15 November 2006
EAGLE ACCEPTS PROPOSALS FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Education Minister, Maria Eagle, today accepted proposals from Northern Ireland's four main Churches for a revised core syllabus for Religious Education (RE).
RE is part of the statutory curriculum for schools in Northern Ireland and the compulsory core syllabus was drawn up by the four churches (Church of Ireland, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist).
The Minister said: "The revised core syllabus will provide a good common core for the teaching of RE that schools can build upon in a way best suited to the needs of their pupils and the ethos of the school. Alongside the revised curriculum, it will help to better prepare our young people to deal with the challenges of life and work in today's global society."
The revised core syllabus is mostly Christian in nature, reflecting Northern Ireland's demography. However, in keeping with the greater curricular flexibility provided in all subjects, schools have the flexibility to add to it. In addition to the study of Christianity, the revised core syllabus includes morality and, for the first time, other world religions. It also includes a requirement for pupils at Key Stage 4 (years 11 and 12) to study The Christian Church from both a Protestant and Roman Catholic perspective.
The core syllabus will be introduced from September 2007 and will be supported by teaching materials developed with the support of an advisory group co-chaired by the NI Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment and the Churches.
Maria Eagle welcomed the setting up of the group: "I am confident the members of the advisory group work well together in adopting an inclusive approach to the development of high-quality materials to support the teaching of RE."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Religious Education is a separate part of the statutory school curriculum. Under The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, the Department specifies a core syllabus for RE, which has been prepared by a specially appointed drafting group set up by the four Churches. The Churches were asked to review the core syllabus and submitted their proposals in January 2005.
2. The Minister's response to the Church Leaders followed the completion of the Department of Education's Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) of the Proposals. The Proposals, the Minister's response and the results of the EQIA are available on the Department's website: www.deni.gov.uk.
3. The membership of the Advisory Group includes representatives of the Education and Library Boards, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, the NI Council for Integrated Education, the Inter-Faith Forum, St Mary's and Stranmillis University Colleges and RE teachers.
4. The revised core syllabus will be introduced from September 2007 alongside the revised curriculum.
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