Landmark Supreme Court ruling must lead to end of ‘Christian by default’ in NI curriculum

Northern Ireland Humanists has called for an end to the ‘Christian-by-default’ approach across the school curriculum, urging the Department of Education (DoE) to use the Supreme Court’s landmark JR87 ruling as a turning point for wholesale reform.

In its response to the DoE’s ‘Online survey to develop a curriculum framework for Northern Ireland’, Northern Ireland Humanists says the entire curriculum ‘assumes a broadly Christian default rather than genuinely reflecting the pluralism of modern Northern Ireland’. This, it argues, is clearest in Religious Education (RE) and collective worship, but also shapes how spiritual and moral development is framed across the curriculum.

End ‘overwhelmingly Christian’ Religious Education Curriculum

It called for the subject to be reviewed and reformed so that it is objective, critical, and pluralistic, and also inclusive of humanism. Currently, the subject is shaped by the four main Christian churches and overwhelmingly reflects a Christian perspective. This was ruled to be ‘indoctrination’ by the Supreme Court in November. Although previous calls for RE to be reviewed as part of the Executive’s Strategic Review were rejected, the Supreme Court ruling now means there is an urgent need for the subject to be brought back into the review’s scope.

Ending the ‘Christian default’ in Northern Ireland’s education beyond RE

RE is not the only area of the curriculum that requires reform, and Northern Ireland Humanists has used its response to call for a series of wider reforms to the curriculum. In Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), Northern Ireland Humanists argues that the subject should be evidence-based, comprehensive, and inclusive, and that teachers should be trained so as to be confident to deliver the subject in a ‘nonjudgmental and inclusive manner’. In science education, pseudoscientific ideas such as creationism or intelligent design should be explicitly prohibited, with the teaching of evolution made compulsory.

Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented:

‘The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling shows how the current education system in Northern Ireland is no longer tenable and in need of urgent reform. Ending the “Christian by default” approach to school life is not about removing religion entirely, but rather about making sure every child, whatever their family’s beliefs, receives an education that is balanced, evidence-based, and respectful of their rights.

‘The Curriculum Review is a once-in-a-generation chance to fix this. The Department must now act on the Supreme Court’s ruling and design a curriculum that reflects the diverse, shared society Northern Ireland is today.’