National Curriculum: Religious Education
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Lord Bailey of Paddington
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I will not recount the experience of some of our milk monitors in our school. The noble and gallant Lord raises an important point. Of course, the curriculum is important, but as I mentioned before, skills such as helping young people move towards a position of resilience, fostering good relationships, and restorative practice are crucial and need to go along with a broad curriculum to help young people move forward.
Lord Bailey of Paddington (Con)
My Lords, given that over 75% of the world’s population profess to have some kind of religion, does the Minister agree with me that the confidence of the teachers delivering this curriculum is as important as the curriculum itself in making sure that our children are educated properly? What work are the Government doing to make sure that teachers have the confidence and the training to deliver this curriculum properly?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
This is a critical issue. To be honest, the Ofsted review has highlighted some failings in this area, which I know will have been the subject of representations to the curriculum review. Teacher training is absolutely at the top of our agenda, and this whole area comes under the heading “need to develop”.