Australian teachers campaign against SRI (Special Religious Instruction)

Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear, a flagship blogger within the Australian Secularist movement, posted a brief reflection yesterday concerning the recent publication of a contribution to the debate about the place of SRI (Special Religious Instruction) is public schools.


It was written by a Victorian academic, Dr David Zingier, from the School of Education at Monash University, and was entitled "Special Religious Instruction - a statement from the teaching profession".  


While I agree with some of the sentiments in the statement, particularly regarding the "right of entry" that is afforded to Christian religious groups which over-rides a school's choice in the matter, there are some flaws in the arguments of those who would see religious instruction completely eradicated from public schools.


A Right of Entry Provision is Archaic in 21st Century
In Queensland, NSW and Victoria current Education Acts give religious people, particularly Christian ones, have a right of entry to public schools - i.e. if they offer the program to a school, then the Principal is obliged to provide timetable time for it.  This is a relic of the past and a time in our colonial history when we carried on the Established Church principle by which religious people held various civil offices - eg Magistracies - simply because they were clergy.  It also carried over the notion that the Church of England minister had a right of entry to any public school for the purposes of teaching the tenets of the Christian faith to children as a part of their schooling.

The formation of our nation as a federation of sovereign states forming the Commonwealth of Australia clearly broke the Church-State relationship as far as the nation was concerned - as demonstrated in s116 of the Constitution - but our sovereign states retained relics of it.  I think it is fair to say that all state Education Acts reflected this through to the modernizing of those acts in various states that began in the 1980s.  South Australia did away with SRI altogether, Western Australia and Tasmania took away the "right of entry" notions, giving schools the capacity to say no to any offers to provide SRI, but Queensland, NSW and Victoria have retained a system that is archaic in that it retains a provision that only makes sense in a situation where there is an Established Church - something we do not have in Australia.

I would endorse the efforts of any lobby group seeking to remove these archaic provisions in those three states, and encourage politicians there to see that it is about time to change.

Religious Education has a place in public schools
However, this does not mean I support what I understand to be the objective of the Australian Education Union in relation to public schools in Qld, NSW and Vic in particular, and as well for the rest of the nation; namely the complete removal of provision for Special Religious Instruction in public schools.  The imposition of such a blanket ban is just as ideologically driven as the "right of entry" provisions are.  In a truly democratic and modern society and in pursuit of a truly comprehensive curriculum the principles of equity and access to all fields of knowledge and belief systems should be the guiding principles.

This is what happens in Western Australia and if I were to put the seven dot-points of the statement from the Teaching Profession, referred to above, alongside what I see in WA there would be a significant disconnect.  This is what I see in WA:

• State Schools may refuse entry of visiting voluntary teachers offering weekly religious instruction.  (in WA about 20% of the public schools allow it.)
• Students withdrawn from this instruction must be given suitable educational activities to undertake during the lesson (It is not FREE TIME for the kids).
• Schools have absolute freedom to act according to the wishes of the parent community or even the absolute discretion of the school Principal - in refusing or allowing the program.
• It seems rather odd to refer to the exercise of a freedom to withdraw from any particular form of instruction with the pejorative term "segregation".
• In this state, where Bahai RI often occurs concurrently with Christian RI, the existence of these programs very definitely does foster an appreciation and respect for religious and cultural diversity.  I would be prepared to argue that the extreme secularist point of view in this matter breeds intolerance by denying the right of access to this field of knowledge and beliefs.
• Time pressures are often used as the basis for refusing access for the SRI program in WA and that is fair enough, however, I believe the program offered in WA makes a significant contribution to elements of the Australian Curriculum, which it can do in partnership with professional teachers who often feel they do not have the competence to speak about religious and spirituality issues.
• Finally, I agree that with respect of those three states I have mentioned above, the legislation relating to SRI retains an Established Church function in a nation that has clearly and intentionally broken with that element of political life.  But this is not universally the case in Australia.

The argument raised to support the eradication of all forms of religious education in public schools, namely that "families are in the best position" to provide this form of instruction, is flawed in my mind on two grounds.  

• Firstly, other areas of knowledge and beliefs ought also be banned such as instruction in moral (particularly sex education) and ethical frameworks.  With regard to the first, this has a long history of inclusion in education systems, and with regard to the second, the existence of SRI is being used as the basis for claiming a place for ethics instruction.
• Secondly, the whole purpose of a public education system is to create a space for children to learn about the world and fields of knowledge that far exceed the capacity of a family to provide.

So, by all means argue for the eradication of an outdated legal framework for the provision of SRI in schools, but do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  In WA this program has for a long time been referred to as SRE - where the emphasis has been on EDUCATION rather than INSTRUCTION.  SRE can make a significant and positive contribution to the quality of our comprehensive, public education system.