Displaying items by tag: Education

A Christian man is calling for more caution from medical and mental health services after undergoing irreversible gender reassignment surgery. His story represents a stark warning to parents, government, and medical and educational services, at a time when figures released by the NHS reveal a 2,500% increase in referrals to gender identity clinics over the past decade. After an appointment with a psychiatrist, despite having suicidal thoughts and mental health issues on his medical records, he was automatically put on a waiting list for gender identity clinic with ‘no underlying medical conditions’. The NHS paid for the operation, which he now deeply regrets, saying, ‘When I see and hear of books such as “10,000 Dresses” being read to schoolchildren, I see the same influence that led me to this harmful addiction. More must be done to protect our children, not to encourage them to pursue the same destructive path that I did.’

The Australian Christian Lobby has been asking Christians to make their voices heard, as the Labour government plans to ban public schools from employing a school chaplain from January 2020. For almost two decades, students enrolled in a public school who sought advice and counsel have been able to receive help from a chaplain with religious and spiritual capabilities. The education minister explained the move by saying, ‘All we’re doing is taking the religion out of it’. But banning school chaplains is a ban on spiritual support for children. The government has decided that faith does not matter to children, and that relevant questions cannot be answered for students of faith. Depression and anxiety in youth are the highest in a very long time, so this is not the time to ban chaplains.

The Bishop of Coventry has asked the Government what funds are available for pupils with severe needs but who are not on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) register, citing nine-year-olds threatening suicide due to homelessness and domestic violence. Mainstream schools are under pressure to educate children who do not meet SEN thresholds but have severe needs and require acute support. Sufficient government funding is not available for them. Meanwhile a document has been published with 38 conclusions and recommendations about supporting people with SEN, including finance being released to enable local authorities to discharge their duties sufficiently and not changing the law to fit resources. Pray that the departments for education and health and social care develop mutually beneficial options for cost- and burden-sharing. See

A government equality watchdog reports that universities are failing to address thousands of racist incidents, and that iInstitutions are ‘in denial’ about the scale of the problem. 25% of minority ethnic students had experienced racial harassment since the start of their course. Black students reported the highest rate of racial harassment, while 9% of white British students experienced anti-English, anti-Welsh, or anti-Scottish sentiments. 180,000 students across the UK experienced racial harassment in the first six months of their academic year. Findings showed universities were ‘out of touch with the extent that racism occurs, and some are completely oblivious to the issue’. Two-thirds of students and over half of staff did not report racial harassment to their university, often because they had no confidence that it would be addressed or they were fearful of reprisals. Pray for improved handling of complaints, ensuring investigations are led by staff trained in understanding racial harassment.

About 70 schools have experienced resistance from parents on relationships education. The Department of Education has published a document stating that councils could enforce action if pupils are withdrawn from school when parents disagree with teaching material. It also suggests that, if demonstrators are outside school gates, head teachers could liaise with police. Teachers who read the document told of their frustration at not being consulted beforehand. They feel unsupported to tackle a sensitive situation. New relationship education is planned for all primary pupils from September 2020. Meanwhile Maureen Griffith, a Christian school governor, was suspended after questioning LGBT reading material. She became concerned that parents had not been properly consulted about plans for reading lists tying in with LGBTQ+ Pride Month, to be introduced for the next school year. Parents believe that whoever influences what children think, and teaches values to live by, controls the future direction of our society. See

A BBC teaching video states that there are 100, if not more, gender identities as well as male and female. Among the ‘trusted adult’ speakers is transgender activist Leo Lardie, and the 9- to 11- year- olds appear uncomfortable as she talks about her genitals. She says that people who criticise transgenderism ‘don’t know any better yet’. A gay head teacher tells the youngsters they should not just accept differences between people but ‘celebrate them’. Finally, the children are threatened into conforming by being told that ‘people can go to prison if it is shown they’re disrespecting or being hateful to people because of a difference that person perceives’. Coalition for Marriage said, ‘These claims are nonsensical. The video series is supposed to help teachers deal with sensitive subjects in age-appropriate and honest ways. It does neither.’ Meanwhile a Christian mother is mobilising parents against LGBT lessons.

A study by religious education teachers has reported more schools failing to meet UK legal requirements around religious education provision. 40% of community schools without a religious character failed to meet requirements to provide RE, up from 34% last year. 50% of academy schools with a religious character skipped RE provision for ages 14 to 16. UK state schools are required to provide RE lessons to everyone, regardless of whether they have chosen the subject for GCSE. However, 64% of age 14-15 and 59% of age 13-14 had received no RE at Key Stage 4. Many schools were getting away with making no RE provision because of ‘failing’ accountability structures. In some schools where RE was provided, parents took steps to remove their children from the lessons. 80% of schools did not plan to make GCSE RE short course entries in the 2018/19 academic year.

Thousands of children started school for the first time this week and most settle well into a new routine, but there will be some who do not. Instead, probably on Mondays there will be tears, tummy-aches and tantrums because they are not adjusting well. Children need to feel safe and connected to an adult. Pray for teachers working with reception class children to notice those who are not settling in and make a special effort to reach out to them. Every year thousands of students enrol in higher institutions (universities / colleges) for the first time. Pray for students enrolled far from homes, being independent for the first time without parents or guardians around to assist. Pray that they will be wise in their choice of companions and friends, quickly forming constructive relationships that take them on the paths that God has prepared for them.

University students are attending chapel services at a higher rate than the rest of the population, challenging the notion that young people aren't interested in church. When 54 college chapels in Durham, Oxford and Cambridge universities were surveyed, the figures showed that there were twice as many students making their way to church on Sunday than there were adults in the rest of the population attending services at regular churches. Meanwhile a separate study showed that from 2017 to 2018, the total number of young people sitting the Religious Studies GCSE fell from 282,193 to 253,618, and 701 schools in England stopped entering students into the subject altogether. However, GCSE reforms now state that pupils must study at least two religions, so the subject has a more secular ethos and is not particularly relevant to Biblical Christian study. 

Supported by Humanists UK, atheist parents Lee and Lizanne Harris want a judicial review by the High Court into ‘harmful and divisive’ Christian messages taught in Burford Primary School assemblies. They say their children's human rights are breached because the school isn't offering any alternatives when the children are removed from assemblies. The children go into a separate room with a teaching assistant and an iPad. The school is not a faith school, and the parents enrolled their children there believing it would have no religious character. They said, ‘Our children shouldn't have to participate in Christian prayers, or watch biblical scenes such as the crucifixion being acted out, nor should they hear evangelical preachers spouting harmful and divisive messages.’ Humanists UK want an overhaul of the laws surrounding school assemblies. Currently schools must have a daily act of broadly Christian worship.