Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

SACRE Item 7

5 June 2007

Report on the Monitoring Sub Group

Report of the Director of Children's Services

1

Summary

1.1

The Agreed Syllabus Living Difference was published and distributed to schools in September 2004 and became the legal document for all schools to follow at that time. In order for SACRE to monitor the impact of Living Difference a questionnaire was sent to all Hampshire schools in early January of this year to elicit feedback . The monitoring sub group were requested (reference to Item 6 para.2.4 of the SACRE meeting of 27 February 2007) to scrutinise the findings and report to SACRE.

1.2

The monitoring sub group met on 19^th March of this year and discussed the responses to the questionnaire. This report provides a summary of the findings.

It relates to points 2 of the SACRE Development Plan (evaluating the implementation of the Agreed Syllabus).

This paper supports the Corporate Strategy (maximising well being) by ensuring children's provision in religious education is secure.

2

Recommendations

a)

That SACRE note the report and recommend that these findings be revisited within the review of the agreed syllabus in two years time.

3

Background

3.1

Primary Phase Schools

129 primary schools completed the questionnaire. This constituted 28.6% of Hampshire primary phase schools.

Section 1 Provision

· Leadership

A high percentage of schools have indicated that they have effective leadership of the subject with only 2.2% which judge themselves to not have effective leadership.

· Teaching

A high percentage of schools indicate effective teaching of RE across each school (89.6%), but the majority of these are in the "agree", rather than "strongly agree" category.

Section 2 Development

· Almost all schools have received training in implementing the Agreed Syllabus (99.2%). Additionally, 45.5% of schools have received further support.

· 85.1% of schools claim that all teaching staff are familiar with the requirements of Living Difference. 86.6% of schools claim that the planned units of work for RE meet the requirements of Living Difference. 79.9% of staff teach according to the required methodology for conceptual enquiry.

· There is a significant drop in the percentage indicating assessment opportunities as part of RE teaching (62.7%) and a lower percentage still (only 44%) indicate that they are levelling samples of work for RE. The percentage of pupils involved in assessment of their RE work is low 25.4% and 16.4%. The focus for development needs to be in these areas.

· 44.5% of schools liaise with others across the key stages. Liaison, also, needs to be an area of development.

Section 3 Improvement

· These responses provide evidence of teaching of each element in the required cycle of learning for RE. There is evidence of the cycle being followed appropriately through each of its elements in 85% or more of the responses except in relation to "Evaluation" where the figure is 70.7%. Evaluation also needs to be a focus for improvement.

· Improvement in pupil's engagement in RE is 60.5%, improvement in challenge to pupils is 62%, and improvement in progression in achievement is 55.9% as a result of implementing Living Difference. These are promising results given that the implementation of Living Difference has been taking place for only 3 years. It is to be expected that these percentages will increase further over time.

Section 4 Attainment

· There is evidence of assessment informing planning and provision in 48.5% of responses; there is improvement in attainment across each key stage in 39.5% of responses. 30.3% of responses indicate that RE attainment compares favourably with that in other subjects as a result of implementing Living Difference.

3.2

Secondary Phase Schools

28 secondary schools completed the questionnaire. This constitutes 39.4% of Hampshire secondary schools.

Section 1 Provision

· Leadership and staffing

96.4% of responses indicate effective leadership but the lower figure of 78.6% applies to effective staffing.

Section 2 Development

· Nearly 90% of responders attended the implementation course provided by the RE team. Over 90% of responders have received further support as well.

· A high percentage of teaching staff (92.9%) are familiar with the requirements of the Agreed Syllabus. 89.3% of schools claim that the planned units of work for RE meet the requirements of Living Difference. 85.7% of staff teach according to the required methodology and 57.2% of responses claim that students are aware of the methodology.

· 71.4% of responses indicate that assessments are in place. This suggests that assessment has not been currently implemented alongside the methodology in a number of schools. 82.1% of respondents level work according to the levels of attainment of Living Difference and 96.4% of responses indicate that students are aware of how they are assessed which is pleasing. However, only 50% liaise across key stages which is disappointing and this is an area for improvement.

Section 3 Improvement

· These responses provide evidence of teaching of each element in the required cycle of learning for RE. Overall the responses indicate over 96% provide appropriate enquiry across the whole cycle except in "Evaluate" and in "Apply" where it is 92.9%. This is a pleasing response.

· Improvement in students' engagement in RE is 78.6%, improvement in challenge is also 78.6%, however the percentage responses under "strongly agree" and "agree" are significantly different. 67.9% of responses identify evidence of improvements in progression and achievement as a result of Living Difference. Further improvement can still be made in these areas.

Section 4 Attainment

· Returns identify 70% of students can assess and level their work accurately. 96.4% can identify how to improve. 78.6% can answer evaluative questions by focusing on appropriate key concepts to improve their attainment.

· Only 50% of responses indicate that there is evidence of improvement in attainment through a key stage. Only 25% of response evidence improvement in students' attainment in relation to GCSE. This is not surprising at this stage but these figures will be monitored over time to identify whether further improvement in attainment at GCSE is achieved.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

YES

NO

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

_

Maximising well-being

_

Enhancing our quality of place

_

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because: