Religion, ethics may be in new curriculum
By Barney Zwartz
November 21, 2011
Calling the shots ... Professor Barry McGaw. Photo: Eddie Jim
RELIGION and ethics taught from a secular perspective might be included in the new national curriculum, says Barry McGaw, the head of the board responsible for the curriculum.
Professor McGaw, the chairman of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, said religion and ethics would be included in a discussion paper early next year for the civics and citizenship course.
A Macquarie University PhD student, Cathy Byrne, told a forum hosted by the curriculum board in Sydney last week that the approach to religion and ethics in Australian schools was decades behind other leading developed nations.
She told the Herald that Sweden began compulsory core social science teaching on religion and ethics in 1962, while England began in 1988.
Canada introduced it in 2007 with no opt-out provision, a measure upheld by Canada's highest court, she said. When Ireland introduced planned changes next year, it would leave ''only Australia and New Zealand doing 19th-century religious education'', Ms Byrne said.
She said such courses taught the top five or six religions, humanism, nature, religion and indigenous spiritualities, and secular ideologies such as atheism.
They were particularly valuable in helping children understand their pluralistic world, social inclusion, cohesion, stability and security. They helped children develop critical thinking and understand the search for purpose and meaning, as a common human - not just religious - drive.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/religion-ethics-may-be-in-new-curriculum-20111120-1npdz.html
