The JESUS film is the world’s most watched. Screening the children’s adaptation (despite the pretty corny accents) is one of the most effective things I get to do when teaching Special Religious Education (“Scripture”) to primary school children. The only drawback is that the 1970s production is looking a bit dated. But no longer! Earlier […]
School’s Out for Anglican Chaplaincy? Not Quite
A bit of a storm today over the issue of the Sydney Anglican Diocese’s position on the Government’s Schools Chaplaincy progamme. It all kicked off this morning with an “exclusive” article in the smh, “Anglicans: No chaplains, scripture in public schools“: As the Federal Government considers the fate of its National School Chaplaincy Program after […]
Changing the Rules in the Playground – Are “Ethics” Classes being Stymied?
An interesting article in the smh, “Ethics classes hidden from parents, say supporters” PROPOSED changes to the way parents are notified about the option of ethics classes in NSW schools have been criticised by supporters, who claim they are a deliberate attempt to stymie the classes’ take up. A government-initiated inquiry into ethics classes was […]
More Thinking From the Ethics/SRE Debate
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I spoke at City Bible Forum North Sydney in a mini-debate on the ongoing current issue of SRE and Ethics in our schools in NSW. As always, Dave “the Happy” Singer proved to be a worthy opponent. Also present (and perhaps overly keen to make herself heard – she […]
Scripture SRE / Ethics Debate
I'll be doing this tomorrow. Your prayers coveted. On 25 November 2009, NSW Premier Nathan Rees approved a proposal to conduct a pilot of a secular ethics program. The ten week trial was held in ten NSW Primary schools and was completed in Term 2, 2010. There's been considerable debate in the media about the […]
Sydney Synod - Presidential Address
Sydney's synod has opened, with the presidential address from ArchBishop Peter Jensen [pdf]. Presidential Address 1 – Society from Sydneyanglicans.net on Vimeo. The address dealt with a number of the general issues facing Anglican Christians in Sydney and Australia today… The philosophical point in favour [of euthanasia] could not have been expressed more clearly than […]
Evaluating the NSW Ethics Trial - asking the wrong question?
So, the 10-week trial of an ethics class for year 5-6 students, timetabled in the same slot as SRE (Special Religious Education – “Scripture”) has come to an end. The smh reports that the evaluation phase is to begin: THE future of the ethics classes in NSW public schools rests with a little-known South Australian […]
