THE PROFESSIONAL Council for Religious Education has welcomed the recommendations of the Swann Cormnittee that religious education should be based on a non-denominational and undogmatic approach to give schoolchildren an understanding of the religious dimension of human experience and the plurality of faiths in contemporary British society.
The newly-constituted council, which brings together the Association for Religious Education and the Professional Committee for Religious Education of the Christian Education Movement, seeks to promote a positive image of religious education and its place in the curriculum and to provide a forum where issues affecting those involved in teaching the subject can be discussed and
effective responses made.
However, the • council regrets that the report takes little account of developments in religious education since the publication of the Schools Council Working Paper it quotes.
According to the council, the report neglects "the strenuous efforts of many RE teachers to respond to new opportunities afforded by multi-faith syllabuses and the changes in teacher attitudes inherent in these approaches."
The Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Education and Science, Bob Dunn MP, will address the council at a national consultation to be held on April 2'7 to consider the role of religious education in preparing pupils for life in a multi-cultural society.