Report of Committee on Religious Education
In 1972, the Victorian Minister for Education, the Hon. L. H. S. Thompson, initiated a Committee under the chairmanship of the former Deputy Director General of Education, W. B. Russell, to examine religious education in Government schools.
After two years of research with the Committee meeting on 30 occasions, the Chairman, W. B. Russell, delivered the final report, titled, Report of the Committee on Religious Education – Victoria, 1974, in September 1974. The Report’s key recommendations were that:
- religious instruction in State schools be progressively replaced by the kind of religious education delineated in the body of this Report. [Note: The Report describes what might currently be referred to as General Religious Education (GRE), as defined in the Education and Training Reform Act 2006. Namely, ‘In this section “general religious education” means education about the major forms of religious thought and expression characteristic of Australian society and other societies in the world.’]
- the programs of religious [HSV prefers ‘world-view’] education in each school be conducted by Departmental teachers . . .
- when religious education, along the lines recommended in this Report, has been satisfactorily established in the schools, the Minister then consider the desirability of seeking the repeal of Section 23 of the Education Act [Note: now Section 2.2.11 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006]
Resources:
Full text (in PDF) of Report of the Committee on Religious Education – Victoria, 1974
Preface, Contents, Ch 1: Introduction
Ch 2: Religious teaching in Victorian state schools since 1872
Ch 3: Recent developments in the provision of religious education in state schools in Australia
Ch 4: The changing forms of religious education
Ch 5: The attitude of teachers, students and community to religious education
Ch 6: Some implications for religious education of current understanding of child development
Ch 7: Our pluralist society: some implications for religious education
Ch 8: Changes in schooling which affect religious education
Ch 9: The term “Secular Instruction”
Ch 10: The school curriculum and the rights of parents, the public and the teaching profession
Ch 11: Religion and the study of religion
Ch 12: The possibility of educating in religion
Ch 13: Why religious education ought to be included in the school curriculum
Ch 14: Methodological considerations
Ch 15-I: At the junior primary level
Ch 15-II: At the senior primary level
Ch 15-III: At the junior secondary level
Ch 15-IV: At the senior secondary level
Ch 16: Staffing and teacher education
Ch 17: The contribution of the churches and other institutions and organisations
Ch 18: Legal and organizational considerations
Appendix 5: Summaries of some submissions – Humanist Society submission
