A considered view on what counts as Spiritual and Moral Development

We as educators need to accept that we are working in a climate that values tolerance as perhaps the greatest moral virtue. One of the worst things one can say to a modern person is, "You are intolerant, you have a closed mind."

A recent SCAA document suggests that one of the attitudes we ought to be promoting in R.E. is, "the ability to learn while living with certainty". True moral education ought to aim for both socialisation and radicalisation. Radicalisation means the examination of the roots of society's existing values and accepted norms, a process which enables the students to question the foundations and the assumptions of their values, thereby ensuring that they do not merely accept the status quo, but critically analyse and assess it. This will lead to an enhancement of the students' decision making skills and the construction and the clarification of their own personal value systems.