Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) - The Catholic ...
Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) - The Catholic ...
Religious Education Curriculum Directory (3-19) - The Catholic ...
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<strong>Catholic</strong> Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales — Department of <strong>Catholic</strong> <strong>Education</strong> and FormationPart I — Introduction<strong>The</strong> purpose of this new edition of the <strong>Religious</strong> <strong>Education</strong> <strong>Curriculum</strong> <strong>Directory</strong> (3-<strong>19</strong>) is to provideguidance for the <strong>Religious</strong> <strong>Education</strong> classroom curriculum in <strong>Catholic</strong> schools 1 . Followingthe publication of the Catechism of the <strong>Catholic</strong> Church (<strong>19</strong>92), the Bishops of England and Walespublished the <strong>Religious</strong> <strong>Education</strong> <strong>Curriculum</strong> <strong>Directory</strong> for <strong>Catholic</strong> Schools (<strong>19</strong>96) to ensure that teachingand learning in our schools truly reflected the vision and breadth of the teaching of the Church outlinedin the Catechism. This revised <strong>Directory</strong> is published so that religious educators can continueto meet the needs of the pupils of our time.Whilst the context of <strong>Religious</strong> <strong>Education</strong> has changed significantly over the last fifteen years inEngland and Wales, the teaching of the Church is to be proclaimed faithfully in season and out ofseason 2 and is the key to human happiness and social prospering. <strong>The</strong> contemporary focus on themarket economy and personal autonomy creates a more hostile environment in which to presentthe teaching of the Church. <strong>The</strong> challenges for educators are significant.In Britain, the landscape of primary and secondary education is changing rapidly. <strong>The</strong> ways in whichChurch and State cooperate in the task of educational provision are having to be reshaped and thisis taking place in the context of increasingly vociferous arguments from those opposed to right ofparents to choose those means and institutionss which can best promote the <strong>Catholic</strong> education oftheir children. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Catholic</strong> community is continually challenged to explain and justify <strong>Catholic</strong>schools even though those schools are frequently popular and oversubscribed because parentsrecognise, explicitly or not, that they deliver an excellent education of the whole person.We note in particular some current trends which affect the teaching of <strong>Religious</strong> <strong>Education</strong>:• rapid developments in communication and information technology that have led to a webbasedproliferation of competing sources of ‘authority’;• a further privatisation of morality and a focus on personal choice rooted in feelings has increasedthe domination of the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ 3 in moral reasoning;• the practice of selective adherence to the teachings of the Church and growing suspicion ofthe sources of any authority;• new challenges to justice and peace, e.g. the threat of global terrorism;• the influence of the ‘New Atheism’ and the rejection of the supernatural;• the widespread yet fallacious view that science and faith are opposed to one another;• the rich diversity of religious practice found in modern Britain including the growth of Islam;• the changing religious and cultural profile of pupils and teachers in <strong>Catholic</strong> schools.In recent years, a number of teaching documents of the Church have further explored the distinctivenature of the <strong>Catholic</strong> school and have articulated more deeply the underlying philosophy of<strong>Catholic</strong> <strong>Education</strong>. We have also grown in our understanding of the needs of children with disabilitiesand special needs and this is reflected in this guidance.1