Joyce Logue proud of ‘pluralistic’ draft RE syllabus that if approved could be taught from 2028
Joyce Logue has said she hopes a proposed new Religious Education (RE) syllabus that could be taught from September 2028 will prepare pupils to ‘participate respectfully in an increasingly diverse world’.
The former principal of Derry’s Long Tower Primary School said she was proud of the draft RE Core Syllabus that she and colleagues have produced in conjunction with stakeholders.
Earlier this year Mrs. Logue was appointed as the vice-chair of a review group who were tasked with making changes to the RE syllabus for primary and post primary schools.
The Derry educationalist was asked to conduct the review alongside chair, Professor Noel Purdy, by the Education Minister Paul Givan.
This was after the UK Supreme Court ruled in November 2025 that a pupil’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached because the RE syllabus in the North had not been ‘objective, critical and pluralistic’.
Since February of this year Mrs. Logue and her colleagues – including an expert drafting group comprising teachers from primary and secondary schools across the North – have been developing a more pluralistic RE syllabus soon to be implemented.
During a briefing of the Stormont Education Committee on Wednesday, Mrs. Logue said that a recent consultation on the draft syllabus had generated 789 responses and that these would be taken account of before any final document was produced.
"We are proud of the consultation draft that has emerged from this process. Its vision is of RE as a subject which enables pupils to learn about and critically engage with their own and others' beliefs and practices, preparing them to participate respectfully in an increasingly diverse world.
"It seeks to hold together elements which are sometimes presented as competing priorities: a serious and sustained engagement with Christianity; meaningful understanding of other religious and non-religious worldviews; respect for different school contexts and ethoses; and an objective, critical and pluralistic approach to learning,” she said.
The former Long Tower head said there has been wide ranging engagement with stakeholders since the review was establish earlier this year.
This had included independent engagement with 82 young people aged between eight and 21 years.
"Amongst the strongest messages were that pupils value RE when it is meaningful and relevant, when it allows discussion and debate, and when it gives them the opportunity to examine different viewpoints and develop their own informed judgments,” she told the committee.
Feargal Friel is the Acting Principal of Hollybush Primary School in Culmore.
Mr. Friel has been providing input to the review as part of the expert drafting group from the perspective of primary schools.
He told the committee there had been less opposition to the proposed changes than might have been anticipated.
“I think you would meet much more resistance if you were removing things and substituting other things but it was more a process of addition than subtraction and a slightly different way of framing how RE is taught across our schools.
"For that reason it was slightly easier. Nobody really among our peers resisted the fact that there was now a broader approach and a thematic approach. I think that made it slightly easier,” said Mr. Friel.
Professor Purdy indicated that the new syllabus – once eventually approved and finalised – will be phased in from September 2028 at the earliest.
DUP MLA Julie Middleton, a former RE teacher and member of the Stormont Education Committee, commented: “One of the wonderful things about teaching RE is the broad opinion range that you will get from pupils and the acknowledgment that they will feel safe or they should feel safe in the classroom to openly discuss such a huge range of different moral and ethical issues.”
Mrs. Middleton asked about any supports that will be made available to teachers as the new syllabus is rolled out.
Mr. Friel said colleagues had strongly indicated that they do not want a ‘blank cheque’ and have asked for ‘guidance, schemes, sample lesson plans and training’.
"Obviously along with that there is going to be a huge resourcing issue. Schools are well used to resourcing things themselves but this is very different and we now have a thematic approach to the teaching of RE so obviously over time publishers will become involved in that as they always do, as they are doing now,” he advised.
The revision of the RE syllabus was commissioned following the Supreme Court judgment concerning RE and collective worship in schools in the North.
Its Terms and References state that it aims to provide RE ‘that is objective, critical and pluralistic; that recognises the significance of Christianity within the history, culture and society of NI while engaging meaningfully with other religious and non-religious worldviews; and that is inclusive, relevant and intellectually challenging for all learners’.
The draft RE syllabus sets out the proposed content, structure and progression of learning from Foundation Stage onwards, organised through key subject areas such as:
- beliefs, teachings and sources
- practices, traditions, lived religion and experiences
- identity, meaning, values and ethics
The 19 page draft syllabus was put out for consultation at the end of June with the window for feedback closing at the end of September.
At the evidence session at Stormont on Wednesday Mrs. Logue told MLAs that their task was not yet finished and that drafting group will reconvene to take account of responses to the consultation before a final RE syllabus is submitted to the Department.