Academic debates the place of faith in schools

Senior academic Professor James Conroy, Professor of Religious and Philisophical Education will be taking part in a major debate on the place of "Faith in Schools" at Wednesday 22 February 2012, 5.30-7pm at 61 Whitehall. Also taking part in the discussion is Richard Dawkins, the former Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, Professor Robert Jackson, Director of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit and John Pritchard, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Oxford and Chair of the Church of England's Board of Education. Based on a major three year study of religious education (RE) in Britain between 2008-11, Professor Conroy will argue that the failure to provide high quality religious education is both bad policy and bad ethics. Professor Conroy says:" What they reveal is that good RE is about something absolutely fundamental: a space for serious, critical exploration of the meanings and values by which we live. To live good lives, individually and together, we need to be able to make sense of the world and ourselves - and RE offers the only place in the curriculum where this can still be done systematically". The research was based on in-depth observation and in 23 schools across the UK. The researchers looked at the full spectrum of their activities, both formal and informal and involved a broad range of religious and non religious schools in both urban and rural settings.