Archived decisions

Appendix 1

Letter to Lord Adonis - 12 July 2007

Dear Minister,

Members of Hampshire's Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) welcome the recent report from Ofsted Making Sense of Religion and consider it to be full of insight, bold and informative. I would like to make the following observations on their behalf .

1. SACRE members agree with the observations made about those with responsibility for religious education having the crucial task of ensuring that pupils and students are able to make sense of religion, particularly in the current climate of promoting and developing social cohesion and educating for diversity.

2. The group agrees that the present arrangement for SACREs benefits RE by stimulating creative thinking and innovative ideas locally and that greater centralisation would inhibit this creativity ( Making sense of religion page 38 no.122). It is through such creative thinking from the teachers and SACRE members of the three authorities involved that the agreed syllabus for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, Living Difference, emerged. This document has broken new ground in the field of religious education with its single attainment target, focus on concepts and a particular methodology for teaching and learning in accord with and extending other national generic strategy initiatives. The syllabus reflects the developing focus on pedagogy exemplified in Excellence and Enjoyment and the Secondary Curriculum Review.

3. SACRE members strongly endorse the recommendation made in the report to the Department for Education and Skills that the revision of the current framework for RE considers a single attainment target for the subject

(Making sense of religion page 8.)

The experience of Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton teachers and

pupils following the locally agreed syllabus, Living Difference, indicates that

the single attainment target `Interpreting religion in relation to human

experience' provides clarity and guidance for the subject .

4. SACRE members noted that weaknesses remain in the way that progression is insufficiently defined (Making sense of religion page 5). Members welcome the recommendations made in the Ofsted report ( Making sense of religion page 22 and 23, no.59) which illustrate how teachers might use assessment to develop learning. In Hampshire schools the level descriptors of Living Difference are successfully directing and informing progression in pupils' learning.

5. The group noted that the report makes references to the need for pupils and

students to gain a secure `conceptual framework' and to `deepen their

understanding through investigation' (Making sense of religion pages 10 and

25). It also noted the need for pupils and students to `reflect on issues about personal identity, meaning and truth' and to `criticise and evaluate difference viewpoints' (pages 40, no.134 and page 41 no.138). SACRE members wholeheartedly agree with these statements which, they suggest, are achieved through the conceptual enquiry approach of Living Difference through its 5 step cycle of learning. This approach was developed in response to an overwhelming request from teachers to provide guidance on how to teach RE effectively and has been widely welcomed in schools.

Hampshire SACRE members are pleased to identify common ground with the sentiments and recommendations of the Ofsted report and seek your responses to the findings and your plans for implementing some of the recommendations. We would be very interested in taking part in any future consultations in the light of the good practice achieved in Hampshire schools as identified by Ofsted in their school inspection reports and in international journals. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss some of these issues with you .

Yours sincerely

Councillor David Kirk