Nottinghamshire SACRE 8 April, 2008 RE and community cohesion: Sticking plaster or healing balm? Mark Chater, QCA curriculum division

‘RE gives me a headache’ Whenever I come out of RE my head is exploding with questions and my whole body aches – this is not because I don’t understand – it is because I’m buzzing with new thoughts. (13 year old girl, quoted in the Independent, 10 January 2008)

Sticking plaster and healing balm ‘The dividing lines (between good and evil) go through us, not between us’ Clifford Longley, Thought for the Day BBC Radio 4, Monday 7 April

What is our context? - Global agenda: religious, cultural and territorial - Public policy agenda: cohesion, ECM, Children’s Plan, with tailored and co-ordinated services - Curriculum agenda: towards relevance, flexibility and personalised learning, safeguarding coherence - RE agenda: showcasing our successes, being honest about our weaknesses

Pupils speak about RE … I just thought that people were all the same, then I learned religions … and it’s exciting. (Ellie, age 9) I do not believe in God but I still enjoy RE. (Glenn, age 10) Why Sikhs offer food to all in the langar … to show that there are people with God in them and they want to have God near them, too. (Callum, age 7) Everyone participates … we teach each other … we think outside the box … if most people are learning like us, there would be less ignorance and more respect. (Kasim, 16)

RE: strengths Contribution to personal wellbeing and community cohesion Quality of teaching and learning is improving Entries and attainment in GCSE and A level are rising Impact of the Framework SACRE performance (two thirds)

RE: areas for development Time and resourcing Standards in AT1 and AT2 Planning, assessment and differentiation Variable agreed syllabus quality Subject leadership SACRE performance

Evidence Serious concern in secondary: standards, challenge, relevance, progression, agreed syllabus quality (Ofsted 2007) Quality of learning experience, training and shortage of specialists (REC, 2007) Lack of conceptual understanding (Hayward 2007) Ineffective monitoring of RE quality (QCA and SACREs, )

Debating points … RE that focuses mainly on ‘learning about’ is sticking-plaster RE. RE that is fractured between ‘learning about’ and ‘learning from’ is weak RE. Weak RE fails to deliver on its promise of promoting community cohesion and personal wellbeing.

We see the new curriculum as … De-congested, flexible Promoting teacher and pupil ownership of our curriculum Building on good practice, fostering confidence and trust to innovate Driven by concepts and skills

What curriculum do we want for the pupils? Successful learnersSuccessful learners who are creative, have enquiring minds, think for themselves, understand how they learn, know about big ideas and events … Confident individualsConfident individuals who have a sense of self-worth, make healthy choices, are willing to try new things, are open to excitement … Responsible citizensResponsible citizens who act with integrity, understand different cultures, challenge injustice, maintain and improve the environment …

What RE do we want for the pupils? Challenging and relevant Driven by concepts and skills, with appropriately selected content The mutuality of ‘learning about’ and ‘learning from’ … … leading to rich pedagogy, ‘thick’ description, clear progression Informed by principles of assessment for learning and “when ready” testing

QCA’s work for RE The Framework … into the new secondary curriculum Exemplified in units of work Year 1-9 Progressed into GCSE criteria Framework guidance for agreed syllabus conferences All on With SACREs and the DCSF A partner in the RE Action Plan Updating Circular 1/94 Advice and case studies on spiritual and moral development New SACRE reporting format

Questions What should be in the revision of Circular 1/94? - what’s important about RE? - what should the SACREs be doing? How will a concepts and skills approach work to make RE a healing balm?