Topic Primers

Education

What does the Bible say?

God created human beings, who are made in His image (Genesis 1:27) with mental capacity and abilities far beyond all other creatures. Humans have the ability to learn in a more advanced way and then employ that learning to serve the common good.

At its most basic, education helps us to survive and thrive in the world around us. God’s better story for children involves them learning to live well as adults. It is a vital and necessary part of growing up, and even Jesus himself grew in knowledge and understanding when he lived on earth (Luke 2:52).

We want to use our brains to glorify God: when asked what the most important commandment was, Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

We read in Proverbs that “The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6). Education teaches us about the world which God has made; his is the Sustainer of all things (maths and sciences), the Lord of the nations (geography and languages), the Sovereign one (history), and the great Creator who inspires art, music and literature. When we study God’s world, we get a glimpse into God’s mind.

Throughout history, Christians have had an incredible legacy when it comes to education. The earliest universities were all built on Christian foundations. Christian missionary endeavours have helped to promote education globally as well. God gave us minds so that we could think!

Within the world of the Bible, the primary responsibility for the education of children lies with their parents. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Under the law of Moses, parents were to recite the law of God to their children: “Take to heart these words that I give you today. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6). In today’s world, they may in turn choose to delegate some of that responsibility to schools and to trained, professional teachers.

We do not find the Bible prescribing the specific form of schooling parents should seek for their children (a state school, private school, home-school etc.). But at its best, education honours and upholds God’s good plan for human flourishing Much of what is taught in schools is about explaining how things work (such as maths and the sciences, or languages), and would not cause a Christian any concern.

Yet of course, any school will teach a worldview. This is often where tensions arise between Christian parents and schools. This has been especially clear in areas like gender identity and the teaching of relationships and sex education. We want a government to encourage schools to teach contested areas in a way which is consistent to what God has revealed in the Bible, or is at worst, balanced and neutral, rather than being actively hostile to it.

Questions to think about

What level of funding are the different parties planning on giving schools?
Will the rights of parents within be respected in education?
Will a party guarantee that controversial topics will not be taught in a way which is hostile to historic Christian teaching?

What have the parties said?

  • The Conservatives are increasing funding for childcare for one- and two-year-olds, as part of an aspiration to help new parents back into the workforce.
  • In more recent years, they have become more outspoken about the politicisation of education in schools; their new guidance for teachers says that gender ideology cannot be taught as fact, and they oppose the teaching of concepts like Critical Race Theory. 
  • Rishi Sunak has pledged to introduce Maths tuition for all young people until the age of 18, and has proposed replacing A-levels with an Advanced British Standard, which would also aim to improve proficiency in English.
  • The Conservatives – in coalition with the Lib Dems – were the party to introduce tuition fees in 2012, and would likely oppose any plan to see them reduced or abolished.
  • Labour have committed to ending the VAT tax breaks on private schools across the country; they suggest the money raised will go towards 6,500 new teachers in key subjects. They have also pledged to launch free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and want to establish equal access to things like music, sports and the arts.
  • They have spoken against the Conservatives’ plans to introduce free childcare, saying that there isn’t the funding available.
  • It is highly unlikely that Labour would scrap university tuition fees, although Keir Starmer has said that he wants to make the system fairer. (It was initially a pledge he made in the Labour Leadership contest, but was dropped last year.)
  • The Lib Dems are committed to increasing school and college funding per pupil above the rate of inflation every year and will offer additional funding for special educational needs provision. They would also put a committed mental health professional in every school. 
  • They would seek to extend free school meals to all primary-school children in England and Wales, and to all secondary-school children whose families receive universal credit.
  • It is unlikely that they would seek to reverse university tuition fees, although they have spoken in favour of reinstating maintenance grants for disadvantaged students.
  • The Green Party will extend early years education until the age of 6 and provide free nurseries and early years’ education to all. 
  • They would replace the National Curriculum with a set of learning entitlements. This will focus on emotional literacy and well-being, essential numeracy and literacy skills, the environment, basic skills, citizenship and languages. 
  • They would remove special privileges for Private Schools, such as the exemption from VAT.
  • The Green Party would abolish SATs exams and the Year 1 Phonics Test, would abolish national league tables and replace them with a system of local accountability, and say they give equal value to practical, vocational, and creative subjects, rather than just traditional academic subjects.
  • Under a Green government, tuition fees would be abolished and any remaining student loans would be written off.
  • Reform strongly oppose the teaching of transgender ideology, emphasising that schools must have single-sex facilities and inform parents of their children’s life decisions. They also strongly oppose the teaching of critical race theory.
  • They would seek to ban smartphones or use of social media in schools for under-16s.
  • Reform have called for the scrapping of interest on student loans, but have suggested that loan repayment periods should be extended to 45 years. 
  • They have also spoken about restricting undergraduate numbers to poor-performing courses, instead advocating for apprenticeships, and want to cut funding to universities that undermine free speech and permit cancel culture.
  • The SNP has emphasised the need to remove barriers to education, such as poverty, and campaigns for measures that increase access for children from low income families.
  • In the Scottish context, the party has pursued free education and abolished tuition fees.
  • The SNP Scottish Government has pursued ‘LGBT-inclusive’ teaching and teaching on critical race theory in the devolved area of education.
  • The party has emphasised the need to tackle child poverty and enhance childcare services and may call for new measures from the UK Government in reserved areas.
  • Plaid Cymru wants to see Welsh universities become some of the best funded in the UK through expanding the numbers studying at Welsh universities. The party wishes to see tuition fees reduced in the short-term, and in the long-term, university tuition becoming free again. 
  • In Wales, Plaid Cymru wishes to offer universal child care to children from 12 months old and extend paid statutory parental leave from 39 to 52 weeks, as well as extending statutory paternity leave to 12 weeks. 
  • Plaid Cymru would offer free school meals for all children in families receiving universal credit within Wales.
  • The party supports a childcare strategy. They want to see the current child care provisions increased and the delivery of affordable, flexible, high-quality provision of early education and care initiatives for families with children aged 3-4. This will include 30 hours free childcare per week.
  • They support the retention of academic selection.
  • The DUP have been strong advocates for retaining parental rights of consultation and removal of children from RSE classes. They support age appropriate RSE, with the party adopting the slogan ‘let kids be kids.’
  • The party advocates for sign language to be taught to all children in school as part of language provision.
  • The party supports the continuation of lower university tuition costs for Northern Ireland.
  • Northern Ireland has five main management types for schools, largely reflecting the disparate school sectors. The UUP stand apart from the other parties in calling for one, unified, school system in Northern Ireland. They are not calling for integrated education to replace the other sectors, rather the are calling for all sectors, including integrated, to be merged into one management type. 
  • The UUP supports statutory school uniform policy to ensure the cost of uniforms is reduced. 
  • The party supports RSE provision, but has stated they want to see the parental consultation/opt out provisions retained. They argue that the rights of children and parents needs to be balanced within the system.
  • The party’s key education policy has been the ending of academic selection. This was the first decision taken by the very first Sinn Féin Education Minister, Martin McGuinness when he took office in 1999. The practice has not ended in Northern Ireland but it continues to be a priority. 
  • Sinn Féin advocate to end poverty in education, They want to make school uniforms affordable  by introducing statutory guidance requiring schools to have competitive tendering processes, to remove the use of unnecessary branded items, and to permit the use of cheaper high street alternatives. They also support free school meals being extended to include all children and legislating to end holiday hunger by introducing a duty on the Education Authority and the Department of Education to provide financial payments in lieu of Free School Meals during school holidays.
  • Sinn Féin advocate for the two smallest education management types in Northern Ireland namely Irish Medium and Integrated Education. They want to see equality of funding and promotion of these school types to enure equality of opportunity with the controlled and maintained sectors.
  • Sinn Féin opposes any increase in tuition fees and has stated they will not support the removal of lower tuition fees in the north for those attending university.
  • The SDLP is committed to compulsory language learning supporting the introduction of compulsory study of modern foreign languages from primary school and require that all children take a modern language to GCSE level. 
  • The party advocates for the provision of standard Relationships and Sex Education to ensure that it is up-to-date, comprehensive and LGBT-inclusive. 
  • The party argues for the Introduction of world-class Careers Guidance and Advice. This would include a dedicated Career Centre in every school that provides modern and effective career advice.
  • Alliance’s platform on education is built upon the promotion of the integrated education sector. They do not see other education school types with high numbers of kids from each tradition as truly integrated and do not agree that shared education is a viable alternative. This is clearly a unique and controversial stance as the party want to see integrated education elevated above other management types. This is a position supported by the international community and the UK/Irish Governments, but is rejected by other NI parties. 
  • Alliance advocate for ‘inclusive’ Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) to be introduced into the school curriculum. They want to see RSE treated in the same way as other subjects, and they want to ensure that any parental opt out is removed. This is clearly controversial, not just in Northern Ireland, but across the UK. They plan to introduce legislation to ensure RSE, that affirms LGBTQ+ views are implemented in all schools in the north.
  • Alliance will support  STEM in higher education and further education, including the promotion of Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), with targets to have at least 30% representation by 2030. 
  • Alliance will increase access to special school places and a new special school in the Belfast area, deliver mandatory autism teacher training and promote the right of children with disabilities to attend a school that is appropriate for them, whether mainstream or special needs.

Other issues this issue links with

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Good Government
Marriage and Family
Crime and Justice

Christian Action,

Research, and Education

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James 4:17

17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

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16Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.

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Genesis 1:28

28 God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’

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