Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC) 2020-2021

This summer we are delighted to be hosting a new blog series from our vibrant and energetic subject community! Each of the main RE/R&W organisations will be sharing their reflections on 2020-21, and looking forward to the coming academic year. We will be posting one blog per week and are very grateful to the Chairs/CEOs of these organisations for contributing their thoughts. We start the series with the Religious Education Council of England and Wales.

Kathryn Wright

CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s

The REC was founded in 1973 with the vision of creating a coalition of organisations that are involved in Religious Education and that would advocate for and promote the importance of the subject. Members include those representing professionals working in RE and faith communities who have an interest in contributing to the development of the subject. It is an incredibly diverse group of people. As far as we are aware there is no other organisation like it anywhere else in the world.

The last year, as for everyone, has been a challenging one. Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the way that the REC works with almost 100% reliance on Zoom and the giving up of our London office. This has actually worked really well and may well result in permanent change to our modus operandi. Perhaps the most important benefit has been the ability to involve far more people in our work than is possible when extensive travel and heavy costs are entailed in attending meetings.

The main challenge for the REC has been responding to the departure of Rudi Eliott Lockhart in July to be CEO of the Independent Schools Association. The Board have taken this opportunity to undertake a root and branch strategic review of how the REC best achieves its goals. This will continue into 2021-2022. In the meantime, we have been incredibly well served by Mike McMaster as our Interim Executive Officer whose job description can be best described as “keeping the wheels on the bus”.

But, in the midst of disruption and change, the important work of advocating for and promoting RE has gone on. In the last twelve months the focus of this has been taking forward the vision and recommendations of the Commission on RE Report published in 2018 and seeking to realise their potential. This has happened in three main ways.

Firstly, REC has worked in the Religious Education Policy Unit, a partnership with the National Association of Teachers of RE and REToday Services designed to promote political change that supports RE. Successes have included questions asked by MPs in the House of Commons, appearances in TV programmes and articles published in various papers and magazines. Most important has been ongoing contact with officials in both English and Welsh governments and in Ofsted, advising, supporting and sometimes correcting their work.

Secondly have been the projects focused on piloting some of the Commission recommendations and on developing understanding of the worldview vision for RE. This latter work has been generously funded by both Culham St Gabriel’s and the Templeton World Charity Foundation. This project work has produced two key publications and sponsored a number of different conversation events involving hundreds of participants. The finale of this work will be a series of animations communicating some of the key conclusions.

Thirdly the support of schools has continued through the RE Quality Mark. Led by Linda Rudge, a team of assessors are evaluating and celebrating the work of RE in schools.

The REC is a membership organisation and, as we’ve already said, it is unique in the diversity of its membership. At the AGM in May, representatives from member organisations were invited to discuss the proposed new vision, mission and values of the REC, the foundations of the new strategic plan. Many of those representatives said how much they appreciated the breadth of membership, and how much they had gained from meeting people from organisations with which they would otherwise not have come into contact. Although they haven’t been able to meet together in person, there have been opportunities to virtually meet others in breakout groups during our meetings.

Member organisations already provide the backbone of the REC, by nominating their representatives to stand for election to the Board, and to serve on committees. During the past year, there have been new opportunities for members, and others who are interested in the subject, to engage with the work of the REC, through a series of well-attended and varied webinars, exploring different aspects of the worldviews approach. Like many organisations, this has helped us to think about the possibilities for ongoing engagement with and between our members – and about how we can help different member organisations to contribute to the work.

Trevor Cooling, Chair, Religious Education Council of England and Wales, 2015-2021

The world of RE encompasses a wide range of views and approaches, and it can be challenging to hold these together in one organisation. Member organisations do not necessarily agree with each other about what the purpose of the subject is, how it might be taught, what its scope might be – but they do all believe that it is important, and they want to ensure that high-quality RE is available to every young person. As we move into the next academic year, we hope that we will be able to build on the good work that is in progress, and work with our members to bring about the vision for every young person to experience an academically rigorous and personally inspiring religion and worldviews education.

Sarah Lane Cawte, Chair, Religious Education Council of England and Wales from September 2021