‘How do our State primary schools do religion?’

Public Lecture for Victorian Humanist Society 24-11-2011

Balwyn Library, 336 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn.

Hello, my name is Teresa Puszka, and I am here to discuss

‘How our state primary schools do religion’.

First, I will provide just a little background on myself. I have two children in a Victorian state primary school this year. My son, Alexander, is in grade three and my daughter, Eleanor, is in prep. Neither do religious education this year. I went to catholic primary and secondary schools and by about Year 9, I found that I could no longer believe in the catholic god. Living in northern NSW for 8 years, I explored various ideas of god, crystals, witches, astrology, spirituality etc, but by my late 20’s I gave up looking and was relieved to find myself an atheist.

When I had my son in 2003, I investigated various education options including the catholic schools available. Upon receiving the various prospectus I was put off by, what I considered, the extreme religiosity of the curriculum. It sounded as though they wanted to make the little boys into priests. So I quickly decided to send him to the local state school.

When I enrolled Alexander in the local state Primary School, I was surprised to see religious education, RE, as one of the options on the enrolment form. I assumed that because it was a secular school, the religion classes would be comparative religion, teaching the children about god and gods in a human cultural context and taught by a qualified teacher of the school. So I ticked the Yes box and paid my $6 for course materials in RE.

In 2008 Alexander started Prep. During the year I became concerned about what was being taught in RE when Alexander came home, talking about god as if he was real. Each week he would bring home pictures he had coloured in of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus; there were chocolate easter eggs at easter, and finally, a Christmas church service at a local church. I asked the Prep teacher about the classes and was surprised to find he did not give them and he did not stay in the class when the person taking the class spoke to the children. He said he thought the content was fairly benign Christian based concepts, talking about feelings and emotions. I was not happy that it was only the Christian religion being taught, and wary of someone I did not know talking to my child about his feelings and emotions, so I went to the school office to find out more and received the only information available about RE. It was the brochure from Access Ministries, which also had very little specific content about the classes. The brochure stated:

‘In CRE class your child will…

• Think about their life experiences and how they connect with others
• Learn about Christian beliefs which have helped to shape Australia’s culture
• Discuss life’s big questions
• Explore personal values and choices
• Learn to value and respect their own and other’s beliefs.

Christian religious education is a 30-minute weekly program for Prep to Year 6 taught in the classroom.

CRE teachers representing the Christian churches are approved by the Minister for Education, have a Working With Children Check, and are accredited through Access Ministries.

CRE complements the primary school curriculum and uses an agreed syllabus published by Access Ministries. The training program for CRE teachers is regularly updated to reflect best practice in contemporary education. You have the right to withdraw your child from the program.’

So, only then did I discover that the classes were:

provided by Access ministries;

the course content was published by Access Ministries, not the education department;

unsupervised by the class teacher;

the content was only about Christian beliefs;

the person who had unrestricted access to my sons brain for 30 minutes a week, every week was not even a qualified teacher but a volunteer from a Christian Church – this was from the school office staff not on the brochure which stated they were ‘CRE teachers… accredited through ACCESS ministries.’

When the Christmas church service came up, I allowed my son to go as all of the other prep children were going and I did not want Alex to be left out. Another parent attended the service and told me about it later. She said it was like something out of an American evangelist show, a lot of singing and praising the Lord, clapping hands and swaying, but to top it off she said the chaplain had asked the children if they were looking forward to Christmas, which of course they all said yes. Then he went on to say

‘Well, you want to have a Jesus kind of Christmas not a Santa kind of Christmas, because Santa only loves you if you are good, whereas Jesus loves you whether you are good or bad!’

At that point it was the end of the Prep year and I decided Alexander would not be doing CRE in Grade One. When I filled out the grade one enrolment form, I did not pay my $6 for RE and assumed he would not be going to the classes. How wrong I was.

Early in first term of grade one in 2009, I found out he was attending the RE classes when he brought home another coloured in drawing from the RE class. I told his teacher that he was not supposed to be doing RE this year, and she told me I had to supply a letter withdrawing him from the class, which I did promptly.  The drawing was also of some concern. It was about emotions. It asked students to colour only the ‘good’ emotions (such as happy and kind) and leave the ‘bad’ emotions (such as angry or nasty) blank. As far as I am concerned, emotions are neither good nor bad. All emotions are what make us human and how we control them is important. Are the children supposed to feel bad if they get angry at an injustice? I complained to the Principal and Vice Principal about the RE course content, and asked what Alex would be doing in lieu of RE. I was told he would go to the library and play on the computers or do maths sheets. I thought ‘Great!’

When I enrolled Alex in Grade two, once again I did not pay $6 for RE and assumed because I had withdrawn him previously with an opt out letter, he would not be doing RE. Once again I was wrong. I found out from his teacher that I had to supply a letter each year, but luckily, there were not enough Christian Church volunteers that year so his class were not doing RE anyway!

This year when Alex started Grade Three, I was more pro active and wrote my letter at the start of term one. As I was the class parent representative I sent an email to all parents of grade three students (approximately 60 parents) telling them that the CRE classes had started. I included the information that if they wanted their child to attend CRE, then they did not have to do anything, but if they wished their child to be withdrawn from the class, they must supply a letter to the school opting their child out of the class. I received about ten responses from parents surprised that they had to provide a letter even after indicating on the enrolment form that they did not want their child attending the class and that they would send in their opt out letter as soon as possible. I received one very terse email from a parent telling me she did not supply her email address to receive information like that and to please only send information relevant to Grade three students. In my response I said it was relevant to Grade Three but that I was sorry to have caused any offence.

The very next day I was summoned to the principal’s office. I felt like a child in trouble. The principal told me not to send any more emails about religion to the parents and just stick to social engagements for the class. I was surprised and a bit shocked. She told me it was a touchy subject and that it was going through the courts and being handled by the education department. In a conciliatory tone, she told me that when she was a teacher in Canberra, there was never any of this religion being taught and she was surprised that it was in Victoria.

In fact, in all my discussions with the teachers and office staff at my children’s school, they have all expressed concern about the content of the Religion classes and the fact that they are not taught by qualified teachers but by Christian volunteers. Of the teachers and staff that had children go through the state school system, all opted their children out of the religion classes. But none would complain for fear of upsetting the education department and compromising their jobs.

I was amazed that in a secular school it was such a convoluted process to opt out a child from RE classes and what an air of ‘lets not talk about it’ pervaded the teachers responses.

When the newspaper articles about CRE in state schools started appearing, it justified my indignation at the poor class content and the fact the volunteers were teaching the children to believe in the Christian god.

In The Age Friday 13^th May, 2011 Evonne Paddison, the Chief Executive for Access Ministries was quoted from a recording of a convention in 2008. She stated that ‘we need to go and make disciples… What really matters is seizing the God-given opportunity we have to reach kids in schools. Without Jesus, our students are lost.’

There were a flurry of articles from Bishop Stephen Hale, the Chairman for Access Ministries saying their volunteers were not proselytising, but I knew from my own experience they were. Now here was one of their own, Evonne Paddison, caught saying exactly that.

Although my children were opted out from RE, at the beginning of the year they were still exposed to the RE class. My son told me he did silent reading at his desk while the class continued around him. He told me they started the class by saying good morning to the volunteer. The volunteer would say things like ‘god made the world, god made the stars, god made people and everything and god made you and me.’ Then they would thank god and end the class by praying to god.

A friend of my son who still attends RE stated categorically that if you are selfish you go to the demons. When I asked him what he meant, he repeated that the christian volunteer told the class that if they were selfish they would go to the demons in hell.

In another article in The Age on Saturday 14^th May 2011, Suzanne Hart, a volunteer from Access Ministries that taught Christian education classes at Mont Albert Primary School, stated that ‘We are not there to preach to them, we are just there to teach them and give them facts.’

Her idea of facts about who made the world are different to mine.

Other parents have complained to me about what the volunteers are saying to their children, such as: telling the children to love god before their parents; telling them that their parents didn’t make them, that god had made them and everything else in the whole world.

I always suggest they withdraw their children from the class, but they often respond that they are worried about what their child will be doing instead of the class and they did not want their child to be singled out or left in the corridor doing nothing. Others have stated they will opt their children out of RE in the following year.

Personally, I know of two other schools where Access Ministry volunteers are saying the same sort of things to the children. I understand from the newspaper articles in The Age, that these types of comments are widespread among state schools.

I noticed a change at our school about July this year, when I was asked to run a cooking class with some grade three students including my son. I found out it was all of the children who had opted out of RE and the children had a really good time making pumpkin scones instead. Since then my son has been doing private reading in another room, and my daughter is allowed to play in a separate area of the prep rooms. I would prefer they do something more constructive, but it is better than listening to a creationist diatribe.

I have since found out it was at this time that the Education Department changed some reference guidelines to principals at state schools. In particular Principals must ensure that students who do not attend SRI are appropriately supervised by teachers, and engaged in positive, independent learning such as self-study, including revision or other activities, for example, community service, peer mentoring, participation in clubs or instruction in areas outside the core curriculum

I understand this also allows for ethics to be taught.

Coming from a catholic school system, I was completely ignorant about religion in state schools. I started to look at how it all started and the following is what I found.

From the Encyclopedia of Australia See all results for this publication matching your search termsBrowse back issues of this publication by date

January 1, 1999 | Copyright

Provided by ProQuest LLC. All inquiries regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to Customer Service.

‘1872: ‘Free, Compulsory and Secular’ Education Systems

The principle of ‘free, compulsory and secular‘ primary education was introduced into all the Australian colonies between 1872 and 1895, beginning in Victoria. From 1862 it had become difficult for denominational schools in Victoria to receive state aid. In 1872 the Victorian Government passed an Education Act providing for a Board of Public Instruction to oversee a public education system that was to concentrate on teaching children reading, writing and arithmetic, basic history and geography and a selection of gender-based subjects, such as sewing for girls.’

Prior to this, education had been provided by church schools and private institutions. The government saw religion as divisive amongst children so it removed religion from the curriculum, but allowed it to be taught by non- government teachers after school hours.

Since then the churches have actively campaigned to get into the government education system. It was not until they could settle their differences that they succeeded.

In the revised Education Act of 1958, religious instruction was permitted into the government school system during school hours on a voluntary basis. An oecumenical Agreed Syllabus was produced and the Council for Christian Education in Schools (CCES) became the main provider of Religious Instruction in state schools.

A number of committee’s in 1974 and 1976 were set up to offer recommendations to improve religious education in state schools. Due to various reasons, the committees recommendations were not introduced.

Education and Training Reform Act 2006

On Sunday 1st July 2007, the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 came into effect when it was proclaimed by the Governor in Council.

The following excerpts are from the

Fact Sheets provided by Victorian  Education Department

Fact Sheet – Principle of Secular Education

One of three ‘cardinal points’ of the 1872 Education Act was to ensure the secular nature of government schools.

Today, secular may mean different things to different people. It is for this reason that the new Act, while reaffirming the principle of secular education, defines it in modern democratic language.

The legislation clearly states that the government school system is secular, and open to the adherents of any philosophy, religion, or faith. It specifies the curriculum and teaching in government schools will ‘not promote any particular religious practice, denomination or sect’.

While the 2006 Act makes it clear that government school education must be secular, it requires schools to arrange for the provision of ‘special religious instruction’ as ‘instruction provided by churches and other religious groups and based on distinctive religious tenets and beliefs’ if certain conditions are met. This instruction is not compulsory and parents may request that their child does not attend such classes.

The Act also does not prevent the inclusion of ‘general religious education’ in government school curriculum. This means that education provided by a teacher ‘about the major forms of religious thought and expression characteristic of Australian society and other societies in the world’ is acceptable.

Education and Training Reform Act 2006

Special Religious Instruction

Conditions

Based on the provision in the Act the following conditions apply for the provision of SRI:

• Any SRI delivered in a school should be provided during the hours set aside for the instruction of students.
• Persons providing SRI must be accredited representatives of churches or religious groups and who are approved by the Minister for the purpose.
• SRI must be given on the basis of the normal class organisation of the school except where the Minister authorises some other basis to be observed.
• Attendance at SRI is not to be compulsory for any student whose parents desire that he or she be excused from attending.

Additional advice

Principals must:

• obtain parental advice via the prescribed GC 566 form(PDF – 27Kb) for their child to participate or not participate in SRI
• arrange for the provision of SRI where an accredited and approved instructor is available
• ensure that attendance at SRI classes is not compulsory for any student whose parents request that he/she be excused from attending
• schedule SRI in the school timetable (usually 30 minutes per week) when accredited and approved instructors are available
• ensure appropriate supervision for students who attend SRI
• ensure that students who do not attend SRI are appropriately supervised by teachers, and engaged in positive, independent learning such as self-study, including revision or other activities, for example, community service, peer mentoring, participation in clubs or instruction in areas outside the core curriculum
• ensure core curriculum is not delivered to non-attendees during the period of SRI
• ensure students do not leave the school premises for SRI held elsewhere except where the Minister authorises some other basis to be observed
• request and retain a copy of the instructor’s formal accreditation in the school’s records
• ensure compliance with the school council’s volunteer policy see: Volunteer Checks.

Accredited and approved instructors

Only accredited instructors, approved by the Minister for Education may deliver SRI in Victorian government schools.

Accreditation includes a Working with Children Check, registration, training, minimum suitability standards for persons who work or volunteer with children, and Ministerial approval.

The Department engages two major organisations to administer the accreditation and approval of religious instructors. They are (1) ACCESS Ministries, and (2) World Conference of Religions for Peace.

ACCESS Ministries’ religious instructors deliver Religion in Life® Christian Religious Education, which is an agreed syllabus representing 12 Christian denominations. Students receiving such instruction are not to be grouped for SRI according to denomination, but taught in their usual classes.

The World Conference of Religions for Peace (a non-government organisation associated with the United Nations to interface with the world’s faith communities), currently administers the accreditation and approval process for religious instructors in other recognised faiths including Bahá’í, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Orthodox Christianity.

The Catholic Education Office/Diocese and United Jewish Education Board also accredit religious instructors in their respective faiths.

Parents may withdraw consent for their child’s participation in SRI by notifying the principal in writing. It is not necessary to renew or withdraw consent each year.

__________________________________________________________

The following excerpt is from

The Fourth R? Religion in schools in Victoria

By Peter Sherlock as shown on ABC Religion and Ethics 25 Jul 2011

In his own words he describes himself as an Anglican and professional educator in the field of theological education at university level.

The present

94% of special religious instruction in Victorian state schools is provided by ACCESS Ministries, the ecumenically supported organisation formerly known as the Council for Christian Education in Schools. ACCESS resources a program of Christian Religious Education (CRE).

In 2010, some 3,245 volunteer staff provided 30 minutes of CRE each week for 124,000 children in 876 schools. This represents the provision of CRE for 39% of Victoria’s 318,000 state primary school children, across some 67% of the total number of schools, using lesson plans and materials developed by ACCESS.

The volunteer staff include clergy, retired teachers, and many others, motivated by a spirit of dedication to the cause of providing biblically-based religious education to school children who might otherwise have no opportunity to receive the same.

Conclusion

Why do we allow a stranger, with strong Christian beliefs, unfettered access to our children’s impressionable minds for 30 minutes every week in a secular state school?

The volunteers are free to tell them anything as if they are providing facts.

State school teachers often leave the room so the course content is never questioned.

Young children respect the authority of adults and believe what they say without question. It is difficult to counter what the volunteer has said at home, because the children are taught to believe the teachers.

We, the parents, never get to meet this volunteer, there is no parent teacher interview with this volunteer, there is no curriculum provided and no responsibility taken by the volunteer for what is being said to the children.

If religion is to be taught in government schools, the content should be comparative religion, including no religion as a world-view.

It should be by qualified teachers from within the education department.

Even the opt out system should be changed to an opt in system so parents do not worry about their child being singled out.

And if this cannot be achieved, then surely there are sufficient churches available to teach children the particular faith that their parents want them to know about in the wider community.

Thank you.