The Fourth R - keeping religion in Queensland State schools within the Law

REAC Education Queensland Religious Education Advisory Committee

"Get thee behind me Reason"

Education Queensland Religious Education Advisory Committee (REAC)

Tapping ‘reac’ into the Education Queensland web page search engine delivers the searcher to this url: http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/eppr/schools/scmpr012/ Nothing more comes up to inform parents what or who REAC is, why it exists, when it was formed or who elects its members. Surely, this is a democratic committee of parents? Why does REAC exist? Should REAC exist? Does REAC need to exist? Is there a representative of every ‘faith’ in REAC? Are non-faith people allowed to have a say in REAC? Is there an equivalent non-faith body? It is not too big a leap to say that REAC is a ‘secret’ body kept from parents and students and individual P&Cs.

And why the 'E' IN 'REAC'? Surely everyone is aware that no form of 'religious education' exists in Queensland State schools and never has. Good grief!—this REAC would never allow it! Let's at least stop trying to attach bogus credibility to this lodge-esque secret society and rename it honestly as RIAC—Religious Instruction Advisory Committee.

Although the QCPCA (the flaccid, exists-to-exist Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations) has a representative (currently a fundamentalist Christian) on REAC, as does the QTU. The QCPCA has one policy position supporting secular education and another one supporting chaplains in schools. The QCPCA ‘secular’ policy is essentially the same as its national peak body ACSSO. ACSSO has no similar support for chaplains that could be found.

The QTU also supports secular education but neither the QCPCA nor the QTU make any public attempt to see that objective met nor see to it that their respective memberships understand why state schools should be secular in a secular nation. In fact, it is moralistic minority fundamentalist Christian school teachers in many schools who are at the forefront of cementing religion into place, ably assisted by a handful of devoted fundamenatlist parents.

QCPCA: Support for secular education THE NATURE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. Council believes that the object of a public education system is to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop the skills and understanding necessary to shape their own lives and to participate
constructively in shaping society. To achieve this objective, a public education system
would:

1. be accessible to all, irrespective of class, culture,
gender, disability, age or geographic location;

2. be free (ie: fully publicly funded and provided) so
that school experience of the highest quality is not
dependent on capacity or willingness to make a
financial contribution ;

3. be secular and should promote the values necessary
for the maintenance of a democratic society

QCPCA: Support for non-secular education.

In relation to Religious Education the Council believes that:

(a) Ethics and the Study of Religion should be
included in the P 10 curriculum programs;

(b) All schools should make religious education
available to all students;

(c) The appointment of school chaplains should be encouraged ;

ACSSO: Secular education support ACSSO believes that public education must remain secular and be fully funded by government (p.2)(c) be secular and should promote the values necessary for the maintenance of a democratic society (p.7)

QTU: Secular education support

p.3Introduction- The importance of public education QTU Policy 2007 – 2009
Public education should:

be open to all;
be free;
be secular;
offer a rich and diverse curriculum with appropriate class sizes, facilities, equipment and qualified teachers;
lead to worthwhile further education, training and/or employment opportunities.

So, what is REAC, apart from being a secretive committee deep within the Mary Street Palace?Does REAC, with the QCPCA and the QTU on it, help to make or keep our state schools ‘secular’ or not? REAC is a group of believers who seek to promote Christianity above all other religions within Queensland State Schools. REAC seems to exist to smooth the passage of young children into the various Christian faiths.

REAC ‘advises’ the Minister on ‘matters religious’ and, we believe, ensures all the forms Ed Qld use to confuse parents about Religious Instruction are either designed by them, or are passed by them for approval. Should a form ever look like being an honest attempt to allow parents to operate on the ‘informed consent’ basis, as with the ill-fated ‘Form C’, REAC can object to it and the Minister will see it gets ‘pulped’. REAC prefers not to let parents know anything at all about the Education Act 2006 Regulations, Part 5, which requires all students not participating in RI to be taken to a separate location and given alternative instruction. Neither do they seek to advertise the instructions to principals from EQ to ensure that students in the ‘alternative class’ do not receive an ‘educational advantage’ over the RI class: Monitor school activities offered to students not attending religious instruction so students who attend religious instruction do not experience educational disadvantage. This has meant many school principals have made no effort to provide a proper educational experience for the non-RI students, which is hardly in-line with EQ's stated views on ‘inclusive education’.

Below is an extract from an EQ staffer to the Fourth R, in response to one of many our requests for action. The ‘flowchart’ this staffer refers to vanished and has never been seen again. It did not return in February 2008 at all. We believe it was killed off because we had used it to successfully challenge EQ when their principals failed to follow simple instructions. With the flowchart gone, still no one knows how to do anything but parents cannot find out what should be done:

I have noted your exasperation with practices in your local area, and I again recommend that you present these issues to Mr. XY and Mr. YZ through your local district and regional offices. Your concerns about provision of an alternative program in a separate physical space for students who have not elected to be involved in the religious instruction program is valid and needs to be addressed at the district/region level, as this is a legislative requirement.

I have noted your concern that the RIS Form C (2) does not clearly outline the school responsibility to provide alternatives to religious instruction and this will be considered when we review the forms during Term 1. (No change to this poorly designed form as yet)

In regards to the Religious Instruction in School Hours document that you affectionately call RISH, it was pulled from the website in November 2007 for updating to reflect the fact that there is new legislation and there have been some minor changes to the policy. The flowchart which you mention was enclosed in this document and was simultaneously pulled to be updated to reflect the changes to the RIS forms.

Both the amended book and flowchart will be back on the website in early February. I was hoping to be able to attach the amended flowchart to this email, but unfortunately it has not yet received final formal approval (there are no issues with this; it’s just a matter of following our formal publication processes). I will send it to you when it is approved. (No chance- it was never seen again)

The Fourth R has found it easier to identify our local ASIO agents than discover who is on REAC or to find a ‘mission statement’, so we cannot tell you much more than that. But we do encourage readers to email the people who might know from the list below and ask them:

EQ REAC staffer: jacqueline.dawson@deta.qld.gov.au
Mary Street Religious Office staffer: Sue.HOWARD@deta.qld.gov.au
Director General: rachel.hunter@qed.qld.gov.au
Minister Welford: rod.welford@qld.gov.au
Anna Bligh: thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au

Finally, in relation to RI, REAC and Ed Qld, we found a line in The Age, 6 October 2006, which managed to strike a chord with us here, and our many supporters battling their REDs across Queensland:

"Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon said 'When parents have complaints relating to a school, the energy is spent on keeping things quiet rather than solving the problem. It seems the regional department tries to keep it from the central department, the central department tries to keep it from the minister's office and the minister's office tries to keep it from the media"

Quite successfully it would appear in the case of Education Queensland.