school of religion and theology

school of religion and theology

The Importance of Religious Education in Schools

1. Introduction

The influence of religion in education can be interpreted in many different ways. As stated in the National Framework for Religious Education, “it is vital for the future well-being of our increasingly diverse British society that we seek to understand the beliefs and values of others.” This clearly indicates a need for children to attain knowledge of different religions and cultures, which can be best achieved through religious education. Such an understanding is one way to avoid destructive conflicts in our future and the nature of RE means that there is an opportunity to instill this message at an early age. According to The Stapleford Centre, “RE aims at promoting an informed understanding of religious traditions and cultures. This contributes to the education of responsible citizens.” The importance of this in today’s society is immeasurable and the citing of an “informed understanding” suggests that knowledge of religious traditions and cultures will have implications on the decisions and actions of future generations. Furthermore, it is the opinion of many that a child’s first lesson in moral behavior comes from his or her parents. So, for the benefit of a child’s moral development, would it not be more productive for a personal or cultural/religious belief to be taught from an educated standpoint by teachers? Allowing a child to be fully educated and understand the various influences on moral behavior can itself aid in the child’s own decision making and values.

Throughout the years, society has been involved in a systematic process of the evolution of its moral and ethical values. We now live in a time of great change, an age in which we are more open to new ideas and concepts than ever before. However, with this shift in society come changes in the way that we must view our world. But what do these changes hold for the future and how do we incorporate yet maintain the teachings of the old? This is where the ethics of religious education have their greatest effect, as a subject that has the possibility to “create a better understanding of the complicated world of right and wrong.” It is both an aid and a deterrent in the progression of social ethics, yet ultimately, it provides a platform on which future generations can build a strong and sound framework of morals and ethics in a world of uncertainty and change.

2. Benefits of Religious Education

The ability to understand and empathize with other people is a valuable quality in all human beings, as today’s world has become a global society. This is another one of the good reasons to study religious education, as students learn about the world’s major religions and the impact that religion has on society. By learning about others, students attain a greater understanding of their communities and the world. Understanding leads to acceptance, and this may be the solution to the racial, ethnic, and religious tension found in many places throughout the world.

Get every lesson, every day! Developing strong critical thinking abilities and analytical skills is another good reason to study religious education. The variety of religious beliefs, texts, and ethics found in religious education will give students an opportunity to evaluate and reason about a wide range of opinions. This is fantastic for student learning, with every student striving to develop an exact opinion, which leads to a deeper understanding. The development of such cognition will also help students throughout their lives, whether it is making important decisions or considering the beliefs of other people. Analogies of other beliefs also give broader and deeper insights about one’s own beliefs.

Learning religious education is beneficial because it gives students a chance to get in touch with their religion and culture. Education gives students a more positive image about the religion they belong to. In result, this may give them a sense of pride and self-esteem. Students will also begin to feel more secure and comfortable around others, enabling them to mix with people of various cultures and backgrounds, which would be supported by the encompassing of different religious views. Research shows a positive parent-child relationship, regular religious practice, and religious education are positively related to high self-esteem and positive thinking among adolescents. The research also shows that high self-esteem and positive thinking are related to future success.

3. Challenges and Controversies

However well RE is taught in schools, there can still be some disparities from the far-right evangelical, conservative, or fundamentalist groups who argue that RE is over-sympathetic to religions other than Christianity, or that it may undermine young people’s faith by asking them to think critically about their beliefs. RE faces further scrutiny from more secularist groups who will argue that religious denominational schools are no places for multi-faith RE, or that the subject itself has no place in modern education and should be absorbed into a broader social studies type curriculum. Such debates will continue until there is a broad understanding of the role RE should play in creating religiously and philosophically well-informed young people and a better understanding of the role it plays in promoting community cohesion and dispelling intolerance.

RE is a non-statutory subject and there are widespread differences in the way it is taught and its status in the curriculum across schools. There is evidence to show that where schools are underachieving, the subject will be sidelined or removed completely. Although schools are not breaking the law by doing this, it is a great challenge for the subject to be taught well, as RE teachers need to broadly understand, welcome, and accept diversity in faith and belief, whilst upholding the integrity of their own religion.

The growing multicultural nature of society in the UK is resulting in the widespread belief that religious education should adapt to changing needs as the subject can help to create an understanding of ‘others’. The arrival of new religions to the UK has widened the scope of the subject in terms of learning about major world faiths, into also learning about the smaller religious organisations. This may include visiting speakers from different faith communities, visits to different places of worship and learning about the rituals and practices of all religions within depth. These can be seen as positive moves as they help communities to become more informed about different faiths and also help to dispel the negative stereotypes that can sometimes divide communities. For example, in some cases, people mistake Sikhs for Muslims due to their appearance and have wrongfully targeted them in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

4. Strategies for Effective Religious Education

Pupils engaging in such exercises will indeed increase their understanding of an issue through being forced to take sides and seeing the validity of someone else’s opinion. Buxton’s second part of the template “that any religious education should help our understanding and our response” considers the ideal end the pupil should reach having engaged with a religious issue. He advocates that it should lead to empathetic understanding and perhaps positive action. For example, looking at a religiously motivated social justice campaign and end with the student engaging in a similar campaign. Such an activity could be continued outside the lessons in the form of voluntary work.

Buxton suggests though, little use of the traditional RE lesson devoted to learning about the stories and teachings of one religion or another cognitive learning methods. He says there is a need for a more contemplative atmosphere which allows pupils to engage with an issue. An effective way of doing this is through structured discussion or debate. An activity which has been incorporated more often into secular education through the implementation of P4C (Philosophy for Children).

Understanding religious issues, Buxton states, is necessary for citizens in our multi-religious and increasingly secular society. He considers it a complex task. His argument here is based on analogy with foreign language learners. Just as a language student’s understanding is tested by reading comprehension, so a religious issue may be understood through comprehension of the stories or texts related to it.

Bringing religious upbringing into consideration, it is extremely important whether the education in question is effective. Buxton proposes a two-part strategy “that any religious education should help our understanding and our response.” This proposition forms the template for his resolution.

The essay urges people to understand the necessity of religious education in schools while critically considering the form that this educational process should take.

5. Conclusion

At a more advanced level, the subject needs to provide more opportunity for young people to study and reflect on moral and spiritual issues that are important to them. This will equip students with more tools to make informed life choices based on a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. An increase in young people’s understanding of the subject has an added benefit to the older generation by challenging a growing religious and cultural illiteracy, which can lead to acts of discrimination and violence between communities. It is hoped that the realization of a greater understanding between religious groups and an educated younger generation can work as a catalyst for a brighter future in the UK and abroad.

The life opportunities which we wish to provide for our young people and giving them the confidence to make informed life choices are also key themes of this essay. The Bishops’ conference in 2006 expressed concern about the lack of parity of opportunity in access to high-quality religious education for Catholic schools and colleges, and this can be said for all schools. Young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and leaving school perhaps lacking the most basic religious literacy. This is often through no fault of the teacher, but it is an adequate reflection of the systemic ease with which schools have dismissed the subject. Liberating as it may sound, the policy of leaving religious and moral questions to pupils’ own opinions and nothing more than that is not a school providing equal opportunities. This is an issue surrounding the civil rights of young people and their parents, and it needs to be addressed as such.

Religious education is a necessary component in developing the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural well-being of every pupil, in order to give them the rounded education which we aspire to provide for them. The subject has been a victim to the utilitarian requirements of league tables and curriculum. Funding has been slow to materialize, and where it does, religious education has not been made a priority. The long-term goal for society as a whole to realize the importance of religious education in all schools is to see an increase in resources and high-quality professional development to give confidence and competence to deliver the subject effectively. It is widely accepted that there is a direct correlation between the importance of the subject and the quality and training of teachers. In order to prepare pupils adequately, religious education needs to be the hallmark of every good educational establishment.

The importance of religious education is not just about a subject that needs to be passed in school, rather, it is the vital foundation of a philosophy of life. It is for this reason that it is a crucial aspect that our society as a whole cannot afford to undermine and marginalize any longer. The inculcation of a religiously educated mind of a child in a globalized world is beginning to show development and knowledge in one’s own faith, and a tolerance and understanding of others. Schools are ignorant to dismiss this when a high-quality religious education can build community cohesion and contribute towards citizenship in a way that no other subject can replicate. At a time of great global tension, the peace-building potential of the subject should not be undervalued.