About

Between 2012-13 the RE Council reviewed Religious Education in England. The non-religious British Humanist Association part-funded this review.  A 72 page A Review of Religious Education in England and a 32 page National Curriculum Framework for RE (NCFRE) document were published October 2013.

In June 2013 a published 25 page draft of the National Curriculum Framework 'Religious Education Programmes of Study for Key Stages 1-3' used the phrase 'religions and non-religious worldviews' 34 times. Unfortunately, the final 32 page National Curriculum Framework for RE did away with the phrase 'religions and non-religious worldviews'. Why did the writers privilege religious beliefs over non-religious worldviews? Instead the document makes 90 references to 'worldviews', mostly used in the phrase 'religions and worldviews' to refer to "Christianity, other principal religions represented in Britain, smaller religious communities and non-religious worldviews such as Humanism. The phrase 'religions and worldviews' is meant to be inclusive, and its precise meaning depends on the context in which it occurs, eg in terms of belief, practice or identity (page 14, footnote 7)." In summary in the National Curriculum Framework for RE (2013) 'worldviews' exclusively refers to non-religious worldviews such as Humanism.

REnameRE campaign agrees with British Humanist Association when they maintain:-

'the National Curriculum Framework for RE (2013) makes it clear that schools should put Non-Religious Worldviews on an equal footing with Religious Beliefs in terms of curriculum time'.

To assess the British Humanist Associations (BHAs) analysis, REnameRE campaign checked non-religious and religious words and phrases in the 2004 Non Statutory National Framework and compared them to the 2013 National Curriculum Framework for RE reports. Our results indicate that about 30% or 135 of the beliefs or worldviews mentioned in 2013 report relate to non-religious worldviews. About 18% or 85 of the beliefs or worldviews mentioned in 2004 report relate to non-religious worldviews. In a decade there has been a two-third fold increase in % non-religious worldviews mentioned in the reports. Although the 2013 report does not appear to put non-religious worldviews on an equal footing with religious beliefs in terms of curriculum time or mentions, there has been a very significant two-third fold or 66% increase in mentions of non-religious worldviews between 2004 and 2013.

To reflect the significant change in the study of religions & non-religious worldviews, the REnameRE campaign aims to work to REname, REbrand and REdetermine Religious Education. Read more about our aims here.

Background
The 2004 non-statutory national framework introduced non-religious beliefs into the RE curriculum. In October 2013 Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Education) said 'I welcome Religious education: a national curriculum framework as a national benchmark document for use by all those responsible for the RE curriculum locally.' (pg. 5)

In Scotland the National Qualifications subject is 'Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies' (RMAPS).

REnameRE Campaign (more)

REnameRE campaign 3 aims - To REname, REbrand & REdetermine Religious Education (more)

Aim 1 - REname RE to 'Religion & Non-Religious Worldviews' by law. (more)

Aim 2 - REbrand RE from 'Learning about / from Religion' to a 'Systematic & thematic critical analysis of Religions & Non-Religious Worldviews such as Humanism'. (more)

Aim 3 -  REdetermine RE curriculum from syllabus made by the 152 Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to determination of a National Curriculum. (more)