Agenda item

Members referred to the report and took a few minutes to discuss in small groups if there were any comments that they wished to raise to the wider group.

A Member stated that the report suggested that academies continued to ignore the statutory requirements in terms of the teaching of religious education. A Professional Advisor responded that academies were free to follow a religious education curriculum of their own choice or indeed write their own however that SACRE would continue to encourage academies to reflect on their teaching practices of religious education as demonstrated by the on-going website checks undertaken by the group. Members noted however that should an academy deliver their own curriculum, there were not set guidelines as to the required content however that the DfE had set out the expectation that there would need to be evidence of progress and that attendance at assemblies which include some religious teaching, was not adequate.

It was noted that more Ofsted Inspectors were now referring to Religious Education in their reports. Members were advised that HMI had increased the profile of Religious Education referring explicitly to the teaching of this subject at a recent Policy Exchange.

A Professional Advisor reported that those academies which had been highlighted as a concern during the website checks had been written to; a number had responded by updating their websites. Those academies who had not responded would be sent a reminder letter. Members noted that once the GCSE results were published in August, SACRE would have 3 comparative data sources; website, school workforce data and GCSE outcomes to review in order to identify those academies not following the law in the respect of Religious Education teaching. It was agreed that website checks would be taken on an annual basis in the autumn term.

A Member sought clarification regarding a number of professional associations referred to within the report and were advised as follows:

NASACRE – National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education

AULRE – Association of University Lecturers of Religious Education

AREIAC - Association of Religious Inspection Advisors and Consultants

NATRE – National Association of Teachers of Religious Education

The Professional Advisor confirmed that these associations were not Trade Unions.

Members discussed the definition of ‘analagous’ with reference to the inclusion of Humanism representatives with a SACRE (referring to the Welsh Governments statement that is was for the Local Authority to decide upon the relevant composition of a SACRE) as the definition of how religions defined ‘analagous’ remained vague. A Professional Advisor explained that the guidance also stated that such definition was a matter for each local SACRE and that Havering SACRE, which already welcomed a Humanist representative, had been inclusive of all faiths for some years. A query was made as to whether, in that respect SACRE might need to invite a representative from the ‘Jedi’ religion, for example. The Professional Advisor responded that this would be a decision for the Local Authority to make, and not the SACRE however that this would be very unlikely as there would be the need to evidence that there was such an identifiable community within Havering.