Government Support for Special Religious Education
Monday, 14th November 2011
The Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has raised the issue of Government support for special religious education and asked the Government what they were doing to strengthen its delivery. Rev raised the issue during question time in the NSW Upper House.
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: I direct my question to the Minister for Roads and Ports, representing the Minister for Education.
-
What is the New South Wales Government doing to strengthen the delivery of special religious education, also known as scripture, in New South Wales government schools?
The Hon. Duncan Gay: The Minister for Education has indicated that all New South Wales public schools are required to make time available for special religious education, known in many schools as scripture. Special religious education continues to play an important role in New South Wales public schools and is mandated by the Education Act 1990. The Minister for Education, Adrian Piccoli, and the Minister's office have been meeting regularly with the Inter-church Commission on Religious Education in Schools New South Wales, known as ICCOREIS. These meetings have worked to strengthen the delivery of special religious education in New South Wales government schools.
At the recent Director-General Consultative Committee on Special Religious Education, the Inter-church Commission on Religious Education in Schools made a strong case for special religious education. The committee resolved that the guidelines and policy for delivering special religious education need to be strengthened. This will include a minimum of 30 minutes of meaningful teaching time per week in primary schools and a minimum of one period of meaningful teaching time per week in secondary schools. Currently the legislation only sets a maximum period of time for special religious education during the school week. As schooldays become busier, this provision of a maximum period has resulted in other activities encroaching on the delivery of special religious education in government schools, and that regularly disrupts the thousands of volunteers who deliver the special religious education classes. Further, the important curriculum design work in special religious education is being eroded.
Therefore, the Government wants to insist that a minimum of 30 minutes per week in primary schools and a minimum of one period per week in secondary schools be provided. This gives certainty to the providers and allows them to deliver the curriculum they have developed. Secondly, the Department of Education and Communities has committed to improving the communication to special religious education providers about the students in New South Wales government schools. When a student is registered at a New South Wales government school information about their religion is gathered, although it is not explicitly stated that this information places students into special religious education classes. That is not helpful to parents as they are not provided with appropriate information about the special religious education classes in New South Wales government schools.
The aggregate data about the religion of students is not proactively provided to the special religious education providers, making it difficult for them to plan for volunteers at individual schools. Therefore, the New South Wales Government is trying to strengthen the processes of registration in our schools to ensure that parents are informed about the types of special religious education provided and that timely notification of the nomination of religion on the school enrolment forms is afforded to the special religious education providers so they can appropriately plan for their classes. The New South Wales Government is simply trying to provide certainty for parents and for the special religious education providers. Thirdly, the Minister for Education has committed to providing an annual celebration of special religious education to recognise the effort of special religious education teachers who have provided long years of service and have contributed significantly to our education system. They provide a valuable service and they should be celebrated. This is an appropriate time to recognise the significant efforts of Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile in raising these issues.