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This September I am more aware than usual both of new beginnings and time passing. Although I have been in my school for almost two years, it has been mostly in lockdown. My experience of the school has not been in normal times, to say the least. When colleagues talk about a room, a person, a form to fill in, a process, an event, I am lost, it is like I started yesterday. I have existed in a bubble and now the bubble is burst.

Being back in the classroom, no longer confined to my metre box at the front, feels full of possibilities- students can work in groups and we can be more active in our learning, I can wander up to the back row or talk to a student quietly at their desk, rather than from the front of the room. Students can let off steam outside at break and lunch, no longer confined to their classrooms and bubbles. Being outside with all of year 7 and 8 as they tear around the playground feels surprisingly joyful, not how I would have described break duty before the pandemic.

I am also aware of changes closer to home. My daughter has started in Year 7. I have welcomed thousands of Year 7s in my almost 20 years in the classroom. Now I am finding out what goes on at home- making sense of the new systems, what books and kit are needed for each day, the pressures of homework. It is tiring and can be fraught if we are second-guessing a teacher’s instructions. But it is also exciting- a more independent young person is emerging, ready to take on these new challenges.

I have had the pleasure of working with Kathryn and the Culham St Gabriel’s team for some years. I am excited and privileged to take over stewardship of RE:ONLINE, building on the excellent work of my friend David Rees, who is much missed. RE:ONLINE brings together practical, classroom-focused guidance and resources, current research and information to keep you up to date. We will continue to offer high quality, practical and supportive material, whether for use in your classrooms or to adapt for another period of home learning. As always we welcome blogs from teachers or those working in and around religion and worldviews education. Email ideas you would like to share, however half-formed. We will develop them together.

We are developing an exciting online CPD platform for teachers- watch this space! The ‘In Conversation’ events which ran throughout two lockdowns will continue for the foreseeable future. These have been extremely beneficial in both communicating current research and thinking and allowing people to connect with others. It has been wonderful to see new faces at every session, perhaps people who would not usually join a face-to-face group for a variety of reasons. We look forward to welcoming new people to every event. These events and others like it have been an unexpected benefit of the pandemic.

As we look forward to a new term, some things feel really new- the mingling, mixing and moving feels at once rather scary and liberating. We are also looking back at almost two years of completely different working. We have learnt how to support each other in new ways, we have learnt to use Zoom (no mean feat), we have learnt how to carry on and how to change. Whatever is around the corner, we are looking forward to working with you. Have a great term!

Kathryn (CEO), Kevin and Kate (CSTG Consultants) chat about their favourite summer reading…

Kathryn writes…

Many years ago, I read Ken Follet’s masterpiece ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ about the interwoven lives of those involved in the building of a cathedral in a fictional town of Kingsbridge in the 12^th Century. Over the summer I have been reading the rest of this epic series. The Evening and the Morning, a prequal is set during the time of Viking invasions and tells the story of the development of Kingsbridge. The last one, which I am just finishing, A Column of Fire is set during the 16^th Century reformation and is full of political and religious intrigue and conspiracy!

However, the one that stood out for me was World without End. The mix of religion, politics and the messiness of society during the Black Death was fascinating. Even more poignant I felt as we live through another pandemic. Whilst realising that the book is fiction, I found the relationships between the different elements of the church fascinating (priors, bishops, monks, nuns, priests!). The impact of the Black Death on progress in terms of medicine, in particular the wearing of linen face masks, was very striking. However, the theme which encompasses the whole book is one of good overcoming evil – eventually! A theme which will be familiar to many who are familiar with stories from various worldview traditions passed down through the generations.

If you don’t have a Kindle beware, these are heavy tomes rising to over 1000 pages each! So perhaps for the October half term break….

Kevin writes…

Border Country by Raymond Williams was published in 1960, two years before I was born, and I still recognise the world it depicts (with altered cultural inflections: it’s set in working-class Wales, I grew up in working-class Merseyside). One critic described it as one of the most moving and accomplished novels of the twentieth century, written anywhere by anyone. I came across it by accident, discovering that Williams had written novels when reading his cultural and educational theory.

Border Country is about a village, Glynmawr, and within it, a family, the Prices. Harry, a railway signalman, suffers a stroke, and his son, Matthew, a lecturer, is called back from London. Conversations and memories uncover the detail and meaning of experience: counting the money, tampering with the schoolmaster’s cane, the General Strike of 1926, landscapes, births, deaths, and realisations. Details are meanings: “But a father is more than a person, he’s in fact a society, the thing you grow up into.” The twentieth century probably stretched this, but the novel is ambiguous about it (Matthew doesn’t inherit Harry’s work but inherits him in other ways).

I won’t spoil the story, just recommend the book, a fictional working-out of Williams’ principle that society is the positive means for all kinds of development, including individual development. I enjoyed it hugely, and it got me thinking about what learning is, at which point, I’ll stop!

Kate writes…

You might not expect me to describe Shuggie Bain, the 2020 Booker Prize winner by Douglas Stuart, as ‘uplifting’ and ‘beautiful’. You might be aware that the book recounts a few years in the life of Shuggie, a young boy growing up in poverty in 1980s Glasgow, with his alcoholic mother Agnes, his siblings and grandparents and various feckless, unreliable men. Despite the bleak backdrop of deprivation, violence and want, there are so many moments of hope and humour.

At the heart of the book is the tender love of a little boy for his mother. Despite everything, Shuggie loves his mum and she loves him. We look through Shuggie’s eyes and realise that he doesn’t see what we might see as adults. Shuggie is profoundly connected to Agnes. He delights in her good days, is resigned to her bad days and simply takes on the responsibilities of a young carer, as so many young people have to do. Caring for Agnes is part of his connection to her. In her way, Agnes shows Shuggie what love is. Agnes accepts Shuggie for who he is, but more than that, she delights in him. Agnes and Shuggie’s mutual knowledge and acceptance of their true selves is what will stay with me long after finishing the book.

The story takes place between inner-city Glasgow and the liminal, half-abandoned housing ‘projects’ on the city’s edge. I read the book on my commute through my own changing landscape between East London and the Essex coast. I have been left with a sense of the resilience and strength of children as they find their way in the world. It is a hard read at times, but also unexpectedly funny and hopeful, and does what a good book should; takes you to a time and place you cannot visit otherwise. I would like to meet Shuggie and Agnes and spend the day with them, I think we would have a lovely time.

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

NATRE aims to support the development of high-quality teaching and learning in RE/Religion and Worldviews for all pupils in all schools.

Looking backwards

The aim of NATRE didn’t change in the last challenging year in fact it became even more important as our members, and all teachers, learnt to educate pupils in new ways, in new places under unbelievably challenging circumstances.

Whilst NATRE always work hard to resource schools, for example, through our publications, local groups, Spirited Arts, training, social media presence and #REChatuk this year we tried to support teachers in their new circumstances. This meant creating digital copies of magazines so you could read it even if it was delivered to school when you were teaching from home, providing extra RE chats, supporting local groups (thank you Saima Saleh) to go virtual and providing far more online training. We continued to provide home learning resources for our members and for all teachers and at third lock down made our member home learning resources free to all.

It was nerve racking creating an online Strictly RE conference for almost 500 delegates but we were really pleased to see that spreading it over the whole weekend and the evenings leading up to the conference weekend meant that more people could attend more sessions, the recording of the majority of sessions provided ongoing CPD for delegates who couldn’t attend.

Over the summer NATRE (and RE Today) were spurred into action to create a series of anti-racist RE resources a small but important step towards a more diverse RE/Religion and worldviews curriculum. Whilst NATRE had been working to promote greater inclusion of contemporary and diverse voices in the classroom, we recognised that there was more to do across the whole age range, and this work needed to be done with greater urgency. The RE curriculum has not always sufficiently acknowledged the role of religious and non-religious worldviews in injustice, both in the past and in the present. This led to a project supported by the Free Churches Group and Methodist Schools. Project partners whom this work would not be possible without include black, Asian and minority ethnic teachers, academics, religious and non-religious voices from many communities and managed, written and edited by Lat Blaylock, RE Adviser and editor of REtoday magazine. As you may know in the summer term these resources were somewhat castigated in certain parts of the media and by one or two politicians and a Bishop. We were so heartened by those of you that had read and used the resources who were able to put the record straight as we had to do too. We were pleased to finally be able to speak about our amazing and essential subject on the BBC.

The year 20/21 was a year of change for NATRE as we said thank you and goodbye to an old executive and welcomed a new one. It is essential that NATRE is driven by the voice of teachers and once again you voted in an amazing bunch. Ben Wood has been an amazing advocate for RE but has now stepped back from being chair to be assistant to the chair and we welcome Katie Freeman, the first Primary Chair for almost 20 years! What has not changed is the importance of working together with the whole RE community to ensure all pupils get excellent RE/Religion and Worldviews education. One of the ways NATRE do this is as part of the Religious Education Policy Unit (REPU), a partnership with the Religious Education council and REToday Services designed to promote political change that supports RE. Through this group we have spoken to shadow cabinet members and MPs from the government and had many questions asked in parliament. We are working together on ensuring RE/Religion and Worldviews is better understood and supported by key stakeholders. We hold regular meetings with the DFE and are able to help them understand the subject and sometimes even correct errors and omissions. We also work together to gain positive media attention and understanding.

NATRE have always worked hard with key stakeholders such as professional associations, OFQUAL, exam boards, Universities, DFE and OFSTED. We aim to support organisations to work with us to improve RE and to ensure all pupils in all schools receive the RE they deserve and are entitled too. Some of this liaison, advocacy and lobbying work we can speak publicly about and much more goes on behind the scenes. Rachael Jackson-Royal leads our work on qualifications and higher education and has been incredibly busy this year sharing teacher views, queries, and concerns with OFQUAL and exam boards.

We also take data and surveys seriously as we know this information has the power to change the minds of senior leaders in school and key stakeholders such as DFE and OFSTED. Thank you to all those of you who fill in our Secondary and Primary surveys and to Deborah Weston who is our research officer. Do check out our latest data section to see what you can use in your school. You might also find the RE defender toolkit or the report of a complaint at a school that was not providing sufficient RE useful too.

As you can see a busy year…

Fiona Moss, CEO NATRE

Looking forward…

In March 2021, I was elected as Chair of NATRE.  Becoming the Chair of our subject association what somewhat of a daunting role but also one that I am really excited about. As we look forward to the next academic year, NATRE has many plans to further support teachers of RE.

In January 2022, NATRE plan to hold another Strictly RE conference. We are grateful for the feedback that teachers of RE share with us each year and we strive to ensure that we act upon this to ensure that delegates receive the best quality training. There has been much discussion in the RE community surrounding a Religion and Worldviews approach to teaching RE and this theme will feature in the planning for the conference. One of the strengths of all of our Strictly RE conferences is that it is cross phase, for this reason, we will continue to ensure that a range of speakers from different phases will lead workshops that will feature ‘takeaway’ ideas for use in the classroom. Many teachers also shared that they really valued time to network with other professionals so we will be ensuring that this is a key feature of Strictly 2022.

In his time as Chair, Ben Wood planned to hold NATRE’s first ever curriculum symposium event.  The executive has been really excited about this idea and it has formed a key part of our action planning to move NATRE forward. As an executive, we felt that this symposium needed to be a face to face event so that teachers could discuss their curriculum design in detail and have support from other professionals that would help to move them forward. As the restrictions linked to the pandemic begin to lift, NATRE is putting plans in place for this event to take place. We have been excited to receive expressions of interest from teachers from different phases of education from across the country. Delegates that take part in the symposium event will be invited to write up their experiences so that other teachers can draw upon them and we hope that this will have impact on their own curriculum design. NATRE would like to extend its thanks to CSTG for helping to fund this event.

Fiona has already mentioned the success of our local groups and how they have supported teachers of RE throughout the pandemic. Over the lockdown period, teachers took part in a range of virtual training opportunities and Zoom meetings have now become a real feature of CPD for schools. NATRE wanted to draw upon these virtual meeting opportunities has started to set up a range of national groups to bring teachers together from across the country who want to focus on specific themes, provision or issues within the RE community. A great example of these national groups in the group set up by Sarah Payne to support teachers of RE in special schools. Huge thanks to Sarah and to Saima (our local groups officer) for all of their hard work in this area. Watch this space for more virtual national groups coming to a screen near you soon!

Throughout the pandemic, NATRE continued to create online resources to support teachers of RE, this work will continue over the next year so please do continue to check our website for news and updates. We will also continue to hold a monthly #RECHATUK and our social media team (Joanne Harris and Catriona Card) have worked hard to create a comprehensive list of topics and themes for the next year.  We are always keen to ensure that more teachers get involved in these discussions so I would encourage you to bring a friend to our September chat.

Over the last eighteen months the teaching community has had to adapt and work in so many different ways. I am proud of our profession, the work that we have done and how we have come together to ensure that our children receive the best learning experiences possible. I am sure that the next year will hold challenges and as a community many of us will have different ideas about how we think our subject should be taught or how it should develop. Let us remember though that we are a community who are united in wanting the very best for all of our pupils. In a world where we can be anything, let us be kind to ourselves and kind to one another.

Katie Freeman, NATRE Chair

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

We are delighted to host this blog for Culham St Gabriels to talk about AREIAC’s work to support high quality RE.

We are the first Co-chairs of AREIAC and we began in our role September 2020. If you are not sure what AREIAC does, we are an organisation for anyone who is a Religious Education inspector, adviser or consultant, whether they are part time or full time, new to the role or with years of experience. Our members come from all fields – some are Diocesan, others are independent and some are currently serving teachers who advise other schools on RE. We have also welcomed the Culham St Gabriel leadership programme candidates to our meetings and conference as part of their own leadership development in RE. We are here to provide advice, challenge, leadership, training and support for all those who advise others on multi-faith religious education in all schools and colleges.

AREAIC has an executive, organising committee and regional groups which meet regularly to share and develop resources, to support advisers and teachers and to discuss national issues around excellent religious education.

In our first year one of our priorities has been to reach out to as many advisers as possible through our programme of meetings and events throughout the year. For the first time this year we have introduced online webinars and an RE book club for our members as part of their professional development. Topics have included curriculum development, the future national framework for RE, Dharmic religions and the Cadbury lectures. We will be building on these in the year ahead and working with Culham on projects such as the RExChange programme to ensure that RE advisers have plenty of opportunities for such development on a regular basis.

 Last year with help from our membership secretary Stacey Burman and our web adviser Paul Hopkins, we updated and added further information to our website so that it is current and helpful for users. It now regularly features our Twitter feed, contains our members’ details for further advice and connects members with CPD that is of interest to them.

We continued to engage with other RE stakeholders throughout the year and we were part of the steering group with Culham St Gabriels developing the Leadership Programme for RE. This, of course, has built on the fabulous pioneering work of AREIAC through the Revitalise programme. Many of AREIAC’s advisors are involved as mentors on this programme and we have actively welcomed newer RE leaders through this route. We would like to encourage as many of these leaders as possible to join AREIAC in the future so do contact us for further information.

We produce two newsletters a year for our members and we have also introduced bulletins for the first time this year, which are shorter but keep our members up to date throughout the year.

A number of our members have been involved with other projects throughout the year, including the young ambassador project, the 5 Cities media project and the joint Collective Worship project with NASACRE. Information about these will be shared with members during the forthcoming year.

Growing the membership of AREIAC has been a priority for us this year and especially reaching out to advisers who are part time and working in schools. We have established a working group on membership that has met throughout the year and which has resulted in a new part time membership rate. Details of these are on the AREIAC website.

The highlight for us this year was the two day online conference held in July this year which many of our members and other guests attended. We were delighted with the positive feedback from this and we look forward to planning a face to face conference with our conference organiser Gill Vaisey next year in July.

A key project for us to work on this coming year is developing our response to research in AREIAC and we look forward to working with our AREIAC research group that can report to members on a more consistent basis in 2022 and build on the work started in our members’ CPD programme.

Finally, our review of the year would not be complete without thanks to our executive committee, who are always supportive of everything we do and who provide consistently good advice and expertise for us to draw on. We also would like to thank all of you for your own work in ensuring high quality RE in 2020-2021 and we look forward to working with you in 2021-2022,

Justine Ball and Julia Diamond-Conway, Co-chairs of AREIAC

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

TRS-UK is the organisation that represents, co-ordinates, and supports those who teach and conduct research in Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education. Our membership consists of units/Departments in 30 Universities, together with 12 subject associations (focused in various academic specialisms). At a time when the Government is prioritising STEM subjects, we are having to work hard (alongside others in Arts and Humanities) to re-emphasise the social and national significance of the understanding of religions/theology. We are confident that our colleagues will perform well, in both publications and impact, in the current assessment of University research being undertaken in the Research Excellence Framework. But there is acute pressure on several TRS units/Departments at the present, with some being forced to downsize, and TRS-UK has been active, both in public and behind the scenes, in lobbying on behalf of our colleagues.

A highlight of this past year has been the publication of a set of short videos of graduates in Theology and Religious Studies (generously funded by Culham St Gabriel’s), which are available on our own TRS-UK YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2rWLXgsU6fzz4P3o9OBz2A).  These indicate the wide range of jobs to which a degree in our subject can lead, emphasising the value of the knowledge gained and the skills learned by studying theology/religion at University. The quality of these films (which are both individual profiles and compilations) has been much complimented. They do not promote any particular University, and so can be used by anyone and everyone to promote the subject. They are now being widely used in schools and Universities, in open days and careers events, to showcase the value of a degree in Religion/Theology. We have identified that a common block for prospective students is the question asked by parents or peers: “What would you do with a degree like that?” We hope that these films will help answer that question and will inspire students to undertake study in such a fascinating subject which can lead to such a range of interesting and socially significant careers.

The videos can be used to complement the recently launched British Academy slides on employability. The slides, which were edited by TRS-UK, show why TRS students are highly valued by employers for their varied skills. The slides can be downloaded here. These may be particularly relevant for schools to use during careers and university fairs.

Over this last year we have also established a strong collaboration with the Religion Media Centre, as we seek to raise the public profile of our subject area and to encourage more academics to contribute to public discussion and to enhance religious literacy. We have continued to develop our own social media presence (e.g., Twitter: @trs_uk) and have completely revamped our website (trs.ac.uk). We have also undertaken a survey of RE teachers to establish how best to develop the interface between schools and Universities. This has given us some significant pointers for future collaboration, and we have developed a network of ‘outreach’ officers in the Universities, to share good practice and to collaborate in providing resources for teachers and events for school pupils that will foster the study of religion/worldviews in schools.

Currently, Tim Hutchings (University of Nottingham) and Céline Benoit (Aston University) act as School Liaison Officers for TRS-UK. Their role is to work with schools and universities to address the decline in enrolment in TRS in Higher Education, support the teaching of RE in schools by fostering engagement with TRS departments, research centres and networks, map and monitor developments within the UK’s “RE world”, and to improve the perception of TRS and RE within education more widely.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) regularly offer resources and outreach events to their local schools. However, not all schools know how to contact their local TRS department and make the most out of their nearby HEIs. To address this issue, TRS-UK has collaborated with NATRE to launch a ‘Making Links’ webpage. The aim of Making Links is to foster networks between TRS departments and their local RE teachers by providing access to up-to-date information not only about degree programmes in Theology and Religious Studies, but also about the activities and support university departments offer to schools. The page also includes contact details for the admissions or outreach officer at every TRS department.

Moving forward: we are hosting a one-day online Symposium on the future of TRS in the University on Friday September 24^th 2021 (details from secretary@trs.ac.uk), which we hope will collect and disseminate wisdom on how theology and religion can flourish in the University context over the next decade. At our AGM on 3^rd December, we will have a change of leadership as both John Barclay (President) and Marion Bowman (Vice-President) will be passing on the baton to those newly elected at that event.

Recently, TRS-UK launched the first national network for HEIs Outreach Convenors in TRS departments. If you’re involved in outreach activities, please feel free to add your name to our new mailing list by clicking https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=TRS-OUTREACH&A=1 and/or forward to relevant colleagues. Subscribers to the mailing list can then be contacted via TRS-OUTREACH@JISCMAIL.AC.UK. The aim is to provide Outreach Convenors with a space to ask questions, disseminate good practice, organise informal catch-ups, or launch new joint ventures to support RE in schools.

We have also embarked on a significant piece of work on ‘Decolonising TRS’.  We are conscious that both staffing and curricula are not as diverse as they should be, although our subject-matter is (or should be) a prime context for exploring non-white narratives and perspectives. Many University TRS Departments/Units are exploring ways of enhancing diversity in their curricula, and we hope that we will be able to both spearhead and co-ordinate moves in that direction.

Professor John Barclay, President, TRS-UK

Tim Hutchings and Celine Benoit, School Liaison Officers, TRS-UK

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

AULRE, as an organisation, has tried to adjust to the new working and communication environments that have been enforced by the series of restrictions and lockdowns in 2020-2021. Members of the Executive and the Association, like so many others, have experienced increased pressure in their working lives as they have negotiated the different forms of online learning and teaching. Unfortunately, we had to postpone our annual conference for 2020. Nevertheless, there have been some notable successes to celebrate. In the later stages of the summer of 2020, Sean Whittle and Stephen McKinney were invited to be the co-editors of a special edition of the Journal of Religious Education (Whittle and McKinney, 2020, see link below). This well-received special edition included papers by members of AULRE and explored a number of highly relevant topics. I highlight some of the papers that are open access: Does RE matter? (Janet Orchard); Faith practitioners and the representation of religious traditions in secular RE (Emma Salter); Worldviews: overarching concept, discrete body of knowledge or paradigmatic tool? (Ruth Flanagan) and ‘Neutrality’, Muslimness and the whiteness of RE professionalism (Matthew Vince).

Another great success was the AULRE Conference 2021.  Sean Whittle organised a one-day AULRE online conference in collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University, on the 22^nd of June 2021. We record our thanks to Professor Bob Bowie and his colleagues at Canterbury Christ Church and Culham St. Gabriel’s for being the online hosts. This conference was highly successful and provided an opportunity for academics and school practitioners to engage in dialogue and probe the relationship between research and practice. There were two fascinating keynotes delivered by Kathryn Wright of Culham St. Gabriel’s and Professor Lynn Revell of Canterbury Christ Church. We are very grateful to them both for their thoughtful and thought-provoking presentations. The conference attracted a good number of participants and we noted with great pleasure a number of excellent papers delivered by academics based in Ireland. The broader international (online) reach of the AULRE conference reflected the increasing number of international academics who had been attending the pre-Covid physical face-to-face AULRE conferences. We were delighted to invite Culham St. Gabriel’s to present their strategic vision, operational plans and findings of some of their commissioned research at the conference. We continue to consolidate our close working partnership with Culham St. Gabriel’s.

As we move into 2021-2022, we can share our initial plans. We are preparing another special edition of papers for the Journal of Religious Education. We have invited those who presented papers at the conference in June to submit full length papers for peer review. The aim for 2022 will be to return to a physical face-to-face conference, possibly returning to Newman University in Birmingham. We hope to attract academics and school practitioners and, once again, attract a wide group of international participants.

Reference:

Whittle, S. and McKinney, S. J. (eds) (2020) AULRE 2020: RE Matters. Special Edition of Journal of Religious Education. 68 (3).

https://link.springer.com/journal/40839/volumes-and-issues/68-3

Stephen McKinney is Professor of Education in the University of Glasgow and the current chair of AULRE.

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 National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE – pronunciation vary…) is an organisation in England that exists solely to support its members https://nasacre.org.uk/about/aims  I re-joined the executive committee in 2018 (from Cornwall SACRE) during the conference and AGM that celebrated NASACRE’s 25^th anniversary. I’d served on the committee before, in the early 1990s when NASACRE was in its early days https://nasacre.org.uk/about/how-did-nasacre-start  It was great to be back.

NASACRE is a collegiate and democratic organisation where the professional attitudes and expertise displayed by members and by the executive committee combine to positive effect. We were faced with some difficult choices, but we focused our work on keeping things going through creative methods and new partnerships. We kept SACREs informed through the regular Briefings https://nasacre.org.uk/sacre-briefing/2019-20 , exchanged email news and answered queries about practical issues such as how to hold democratic SACRE meetings online, and continued to hold strategic policy meetings with the DfE, with the RE Council and with other RE associations. We held an online EGM in November 2020, making sure our own house was in order, and planned ahead for what turned out to be an exciting and very well-attended conference and AGM of nearly 200 people in May 2021. The very appropriate theme was ‘Authority in RE’ and we were reminded by our keynote speakers about the nature of authority – and how to interpret, create and sustain it.

The report on SACRE funding https://www.nasacre.org.uk/file/nasacre/1-376-nasacre-report-on-sacre-funding-in-england-2021.pdf was a highlight of the year. Although the main findings were not a surprise there were unexpected outcomes in terms of the impact of the report. These outcomes, and the reworking of the SACRE self-evaluation toolkit, a new website (pending), and new advice on how to write annual reports for DfE and others’ scrutiny, encouraged the executive to design an online professional development programme for SACRE members to see us all through the next year. We are also planning a real (!) conference for May 2022 – and I’m really looking forward to a proper reunion with colleagues and friends.

NASACRE’s hopes for next year are encapsulated in its mission statement – https://nasacre.org.uk/about/mission-statement – we will be listening to members, reacting to national and local initiatives and advising statutory and non-statutory bodies on RE and collective worship. We will especially continue our campaigning for adequate levels of resourcing for SACREs, and for professional development, and play a key role in any future debates about the place of RE and collective worship in schools.

I’m confident that we will have a creative and productive year ahead, as these hopes are based on cementing existing partnerships with other subject and civic associations, and on a realistic view of SACRE roles and responsibilities. These unique and statutory Councils are so much more than the vehicle for recommending an agreed syllabus. It is a privilege to work with them, and their individual members, and to take a lead role on the executive committee. Thank you to the whole team for a successful year in such difficult times.

Linda Rudge, Chair of NASACRE

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

In many ways, embarking on spiritual development involves ‘risking on purpose’. For many pupils there can be a stepping out of the safety of family beliefs and into exploring their own beliefs and worldview. Pupils become aware of the things that influence what they think, feel and believe and begin to recognise the lenses through which they view the world. It can be a moment of vulnerability and uncertainty where changes to spiritual schema can at times feel unsettling as what they think and believe changes.

David Smith, in his book ‘Making Sense of Spiritual Development’[1], rightly encourages us to acknowledge the darker side of spirituality with pupils, addressing how at times spiritual growth and motivations, coupled with our free will, can lead to outcomes that are less than desirable for society (such as using our creativity for evil or fulfilling a sense of belonging but through joining a cult or Neo-Nazi group).  Being open and honest towards the potential downsides of spirituality is important but must obviously be handled sensitively, with knowledge of pupils, their lived experiences and potential vulnerabilities at the forefront.

With regards to spiritual intimacy, Rebecca Nye says “The central factor is probably ‘feeling safe’, a feeling that it is okay to come closer, to surrender to something greater, than my conceptual (distancing) handle on things.” Nye believes spirituality thrives on intimacy- coming closer, delving deeper, taking risks and pursuing passions. It is ultimately a coming closer to yourself, others, the world and the concept of God or ‘Beyond’. Pupils need to feel safe and supported to be able to explore that ‘coming closer’ with a sense of authenticity and lasting value and adults should be aware of the potential of both sides of spiritual development at play in the classroom.

It is clear that spiritual development can, and should, only be undertaken with pupils within a safe and nurturing environment where there are strong, positive relationships between adults and children/young people and wider discussion and engagement amongst peers is well-facilitated to allow for respectful, positive interactions and the freedom for conflicting and contrasting views and beliefs to be expressed and explored. A community of enquiry and a culture of questioning will help to nurture safe spaces for spiritual development in any areas of the curriculum. Safe spiritual spaces, for both teachers and pupils, will maximise the positive effects of spiritual development whilst realistically confronting the potential negatives and exploring how best to help pupils to overcome these when they occur. Some strategies for nurturing ‘spiritual safety’ and supporting ‘risking on purpose’ with regards to spiritual growth might include:

• Embracing a worldviews approach to teaching RE so that everyone in the room feels seen and validated
• Nurturing a questioning culture in the classroom rather than a place for definitive answers
• Allowing for and actively encouraging the asking of ‘Big’ or ‘Ultimate’ questions about God, faith, life and the world.
• Resisting presenting matters of faith as definitive answers but instead allowing time for pupils to puzzle it out, question what they have previously believed and thought, challenging their own and other people’s spiritual convictions peacefully and respectfully and with a sense of curiosity. Creating a community of enquiry that extends to spiritual development itself.
• Embracing the concept of undoing and unlearning, so that spiritual development is also seen as a taking away, an adapting and a reducing, as well as a cumulative, additional process.
• Use of ‘silent debate’ to introduce pupils towards the art of sharing and reflecting honestly before whole class discussions are embarked upon.
• A class charter drawn up to capture the class’s agreement on how each member of the group/class should be respected and listened to when discussing matters of spiritual significance.
• Building in times for listening and making the connection between spiritual growth and vocation for pupils.
• Training for school staff on how to manage difficult conversations.
• Allowing time for private reflection which won’t be shared with anyone else. Journals and prayer/reflection spaces can support this.
• Embracing the two core statements of the ‘protective behaviours’ approach to safeguarding within a spiritual context:

 – We all have the right to feel safe all the time

 – We can talk with someone about anything, even if it feels awful or small

• Developing a ‘network hand’ of trusted adults pupils can turn to specifically with regards to spiritual growth.
• Planning for safe spiritual spaces in the physical environment of the school.

[1] David Smith, Making Sense of Spiritual Development, The Stapleford Centre, 1999

How important can 2 minutes 34 seconds be?

Time can be significant – the reign of the dinosaurs was long and will always captivate me yet sometimes tiny fragments of time are also significant – the famous football coach Brian Clough said it only takes a second to score a goal. I’d like to add to that – it only takes 2 mins 34 seconds to make you question everything! This is what happened to me.

The new animated film from the Theos Think Tank ‘Nobody stands nowhere’ by Emily Downe completely stopped me in my tracks! 2 mins 34 of film stuffed with powerful questions and statements. If you haven’t seen it please do – if I was still teaching I would be using this in so many ways!

So why am I so affected by it? Is it because my way of life has been to just get on with things? Always being aware that I was never the sharpest tool in the box? Have I just not really stopped and thought about Who I am or why I am the way I am?

Could it be that I just haven’t thought about my worldview? This film has changed that.

The film opens with the narration

‘What is your view of the world? How do you see things? What makes you who you are?  On what do you base your decisions? Why did you react like that?’

Wow – all this delivered over vibrant and thought-provoking animations… suddenly I asked myself these questions for what felt like the first time, particularly the reaction one.

As the film continues more engaging material emerges – everyone has their own worldview and the lens we look through is affected by our upbringing, surroundings or religion – sounds so obvious but over the years I have never really considered the different subtle and unsubtle things which have shaped my worldview. As I look back now I can see moments in my life where shifts were made. Big changes like when my family relocated from the West Midlands to Dorset when I was 13 leaving everyone and everything I knew behind.

The film goes on to say that our worldview changes throughout life – wouldn’t it be great if we all realised and accepted that? I am not the man I was when I was 18, 21, 33, 40 , etc my worldview has changed so much. I can recognise that I was deeply unrewarding as a youth and am eternally grateful that my family and some good friends have stuck with me through that process – now my worldview is ensuring everyone I come into contact with is helped by me where possible and given the chance to flourish. As a teacher I would always advise new teachers to my school to always think before speaking and acting ‘never give a message you wouldn’t want to receive’ – some of my colleagues were permanently cross and rude to students, unsurprisingly they did not gain much respect or co-operation.

The film goes on to say that we have a personal worldview, it shapes how we live but we need to recognise the worldviews of those around us – even if we have much in common on the surface our lenses will be different and consequently our worldview will be different too – how fascinating to see and understand a different worldview to our own?

One of the final questions raised is ‘Where does truth lie?’ – so much can come from this; truth claims from religions and worldviews, media bias and enforced stereotypes, ‘knowledge’ passed down from families as well as things that directly happen to us or those we know.

This film challenges us to think about, examine and understand our worldview, then recognise the right of others to a completely different personal worldview. We need to be perfectly happy that we are all different, able to share our world with those who are different but have just as much right to inhabit the space as we do.

I think this film is an exceptional teaching aid for all phases – there are so many ways you can build from it.

Next time you have 3 minutes to spare and a cup of whichever beverage your worldview favours, please watch this and reflect upon your personal lens.