ABSTRACT

National debate was stimulated in January 1996 following a conference convened by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) entitled ‘Education for adult life: the spiritual and moral development of young people’. The necessity for such a focus arose from a series of consultations on the revised National Curriculum, the Model Syllabuses for Religious Education and Sir Ron Dearing’s review of qualifications for 16-19-year-olds which together revealed ‘concern about a lack of focus on pupils’ spiritual and moral development and its consequences’. A series of reports had been published (DfE, 1994; NCC, 1993; OFSTED, 1993, 1994) to which SCAA’s response was to signal its intention to take a fresh look at section 1 of the Education Reform Act 1988. This states that the purpose of education is to promote the ‘spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society’ and to prepare pupils for the ‘opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life’.