The Centrality of Belief in Education

• In Event: Doing God in Education

Abstract

In responding to the criticisms of my report made by Norman, Hand and Moulin, I will first acknowledge that there is much that we agree upon, in particular the argument from fairness. However I will argue that this apparent consensus is vulnerable because the fundamental role played by beliefs in education is not accommodated in the influential attempt to ground fairness in a neutral understanding of human knowledge. I will argue that my criticisms of Norman’s work and of the position taken by the British Humanist Association still stand. This will entail:

1. Clarification of the concept of worldview, in particular in response to the questions raised by Hand about the distinction between a worldview and a conceptual scheme.
2. Reconsideration of the independence of knowledge from religious beliefs in the light of Norman’s attempt to rebut the charge that his arguments result in indoctrination into humanism.
3. Reformulation of the idea of a distinctively Christian approach to education to answer the criticisms made by Moulin and Norman of the use made of this notion in the original report.

Finally the paper will conclude with a discussion of how the epistemological position argued for provides a more secure foundation for fairness in education than that supported by my critics.

Author

• Trevor Cooling, Canterbury Christ Church University