Labor to defy churches: ethics classes likely to start next year

This article was published in The Sydney Morning Herald 20 October 2010

Students in NSW will be offered ethics classes as an alternative to scripture classes by next year, under a proposal the government is expected to adopt.

The Minister for Education, Verity Firth, will release today the findings of an independent report on a trial of ethics classes held in 10 schools over 10 weeks this year.

The 102-page report, by Sue Knight and three colleagues at the University of South Australia, recommends the government adopts the ethics classes model used in the trial if it decides to establish the classes.

Ms Firth said the report would be available for public comment before a decision was made.

But the Premier, Kristina Keneally, said last month: ''If the trial returns with a recommendation that this can and should be implemented, we will do that.''