MORAL DEVELOPMENT - WHOSE ETHICS IN THE TEACHING OF RELIGIOUS-EDUCATION

Will British education in general, and religious education specificall y, foster a nationalistic or global ethic in the coming millennium? Si nce the 1988 Education Reform Act, the British state has centralised i ts control over what is taught through the national curriculum. The Ch ief Executive of the government's School Curriculum and Assessment Aut hority has been consistently articulating the importance of national c onsciousness and identity. These developments suggest a worrying trend towards a more nationalistic ethic. Religious education, by contrast, is now mandatory multi-faith, part of the basic school curriculum and remains locally controlled. While the historic and present importance of Christianity in the United Kingdom is acknowledged, it is a secula rised non-conformity rather than establishment Christianity that is us ed by the author to develop a child-centred, non-authoritarian and com munitarian model for fostering moral development through the teaching of multi-faith religious education in state schools.