1. Who’s scared of Sacred space?
Joyce Miller
Lancashire primary RE conference, 2009

2. What do we mean by sacred space?

3. The natural world

4. cemeteries

5. memorials

6. Places of worship

7. Sacred space
Sacred space is any space - within the school grounds, the local community, the region, the nation, the world - where children can explore religious, spiritual and moral questions...

8. Learning outside the classroom -LOtC
Major government initiative to promote learning outside the classroom
Eight separate sectors working together
‘Out and about guidance’
Health, safety, risk and benefit
So, who’s scared ?

9. Religious communities?
Confidence and competence
Visitors’ expectations
‘Representation’ – religion as it is, warts and all.

10. The quality badge scheme for lotc
There are six quality indicators for ‘providers’:
has a process in place to assist users to plan the learning experience effectively;
provides accurate information about its offer;
provides activities, experience or resources which meet learner needs;
reviews the experience and acts on feedback;
meets the needs of the users;
has safety management processes in place to manage risk effectively.

11. The new LOtC council

12. Benefits for ‘providers’
Contacts with community members
Links with local (and other) schools
Contributing to children’s learning
Sharing of outcomes – pupils’ work displayed
Money!

13. Are the Children scared?
Fear
Prejudice
Boredom

14. Benefits for children (1)
Children can engage first hand with religious communities: visits, interviews and research- i.e. Engage in ethnographic research
Enables study of real people and breaks
down stereotypes
They can become ‘skilled cultural navigators’

15. Benefits for children (2)
‘Edification’ - the application of experience to their own lives
Opportunity for reflection and the development of empathy
Spiritual moral social and cultural development
Aesthetic experience

16. As it says on our website...
‘... getting pupils outside the classroom and into sacred space can not only improve the quality of religious education but contribute to pupils' spiritual development as well as giving many opportunities for exciting cross-curricular learning.’

18. Parents? Fear Prejudice Withdrawal clause
Advice on how to pre-empt problems see

19. Benefits for parents
Gives their children knowledge of the outside world
Contact with difference in a safe space

20. Teachers?
Confidence
Competence
Bureaucracy

21. Benefits for teachers -1
Contribution to pupils’ cognitive development
Understanding of religious concepts
Interpretation of religious language and symbols
Cross - curricular learning opportunities
See this term’s RE Today for 10 tips on LOtC in sacred space

22. Benefits for teachers - 2
Contribution to duty to promote community cohesion
Appreciation of difference and awareness of commonality
Opportunity to explore key concepts of identity and community

23. 1. Community cohesion - characteristics
A common vision and sense of belonging for all
Diversity is appreciated
Similar life opportunities
Strong and positive relationships are developed
First published in by the LGA, following the Cantle report.
How do these and the following list apply to schools in general and to RE in particular?

24. Commission on integration & cohesion
Shared futures – an emphasis on articulating what binds communities together
A new model of rights and responsibilities
A new emphasis on mutual respect and civility – strengthening social bonds within groups
Visible social justice – prioritising transparency and building trust

25. 2. Commonalities as well as differences
Through exploration and engagement, find what is held in common between religions and beliefs
Avoid focusing on the different and the ‘interesting’
The shared heritage of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam should be
explored.
Kaffir e.g. anti-semitism

26. 3. Identity(ies) and community(ies)
Key concepts
They are organic, fluid and multiple
They are not fixed and unchanging
Explore what they mean with children and young people
Linking between communities is important but the internal strength of communities is important and often neglected
A deficit model of communities, such as Muslim communities, is exacerbated by Islamophobia.
What follows now is : three general statements about RE and community cohesion, followed by three more specific examples

27. Finally....
Two reminders and words of warning:

28. Avoid assumptions...
Learning about religions will not necessarily promote community cohesion. At worst, it will increase alienation by focusing on ‘otherness’
Pupils bring their own preconceptions, prejudices and misinformation to the classroom.
If they are not challenged, they will remain.
Refer to research of Short and Carrington in 1992.

29. And remember that... Teachers are not defenders of faiths
Don’t sanitise or homogenise religions
Respect is not synonymous with indiscriminating tolerance
Not everything religious is worthy of respect

30. Essential websites