Agenda and draft minutes

The meeting was opened with a prayer from Councillor Anne Lloyd-Jones.

To receive any apologies.

Apologies were received from:

•           Gwern ap Rhisiart (Head of Education)

•           Nick Sissons (The Methodist Church)

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman

for consideration.

None to note.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this

committee held on the 19th November, 2024 be signed as a true record

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this Committee held on 19 November 2024 as a true record.

To consider the SACRE Gwynedd Annual Report for 2023/24.

Resolved to defer the item to the next meeting.

To receive an update on the report by Dr Gareth Evans-Jones.

The item was presented by Dr Gareth Evans-Jones, drawing attention to the following main points:

The presentation was opened by providing context about the National Centre of Religious Education for Wales, which was re-launched in August 2023 at the Llŷn ac Eifionydd National Eisteddfod. It was reported that the objective of the Centre is to promote study, knowledge and awareness of the variety of religious traditions, values and philosophical traditions that exist in Wales and the wider world.

It was noted that the Centre, over the last year, had organised and held several sessions and a number of activities:

·       An internal A-level revision session had been organised for Anglesey, Gwynedd and Carmarthenshire students.

·       Two weeks of A-level revision sessions were held on-line, covering 24 sessions on Philosophy, Ethics and Buddhism.

·       CPD training was provided for teachers on the teaching of Buddhism and Hinduism.

·       An on-line summer school was held in July with 15 lectures to introduce students to university-level topics in philosophy, ethics, and religion.

·       A panel was held on Holocaust pedagogy and an on-line talk with a Holocaust survivor was organised for secondary schools.

·       Talks were organised with Nerys Siddall (Mary Jones) and Hanan Issa (National Poet of Wales).

·       An educational resource was produced - 'Teaching Peace', which is a bank of lessons and materials for Year 7/8/9 students to use in the context of Religion, Values and Ethics or as part of the Mixed Humanities course.

·       10 religion-specific artefacts boxes were produced for teaching the world's major religions, which are available on loan to schools.

It was explained that the research project had been developed as a result of school teachers requesting support from the Centre specifically relating to teaching Advanced Level, Religious Education and Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) in junior sections up to GCSE. It was noted that the research project had lasted nine months looking at RVE teaching provision across Wales. It was noted that the purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain a better idea of the challenges teachers feel they are facing, what the strengths are, and any weak aspects at present, to enable the Centre to respond and conduct a series of developmental sessions.

It was noted that 58 schools had responded, but given the higher number of secondary school respondents, a decision was made to produce a report based on secondary schools' data. It was noted that there were good examples of teachers accessing and engaging with training opportunities, however, that there were also examples which raised concerns.

It was noted that RVE is taught either as a standalone subject or as part of a Mixed Humanities scheme up to GCSE, as GCSE continues to be Religious Education. It was highlighted that this had raised concern about losing subject expertise and in relation to the fact that teachers teaching the subject have not been trained adequately. It was noted that training had been created to teach the subject within Mixed Humanities but not separately. It was added that this lack  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.