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“Ethics” tussle continues. Major submission by Scripture lessons supporters

8:06am Tuesday, 7th September 2010  

John Sandeman

The issue of students opting out of Scripture periods in NSW schools has not been solved during the trial of an ethics course intended as an alternative to Scripture teaching.
In a submission to the NSW government review of a trial of “ethics” classes held during SRE time, a submission by The Inter-Church Commission on Religious Education in Schools (ICCOREIS), pointed out that in the trial schools not all the non-Scripture kids enrolled in the ethics classes.
It is claimed that some parents were misled about the trial: “ICCOREIS has anecdotal evidence that there was no clarification that the ‘Saint Sames Ethics Centre’ did not indicate a Christian organisation, and some parents were misled by the name”.
“Labelling philosophical discussion as ethics is misleading” according to a submission from the Anglican Bishops of NSW.
Scrutiny of the ethics course was restricted by limited access to the facilitators’ notes. ICCOREIS comments on the facilitators notes for the “fairness and lying” lesson says “stories (meta-narratives) ... assist students with strong emotional response that propel them towards agreeing or disagreeing. … The facilitators’ guides include no overarching stories and nothing about people with strong convictions. This is contrary to the best thinking on moral formation”.
ICCOREIS says the approach to teaching ethics in the trial is just one way it could be done, and reflects one particular (anti-Christian) approach among many possibilities.
All students need an introduction to belief systems the submission argues. “Studies of both systems, religious and non-religious .... refine the self-defining map of reality, enabling students to negotiate challenges to personal meaning and purpose.”
The submission argues that the real complement to Scripture should be general religious education (GRE) “With an effective operation of GRE students will beencouraged to understand their culture and heritage, make informed decisions about how to live. morally and be able to talk about their choices without threat or vilification.”
 Bryan Cowling Executive Director of the Anglican Education Commission, Diocese of Sydney, says “all existing SRE providers have been put on notice that SRE must be of the highest educational standard, their attendance must be regular and their teaching must be engaging”.