‘Stop parents pulling pupils from RE out of prejudice’
“PREJUDICED” parents are pulling their children from Religious Education classes because they don’t want them learning about Islam, teachers have warned.
Mothers and fathers are abusing their right to withdraw children from the classes, and this is hampering schools’ attempts to “prepare a child for life in modern Britain”, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference heard.
Delegates have agreed to urge the Government to take steps to prevent parents from selectively withdrawing their children, specifically from the teaching of individual religions.
Proposing the motion, Richard Griffiths from the union’s Inner London branch, said that RE today has developed into a subject “that allows for critical thinking, big questions, allows children to explore their own and other religious beliefs and non-beliefs”.
He said the resolution was not against parents’ rights to withdraw youngsters, but was concerned about evidence that suggested an increase in the abuse of the right, and the potential for it to be abused.
Mr Griffiths argued that the right, in the “rare cases” where parents’ religious beliefs provided genuine grounds for withdrawal, was “very different to the cases of parents with certain prejudices, including Islamophobia and anti-semitism, who wish to remove their children from certain lessons or visits to places of worship that would significantly hinder the ability of the school to prepare a child for life in modern Britain”.
He highlighted a recent Press Association investigation that indicated there had been a 48 per cent rise in hate-related crimes linked to race and ethnicity between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Mr Griffiths told the conference: “I’m sure you are well aware of the dangers of members of society closing themselves off to the rest of the world, the dangers of social media channelling an ever more extreme reflection of people’s beliefs, without balance, and the dangers of those children who are ignorant of other religious beliefs and non-beliefs, and lack an understanding of the way that individuals, regardless of religion, can work together and make a positive difference to society are increasingly vulnerable to targeting by extremists.”
Kim Knappett, the union’s vicepresident, said she had been shown a letter by a head teacher from a parent who was asking to selectively remove their child from RE, and that “the letter was so foul”, her view was that they should refer it to the relevant authorities.
In another case, she had been talking to students of different ages about RE in sixth-forms and they told her they believed it was important that they learn about each other, and to question and debate.