The Rationalist Society of Australia has called on the newly installed Queensland Premier and his education ministers to move Religious Instruction (RI) classes to outside school hours.
In a letter to Premier Steven Miles (see below), education minister Di Farmer and assistant minister Corrine McMillan, RSA president Meredith Doig said the RI program was a major disruption for school communities, privileging religious organisations’ access to classrooms over children’s learning needs.
Mounting opposition to RI among Labor members, government MPs, key public education sector stakeholders, and the public means the government should move scripture classes to out-of-class hours, such as before or after school, she said.
“The program interrupts professional teachers and precious learning time and leaves a significant and increasing number of children having to find other non-curricular activities,” wrote Dr Doig.
“Treating RI as an elective by moving it to out-of-class hours would still give parents the choice of enlisting their children in the program but would have the additional benefit of honouring the choices of other parents who do not want their children’s learning disrupted.”
Assistant education minister McMillan was among the Labor MPs last year who publicly voiced their concerns about the RI program after Christian missionaries were found to be using public schools as “mission fields” to “harvest” children and “disciple” them “for the Lord”.
With a Queensland state election due in late 2024, Dr Doig argued that removing RI from class time would be popular with voters and help differentiate Labor from the opposition.
Secular advocacy group Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools (QPSSS) – which has spearheaded the push for reform – believes moving RI to out-of-class hours would be ‘low-hanging fruit’ for a government which has decriminalised abortion and introduced voluntary assisted dying.
Dr Doig said such reforms had been “consistently opposed by the more zealous religious lobbies” but popular with the public and most religious people.
“We believe you would receive the same response if you were to reform RI as we have proposed,” she said.
Christian groups fear RI being moved to outside class time as a collapse in participating numbers would likely occur, as happened in Victoria.
State school principals and teachers groups have also been lobbying the Labor government for reform, concerned about the program’s impact in overcrowding the curriculum and declining participation rates in RI disrupting precious learning time for most students.
Despite all this, former education minister Grace Grace – who moved to a new ministerial portfolio in the government’s reshuffle in December – had refused to consider reform of RI, repeatedly telling the RSA in recent years there were “no plans for change”.
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Si Gladman is the Campaigns & Communications Coordinator for the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.
Image: Steven Miles (Facebook)
Letter to Queensland government, 16 January 2024
Dear Premier, Minister Farmer and Assistant Minister McMillan,
I’m writing on behalf of the Rationalist Society of Australia, which is Australia’s oldest freethought group promoting evidence-based policy, secularism and reason.
Firstly, congratulations to you all on your recent appointments to your new portfolios. We wish you well in the roles.
We are writing to urge your government to make reforms to the Religious Instruction (RI) program in Queensland’s public schools so that these classes are held outside normal class hours.
RI is a major disruption for school communities, privileging classroom access by religious organisations over the learning needs of Queensland’s children. The program interrupts professional teachers and precious learning time and leaves a significant and increasing number of children having to find other non-curricular activities.
Treating RI as an elective by moving it to out-of-class hours would still give parents the choice of enlisting their children in the program but would have the additional benefit of honouring the choices of other parents who do not want their children’s learning disrupted. This would bring Queensland into line with best practice interstate.
We believe the reform would be popular with Queensland voters and help to differentiate Labor from the opposition. As the secular education advocacy group Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools (QPSSS) has said, moving RI to out-of-class hours would be ‘low-hanging fruit’ for the government.
Under the leadership of Annastacia Palaszczuk, the government pursued reforms relating to abortion rights and voluntary assisted dying – reforms consistently opposed by the more zealous religious lobbies but popular with the general public and, indeed, most religious people. We believe you would receive the same response if you were to reform RI as we have proposed.
We urge you to consider the following:
State schools are not mission fields
Like most Queenslanders and parents, we were horrified to hear that Christian organisations who teach RI use their access to state schools as a “mission field” to “harvest” children and “disciple” them “for the Lord”.
We were not, however, surprised by the language used. As Alison Courtice, the spokesperson for QPSSS, told ABC radio last year, RI groups, including those from mainstream denominations, routinely use such language when they speak about RI among their church groups and congregations.
The Labor Party should lead the way in ensuring Queensland state schools are secular and that children in the state’s care are protected from religious missionary agendas. The state should have no role in supporting religious missionary work in its facilities.
Public education stakeholders oppose RI in class time
The Queensland Association of State School Principals (QASSP) is calling for RI to be moved to before school, lunchtimes or after school. The association’s president Pat Murphy told ABC last year that declining participation rates in RI and the overcrowding pressures with the curriculum necessitated reform.
The Queensland Teachers Union wants the government to rescind provisions in the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017 that allow for the delivery of RI during class time. The union has said this would provide a greater capacity within the school week to focus on core curriculum.
Labor supporters back reforms to RI
Labor members and Labor MPs want the government to take action on RI.
Delegates at the party’s state conference last year unanimously passed a resolution on RI. The resolution put to delegates asked that RI be removed from lesson time to lunch time or before or after school, or, alternatively, that non-participating students continue with learning the curriculum.
We note that a number of Labor MPs, including Minister McMillian, have publicly raised concerns about RI and opposition to it. Don Brown MP said that “time is up” for RI in state schools.
The use of methods of indoctrination
While it is commonly claimed that RI provides “values” education, this is false. RI is the instructing of religious doctrine through numerous methods of indoctrination, including deception, reliance on pedagogy that supports uncritical learning, emotional indoctrination, such as fear and scare tactics, and rewards and inducements.
As Monash University’s Dr Jennifer Bleazby told our RSA Webinar last year, indoctrinating children into false beliefs, beliefs not well-supported by evidence and epistemically controversial beliefs is at odds with the education aim of achieving growth through encouraging inquiry and critical and creative thinking.
We understand some RI instructors in Queensland are teaching anti-science content in public school classes, with an RI teaching manual used in New South Wales and promoting creationism also being used in Queensland. Dr Bleazby, who has analysed scripture teaching materials across the country, said the teaching of creationism was “common within these religious instruction materials”.
Premier Miles, Minister Farmer and Minister McMillian, will your government this year make reforms to the RI program so that these classes are held outside normal class hours?
Sincerely,
Dr Meredith Doig,
President, Rationalist Society of Australia