HC Deb 12 June 1969 vol 784 cc1658-60
30. Mr. Ogden

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations have now been made to him about the future of religious instruction in schools; and what reply he has made.

Mr. Edward Short

The great majority of representations I have received have supported the continuance of compulsory provision for religious education.

Mr. Ogden

I am grateful for that reply. Is my right hon. Friend aware that, over the past weeks, at least 350 letters have come from my constituency asking for an assurance that religious education in non-denominational schools will continue? Will he use his endeavours to make certain that his comments and intentions in this matter are made available to local authorities and to the parent-teacher associations?

Mr. Short

I agree with my hon. Friend. My views on this are widely known, and I receive hundreds of letters each week about it. It is as well to bear in mind that the only compulsion here is on the local authorities to provide this kind of teaching. There is no compulsion on the parent or the teacher. What would be oppressive is to deny the vast majority of parents this kind of teaching because a minority did not want it.

Mr. Peter M. Jackson

Does my right hon. Friend not realise that a distinction may be drawn between moral education on the one hand and religious instruction on the other, and that many parents recognised this in their replies to the recent N.O.P. poll, in which they said that, while they were in favour of the one, they were certainly opposed to the other?

Mr. Short

I do not think that the poll did any such thing. It was done on a completely wrong basis. Of course all parents are in favour of moral education, but the vast majority want to go further and have religious education as well.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that many of us who profoundly disagree with his secondary education policy are deeply grateful to him for his defence of the principle of religious education in our schools?

31. Mr. Ogden

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proposals he has for the improvement in the quality and content of religious instruction courses in teacher training colleges.

Mr. Edward Short

The quality and content of college of education courses in religious instruction is the responsibility of college academic boards and of area training organisations. By means of courses and conferences, in which H.M. inspectors play a vigorous part, and through visits to colleges, improvements in the teaching of this subject, as of others, are constantly being sought.

I have recently made a grant towards the cost of a working party established by the British Council of Churches to consider the recruitment, training and use of teachers concerned with religious education in the schools.

Mr. Ogden

Would my right hon. Friend agree that the teaching of religion is best based in the homes of the children rather than in the schools, but that in the schools it should not be just another item on the curriculum but should permeate the life of the school?

Mr. Short

I agree with that. It is a matter for the whole conduct of the school and the whole curriculum, but I think, also, that it is extremely important to regard this in the context of education. It is part of the education of the children.