Faiths and further education - Church of England

07IntroductionThe case for reviewing provision for spiritual,moral, social and cultural development infurther educationThis introduction has been contributed by Dr Ann Limb, Chair of theNational Ecumenical Agency in Further Education (NEAFE) and DrFatma Amer, Chair of the Faiths in Further Education Forum (Faithsin FE Forum).1The NEAFE and Faiths in FE Forum initiative, as outlined by RuthSilver, has specific aims, perhaps even certain hopes. But what doeslegislation require? It would be useful here to review the issue ofthe definition, appropriateness and application of the statutoryterm spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development, as ithas been referred to in legislation since the Education Act 1944 (theAct). Such a review is timely and necessary since the provisions ofthe original Act, itself now over 60 years old, currently function inthe very different context in which learning and skills operate in the21st century, in a society where religious pluralism and socialinclusion are key features of everyday life.2What are the principal considerations? A legal anomaly existswhereby 16–19-year-old students in school sixth forms and sixthform colleges (that is, 40 per cent of the total cohort of youngpeople who remain in full-time education) are legally entitled toSMSC development, although in practice they may or may notreceive this entitlement, either because it is not on offer, or, whereit is offered only in the form of religious education (RE), becausesome decline to take it up.3In contrast, 16–19-year-old students in general further educationcolleges and tertiary colleges covered by the Further and HigherEducation Act 1992 which created incorporated colleges (43 percent of the total cohort of young people who remain in full-timeeducation) are not legally entitled to SMSC development, and inpractice, this is mostly not currently on offer to them.4There are a number of significant reasons why this is an appropriatetime to revisit this area of SMSC entitlement.• We now live in a radically different, more pluralistic and inclusivesociety from the one that influenced the formulation of the 1944Act.The United Kingdom is a multi-cultural and multi-faithsociety, and for many of today’s citizens the issue of faith (andrelated spiritual, moral and ethical considerations) plays animportant part in personal and professional life and in thecommunities in which we live and work. In a post-9/11 world,and following the recent Madrid and London bombings, this issueis made even more relevant.• Alongside the Government’s agendas for national economicgrowth, the creation of personal prosperity and the developmentof safe, healthy and sustainable communities, the overalleducational policy framework developed by the Department forEducation and Skills (DfES) since 1997 has focused consistently(and increasingly) on putting learners’ needs at the heart ofsuccessful policy implementation and of effective, high-qualitypublic service delivery.• The issue of SMSC development is critical to this agenda. It hasfeatured in some of the DfES’s key policy documents, rangingfrom the 1998 Green Paper The Learning Age (DfEE, 1998) to the14–19 Education and Skills White Paper (DfES, 2004). SMSCdevelopment has not, however, been subject to a thoroughreview in its own right, a review which could begin to address thelegal anomaly highlighted above, together with the need torespond in the post-16 sector to the circumstances of a changed,21st century world.• LSC research was commissioned from the National Youth Agencyto research the views and aspirations of a cross-section of youngpeople on a range of topics, including the subjects they weremost interested in learning about in the post-14 curriculum.Thisresearch indicated that spiritual, moral and ethical issues comenear the top of young people’s agendas. Furthermore, it isnotable that religious education (RE) is the fastest growing andamong the most popular subjects at GCSE,AS and A-level. Over60 per cent of young people take some form of externalexamination in RE.• The DfES and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)have produced a new National Framework for Religious Education(DfES and QCA, 2004) which contains an important section onpost-16 religious education study, setting out a curriculum to becovered by students at this level.This guidance offers real supportto teachers and students involved in the delivery of RE. It doesnot, however, tackle the related and wider issue of SMSCdevelopment identified earlier, nor the linked issue of the legalanomaly and disparity of practice and opportunity across post-16providers.