RE Northern Ireland

Development planning and target setting have, by now, become firmly established aspects of school management processes. And with the development planning process comes the recognition that, to plan effectively for where you're going, you must first know where you are starting from. The importance of 'baselining' is well-known and involves recognising existing strengths and identifying areas for improvement. Doing so means that plans are likely to be more achievable and, because they emerge out of a detailed understanding of current practice, they are realistic and more effective. In terms of our understanding of practice in religious education in Northern Ireland, however, the baseline evidence remains limited and fragmentary. Perhaps the most obvious example being that the subject remains formally exempt from the ETI inspection process. Where churches exercise their right to inspect, no reports are put in the public domain. Where schools request ETI inspectors to obse...

New Phase? Are we entering a new phase in the study of religion in education? A UK report on religion and belief in public life, Living with Difference , has recommended that change in religious education is needed on a number of fronts, from a reform of the law on collective worship to improved inspection procedures. In addition it states: "In Northern Ireland the present subject of RE should be renamed and broadened to include more religions and non-religious worldviews on the same basis as religions. It should be given an explicitly educational rather than confessional focus, and applied to all state-funded schools." Some of our close neighbours , including the Republic of Ireland and England,  have already made a  start in debating these issues. Education about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics - Ireland The focus of innovation in the Republic of Ireland is the introduction of a new curricular area in Primary Schools: Education about Religions, Beliefs and Eth...