Christian Religious Education
in Church and School

The Christian Education Movement was founded in 1964 when the Student Christian Movement in School (SCMS) and the Institute of Christian Education (founded 1931) amalgamated to form the new association. CEM is supported by the British churches and the local education authorities to support religious education in the schools of Britain. It provides consultancy, offers in-service training and runs courses for religious education teachers in both primary and secondary schools.

CEM has always interpreted its role rather broadly: it not only give assistance to the teaching of Christianity in the curriculum but also supports the teaching of Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, the Sikh faith and other religions, often working closely with specialist resource centres form these various religions. CEM believes that the role of the Christian in society is to promote mutual understanding between religions, as well as maintaining a critical eye on general educational developments.

CEM is the sponsor of the Professional Council for Religious Education (PCfRE), which represents the concerns and interests of the teachers of RE in schools. CEM has an extensive publishing programme which includes not only support material for the daily collective worship, which is required by law, but also provides resource material for classroom use. It publishes the British Journal of Religious Education, which under its previous titles was founded in 1934 and is a leading journal for the publication of original research in RE. CEM also publishes REsource, which is the journal of PCfRE, and carries articles of interest to the specialist teacher, and also REtoday, which is a practical magazine for classroom RE teachers. For subscription enquiries for all of these publications and information regarding CEM contact cem@cem.org.uk website: http://www.cem.org.uk/

The National Christian Education Council used to be known as the National Sunday School Union and was founded in 1802 by the followers of Robert Raikes, the founder of the Sunday School. It promotes the work of Christian education in children and adults in local churches, offers training to teachers in Sunday Schools and Junior Churches, and has a lively publication list focusing upon Christian interpretations of life issues and current affairs.

A major development has recently been announced. CEM and NCEC have announced plans to merge into a new organisation which will combine interest in state school RE on a world religions basis with Christian education in churches.

Contact:
Web: http://www.ncec.org.uk
Email: ncec@ncec.org.uk
Tel: 0121 472 4242
1020 Bristol Road
Selly Oak
Birmingham
Great Britain
B29 6LB