Written update (to follow or be tabled at the meeting)

Mr Hugill’s written report was that:

1:         Teacher Supply & Bursaries

NATRE had been working with other RE organisations (the RE Council and Culham St Gabriel’s) to try and get bursaries restated for trainee RE teachers.  This had involved press campaigns, lobbying of Ministers at DfE, and working with civil servants.  He provided several links to web-pages for Members to pursue.

2:         Progress Measure and Best 8

NATRE had put together a paper for use by Secondary Heads of RE to help convince Head teachers to enter the whole cohort for Full Course GCSEs.  It focused on the new progress measure in the league tables (Best 8). 

NATRE said that:

“At the start of the new calendar year, many schools begin to turn their attention to planning their curriculum for the next academic year.  The fact that from 2014 the short course no longer counts towards the performance measures, even though it remains an accredited GCSE qualification for pupils, has put some provision for RS at risk. It is NATRE's position that short course remains a valuable means of accrediting pupils' learning at key stage 4.  This article suggests however, that in many schools around the country, full course RS for all might be a serious and viable option which is in the best interests of both the pupils and the school as a whole.”

The paper focused on the new progress measure in the league tables (Best 8).  The paper could be found at:

http://www.natre.org.uk/news.php

3:         All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for RE

The APPG on RE was chaired by Stephen Lloyd MP, Liberal Democrat for Eastbourne.  The Group had been running an inquiry focussing on 'the contribution of RE to good community relations’.  The Inquiry had been split into three sections which concentrated on schools, communities and society respectively.  Following three oral evidence sessions and submissions from across the country, Stephen Lloyd MP would be hosting an event to celebrate the publication and launch of the report.  The launch will be at the House of Commons on the 17^th March 2014.

4:         Exam Reform

The reform of GCSE and A-levels was now under-way following a meeting between RE professionals, exam boards, DfE, Ofqual and other interested parties.  There was likely to be a consultation over the summer and members of SACREE were urged to “keep an eye out for this”.

5:         NATRE #REChatUK

An online RE chat on Twitter was taking place monthly.  Mr Hugill provided the following details for any member who wished to join the “Twitter chat”:

#REchatUK took place on Monday 3 March 2014 8 - 9pm. If you missed it and want to catch up on the discussion on ‘Teaching difficult and sensitive issues in RE’ you can see it here

Thanks to those who contributed. Do take a look and please consider taking part next month: Monday 7th April 8 - 9pm.

If you have any suggestions as to what next month's topic should be please send a tweet to @NATREupdate

Like beekeeping, religious education is best when it's controversial

In conclusion, Mr Hugill’s report informed members that: Guardian Education recently interviewed him for an article on Religious Education.  In the article he had suggested that RE was best when it was controversial.  It also drew parallels with one of hisother interests - beekeeping.  Members were informed that the article could be found by following the link below:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/16/teaching-religious-education-beekeeping