UNIVERSITY of LONDON INSTITUTE Jf EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON INSTITUTE j f EDUCATION LIBRARY NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM LiBRART RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND ITS UNDERLYING STRUCTURE. Andrew Sangster M.Phil Institute of Education, University of London. 1 X - / < I -Sol^S7 - 0 ABSTRACT Part 1 of this thesis is an historical survey of the legislation and development of Religious Education as a school subject. Part 2 is a study of the different approaches to the subject. The thesis outlines a continuing tension within the subject between those who see Religious Education as a phenomenological study; those who see it as a confessional opportunity; and those who view it as a broad discussion period or nurturing experience. There is also an examination of the issues relating to Moral Education within this subject. Part 3 summarises the historical perspective, examines the nature of the subject in the light of educational theory, makes a brief examination of the 1992 White Paper (Choice and Diversity) and finally sets out the idea that if the right approaches to the subject are adopted there is no need for the opting-out clauses in the Government legislation. 2 CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION p.4 PART I CHAPTER 1. A Brief History to 1944 p.8 CHAPTER 2. The 1944 Education Act p.25 CHAPTER 3. 1945-1959 p.43 CHAPTER 4. The 1960s p.56 CHAPTER 5. 1970-88 p.92 PART 2 INTRODUCTION TO PART 2 P.121 CHAPTER 6. Confessionalisra p.122 CHAPTER 7. The Moral Perspective p.139 CHAPTER 8. The Implicit Approach p.157 CHAPTER 9. The Explicit Approach p.171 PART 3 INTRODUCTION TO PART 3 P.186 CHAPTER 10. Historical Summary p.188 CHAPTER 11. Educational Theory p.198 CHAPTER 12. Choice and Diversity p.216 CHAPTER 13. Conclusions p.225 APPENDIX 1. Empirical Studies p.236 APPENDIX 2. Examination Paper p.277 REFERENCES ..... p. 282 BIBLIOGRAPHY..... p. 310 3 INTRODUCTION The 1992/93 White Paper, 'Choice and Diversity', is once again revealing the same problem as all previous legislation which has tried to deal with the subject of Religious Education. This is because there has never been a concise understanding of the underlying structure of the subject. Other subjects in the curriculum have experienced new developments, novel ideas, sudden changes, but Religious Education has attracted considerable legislation as a response to ecclesiastical and later social demands, but seldom for educational reasons. The legislation surrounding Religious Education has often been heated because of factors more external than internal to the subject, and the consequences have been to confuse and complicate the nature of the subject both for the teacher and those who are taught. Legislation will never solve the problems associated with the subject because there has never been a consensus of opinion as to its underlying structure. To pass an Act of Parliament on Transport without first defining 'Transport' would be impossible, and the failure to agree on the aims and 4 objectives of Religious Education has led the subject into the arena of parliamentary, public and educational conflict. The most recent White Paper (Choice and Diversity) indicates that the polemic has not changed since it became an issue in the 1870 Education Act. The first part of this thesis examines the history of the subject, and it will be seen that while educationalists and others have tried to examine and define the nature of the subject, politicians have used it as a response to a social situation or to reach an ideal of society which they envisage. So for example it will be seen that the 1870 Act was a political response to the ecclesiastical conflicts of the day, that the Religious Education clauses of the 1944 Act were a 'Christian/moral' hope for post war society, and that the 1988 Act and current Bill use the religious clauses mainly as a good citizen programme. The politicians have, by and large, ignored the work of the educationalists in this field, and the educationalists themselves have differed as to the precise structure of the subject. By the nature of our constitution the legislature and its executive have the final word which must by law be followed. No other academic discipline has been so subject to the personal views and aspirations of politicians who are mainly the 5 products of the independent school system, and yet who legislate for a very different and rapidly changing society. As a result of this chequered history four distinct elements have emerged within the underlying structure of Religious Education, and these are examined in part two of this thesis. All four elements (Confessionalism, Implicit, Explicit, Moral) have been studied in the past and well documented. The third part of the thesis draws together the historical problem and illustrates that from the vast majority of educational perspectives one of these structures (Confessionalism) has nothing to do with true education; that two (Implicit and Explicit) are educationally important but should be regarded as separate and distinct from one another, and this should be made unequivocally clear by a new nomenclature. The orginality or novelty of this idea is to clarify this underlying structure and by so doing indicate that once the various elements are clearly defined the subject is enhanced in value and becomes much more teachable. If these differences within the current structure are understood by politicians and public alike, there would be no need for the legislative opting out clauses, and the subject need not be used as a political vehicle. The appendix contains some empirical research 6 carried out in the independent system, the educational background of many politicians, and demonstrates that those who are taught have the ability to grasp these fundamental differences and so enjoy and gain more from this subject. 7 PART 1 CHAPTER I Religious Education A Brief History to 1944 Church and State In the days before the State took an active interest and role in education, the study of religion was, naturally enough, Christian in nature, missionary in basis and ecclesiastical in aim. The Church had been the foundation of education in England and saw, as its inalienable duty, the right to educate young people into the conviction of the Christian faith, and thereby attendance in Church. Given the historical background of the Church, and its stimulus to education, it is not surprising to find the Church, especially the established Church of England, so dominant even into the twentieth century. The 'vast majority of schools were maintained by the churches' (1) prior to 1870, and by this date over three quarters of grant-aided elementary schools were Anglican in foundation. During this period the Nonconformists became politically more powerful, and their reaction to the Anglican interest was prompt. They exerted considerable influence by establishing the British and Foreign School Society in 1814. Roman Catholics, released by the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, started their Poor School Committee and worked towards their own denominational schools. The Government assisted all these various Church educational enterprises with financial aid. The Church of England was also deeply involved in the Public Schools. The term, 'publicae scolae' was not a common term, probably first used in the 'Opus de Miraculis Sancti AEdmundi', written about 1180, by Abbot Samson of Bury. These traditional English Schools had started as acts of charity but quickly developed into schools for educating the sons of the rich and influential. Religious Education and the Beginning of Contention Because the churches had taken such an interest in both public school and elementary school development, Religious Education was firmly established within the curriculum well before 1870. In 1869 the Birmingham Educational League was formed; based on secularist ideals, it sought universal, free, compulsory and unsectarian elementary education. It was too small to exert any serious pressure, though it may have influenced the Act of 1870 to a small degree. This secularist cause 'was later taken up by the trade union and Labour Party (1895-1911), but was quietly dropped by them because of the opposition of their own Roman Catholic members.'(2) However, it was not the secularists who caused the Government grave concern but the denominations who failed to co-operate at any rational level. As the Bishop of London in the next century was to admit: "The bitterness of feeling between Protestant Dissent and Tractarian Anglicanism prevented any common Christian action." (3) Denominational Conflict and the Cowper-Temole Clause in the 1870 Act The Church of England was the most powerful and influential of the Christian denominations. W.E. Forster in a Parliamentary debate pointed out that: 10 "There are denominational inspectors all through the Kingdom, crossing one another continually in the most curious and inconvenient manner .... it is only in the Church of England that inspectors have any power to examine with respect to religious doctrine. Now we do not think that fair to other religious denominations." (4) In the debates leading up to the 1870 Act there was considerable antagonistic feeling. The whole question as to whether Religious Education should be retained caused some controversy. The various points of view soon polarised into the different church and political camps. The Radicals demanding a secular system, the Tractarian High Church claiming that education was the right of the Church alone, and an evangelical .view which sought co-operation with the state^. In the end the Nonconformists, who were strongly politically linked with the Liberal Party, became a major pressure group in the field of education. The Liberal M.P. W.F. Cowper-Temple successfully moved a clause that 'no religious catechism or formulary which is distinctive of any particular denomination shall be taught' (Elementary Act, 1870, Section 14,2.) in the newly established Board Schools.

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