Students at the network of schools linked to the fundamentalist Exclusive Brethren sect are given access only to learning materials that have been approved internally as conforming to the church’s “ethos”, multiple former teachers have claimed.
Guardian Australia has spoken to former students and staff members who say the restrictions on teaching material are challenging for staff and make for a limited educational environment for students.
The former students and staff also claim that students at the OneSchool Global network are not offered a range of subjects in years 11 and 12, including biology, dance, visual arts, music and sociology (or its equivalent in some states, such as society and culture in New South Wales). The texts available for English and history are restricted, and school visits to public libraries or art galleries are not allowed, former teachers claim.
The schools, which have received a total of $136.5m in federal funding over a five-year period, mostly do not have their own libraries for secondary school students, the sources claim.
Teachers have access to a “white list” of pre-approved books and resources for use in the classroom. To use a new resource – including any material from a book, newspaper or the internet – teachers must submit it through OneSchool Global’s internal approval process, once it has been approved by the school’s head of department.
Volunteers from the Brethren community are then required to check the resource to ensure it complies with the school’s “ethos”. The approval process for a book is four weeks, while any audio or music has a two-week approval time, Guardian Australia understands.
A resource that challenges the school’s ethos is never allowed at the primary level, and will only be considered for approval at more senior levels if it is seen to “minimally” challenge the ethos of the school, sources say.
A spokesperson for OneSchool Global said the school used professionally qualified heads of department to approve reading lists and resources for assignments, based on the local curriculum, “just like other schools”.
“Our assignments are written in advance to a high standard, with a wide range of research links and book references included,” the spokesperson said.
“If a teacher wishes to use new or additional resources, these need to first be reviewed by the Head of Department to ensure alignment with the curriculum, that there is not an alternative that is more suited to the research task, and alignment with school values.
“To be clear, our primary and high school students can and do select from, and have access to, a wide range of fiction, non-fiction, academic texts, journals, and websites.
“They also have access to a Learning Management System online, which has links and subscriptions to a range of academic texts, videos, online encyclopedias, dictionaries, online reading books, research and presentation platforms and internet search engines.”
The school rejected suggestions that it did not allow visits to public art galleries and libraries, saying that was a decision for parents.
“Our school does not stop children going to public libraries or art galleries. If parents want to take their kids there, of course they can, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
“In addition, as part of excursion programs, of course our students have visited venues that have libraries, galleries, and a whole range of other exhibitions.”
‘Normal practice’
Ten former OneSchool Global teachers have told Guardian Australia their lessons – most of which are taught remotely – are monitored through the school’s use of Streamline3 and other software which is issued by the Brethren’s Universal Business Team group.
A spokesperson for OneSchool Global said it was “normal practice” for the school to have “software, policies and procedures to prevent harmful content, malware and the like” on school-issued computers.
“At the 31 OSG schools across Australia, schools strictly abide by the Privacy Act and all other Australian laws,” the spokesperson said.
Teachers claimed that some staff had been disciplined for using unendorsed material.
One teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they had been disciplined for showing a promotional video for a company in a business studies class, because it showed the bare midriff of a woman who was wearing exercise clothes.
Another claimed they were disciplined for wanting to teach about a famous person who was gay after the device monitoring system alerted campus staff. The teacher claimed they had removed a reference to the person’s sexuality in the teaching material but the school still objected.
In response to questions about the range of subjects taught in years 11 and 12 at OSG schools, the spokesperson said not all subjects could be taught at all schools.
“While core curricular subjects are always taught, not every additional subject is available at every school, and not every school has the same subjects available.
“The subjects available for study are driven by the curriculum requirements, demand from students, and available teacher expertise, amongst other factors.
He said many of the school’s students successfully undertook “high level art, sciences, and social studies”.
Rejection of universities
The Exclusive Brethren, also known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian church, practises a strict doctrine of separation which isolates members from activities outside the church and restricts social interactions with “worldly” non-Brethren people.
The church, once accused by the former prime minister Kevin Rudd of being an “extremist cult”, is led by the millionaire Sydney accountant and “man of God” Bruce Hales. Hales has rejected Rudd’s claims as “not factual”. “They were not informed, and it seems to us they were deliberately intended to put the Brethren in an unfair light for political purposes,” he said in 2007.
Students at OneSchool Global schools are mostly forbidden from attending university. Higher education has been described by church leaders in sermons as “very dangerous”, “limiting” and contrary to the Brethren’s morals.
In a 2003 BBC documentary, the Brethren’s UK spokesperson Gordon Pollard said: “The influences at university are not helpful, at all, in a moral sense. We’re trying to lead a life discerning between what’s right and wrong, refusing evil, choosing good, and that’s … the reason we don’t go to university.”
Speaking about the Brethren school network at a meeting in the US in March, Hales said it would “hold us against the power of the world, it will hold us against the power of worldly persons”.
“The devil is against them,” Hales said, according to official extracts from the ministry published by the Bible and Gospel Trust. “We have to be very watchful in regard of our schooling, take nothing for granted. As soon as we take something for granted the devil has already got a hold, that’s what I’ve observed.
“The devil is trying to get into our schools; he’s relentless. We need to look through the rank and file of who we’ve got teaching our children to make sure that they’re true to our values.”
• Do you know more? Email sarah.martin@theguardian.com
