Reform of RE excluded from NI curriculum review

Northern Ireland Humanists has written to the Minister of Education to express concern over the exclusion of Religious Education (RE) from the recent Strategic Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. It has called for the RE curriculum to urgently be reviewed by other means, as the current curriculum – which was drafted by the four largest churches – presumes that Christianity is true and entirely excludes humanism.

Support from parents for a broad and balanced RE curriculum was raised in the report, with one parent quoted as saying: 

‘Religious education should be retained in the curriculum but as a balanced and neutral subject which incorporates morality and citizenship and teaches children in a factual way about the diverse religious and cultural landscape we now live in.’

This underscores a desire, also voiced by parents in a recent opinion poll, that RE should teach about different religions and humanism in an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner.

The fact that Northern Ireland’s RE curriculum is exclusively Christian is currently the focus of a judicial review before the Supreme Court. In YEAR, the High Court in Belfast found that the exclusively Christian nature of Religious Education breached the human rights of non-religious families.

Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented:

‘It is deeply disappointing that the recent review excluded Religious Education from its scope, despite its statutory role in every school. The current syllabus is decades out of date and fails to reflect the beliefs of children and families in Northern Ireland. We urge the Department to initiate reform, transparently and without further delay.’