Ian Wardle Managing Director Civic Centre, Reading, RG1 7AE. 0118 937 3737 Our Ref: n:\sacre\agendas\131127 Your Ref: All Members of the Reading Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education Direct: 0118 937 2332 e-mail: [email protected] 15 November 2013 Your contact is: Richard Woodford – Committee Services NOTICE OF MEETING – READING STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – 27 NOVEMBER 2013 A meeting of the Reading SACRE will be held on Wednesday 27 November 2013 at 6.30 pm in Committee Room 1, Civic Offices, Reading. The Agenda for the meeting is set out below. AGENDA PAGE NO 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE - 2. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 19 JUNE 2013 1 3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES - 4. PRESENTATION BY LEANNE CAMPBELL, MUSLIM REPRESENTATIVE - ON THE SACRE, ON HER FAITH AND BELIEFS. 5. OFFICE FOR STANDARDS IN EDUCATION, CHILDREN’S SERVICES AND SKILLS (OFSTED) - REPORT: RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: REALISING THE POTENTIAL 7 CIVIC CENTRE EMERGENCY EVACUATION: Please familiarise yourself with the emergency evacuation procedures, which are displayed inside the Council’s meeting rooms. If an alarm sounds, leave by the nearest fire exit quickly and calmly and assemble at the Hexagon sign, at the start of Queen’s Walk. You will be advised when it is safe to re-enter the building www.reading.gov.uk SMS Txt: 81722 DX 40124 Reading (Castle Street) 6. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COUNCIL - REPORTS: A REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN ENGLAND 58 A CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN 129 ENGLAND 7. DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW/NEW DRAFT DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR 160 2014 8. MEMBERSHIP 164 9. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Verbal Report DAY AT PLACES OF WORSHIP 10. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION DIRECTORY – UPDATE Verbal Report 11. DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT 168 12. DATES AND TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGS: 3 March 2014 at 6.30 pm READING STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION MINUTES – 19 JUNE 2013 Present: Rabbi Zvi Solomons Jewish Faith (Group A) Anne Cheeseman Church of England (Group B) Robin Sharples Church of England (Group B) Michael Freeman ATL (Group C) Councillor Ennis Reading Borough Council (Group D) Councillor Hopper Reading Borough Council (Group D) Councillor McElligott Reading Borough Council (Group D) Councillor O’Connell Reading Borough Council (Group D) Also in Attendance: Jamie Howell Berkshire Humanist Jan Lever RE Consultant Richard Woodford Reading Borough Council Apologies: Ashok Khare Hindu Faith (Group A) Mustafa Chaudhary Islam (Group A) Jo Fageant Church of England (Group B) Vera Bodman NUT (Group C) 1. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR Rabbi Solomons was elected as Chair of the SACRE for the Municipal Year 2013/2014. 2. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR Anne Cheeseman was elected as Vice-Chair of the SACRE for the Municipal Year 2013/2014. 3. MINUTES The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2013 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 4. MATTERS ARISING Further to Minute 3 of the last meeting, Other Business – DVD: Who am I ?, Rabbi Solomons informed the members of the SACRE that he had yet to take forward the suggestion that the DVD should be made available to all schools. Further to Minute 4 of the last meeting, Draft Annual Report, the introduction to the report had to be written by the Chair and although examination results had been received from some schools they had not been received from all of them. 1 READING STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION MINUTES – 19 JUNE 2013 5. MEMBERSHIP – APPOINTMENT OF NEW MEMBERS/CONFIRMATION OF EXISTING MEMBERS The SACRE discussed the current membership and vacancies following the appointment of new members and confirmation being sought from faith groups by existing members regarding their continuing membership of the SACRE. Although membership of Groups A and B had increased there were now very few members of Group C, Associations representing teachers, and it was suggested that rather than specifying the unions from which members had to be sought the SACRE Constitution should be amended so that up to five representatives from any teaching union could be members. Jan Lever told the SACRE that a request for Headteacher representatives could be included in an article that was to appear in a future Schools Bulletin. The SACRE agreed that the issue should be discussed at the next meeting. AGREED: (1) That the position be noted; (2) That Jan Lever arrange for a request for Headteacher representatives be included in a future Schools Bulletin; (3) That the Membership of the SACRE be discussed at the next meeting. 6. RE: THE TRUTH UNMASKED – REPORT BY THE ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Jan Lever, submitted a copy of a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Religious Education: RE The Truth Unmasked – The supply and support for Religious Education teachers. Jan told the SACRE that there were two significant findings from the report relating to the supply of RE teachers and training, issues that applied to the teaching of RE across the country. With regard to the supply of RE teachers the inquiry had found that in over half of the 300 primary schools that had participated in the inquiry some or all pupils had been taught RE by someone other than their class teacher and in a quarter of these schools RE had been taught by teaching assistants. The report stated that this was unacceptable and in many cases had a detrimental impact on the quality of RE. In Reading there were occasions when RE was taught by teaching assistants and higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) who had not been trained in teaching RE and it was suggested that this should be monitored and that training should be offered to all those, both teachers and teaching assistants, who were teaching RE. The inquiry had also found that about half of primary school teachers and trainee teachers lacked confidence in teaching RE, about half of subject leaders in primary schools lacked the experience to undertake their role effectively and there was a wide variation in the extent of initial teacher training in RE. Jan informed the 2 READING STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION MINUTES – 19 JUNE 2013 SACRE that teachers in Reading had said that they wanted more training and opportunities to learn together and suggested that the SACRE could assist in providing training. The SACRE discussed the report and it was acknowledged that the issues that had been identified were not unique to RE as the focus was on core subjects such as maths, English and science. AGREED: That the position be noted. 7. WESSEX JOINT SACRES MEETING Jan Lever, submitted a report providing the SACRE with a summary of the Wessex Joint SACREs meeting that had taken place on 11 March 2013; a copy of the minutes from the meeting were attached to the report. Jan explained that the aim of the meetings were to strengthen RE in the light of there being reduced support from local authorities and for concerns to be raised and discussed. There was a willingness to share training and Hampshire County Council had said that they were happy for members of the SACRE to take part in the training they were providing. Jan reported that although some authorities did not have an officer to support RE Reading was in a good position and was well supported. AGREED: That the position be noted. 8. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COUNCIL: SUBJECT REVIEW OF RE Jan Lever, submitted a copy of the Phase One Subject Review of RE in England Report which had been published in January 2013 by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales and the Draft Programme of Study for Key Stages 1 to 3 that had been launched in June 2013 and had been based on the extensive work by the Phase One Task Group and the project’s Steering Group. The Draft Programme of Study had been launched on 7 June 2013 and responses had been asked for by 5 July 2013. The project had looked at the national picture for RE and had come up with recommendations as to how RE could move forward. Nationally there were 150 locally agreed syllabuses but, there still appeared to be confusion over what RE was trying to achieve from the teachers point of view. With regard to the Reading syllabus the core content suggested in the draft programmes of study would not mean changing the syllabus as it was in line with the suggested programmes, other than the new recommendation that non-religious belief systems should be taught alongside Christianity at each key stage as a requirement. This was currently an option in the pan-Berkshire agreed syllabus. The 8-level scale assessment process was discussed and it was thought that many teachers still find this difficult to implement and there were issues around how children’s learning could be more effectively assessed. A better tool was therefore needed to understand the level of children’s learning; 3 READING STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION MINUTES – 19 JUNE 2013 Exam Syllabi – The content of the exam syllabus up to GCSE and A Level needed to be reviewed in order to get consistency and this was something the RE review was currently working on. A table setting out the implementation of the Phase One Recommendations in Phase Two was included with the papers. AGREED: That the position be noted. 9. RE NETWORK MEETINGS: FEEDBACK Jan Lever informed the SACRE that Network Meetings for Primary and Secondary Schools continued to be held with the Secondary School meetings being held jointly with Wokingham. The Primary School meetings had been better attended than the Secondary School meetings and it was planned to review the position after the next network meeting for Secondary Schools that would take place in autumn 2013.