We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to include spiritualist religion as one of the religions taught in our schools as part of the curriculum.”
Details of Petition:
“British schools currently teach about various religions, but spiritualist is not one of them. As this is a religion that has gone through parliament, (one of only two) we feel this should be part of the curriculum, showing mutual respect,understanding and shared values.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
The 1988 Education Reform Act states that RE should be broadly Christian in nature and include study of the principal religions represented in the UK. Local Standing Advisory Councils for RE (SACREs) have the responsibility to ensure that local syllabuses develop pupils’ knowledge, understanding and awareness of Christianity and the major religions represented in the country and reflect the values and traditions of the community. RE encourages respect for those holding different beliefs and helps promote pupils’ moral, cultural and spiritual development.
Locally agreed syllabuses can include the religions which reflect the religious make up of the local area in addition to Christianity.
Local authorities are close to and accountable to their communities – they are best placed to design an RE syllabus that reflects the needs and traditions of their community. The national role is to provide guidance and support on quality standards for effective provision.
Religious education syllabuses are designed by locally agreed syllabus conferences (ASCs), taking advice from Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs). These councils are statutorily created by local authorities (LAs) and are made up of people from a variety of faith groups, teachers and LA representatives. This helps ensure each religious education syllabus reflects the religious make up of an area. In maintained schools with a religious character, the syllabus is decided by the governing body in accordance with the trust deeds of the school.
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