This essay will critically evaluate the values of the foundation subjects and Religious Education in developing the whole child and their holistic learning. I will be looking at the effect that the teaching of, specifically; Religious Education (RE), Physical Education (PE) and History have on children and their development as they progress from childhood onto young adulthood. I will look at how the subjects affect the development of children from different social and ethnic backgrounds. I will critically evaluate the child’s development using materials and evidence from books, journals, websites and reputable magazines. The essay will discuss the benefits if the foundation subjects, from a child development approach and whether they are taken …show more content…
2010). By the same token, Bennett (2014) suggests that RE is becoming marginalized with the introduction of the new National Curriculum 2014 (NC2014). Bennett (2014) also exemplifies this with stating that UK schools are beginning to follow the trend of France and America where RE is not taught in the classroom as part of any National Curriculum. For children to benefit from having religious studies, religion needs to be taught how other foundation subjects are, not just slotted into assemblies or during the build up to religious events such as; Easter and Christmas (Bennett, 2014). More recently A. C. Grayling spoke about religion having no place in the classroom and many religious beliefs, he believes, have been superseded by a scientific analogy (Wilson, 2014). Across the Atlantic in America, Tomas Jefferson, made this the First Amendment to the US Constitution which separates religion into Church and State; essentially ending the teaching of RE in all American state run schools (McInerney, 2013). Grayling does go on to say that children in the classroom are greatly influenced by religion, from an early age they are told of amazing stories that they see as true and not question the viability of their origin or validity (Wilson,