The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard, has briefed the Bishops that, despite the Government’s insistence that RE remains a legal requirement, its policies are sending the subject into “a spiral of decline”.
The letter was written last month, shortly after a meeting of Bishop Pritchard, who chairs the C of E’s Board of Education, with the Minister of State for Education, David Laws.
Bishop Pritchard writes: “It’s clear that the Government has no real interest in RE because they see it as a scary nuisance, and its protected status as a guarantee that all is well. It isn’t.” The Bishop writes of the effect of excluding RE from the EBacc core syllabus, and halving the training places for specialist teachers.
Read it all.
Update: Also, please see Statement from Church of England’s Board of Education on today’s expected announcement of dropping plans for Ebacc.
(Church Times) RE seen as a scary nuisance, Bishop of Oxford complains
The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard, has briefed the Bishops that, despite the Government’s insistence that RE remains a legal requirement, its policies are sending the subject into “a spiral of decline”.
The letter was written last month, shortly after a meeting of Bishop Pritchard, who chairs the C of E’s Board of Education, with the Minister of State for Education, David Laws.
Bishop Pritchard writes: “It’s clear that the Government has no real interest in RE because they see it as a scary nuisance, and its protected status as a guarantee that all is well. It isn’t.” The Bishop writes of the effect of excluding RE from the EBacc core syllabus, and halving the training places for specialist teachers.
Read it all.
Update: Also, please see Statement from Church of England’s Board of Education on today’s expected announcement of dropping plans for Ebacc.