To discuss in ‘break-out groups’ aspects of the NATRE Research Review’s key findings.

Deborah Weston advised that the 7 areas of the NATRE Research Review (which had included a comprehensive appendix explaining the legal context of RE and inspection arrangements) had been identified for further discussion in break out rooms.

SACRE Members were given 10 minutes to discuss before feeding back to the group.

A summary of the feedback is provided below:

§  Prioritising RE in the curriculum;

·         Inevitably, the prioritisation of RE in schools would depend on the management of each school and the enthusiasm of the Subject Leader.

·         Teachers had to ensure a full coverage of the RE curriculum. Teaching of different Faiths had to be balanced. Although it was challenging to cover the number of religions, adequate time had to be allocate to each in order to have enough depth of knowledge to understand a particular Faith.

§  The importance of CPD and subject knowledge;

•     CPD for staff was paramount however it also had to be appropriate for each different member of staff as some teachers would not have received specialist teaching in RE. It was also important to make connections with religious establishments who could support this understanding and even offer support by coming into school. Tariq Mahmood shared his experience of going into schools to talk about his Faith and work with the Islamic Centre.

•     Other methods of teaching could be impactful for pupils such as looking at different types of food to being a certain faith to life.

§  Three types of knowledge;

•     The importance of clarifying what was meant by each of the terms; ‘substantive’,’ ways of knowing’ and ‘personal knowledge’ was noted.

§  Collectively enough;

·         It was not possible at primary level to ‘dig deep’ into all religions; this would be undertaken at secondary level on the basis that as pupils move through year groups, their understanding would develop.

·         A group highlighted that none of them had been confident in having a true knowledge of the secondary landscape within Havering in terms of the RE CPD offer.

·         What is connective enough? A group had explored how much time could be spent on each religion? There were 9 recognised world religions; do you cover them all on a more superficial level or take a few at a deeper level? Would this also depend on the context of each school and its community? It was felt that it would be beneficial to explore common aspects of belief and to give students time to acquire knowledge and then challenge assumptions. The concern was also raised about how to best introduce more minority religions.

§  Balance;

·         Thanks were passed onto teachers for the amazing job they do in ensuring good quality RE in Havering schools. Going out to visit religious buildings/places of worship was another way to give greater context to different faiths.

§  Weak Framing;

§  School decisions that limit high quality RE;

SACRE Members were thanked for their contribution to the discussion.

Clarification was given as to the meaning of ‘world view’ which referred to both religious and non-religious world views. There ARE 2 different types of ‘world view’ – personal world view which might be shaped by experiences learnt from parents, friends and life experiences and the other type was institutional; the view of lots of people such as the ‘Christian  world view’ or the ‘Humanist’ for example.

It was agreed that at the next meeting a video would be shown to SACRE Members to give further clarification.

ACTION: HGS