Religious Education Curriculum as a Basis for Developing an Ethos of Essay

Religious Education Curriculum as a Basis for Developing an Ethos of Mutual Respect among Pupils - Essay Example I discovered the importance of educational acts such as the Education Act especially in ensuring that the Religious Education curriculum is effective. Educational reforms are important and can only be much beneficial when implemented for the general national good. For example, excluding independent schools from the national educational reforms is a great setback and can cause great harm to the educational system and cripple the efforts made toward achieving a united country. I support the opinion that religious education must be taught as part of the national curriculum, in all schools for at least a few minutes per day and that collective worship during school meeting time or lessons facilitates the understanding of the role of religion among students. Even though people have the right to withdraw their children from schools that offer obligatory religious education, this denies the children the right to acquire good personal attributes and social understanding that I consider to be very essential for any individual who want to coexist well with others. Moreover everyone’s right to worship and to associate with a particular religion should be respected. I concur with the idea that integrating religious education within the national curriculum will go a long way in developing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other religions. It is true that embedding the Religious Education curriculum in local syllabuses and school frameworks has helped many nations to identify and embrace important principles for religious education (Ashcroft and Palacio, 1997, p.169). Religious education builds up students’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity as well as other principal religions and religious traditions in the world. It makes a unique contribution to the school curriculum by developing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of religion, religious beliefs, practices, languages and traditions and their influence on individuals, communities, societies and cultures. It is much profitable and extremely important that religious education be a nationally agreed syllabus. The education authorities and Standard Advisory Council for Religious Education must come together and device new policies that incorporate the religious teachings and education into the national syllabus (Ashcroft and Palacio, 1997, p.72) .Countries dominated by one particular religion must learn to embrace and tolerate religious diversity. The increased international relations denote that countries must now be more accommodative and able to absorb people of different and diverse multicultural backgrounds. Teaching pupils the diversity of today’s society and the varying differences in religious beliefs and cultures creates a more civilized and understanding society. Religious education encourages the students and the society to accommodate and tolerate people of diverse cultures and enables the pupils and students to explore multi-cultural and multi- faiths, encouraging them to coexist well with people around them