British Humanist Association Education Policy 2011

source: British Humanist Association, Group Representatives Annual Meeting 2011

3. Education

We are interested in education for three reasons:

• we aim for the UK to be secular state with no privilege or discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. The continuing religious discrimination in our state school system is therefore a concern for us
• we aim for Humanism to be better understood as an ethical and fulfilling non-religious approach to life and so we have an interest in ensuring that it features on the school curriculum, especially since religions do
• most humanists see education as a vital process and have been rich contributors to both the philosophy and practice of education. We have an interest in promoting better education that will meet these aspirations because we promote humanist perspectives in public debate and policy

We concentrate on laws and policies that are discriminatory and violate principles of human rights or equality in state-funded schools or on matters where we have a distinctive humanist view. For example we work for:

• an end to religious discrimination in school admissions
• an end to religious discrimination in school employment
• progressive reform of the school curriculum
• inclusive assemblies in place of mandatory religious worship

Some of the issues we work on are specific to state-funded religious schools (‘faith’ schools) while others apply to education generally but are exacerbated in ‘faith’ schools. Because of this, we also work generally for an end to the expansion of faith schools and the reform of those that already exist into inclusive schools.

a. School Curriculum

One of our aims is to promote a humanist perspective on public policy issues. Many humanists have had a profound interest in education and so the school curriculum has naturally been a focus for us. In practice, we concentrate on aspects of the curriculum where the humanist voice is excluded or weak or where others are actively promoting policies at odds with our principles.

Beliefs and Values Education (‘Religious Education’)

We believe that all pupils in all types of school should have the opportunity to consider philosophical and fundamental questions, and that in an open society we should learn about each other’s beliefs, including humanist ones. We want a subject on the curriculum which helps young people to form and explore their own beliefs and develop an understanding of the beliefs and values different from their own; enriches pupils’ knowledge of the religious and humanist heritage of humanity and so supports other subjects such as History, English Literature, Art, Music, and Geography; allows pupils to engage with serious ethical and philosophical questions in a way that develops important skills of critical thinking, reasoning and inquiry.

The usual contemporary justifications for the subject of ‘Religious Education’ (‘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, and its role in the search for personal identity and values – can best be served by including humanist perspectives and non-religious students.

We therefore work for reform of the current subject of ‘Religious Education’ so that it will become an inclusive, impartial, objective, fair, balanced and relevant subject allowing pupils to explore a variety of religions and non-religious worldviews, sitting aside other Humanities subjects in the curriculum and with the same status as them. We want this subject to be a national entitlement for all pupils and not, as currently, drawn up on a local basis by each individual local authority.

In practice, our work in RE focuses on ensuring non-religious perspectives are included (e.g. atheism taught about clearly when beliefs about god are being taught, and Humanism taught about as a non-religious approach to life) and opposing any confessional teaching in state schools, where pupils are instructed in a particular religion and denied their entitlement to a balanced and objective syllabus.

At present in most schools RE is (meant to be) given according to a syllabus locally agreed by an Agreed Syllabus Conference comprising committees representing the Church of England, other religions and denominations, the teachers and the local authority. We want this antiquated system abolished and prefer a national syllabus drawn up by educational and other experts. Until such reform is achieved, we want humanists to be admitted as full members of these Conferences and Humanism to feature on the syllabuses.

We are willing to see the parallel bodies, the local Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education, continue as a channel for consultation between teachers and local religion and belief communities and want to see humanists included equally with religious people on these bodies, as many increasingly are.