Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain

 

Religious education in British schools promotes social cohesion and develops in pupils respect for those who belong to different religions, cultures and ethnic groups. Having abandoned in the 1970s its original, confessional aim of nurturing pupils in the Christian faith, the subject today makes an unrivalled contribution to realising the social aims of education. Or so its advocates would have us believe.

Philip Barnes challenges this positive appraisal of British religious education. He cites alarming empirical evidence of pupil dissatisfaction and disengagement. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the aims and assumptions of post-confessional religious education, he shows that the subject is conceptually ill-equipped to promote either social cohesion or respect for others. On the contrary, religious education as currently theorised and practised in British schools tends to thwart the realisation in pupils of the capacity to live responsibly and respectfully amidst cultural, moral and religious diversity.

 

IMPACT 17 offers a provocative and compelling account of what has gone wrong with British religious education and what must be done to put it right.

 

 

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