism/Communism. The Hampshire syllabus does not name particular world-views but the possibility is certainly there. Religious education, the syllabus suggests, should "encourage a willingness to stand imaginatively in other people's shoes." Pupils' own views should be weighed against the traditions being studied "before they subject those traditions to criticism." Empathy was thus an attitude which teachers were encouraged to develop in their pupils. Finally, the syllabus adds some comments on context and progression, noting that religious education shares common ground with other subjects "in contributing to the personal, moral and social development of pupils." Again, a brief statement hints at huge areas of debate: on the one hand, the link between religious and moral education; and on the other, whether the aims of religious education can be adequately met through a programme of personal and social education. Once again, in my view the syllabus assesses the situation accurately in its suggestion that religious education 'contributes' to these areas: they are not synonymous. The remainder of the syllabus consists of 'General Objectives' and some illustrative material showing how the aims could be translated into content for the classroom. To sum up, then, the Hampshire syllabus of 1978 states concisely the aims and objectives of religious education and outlines briefly suitable content for achieving those aims. Its aims are, in my view, sound, and its suggestions as to subject matter, though no more than a skeletal outline, appropriate in relation to the aims. Hampshire decided that the syllabus was not detailed enough for teachers' everyday use: it was a syllabus rather than a curriculum document. They therefore published 'Paths to Understanding' in 1980. This was intended to be of much greater practical help to teachers in planning their classroom work. A second volume, 'Following the Paths', was published in 1986. A critique of the Hampshire syllabus follows in the next chapter. In 1980, Oxfordshire's Statutory Conference was convened to consider a new agreed syllabus for the County. Committee A of the Conference consisted of five Free Church representatives, a Roman Catholic, a Unitarian and one representative of the non-Christian religions; Committee B consisted of five representatives of the Church of England; Committee C consisted of eight teachers, and Committee D six representatives of the local education authority. The four committees unanimously agreed to adopt the Hampshire syllabus and in 1981 this became the Oxfordshire agreed syllabus. The syllabus and the two accompanying handbooks have been widely available to teachers in the county since their publication. The 1988 Education "Reform" Act Why, then, just eight years after the adoption of the Hampshire syllabus, did Oxfordshire decide to review its syllabus yet again? Undoubtedly the single most significant reason was the 1988 Education "Reform" Act, and in particular the introduction of the National Curriculum and the requirements for religious education. The first point worth noting in the 1988 Act is that "the special place of religious education in the curriculum is preserved in the new arrangements. It is not a foundation subject, and so is not at risk of being taken out of the compulsory curriculum as those subjects are (at least in principle); nor does it, for the same reason, come within the provisions for assessment." (Leonard 1988) [19] This situation is seen by many as a two-edged sword. On the one hand, religious education is a compulsory subject and so is, in a sense, protected. On the other, since it is not covered by the requirements for programmes of study, attainment targets and all the other paraphernalia of the National Curriculum, there is a danger of its being marginalised. Secondary school teachers, especially, fear a diminution of its status and particularly a reduction in the time allowed for it under pressure of the core and foundation subjects. It is partly for this reason that some wish religious education syllabuses to reflect the structure of other National Curriculum subjects and on this basis Westhill College produced its booklet 'Attainment in RE', which contained profile components, attainment targets and statements, and examples of programmes of study. Similar projects included FARE (Forms of Assessment in RE - Exeter) and Suffolk's 'RE in the Basic Curriculum'. The second point is that, whereas the 1944 Act never mentioned Christianity - though, as we have seen, it was undoubtedly intended to be the religion to be studied - the 1988 Act makes clear that "the teaching is to reflect the mainly Christian nature of British religious traditions." (Cox and Cairns 1989) [20] The Act begs many questions, but this much seems clear: the main area of study is to be Christianity - as indeed it has been in virtually all the agreed syllabuses published since 1944 - though the study of other faiths is to be included, too. The 1988 Act introduced new requirements for religious education and collective worship in maintained schools and amended or re-enacted requirements of the 1944 Act. Department of Education and Science Circular 3/89 (published in January 1989) set out the provisions of the Act and their implications for schools. Most immediately, local education authorities were to set up a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) if they had not already done so. (The 1944 Act had allowed local authorities to do so; the 1988 Act made this a requirement). The legal position after the 1988 Act, then, is that:
The Act makes much of the "special status" of religious education as "part of the basic but not the National Curriculum." It seeks to promote "equal standing" for religious education in relation to the core and foundation subjects, but is not to be subject to "nationally prescribed attainment targets, programmes of study, and assessment arrangements." The argument made for this arrangement is that religious education syllabuses need to reflect local circumstances and it would therefore be inappropriate to apply a national syllabus. The Act does, however, suggest that a Statutory Conference "may recommend the inclusion of attainment targets, programmes of study and assessment arrangements in locally determined form in their proposals." (DES Circular 3/89) Some authorities have already adopted this approach of giving religious education a format similar to that of the other National Curriculum subjects, though this raises problems in relation to procedures for assessment, recording and reporting: an issue I shall return to later. Whilst religious education in county schools must be nondenominational, the new law makes it clear that teaching about denominational differences is permitted: again, there is nothing particularly new here. Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) must be established, according to a specified composition, and with extended general functions. There are several differences here from the requirements of the 1944 Act. First, the establishment of a SACRE is now mandatory. Second, the duties and responsibilities of a SACRE are broader than before: in essence it is to "advise the authority upon such matters connected with religious worship in county schools and the religious education to be given in accordance with an agreed syllabus as the authority may refer to the council or as the council may see fit." (DES Circular 3/89) A SACRE is to comprise four groups representing, respectively, Christian denominations and other religions "as, in the opinion of the authority, will appropriately reflect the principal religious traditions in the area"; the Church of England; teachers' associations; and the local education authority. There is little change here from 1944 except that the first of these groups can be expected to contain more non-Christian members than hitherto, reflecting the multi-faith nature of most areas of Britain today. (It is interesting to note that the Statutory Conference set up by Oxfordshire to review its syllabus in 1980 had just one member representing all non-Christian faiths, despite the not inconsiderable Muslim and, especially, Hindu populations of Oxford). A SACRE has two particular duties: it can require its local education authority to review its current agreed syllabus and it may determine, where a head teacher so requests, that the requirement for collective worship in a county school to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character" shall not apply to the collective worship provided for some or all of the pupils in that particular school. It is worth noting that this applies only to collective worship, not to the syllabus. In an all-Muslim county school, for example, there is no possibility in the Act of opting out of a syllabus which reflects the 'mainly Christian' traditions in this country. Where a SACRE decides that an agreed syllabus should be reviewed, it may require the local education authority to set up a Statutory Conference for this purpose. Circular 3/89 makes it clear that the then Secretary of State expected local education authorities to work with their SACREs to "review the existing provision for religious education in their schools on the basis of the current agreed syllabuses, and to consider with them whether any changes need to be made in those syllabuses and in the support offered for religious education teaching in their schools." Clearly the Secretary of State was not happy with the style of many of the existing agreed syllabuses and was anxious that the new Act would result in wholesale rewriting of them along the lines now being promoted. Many local education authorities have complied, though not all have done so successfully. Ealing, for example, has produced a syllabus without, in the Secretary of State's view, sufficient specificity. Local education authorities may decide for themselves what matters they refer to their SACREs and SACREs may - indeed, should - offer advice on "particular methods of teaching, the choice of teaching materials and the provision of teacher training." Neither is the SACRE confined to advising on matters referred to it by the local education authority: it may offer advice "on any matters related to its functions as it sees fit." However, the advice offered by SACREs has no statutory force, though local education authorities are advised always to give "careful consideration" to such advice. Finally, a SACRE may be involved in the local authority's statutory complaints machinery, and must publish an annual report of its work. The procedures for preparing and bringing into operation an agreed syllabus, or for reconsidering an existing syllabus, were set out in Schedule 5 to the 1944 Act. This has been amended by the 1988 Act and the provisions are now as follows: As in 1944, decisions about a syllabus are to be made locally; responsibility for drawing up the syllabus rests with a Conference convened by the local education authority; the Conference is to consist of four committees representing the four interest groups represented on the SACRE: all four committees must agree to recommend a new syllabus before it can be introduced. Unlike the SACRE, however, the Statutory Conference cannot co-opt members. Members of SACRE can also be members of the Conference but the local education authority is also free to appoint extra or different members to represent the various interests. An education authority may choose to adopt the syllabus of another authority (as Oxfordshire did in 1981) but can do so only on the recommendation of its own Conference. Any syllabus so adopted must be regarded as a new syllabus and must therefore meet the requirements of Section 8(3) of the 1988 Act. (The 1988 Act also amended the provisions for collective worship, but that is beyond the scope of this paper). The Act has produced a flurry of activity, with many local authorities now reviewing their syllabuses, partly to ensure that they comply with the 1988 Act (and associated advice from the Department of Education and Science) and partly in response to new views of what religious education ought to be about. This dissertation is an attempt to assess the balance between the effects of these two influences on the writing of one particular agreed syllabus. New views of religious education What are these new views? I have already noted that the aims of religious education have changed greatly since the early syllabuses. From the confessional and indoctrinational we moved to the phenomenological (though I doubt that a strictly phenomenological approach has ever been followed to the exclusion of others). And now the phenomenological approach itself is largely discredited, often described as a 'Cook's Tour' of religions with little relevance to pupils' needs, and philosophically unsound as it presumes that one can study religions objectively. As Michael Grimmitt has pointed out, "no method of study can be without some propositions ... value-free methods are, in fact, valueladen." (Grimmitt 1987) [21] And he quotes Newbigin to support this argument: "If ... I try to study Hinduism and all the other religions from - so to speak - an equal distance, as this syllabus (Birmingham 1975) suggests, then I must also undertake the study of the ideology which underlies the Syllabus, and must answer the question: 'What are the grounds for believing that this way of looking at Hinduism is true, as against the Hindu way of looking at Hinduism?'" (Newbigin quoted in Grimmitt 1987) [22] Indeed, Grimmitt goes so far as to suggest that "the use of phenomenological method effectively invalidates the educational process." (Grimmitt 1987) [23] Today, groups of religious education teachers are much more likely to be found discussing spirituality, beliefs, values and meaning in life, ultimate questions, and so on. In classrooms, debates as to what religion is and what it means to have religious beliefs about life are to be found alongside the historical and factual aspects of religions. The rehabilitation of evaluation in religious education (the seeds of which, as I have suggested, could be seen in the 1978 Hampshire syllabus) is now almost complete. Brenda Watson notes that recent agreed syllabuses have abandoned "preoccupation with content in favour of concepts, skills and attitudes" (Watson 1987) [24] and promotes the concept of 'critical affirmation' "to all people in principle, to oneself, and to truth so far as it is discerned." (Watson 1987) [25] Radical empiricism itself, on which so much western thinking has been based and which has been taken so much for granted, is now called into question: "Radical empiricism ... brings about an implicit identification of the real and worthwhile with the purely observable, and collapses into materialism ... it divorces the knower from what is known, and in positivism it explicitly relegates theology and ethics to the status of 'non-sense'." (Thatcher in Francis and Thatcher 1990) [26] Many of these arguments have informed the debates which surround the creation of today's agreed syllabuses. It was against this historical and educational/philosophical background, as well as the new legal framework, that Oxfordshire decided in 1990 to review its current syllabus. My thesis here is that the legal requirements have been allowed to exert a greater influence on the writing of the new syllabus than the educational/philosophical considerations.
References 1 Hull J (1984) Studies in Religion and Education p74
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