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The All Party
Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Religious Education was launched on Monday, 11th June. The inaugural meeting was held in Dining Room A at the House of Commons
and was followed by an informal reception.
The aim for the group, for which the REC
provides the secretariat, is to provide a medium through which MPs, peers and
organisations with an interest in religious education can discuss provision of
the subject, promote a clear positive image of RE and advocate that all young
people receive excellent RE teaching. Stephen Lloyd MP, now the group's Chair,
reiterated the importance of this in his opening remarks after conducting the
formal business of the meeting, which established the executive
for the APPG. "Rest
assured," he said, "that you have the support of many, many different
parliamentarians from both houses across the whole political party spectrum,
broadly speaking because, like me, they recognise that the teaching of RE in
schools by trained, experienced RE teachers has a real and profound
significance going forward."
Four further speakers
followed, the first of whom was Clare, a sixth form student of philosophy and
ethics and a passionate advocate for RE. Clare began by showing a video she had made which powerfully conveys the vital role RE plays in enabling
young people to develop an understanding of themselves and their world. She
continued by listing things she wouldn't have known about without RE, including
the UK's parliamentary voting system, the work of Amnesty International and why
some people don't believe in God.
John Keast, Chair of
the REC, spoke next, drawing attention to the results of the recent YouGov study which shows that 63 percent of 18 - 24 year
olds agree that religious education is relevant and should be taught in
schools. He underlined the importance of the APPG in ensuring that good quality
RE is not squeezed out of the curriculum, pointing out that over 60 percent of
all 16 year olds choose to take it at GCSE and the number studying it at A
level has more than doubled in the last 15 years.
Fiona Bruce MP, one of
the Deputy Chairs for the APPG, endorsed John's message and spoke enthusiastically
about RE from the positive experiences of her own children and the range of
important topics they had been able to explore. This was further underlined by
Deborah Weston, Secretary to the RE Council, who spoke in her capacity as a
member of the NATRE executive board. Deborah also showed a video produced by NATRE, which provided a vibrant illustration of the nature of RE today.
After the speeches,
there was ample opportunity for guests to mingle informally and it was
encouraging to witness lively conversations amongst parliamentarians, school
students, RE teachers and people from different faith and belief communities.
The atmosphere was convivial and purposeful; links were forged between
representatives of many different groups who would probably not normally come
together but who are united in their resolve to ensure that all young people
experience a personally inspiring and academically rigorous education in
religious and non-religious world views.
The next meeting of
the APPG will take place in the autumn and updated information will be
available here on the REC website. Please encourage your local MP to join the
group - using our template letter
if this is helpful; if you are not sure whether or not your MP is a member
already, please take a look at the list of APPG members.
If you have any
queries about the APPG or an issue you would like to suggest it considers,
please contact
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Launch Event 
