To receive a report / presentation by Miss Bethan James on the following:
(a) Collective Worship
(b) Developing Literacy and Numeracy in Religious Education in Key Stage 3
(c) Update – Donaldson consultation on the Curriculum for Wales
Minutes:
(a)
Collective
Worship
The Challenge Adviser reported that they had made an effort to try and
identify a way to undertake the monitoring of collective worship. The committee
was reminded that a questionnaire had been circulated approximately a year ago in
order to identify ways of undertaking individual responsibilities for
monitoring the standards of Religious Education or collective worship and those
responses steered this work. The intention now was to put monitoring
arrangements in place. Reference was made to ESTYN's guidance to inspectors on
this when inspecting and monitoring collective worship. The guidance referred
to the legal requirements namely that collective worship should occur daily at
any time during the day, and that parents were entitled to withdraw their
children from worship. Whilst accepting
that SACRE Members did not like inspecting collective worship, a suggestion was
made that they should visit schools to have a taste of collective worship. Further reference was made to the guidance
from the Wales SACREs Association stating why collective worship was beneficial
for children and it promoted the pupils’ spiritual development and contributed
to their personal development and the feeling of schools as a community and to
connect schools with the local community.
Also, school reports were scrutinised and it was asked if they fulfilled
statutory requirements.
A form was presented to Members during the meeting to assist them to record their observations when attending collective worship sessions and they were guided through the contents of the form.
During the discussion the following points were raised:
(a) That it was necessary to be careful in terms of keeping to what was statutory regarding Religious Education as in some schools now there were other demands on teachers during registration period such as presenting literacy, reading and it was more difficult to hold a class service because of this.
(b)
That some governors were designated as champions
to give an overview on Religious Education and/or other subjects and would it
be possible to use these governors to the maximum for monitoring in order that
work was not duplicated.
In response, it was noted that SACRE had a statutory role to monitor by sampling and observing what schools note in the self-evaluations correspond to what occurs in the school.
(c) The form was welcomed and it was added that it would be useful and of assistance to schools and governors as well.
(d) In response to a query regarding obstacles to collective worship where there were many different religions, it was not envisaged that this would be a problem as parents were fairly happy for their children to participate in school services/activities and they as parents took responsibility for faith.
(e) That Anglesey SACRE Members already visited schools to monitor collective worship and the arrangements had been successful with the response of the schools being very positive.
Resolved: To
accept the monitoring form and approve to test it out when visiting schools
emphasising that the process was to support schools and not to inspect them.
(b) Developing Literacy and Numeracy in
Religious Education in Key Stage 3
A
presentation was received in a slide format from resources provided by Mary
Parry, Education Associate Advisor with Carmarthenshire to develop literacy and
numeracy in Religious Education in Key Stage 3 based on footballers of the same
faith. Examples of specific tasks on activities
were writing a letter regarding beliefs that included literacy and numeracy
skills including units regarding prayer, food and drink, Ramadan etc.
The above
had been presented recently to a meeting of the Wales SACREs Association and
they were of the opinion that it was an extremely useful resource.
The
following points were highlighted by SACRE members:
(a) That
it was a good resource to attract the interest of boys.
(b)
That schools would see it as a valuable
resource.
(c)
The pack was also welcomed as a good resource to
develop literacy in a meaningful context and in addition it was an opportunity
to use translingual skills that would be valuable in
the context of bilingual education in Wales.
Resolved: To
accept and approve the pack and it was agreed that SACRE Members and the GwE
Challenge Adviser would circulate these to the County’s 14 secondary schools.
(c) Update on the Donaldson Consultation on
the Curriculum for Wales
The GwE
Challenge Adviser reported that the Welsh Government had requested Professor
Donaldson to conduct a consultation with various organisations to formulate a
new curriculum for Wales. The committee
was reminded that during the 1980s the CYTÛN syllabus had been drawn up for the
schools of Gwynedd and Anglesey, however, since 2007 Gwynedd SACRE had agreed
to use the national framework for the curriculum and Religious Education across
Wales was very similar. If the Welsh
Government accepted the recommendations of Prof.
Donaldson this could mean radical changes. The GwE Challenge Adviser, on behalf
of SACRE, had drafted a response to the recommendations as follows:
(1) In
what ways do you agree or disagree that the existing national curriculum is now
suitable to fulfil the needs of children and young people in Wales?
The Members of Gwynedd SACRE
recognise that some aspects of the existing national curriculum do not satisfy
the needs of children and young people of Wales in a digital age. However, the fundamental principles of
education are unchangeable, namely the development of literate, intelligent,
curious and sensitive children and young people who show respect to their
fellow man and the environment in a changing world. Religious education already contributes to
this as learners cultivate more understanding of the significance of religion
and its importance to people.
(2)
What is your opinion of the four general aims
described in the Report? Generally, do
you believe that these are the appropriate basis for the curriculum for
children and young people in Wales in the future? If they are not, why is this?
Gwynedd SACRE support the four
general aims described in the report. Religious education already “stimulates
learners to think for themselves in order to develop an understanding of life,
the world and search for meaning that inspires them to bring about
transformation personally, socially and globally” (National Exemplar Framework
to present Religious Education to learners 3-19 years in Wales, 2008).
(3)
New framework:
Six learning and experience fields.
In what way do you agree or disagree with this method of working?
Gwynedd SACRE welcomes the specific
and worthy attention given to Religious Education in the report and is aware of
the valuable contribution of religious education to the six areas of learning
and experience. However, some questions
remain:
·
How can it
be ensured that religious education does not ‘get lost’ within Humanities and
the other learning and experience fields?
·
To what
extend can we be confident that schools understand the fundamentals of
religious education in the twenty first century?
·
How can
schools present the requirements of the Cytûn
Syllabus within Humanities and the learning and experience fields and continue
to allow parents to withdraw their children from religious education lessons if
they wish to do so?
(4)
Assessment that supports educational
progression? In what way do you agree or
disagree with this method of working?
Gwynedd CYSAG is of the opinion
that the purpose of assessment is to assist learners to progress. Good practice to ‘assess for learning’ has
assisted learners in Gwynedd to make good progress in religious education. Nurturing learners and teachers’
understanding of the 'progression steps' help when planning valuable learning
experiences for pupils.
Currently, Gwynedd SACRE monitors
religious education standards in the secondary sector by scrutinising KS3
teachers' assessments and the results of KS4 and KS5 external
examinations. It is likely that a new
assessment system will mean new challenges.
·
How will
Gwynedd SACRE fulfil its statutory responsibilities to monitor the standards of
religious education?
·
Who will
draft the ‘progression steps? Will the
‘Religious Education’ threads be obvious?
Will Gwynedd SACRE be able to contribute to the process of drafting the
‘progression steps’?
·
Who will
train the teachers to use the ‘progression steps’ in order to assist the
learners to make progression in religious education?
·
Who will
be responsible for ‘sampling’ religious education standards? How often?
Will Gwynedd SACRE be able to contribute to the sampling process? Will Gwynedd SACRE get access to the
findings of the sampling process?
(5) What
is your first response to the principles of pedagogy described in Professor
Donaldson’s Report?
Gwynedd SACRE welcomes the
attention given to the pedagogy principles in the report. Many of the principles already underpin the
guidance given to teachers who teach religious education in Gwynedd
schools. However, we encourage teachers
to reflect on their practices in order to ensure that their learning strategies
have a positive impact on learners’ progress.
(6)
Schools and teachers play a part in shaping the
curriculum. In what way do you agree or
disagree that this is desirable?
Gwynedd SACRE Members know from
experience of the key contribution made by teachers and members to the process
of developing and approving the Cytûn syllabus and
any supplementary guidance. It is felt that teachers are already free to
develop inquiries that are relevant to their pupils within a ‘framework’ and an
open-ended ‘range’ and ‘subject skills’. We are anxious that teachers provide
religious education experiences that stimulate and are relevant to their
pupils. However, the view is that
children and young people should learn about their local and national religious
communities that do and have contributed to life in Wales. Some questions remain:
·
In a time
of financial cuts, will schools have religious education experts who can lead
the process of developing the curriculum?
·
How can it
be ensured that pupils do not repeat subjects or religious education themes?
·
Will
teachers in rural secondary schools have the energy and time to develop a new
curriculum and respond to the requirements of new external examinations?
(7) What
is the best way to continue with this process of participation and how would
your school / location like to take part?
Gwynedd SACRE is anxious to
continue to contribute to the process of developing a new national curriculum
by responding to questionnaires and workshops.
Religious education of the highest standard is already a priority for
elected Members, religious representatives and the teachers who regularly
attend SACRE Meetings.
Gwynedd SACRE is represented on the
National Consultation Panel for Religious Education (NCPRE) and the Wales
SACREs Association and Gwynedd contributes to the work of the Wales Religious
Education Organisation and we hope that the Welsh Government recognise
experience, knowledge and the guidance of these bodies.
During the ensuing discussion the teachers’ representative highlighted
that the UCAC Union welcomed the majority of the contents of the Donaldson
Report, however, concern was expressed regarding the implementation of the
curriculum in the current financial climate that meant a great deal of fairly
expensive changes.
Resolved: To
accept, note and approve the responses submitted on behalf of Gwynedd SACRE to
Professor Donaldson’s report.