CES apologises in row over changes to RE

THE CATHOLIC Education Service  has apologised to a senior educationalist following a row over planned changes by the Government to the religious education syllabus, writes Christopher Lamb.

In a public statement, the CES had accused Dr Peter Vardy, a former vice principal of Heythrop College who now runs Candle Conferences with his wife, Charlotte, of misrepresenting a Department for Education consultation on reforms to both A-level and GCSE RE courses.

It also accused Dr Vardy of having a vested financial interest in opposing the changes, a claim the academic strenuously denies. Candle Conferences charges school pupils attending the philosophy and ethics events it runs, but Dr Vardy said his company does not make large profits.

Following Dr Vardy’s objection to the accusations, the CES issued a second statement saying: “We sincerely regret any personal offence inadvertently caused by the statement, and apologise if the way the statement came across was perceived as a personal attack.”
The Department for Education has recently completed a consultation on changes to the RE curriculum during which it received hundreds of submissions. It is proposing that pupils study at least two religions at GCSE, while A level would include in-depth study of one religion and the examination of texts. The department says it wants RE to be more academically rigorous.

Many schools have chosen to focus their teaching of A-level RE on the philosophy of religion and ethics, but the Government wants to broaden this out. The CES supports the changes because of their “increased religious content”.

Dr Vardy told The Tablet that the changes would achieve the “opposite” of making RE more rigorous as the proposals focus on “sociological and phenomenological study”. He said it would also lead to decline in numbers taking the subject and has proposed an alternative curriculum to the Government. He added that numerous schools, including Catholic ones, shared his concerns.