Teachers7 Journal Discusses Religion In Schools

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28821, 16 February 1959, Page 16

Teachers 7 Journal Discusses Religion In Schools

The Educational Institute “has traditionally opposed the giving of religious instruction in school hours, its tolerance of the Nelson system originally resulting from the belief that the system was legal and could not be resisted. Yet circumstances change and traditional attitudes . with them, so that the annual meeting, when it makes up its mind in May, will be guided by many considerations, some of them quite complex,” says the leading article in this ihonth’s “National Education,” the journal of the institute.

The issue Contains remits for and against religious instruction in schools, which will be considered at the annual meeting of the institute in Wellington during May. “There are dangers in whatever they decide,” says the article. “A decision disapproving of religious instruction in State schools in any form could result in the imposition of a system if the authorities felt the advocates of religious instruction were r.eally representative of community opinion. A decision in favour of some form of religious instruction immediately raises the question of teacher participation. “There is a body of opinion in the institute which wants teachers to take no part at all, one reason being the suspicion that teachers willing to participate could gain unfair advantages in the service. The Council- for Christian Education wants the services of I achers on a voluntary basis. Then there are churchmen like the archdeacon (vice-chairman, incidentally, of the Council for Christian Education), who told a recent meeting of the Anglican general synod that the teacher was a public servant and as such had a responsibility to pass on to the children that which the community generally held to be true. He would, presumably, have to teach what he was told to teach.

“A statement such as this does nothing to allay the fears of those in the institute who see in any form of religious instruction in the schools the thin edge, of a formidable wedge that could hold the State education system wide open to influences that beset education in other countries. Nor does such a statement help those who think the schools can play a part in providing what may be a real need of the community. “This is a time for study and discussion, for thinking out the problem anew. The annual meeting will be the place for action and the institute will then, we trust, emerge with a policy taking full account of present circumstances and of the best interests of all concerned.”