The majority of the British public believe that religious studies should be replaced by politics at secondary school, a survey suggests.
In the survey of 2,000 people, commissioned by the political youth platform Shout Out UK, 92% said they believed politics should be a compulsory subject in the national curriculum, with 57% of respondents saying it should replace religious studies.
81% thought politics should be a compulsory subject at secondary school level, and then become an optional subject at GCSE and A level.
“This idea that we can be free, believe whatever the hell we want, be whoever the hell we want regardless of who we are and what colour of skin we were born with or whatever else. That’s the more powerful thing.”
Matteo Bergamini, founder and director of Shout Out UK, firmly believes that politics should be part of the curriculum: “Every single time we go around schools it’s always the same thing, it’s that people are first of all, don’t have a clue about politics, not because they want to but because the schools don’t give them anything when it comes to politics.
He wants to teach neutral non-party politics within secondary schools: “This idea that we can be free, believe whatever the hell we want, be whoever the hell we want regardless of who we are and what colour of skin we were born with or whatever else. That’s the more powerful thing. That’s the trick we are missing, that is what would unite us more than teaching people about different religions.”
If we remain politically illiterate, then politics will only ever be something that simply happens to us… My article in the @HuffPostUK about #PoliticalLiteracy. https://t.co/VOgIUBHj6k
— Matteo Bergamini (@MatteoBergamini) 24 November 2017
Matteo says that religion should be replaced from with politics and taken out of the curriculum or merged with history as it is a divisive. “Look at the way britain is at the moment which is an entrenched subject which is the same level as english and maths, we’ve had it for years yet the ignorance around islam is still staggering.” he states.
“All children, all students deserve broad education”
Hannah Hart is a committee member of Gloucestershire Humanists and is an advocate for religion in schools. “You may or may not be surprised to find out that most Humanists like myself are quite in favour of what RE does and what it attempts to do,” says Hannah.
Religious Education is one of the few lessons that the curriculum is set locally. A group of members of different faiths choose the material for each school based on the area. “Actually we would rather it were something that is agreed on, and that all schools are delivering in a particular way rather that being a product of that school’s stance, because all children, all students deserve broad education,” says Hannah.
“The law we have says that each school has to have an act of religious worship every day that is broadly christian in character. And now we’re all in favour of inclusive assemblies and time for reflection but i think having forced religious worship has no place in schools at all,” says Hannah.
Visit Shout Out UK and Gloucestershire Humanists