Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC) - 2008/2009

This page contains material for use before and during the revision of the Agreed Syllabus.

Meeting dates

Additional meetings may be required in the Autumn and Spring terms and dates will be set at the above meetings.

Working papers

Please click here for working papers relating to the syllabus revision.

Background reading for ASC members

These links provide background material that all ASC members should be familiar with before starting revision of the syllabus.

• The Non-Statutory National Framework for Religious Education (QCA, 2004)
• Framework for developing an Agreed Syllabus (QCA, 2008)
• Religious education units of work (QCA 2006)
• Diversity and Citizenship - Curriculum review document from DfES
• 2007 Ofsted report "Making sense of religion"
• Details on Philosophy for Children (P4C)
• Video of Philosophy for Children being used in schools
• Key Stage 3 RE Curriculum (QCA 2007)
• Key Stage 4 RE Curriculum (QCA 2007)
• QCA comments on the RE syllabus (QCA, 2008)
• Speech by schools minister (Jim Knight, 2008)

Questions worth considering

• Would we still teach RE if we weren't compelled to do so by law?
• Can RE be justified as a subject in itself outside Philosophy and Ethics?
• What are our motives, and the motives of others, for teaching RE?
• Would RE be easier to teach if the word "religion" was removed? (See the dictionary page for meanings of "religion".)
• Does "Religious" education have a monopoly on moral education?
• Can those with strong moral and ethical values, but with no need of religion, be fairly represented in RE?
• If they are not represented in RE, where should non-religious moral and ethical values appear in the curriculum?

An example of an inclusive Agreed Syllabus

As an example of an inclusive syllabus following QCA National Framework guidelines, ASC members might like to read through the Agreed Syllabus adopted by Ealing in 2007.

Please click here to see the Ealing syllabus.

The meaning of words used in RE

Please click here for a discussion paper about the meaning of words we use in RE.

This document will be discussed at the ASC meeting on February 11th, 2009

Some initial suggestions for ASC members

For those who wish do some background homework/thinking the 'new' areas that we will be looking at are:

• How RE can support and develop Philosophy for Children (P4C) and how P4C can enrich RE?

  P4C promotes thinking, dialogue and understanding by allowing everyone, pupils and teachers, to ask open-ended questions, to explore all possible answers and to accept that there may not be a "right" answer to many questions. Of course, this technique is one used by excellent teachers in their normal teaching but P4C provides a structure and methodology that enables pupils to learn to think, to express their thoughts through dialogue with other pupils, to examine their own ideas, and the ideas of others, in a critical but open-minded manner, to recognise that there are "rules" in logic and to understand that structured enquiry is better than blind acceptance. To give a simple example: pupils who engage in P4C are capable of distinguishing an assertion from a truth.

  Not all teachers are happy with this technique - some prefer to have black and white answers to everything - or at least to believe that there are black and white answers to everything. Unfortunately, the older one gets, the fewer black and white answers there are to anything!

  "The inclusion of philosophy in the curriculum directly impacts on the development of pupils’ moral and social development as well as enhancing their capacity to become independent learners. It also contributes to the development of pupil’s positive attitudes to themselves and others." Wapping First School, March 1997

• How can we take RE beyond multi-fact RE to becoming a vehicle for inter-faith dialogue?
  • How do we engage those without "faith" in such dialogue? (What do we mean by "faith"? See below.)
  • Less than 8% of the UK population take part in regular religious activity - so who is engaging with whom and why?
  • Is "faith" an exclusive term when what we really want is inclusiveness?
• The contribution of RE to Community Cohesion
  • How does RE fit into a whole-school approach to diversity across the curriculum?
  • Can we treat RE in isolation from other subjects?
  • How do we handle the awkward and controversial questions raised by religion?
  • How do we handle the differences and conflicts within individual religions let alone between different religions?
  • Can we pretend that each individual religion is a harmonious whole - when it is self-evident that it isn't?
  • How do we deal with religious ideas that promote discrimination, prejudice and even violence?

    Section 138 of the 2007 Ofsted report "Making sense of religion" states:

    "The implications for RE focus on four key points.

    • RE cannot ignore diversity within each religion, teaching about a religion as though it were a monolithic set of beliefs and practices. Each religious tradition encompasses variety, and individuals and groups within it will interpret their faith in very different ways.
    • RE cannot ignore controversy. We should dispense with the notion that we should encourage pupils to think uncritically of religion as a ‘good thing’. Religion is complex and its impact is ambiguous. Pupils are aware of this ambiguity and must be given the opportunity to explore the issues openly.
    • RE cannot ignore the social reality of religion. Most of the issues in the RE curriculum for secondary pupils have been about ethical or philosophical matters, such as arguments about the existence of God, or debates, from a religious perspective, about medical ethics or the environment. It has been unusual to find questions about religion’s role in society, changing patterns of religion in the local community, or the rise and decline of religious practice. It now needs to embrace the study of religion and society.
    • RE cannot ignore its role in fostering community cohesion and in educating for diversity. This goal has never been far from good RE teaching but the current changes in society give this renewed urgency. Pupils have opinions, attitudes, feelings, prejudices and stereotypes. Developing respect for the commitments of others while retaining the right to question, criticise and evaluate different viewpoints is not just an academic exercise: it involves creating opportunities for children and young people to meet those with different viewpoints. They need to grasp how powerful religion is in people’s lives. RE should engage pupils’ feelings and emotions, as well as their intellect."

    Derbyshire SACRE sponsored the book "What do we tell the children" by Angela Gluck Wood specifically to deal with some of these awkward questions.

• The contribution of RE to Global Citizenship.
  • Please click here to visit the Global Gateway site.
• Developing RE through an enquiry based learning approach to teaching and learning.

Pupils - do they have a voice in RE?

• Do we know what pupils think about the Religious Education they are getting at the moment?
• Do we know what they would like from Religious Education - if anything?
• Do their views count for anything? Should we ask them - if so, how? How do we put their ideas into practice - if at all?
• How do pupils in all-white schools find out about the beliefs and lives of other communities in the City?

Who teaches RE?

Teachers are the target audience for the Agreed Syllabus - so who are they?

Primary education is still based on a group of pupils being taught most subjects by a single teacher. We should never underestimate the tremendous mutual loyalty that grows up between teacher and pupils. Teachers talk about "my class" in a possessive and proud way - they want them to be "the best". (Yes, they will moan about their class sometimes - they are human!)

All teachers have the legal right to opt out of teaching RE - but the vast majority (even atheists) don't because they don't want other people teaching such an important topic to their class.

Very few primary teachers are RE specialists. Most primary schools have an RE Co-ordinator, just as they have a Maths Co-ordinator or a Science Co-ordinator, but this does not mean that the teacher concerned is a specialist in the subject, it simply means that they have been given responsibility for co-ordinating that subject in the school.

So, RE in primary schools will be taught by those with personal religious beliefs and those with absolutely no religious beliefs - atheists. Can we realistically expect those with one set of religious beliefs to give a fair picture of other religious beliefs - or to give a fair picture of those with no need of god, religion or superstition to enjoy good and happy lives? Can we realistically expect atheists to give an unbiased view of supernatural religious belief?

In secondary schools many of those who teach RE will be RE specialists - especially the Head of Department. However, many schools do not have sufficient RE specialists and other teachers are often delegated to fill in the gaps. Unlike primary schools, those teachers who do not feel happy teaching RE tend to say so and exercise their right not to do so.

When creating the Agreed Syllabus, and defining exactly what we mean when we use words and concepts associated with religion. we must bear in mind the people who will be using the syllabus - teachers ranging from those with strong personal religious beliefs to those with very strong anti-religious beliefs.

The dangers of stereotyping

Religion remains a minority activity in the UK - less than 8% of the population takes part in any form of regular religious worship. The Social Trends 2008 report from the Office of National Statistics shows the breakdown of religions in the UK. For many people, belief in a god turns out to be belief in "something out there" - it is not something they give a great deal of thought to because it has no bearing on their day-to-day lives.

We need to be very careful that we do not create stereotypes in the minds of pupils. For example:

• Are all people of Pakistani origin Muslims? Obviously not - some are Christians, some atheists, some Hindus etc.
• Do all Sikhs wear the 5 Ks? Certainly not in the case of many second or third generation Sikhs in the UK.
• Are all Jews followers of Judaism? No, many are atheists, some are Christians and a few are Muslims.
• Do all people of one religion believe the same thing? Obviously not! There are huge differences of belief within individual religions - so much so that there may be great animosity between those of different sects or places of worship.
• Does a well-off Hindu professional living in the leafy suburbs have more in common with working class Hindus living in the inner city or with his middle-class neighbours and his golfing partners?
• Do all Muslim women wear the hijab or the burga? Of course not! Some do, some don't.
• What is "atheism"? Atheists don't need the idea of gods but, beyond that, they don't necessarily share anything in common.

People change. Those pupils whose parents were born in England but whose grandparents may have come from outside the UK may not practice their religion in the same way as their grandparents - if they practice it at all. Their attitude towards obedience of parents and community may not be the same. They may wish to be more independent, to make up their own minds about their beliefs, the way they lead their lives, the friends they mix with and the person they choose to marry.

The one thing we can say about religion is that, like everything else, it changes form over time - it evolves. Obviously some religious people feel unhappy about this and they try to freeze the beliefs and rituals in time - but, on the whole, people change and religion changes to match. If this is not the case, how do we account for the fact that Catholic families in the UK have a lower birth rate than the national average - despite the preachings of the church on contraception and abortion?

The meaning of words used in RE

Please click here for a discussion paper about the meaning of words we use in RE.

This document will be discussed at the ASC meeting on February 11th, 2009