Welsh switch from RE to ethics

Wales is considering replacing the teaching of religious education with a combined “religion, philosophy and ethics” syllabus, writes Katherine Backler.

The Welsh Government’s Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis, is proposing to rename the subject and incorporate it into a new, combined syllabus that will focus more on philosophy and ethics, although such a move will not apply to Catholic schools.

This syllabus, said the Minister, involves “an explicit commitment to allowing children to ponder ideas around ethics and citizenship and what it means to be a citizen of a free country”.

Mr Lewis was responding to a question last month in the National Assembly for Wales on the need to tackle extremism in schools. He said he hoped that the proposed reforms will help Welsh schools to “rise to the challenge of community cohesion”.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Education Service said it “will continue to work with the Welsh Government to ensure that RE in Catholic schools is academically rigorous, publicly accountable, and complies with the mission of Catholic schools”.