Religion / Ethics in NSW schools

[gooseboy]

I don't know if anyone else is from NSW, or has the same stupid regulations about teaching of religion in public schools, but some of you may find this interesting:

Towards an Ethics-based Complement to Scripture in NSW Primary Schools: A project of St. James Ethics Centre

Since 2003 St James Ethics Centre has been advocating on behalf of a growing number of parents, citizens and community leaders for an amendment to NSW Department of Education policy section 3.11 and the provision of an ethics-based complement to scripture in NSW primary schools.

Policy section 3.11 prohibits primary school children, whose parents have made a conscientious decision to have them opt out of scripture, from receiving any form of instruction during this period, and specifically not in the area of 'ethics, values, civics or general religious education.' A recent community-wide consultation indicates that many view the existing policy as socially and psychologically unjust -- all students, it's assumed, are entitled to meaningful instruction, ethical exploration and the associated benefits.

A submission will be before the Minister of Education in the coming weeks. It includes a recommendation to amend policy section 3.11 and requests approval to run a pilot project to test the concept of offering an ethics-based option to scripture.

www.ethics.org.au

[irreligionist]

I hope the submission gets up. So what happens now... kids just sit in a classroom, doing nothing?

I'm not sure what the situation is for where I live. I must find out.

[gooseboy]

I hope the submission gets up. So what happens now... kids just sit in a classroom, doing nothing?

Yup. They're specifically not allowed to learn. My daughter spends her time writing little notes to her friends.

[starr]

I hope the submission gets up. So what happens now... kids just sit in a classroom, doing nothing?

Yup. They're specifically not allowed to learn. My daughter spends her time writing little notes to her friends.

That's ridiculous

I hope the submission gets up too.

[charlou]

An ethics-based complement to scripture ... ?

A submission will be before the Minister of Education in the coming weeks. It includes a recommendation to amend policy section 3.11 and requests approval to run a pilot project to test the concept of offering an ethics-based option to scripture.

http://www.ethics.org.au

If this means offering ethics-based discussion as an alternative to scripture, or without a scriptural element, I'd support that kind of submission.

[gooseboy]

@ littlebitofnonsense - aye - it's ridiculous.

@ Charlou - I took it to mean that you could be taught ethics instead of scripture (ie an option during scripture time would be ethics, along with the current options of Catholic, Anglican, Bahai, etc etc). Maybe I'm wrong