Religion and Worldviews – parents’ views

I am currently in my 21st year of teaching in a Secondary Catholic school in the Northwest of England. I have been curriculum leader for Religious Education for over 10 years. I am the chair of St Helens SACRE and have recently become a NASACRE executive member. I have completed both stages of the Culham St Gabriel’s Leadership programme and this case study is from my research project for the second stage.

To build on the data from the Culham St Gabriel’s public perception and parental survey (see below), I sent a survey to parents and carers of 2 secondary schools in the Northwest. It was a specific set of statements to agree or disagree with. Over 300 parents and carers responded and the percentages in the table below are those agreeing with the relevant statement.

1 https://www.cstg.org.uk/campaigns/public-perception/
2 Parent Survey – Culham St Gabriel’s (cstg.org.uk)
3 Parent Survey – Culham St Gabriel’s (cstg.org.uk)

Average results of the two schools compared to the Culham St Gabriel’s survey shows that the majority of results are comparable and positive. The biggest difference is question 1 – the importance for young people to understand the beliefs of others. The school average was 90% which is 17% higher than the national survey.

Another difference between the school data and the Culham St Gabriel’s data appears to be in relation to questions 2 and 3, though on question 2, the school average is still only 2% lower than the Culham St Gabriel’s figure.

In relation to Question 3, it was interesting that School 1 had an 80% agreement on the subject helping young people to understand their own beliefs, but in School 2 this was only 61%. The difference between the two schools might be due to the Roman Catholic nature of school 1. However, further research would be needed to establish a reason why.

There was also an additional question which asked parents and carers for comments on how Religious Education could reflect changes in society and develop further in the future. The vast majority of comments where positive which reflects the importance of the subject and the support from parents from both schools. Comments included that the subject should be optional, replaced with PSHE or personal development, others stated that all religions and worldviews should be taught.

In conclusion, the findings of the survey are extremely positive- both the percentages and the additional comments. The number of returns to the survey is also positive. It is clear that the parents surveyed value an education in Religion and Worldviews. The survey data shows a strong support for children to develop an awareness of their own beliefs and an understanding those of others as well as the importance of discussing the ultimate questions in life for example, how the world was created and what happens when we die. It is therefore crucial that we continue to embrace this positivity and support from parents as we strive to ensure Religious Education is a valued and important subject in a child’s education.