BHA Religious Education Campaign

Religious Education

We believe that children and teenagers should know about non-religious beliefs, values and philosophies. We are currently running a Campaign Action giving voice to the idea that RE should be the study of both religious and non-religious beliefs and also that humanists should have the same right as religious people to be full members of the local committees determining RE syllabuses. You can take action right now.

The BHA campaigns for reform of Religious Education (RE) because we believe that all pupils in all types of school should have the opportunity to consider philosophical and fundamental questions, and that in a pluralist society we should learn about each other’s beliefs, including humanist ones.

We campaign for a reformed subject of Belief and Values Education, or Philosophy, or (as in Scotland) Religious and Moral Education/Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies, which would be characterised by inclusiveness, impartiality, objectivity, fairness, balance and relevance.

This subject would be a national entitlement for all pupils and not, as currently, drawn up on a local basis by each individual local authority.

Humanists have always worried that too close an identification of morality with the six world religions usually studied in RE might lead to those students who do not share religious beliefs thinking that morality also has little to do with them (65% of 12-19 year olds do not describe themselves as belonging to a religion according to 2004 DfES Research Report 564).

The BHA has been involved in RE for almost fifty years. The usual contemporary justifications for RE in the school curriculum – its contribution to social cohesion and mutual understanding, its presentation of a range of answers to questions of meaning and purpose, its role in the search for personal identity and values – can best be served by including humanist perspectives and non-religious students. See also Issues in RE for humanist pupils.

For more information about what humanists would like to see in RE, see Education Policy – summary and A Better Way Forward (PDF).

SACREs (Standing Advisory Councils for RE) are the LEA-convened bodies in England and Wales that manage RE locally. Over 80 SACREs (out of around 170) include humanists, but usually only as co-opted members. Where they are included, humanists can provide for non-religious students in RE. BHA is lobbying for humanists to be accepted as full members of all SACREs on human rights grounds, as we believe that they are currently discriminated against on grounds of belief. See SACREs and ASCs.

What are we doing?

The BHA works through cooperation with others involved in RE and the persuasiveness of our arguments. We have a good working relationship with relevant officials in the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). We regularly respond to relevant Government consultations, we send briefings and write regularly to MPs, peers and the DCSF, and we are well respected and active members of many RE organisations, including the Religious Education Council and the Association of RE Advisers, Inspectors and Consultants. The BHA is regularly included in national consultations and debates, for example those held by the DfES and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and our Director of Education currently serves on the Board of the Religious Education Council and the National Council for Faiths and Beliefs in Further Education.

As well as helping to keep reform of religious education high on the Government’s agenda, we have successfully assisted measurable reforms in religious education. We are currently involved in the Government's steering group for the reform of RE guidance which, although not the reform of primary legislation we aim at, will certainly correct some of the worst elements of the current system.

In November 2007, BHA-commissioned research was published, which, following the recommendations in the National Framework, examined the inclusion of "secular worldviews such as Humanism" in school RE. The research found that 62 of the 80 local authorities had included secular worldviews in some form, but the general increase in inclusion was incremental and generally at a very low level. Read Humanism for Agreed Syllabuses in Religious Education (PDF).

In 2004, after we participated on the steering committee for the National Framework for RE, Humanism was included as a recommended study for all pupils. See Humanism in the National Framework for BHA guidance and advice about where Humanism is appropriate and relevant to the skills and concepts outlined in the Framework.

In September 2008 we became a founding member of Accord  – a new campaigning coalition for reform of faith schools,  bringing together religious and non-religious supporters of change as well as teachers unions and high profile supporters.

What can you do?

We believe that children and teenagers should know about non-religious beliefs, values and philosophies. We are currently running a Campaign Action giving voice to the idea that RE should be the study of both religious and non-religious beliefs and also that humanists should have the same right as religious people to be full members of the local committees determining RE syllabuses. You can take action right now.

You can become a member of your local SACRE and help to ensure that children and young people in your area get a balanced and inclusive RE. There may well be a vacancy in you local SACRE. If you are interested in finding out more, you can email us.

You can support the BHA by becoming a member. That helps in itself, and you can help even more by supporting our campaigns in the ways suggested above. But campaigns also cost money – quite a lot of money – and we also need financial support.  You can make a donation to the BHA.