Exploring the Potential for Religious Scholarship in ‘Post’ Post-Confessional Religion Education in State-Funded South African Schools

Abstract

'Christian National Education' (CNE) was promoted in South Africa between 1948 and 1990 by the then apartheid government to enhance and preserve white supremacy through the public schools' system. One significant educational reform following the introduction of democratic governance in South Africa was the replacement of 'Religious Education' with 'Religion Education', intended to promote mutual recognition between future citizens, regardless of religion, ethnicity or culture. Yet, however preferable to what preceded it, this policy introduced inherent and unique limitations and difficulties we, two philosophers of education, one South African, the other English, explore while keeping in mind the place of religion in the curriculum. We see clear lessons to be learned from the South African experience of RE that are relevant to both contexts, adopting what we describe as a 'post'post-confessional stance to advocate a richer notion of religious illiteracy than that which is commonly assumed by policy makers, educational professionals and other educational stakeholders. We conclude by exploring the potential of academic learning in RE that is both educative and consciously positioned, using the specific example of sacred text scholarship to illustrate 'post' post-confessional RE's practical application.

Does RE still matter?

“…All school-going children, regardless of background, were expected to participate in the schools' 'Christian' ethos with no other religion or worldview acknowledged, let alone included. Religious Instruction (RI) was positioned within CNE, as a curriculum subject purposed for evangelism, nurturing specific values and principles (Orchard and Davids 2020).…”

“…Compulsory RE is included within the 'Life Orientation' curriculum in state funded schools, rather than as a separate subject and the most recent policy guidance on RE included in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (DBE 2011), offers limited opportunities to teach about religion explicitly. Some citizens have interpreted the policy negatively, as a move by secularists to remove religion from schools, rather than enforcing a neutral separation (Orchard and Davids 2020). The challenge remains how to restructure the relationship between religion and education, so that shifting away from exclusivist and confessional RE, towards an approach that is inclusive of multiple traditions, does not alienate religious adherents.…”

“…White (2004) continues by questioning how far religious possibilities of truth should be privileged on the curriculum in England over other (non-religious) perspectives on the possibility of truth, given the increasingly low levels of religious adherence. His objection is harder to sustain in the South African context, home to a wide variety of religious and major world faiths and a deep and enduring indigenous religious heritage, with 60% of the population declaring allegiance to Christianity (Orchard and Davids 2020). In the English context, it is possible to partially assuage White's concerns with an argument previously advanced by Haydon (1997).…”

“…From a South African perspective, curriculum development projects which draw on strong and diverse traditions of theorising about RE in the subject community and curriculum resources and examples of practice which at their best are "inspiring" and "highly regarded" offer promising possibilities for future development at all levels, practice, policy and research. From an English perspective, meanwhile, one potential attraction of the South African example is the positive connections drawn between the religious and political under an umbrella of Life Orientation, albeit with shortcomings (see Orchard and Davids 2020;Davids and Orchard forthcoming).…”

“…Stronger connections drawn between school RE curriculum developers and international scholarship in the study of religion, worldviews and philosophy would benefit the subject in both contexts, with openness to South African scholarship one example of how the RE Curriculum in England might be decolonised (Orchard and Davids 2020). Such reflection on potentially promising practice in education found in 'other' places (Phillips and Ochs 2004) might seem highly impractical in the fevered world of educational policy and reform and practice in England.…”