CHILDREN have been singing about ploughing the fields and scattering the good seed on the land during the past week.

It must be harvest festival time. A ritual and celebration as old as the land and seed themselves.

It is also one of those times when schools, should they choose, re-enforce the Christian message too, as vicars come into assemblies and talk about food and God and starvation around the world.

But is the message getting through? Are schools doing enough? The question is asked by a Christian charity, after hearing of a schoolboy who asked his teacher why Mary and Joseph named their baby after a swear word. This may sound unbelievable but, says the Rev Stuart Currie, of St Stephen's Church in Barbourne, Worcester, this is not an extreme example.

"It really is that bad," he says.

"Maybe the churches have failed over the years in how we've been engaging people, particularly young people. We can't rely on schools and religious education to do that, although the position of RE as a core curriculum subject does help."

The 20th Century saw a drastic decline in children volunteering for a formal Christian education. In 1900, 55 per cent attended Sunday school. By 2000 it was down to four per cent.

Mr Currie is chaplain of the Alice Ottley School in Worcester and advises on religious education at Northwick Manor schools.

"It's important in education that they teach about the Christian faith, not teach the Christian faith. Like any other subject, it has to be taught appropriately at each key stage."

There is no national RE syllabus so the curriculum is worked out locally according to local needs, cultures and traditions. This has frequently meant the syllabus of inner-city schools have reflected a more multi-cultural mix than those in more rural locations.

But this is changing, and for the good, according to Mr Currie.

"In a funny way, having multi-faith communities has had a positive impact on children attending church," he says. "Twenty years or so ago, teenagers may have had the mickey taken out of them for attending church. You would never mock a Muslim child for going to the mosque and, while maybe it's still not cool to go to church, you can see the positive effect."

After hearing the anecdote about Jesus being named after a swear word, the Christian charity Breakout Trust raised £200,000 to make the a 30-minute animated film called It's a Boy to send out to every primary school in the country.

"There are over 12 million children in the UK and only 756,000 of them go to church regularly. That leaves a staggering number who don't and are probably not receiving basic Christian teaching," said Steve Legg, the head of the Breakout Trust.

The charity feels many schools now lack the time and resources to teach the Christmas story effectively.

"We are not trying to ram religion down people's throats, but at a time when political correctness is so prevalent, it is important to ensure a basic level of teaching continues in our schools," Mr Legg says.

Marian Jay, the headteacher of St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School in Warndon, Worcester, where a harvest festival took place last week, is adamant about the virtues of Christian teaching.

"We hope we give the children values which teaches them to be good citizens and make a contribution to society," she says.

"We do teach them a respect for other faiths as well as the different aspects of the Catholic faith."

The National Secular Society is not so sure. Terry Sanderson, its vice- president says: "Neither teachers nor pupils consider religious studies to be an important subject.

"Parents are telling us that children are being pushed by visiting vicars and priests into accepting the assumption that they are Christians, whether they've made their minds up or not.

"This is not religious education, it is evangelising, and the Government is making it easier and easier for this to happen."

Religion is a matter of personal choice. But those in favour of RE, like Mr Currie, want to make sure that choice is informed.

TEXTING THE WORD OF THE LORD

SO how do you make God relevant to children? An Australian Bible Society has just produced a text message translation of the Good Book. The opening line says:

"In da Bginning God cre8d da heavens & da earth. Da earth waz barren, wit no 4m of life. It waz unda a roaring ocean cuvred with dRkness.

l The 23rd Psalm, verses 1 and 2 reads:

"U, Lord, r my shepherd... U lead me 2 streams of peaceful water"

l And according to John, chapter 3, verse 16:

"God luvd da ppl of dis wrld so much dat he gave his only son so dat evry1 who has faith in him will neva really die"

BLACKBOARD

Revolution in the classroom

A headteacher is planning a revolution in school opening hours, with lessons scheduled for every day of the year apart from Christmas.

Dr Paul Mortimer, who also acts as a Government adviser, wants to rebuild Hollingworth High School in Rochdale, Lancashire, so that it can teach students all-year round.

Pupils would be divided into eight mixed-year groups and their terms and holidays would fall at different times. They would spend the same time in school as now - the required 190 days - only the term dates for different groups would change.

The school, which would open 364 days, would only have to be two-thirds the size of the current school because fewer pupils would be in at any one time, he said.

Pupils could do work experience during the week without missing a day of lessons, he said.

"We need a school for the 21st Century, not the 19th," added Dr Mortimer. "People may well turn up for an agreed 190 days rather than forced to turn up at the same time as they have to now.

"Wouldn't it follow that attendance would rocket?"

Social discourse

THE death of Princess Diana, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Da Vinci Code are among the subjects

to be studied this term by students on their sociology course.

The module, at Derby University, will investigate public paranoia and conspiracy theories.

The course is called Apocalyptic and Paranoid Cultures and students will study allegations that Ground Zero in New York was not investigated fully after the attacks of September 11, 2001, theories that Diana was killed by the British secret service, and the secretive gentleman's club the Freemasons.

But the sociology students will not be asked to get to the bottom of the mysteries themselves, simply consider what the beliefs say about our society.

The module will suggest public society has become paranoid and this can no longer be treated as an extreme view of the world but is a common feature of all modern life.

Unpaid work

A THIRD of teaching assistants are working up to four hours' unpaid overtime per week, a just published survey has suggested.

More than one fifth of teaching assistants said they worked between four and 10 hours' unpaid overtime per week, according to the survey. The public sector union Unison questioned 3,688 local government workers on their pay and conditions.

The union says the goodwill of support staff is being exploited under changes which give teachers more time out of class.

Unison national secretary for education staff Christina McAnea said: "The goodwill of support staff is being exploited."