The BHA has written to the government today to ask that the National Academic Recognition Information Centre (Naric) make the content of the qualifications it assesses a vital factor.
Naric is responsible for advising universities and employers on the rigour of lesser-known qualifications. It recently ruled that the International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE) is comparable to international O-levels and A-levels offered by the Cambridge International exam board. The ICCE is based on the self-defined Christian fundamentalist Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) programme, which assumes that the Bible is the literal word of God and teaches pseudoscientific claims that advance creationism, such as the existence of the Loch Ness monster disproving evolution. Naric defended its actions by stating that investigating the curriculum content of the qualifications it assesses is outside of the organisation’s remit.
Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘It is ludicrous that Naric are unable to consider the subject matter of qualifications, when this should be of key importance. We have asked that their remit be broadened, so that they can consider qualification content’.
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For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson on 020 7079 3584 or 020 3675 0959.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief. It is the largest organisation in the UK working for a secular state.