Context, complexity and contestation: Birmingham’s Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education since the 1970s

Abstract

The present article offers an historical perspective on the 1975, 1995 and 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education. It draws upon historical evidence uncovered as part of ‘The hidden history of curriculum change in religious education in English schools, 1969–1979’ project, and curriculum history theories, especially David Labaree’s observations about the distance between the ‘rhetorical’ and ‘received’ curricula. We argue that, contrary to the existing historiography, curriculum change in religious education (RE) has been evolutionary not revolutionary. Multiple reasons are posited to explain this, not least among which is the capacity and agency of teachers. Furthermore, we argue that ongoing debates about the nature and purpose of RE, as exemplified in the Birmingham context, reflect the multiple expectations that religious educators and other stakeholders had, and continue to have, of the curriculum subject. These debates contribute to the inertia evident in the implementation of RE curriculum reforms. A consciousness of the history of RE enables curriculum contestations to be contextualised and understood, and, thereby, provides important insights which can be applied to ongoing and future debates and developments.

Keywords:

• religious education
• Agreed Syllabus
• curriculum change

Notes

1. The themes of context, complexity and contestation are drawn from Mutch (2004), and her work on syllabus construction on social studies in the New Zealand curriculum and are parallel to our observations of aspects of curriculum development in RE.

2. The title of an article by Harold Loukes, the Times Educational Supplement, 12 April 1968, which is to be found in the SACRE archival papers: Birmingham Central Library, City of Birmingham Education Committee, Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education, 50, 4, 1, A12, 1965–1967.

3. Birmingham Central Library, City of Birmingham Education Committee, Revision of the Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction, Box 37, File 2: Letter from John Hick as Chair of the Religious Education Panel of the Birmingham Community Relations Committee to Chief Education Officer, 15 October 1969.

4. Birmingham Central Library, City of Birmingham Education Committee, Revision of the Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction, Box 37, File 2: Letter from Christopher Tipple (administrator) to Kenneth Brooksbank, Chief Education Officer, 28 April 1969.

5. Interview with John Hick, 7 November 2008.

6. National Archives, ED272_32_2. DES. HMI. RE in Birmingham. 1973–1980.

7. Anonymous interviews with a teacher heavily involved in the formation of BAS 1975, and a teacher who taught in Birmingham schools from the 1960s onwards.

8. The Schools Curriculum and Assessment Authority attainment target ‘learning from religions’ became ‘learning from religion’ in the Non-Statutory National Framework for Religious Education.

9. The organisation continued to lobby well into the 1970s, organising public meetings, writing letters to the press and RE organisations to elicit support for its work.