Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) held at The Castle, Winchester, on Tuesday 24 February 2009
PRESENT
Chairman
p Councillor A. McNair Scott ( Hampshire County Council)
Vice-Chairman
p Honorary Alderman S. Juniper (Hampshire County Council)
a Ms M. Allder - Society of Friends (Quakers)
p Mr M. Ansar - Sunni Islam
p Mrs E. Bellchambers - Higher Education - Co-opted
p Mr H. Benzie - Methodist Church
Mr T. Blackshaw - Church of England
p Councillor Mrs A. Buckley - Hampshire County Council
Mrs D. Casson - Teachers Association
p Mrs J. Chong - Roman Catholic
Mrs R. Costambeys - Secondary Education - Co-opted
Mr A. Singh-Digpal - Sikhism
p Mr B. Hay - Church of England
p Mr C. Hughes - Fellowship of Independent Evangelical
Churches
p Mrs E. Jenkerson - Baha'I
a Mr J. Klein - Judaism
p Mrs J. Lemon - Special Education - Co-opted
Ms J. McGregor - Salvation Army
Mr M. Nurmohammed - Shia Islam
p Mrs J. O'Reilly - Humanism - Co-opted
Councillor Sam Payne - Hampshire County Council
Mrs A. Post - Primary Education - Co-opted
p Mrs J. Pridmore - Teachers Association
a Revd. G. Rock - Buddhism
Mr J. Schofield - Teachers Association
Mr J.L. Sharma - Hinduism
Mrs P. Smith - Teachers Association
p Mr P. Tipple - Baptist Union
p Canon J. Turpin - Church of England
p Mrs L. Weatherley - Church of England
Also in attendance: Mrs M. Gordon James, Buddhism deputy and Anas Al-Korj, a Member of a neighbouring SACRE.
123. APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from Ms M. Allder, Mr J. Klein and Revd. G. Rock.
124. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members were mindful that, where they believed that they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally, at the time of the debate, declare their interest, and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 12 of the Code.
There were no declarations of interest made by Members under this item.
125. MINUTES
The Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Advisory Council held on 4 November 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
126. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS
a. Constitution Update
The Council was informed that a revision of the constitution was approaching completion, and that a draft would be available for consideration by Members at the next meeting of SACRE in July. It was anticipated that the finalised revision would go before the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) in early September, and be in place for the November meeting of SACRE.
b. Correspondence with a Member of the Public
The Chairman drew SACREs attention to correspondence she had received from a member of the public in response to a headline in the Andover Advertiser, relating to item 7 on the agenda. The Chairman informed Members that a copy of the report as referred to in the article had been sent to that person in an effort to address their concerns.
c. Retirements of Julius Klein and Reverend Ganshin Rock
The Chairman informed Members that Julius Klein had recovered from his recent illness, however Julius was retiring as a Member of SACRE. Tribute was paid to Julius' service on SACRE.
The Chairman informed Members that Revd. Rock was retiring as a Member of SACRE, and Mrs M. Gordon-James would be replacing him as the Buddhist representative. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman asked Mrs Gordon-James to convey their thanks to Revd. Rock for his service to SACRE.
d. Retirement of Honorary Alderman Stuart Juniper
The Chairman informed Members that Hon. Alderman Stuart Juniper was retiring as Vice-Chairman and as a Member of SACRE. The Chairman and Council thanked Alderman Juniper for his service as a Member and as Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
e. Welcome
The Chairman welcomed Mrs E. Jenkerson, Mrs J. Pridmore and Mrs J. Chong to their first SACRE meeting, and Mr Anas Al-Korj observing the meeting as part of his training for a neighbouring SACRE.
127 DEPUTATIONS
There were no deputations made under this item.
128 MONITORING SUB GROUP
The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) of the Monitoring Sub Group. At the previous meeting of the Sub Group an update was provided on the progress of Katherine Wedell's qualitative survey. Members welcomed the news that Living Difference had made a positive impact in all five areas of investigation in her research. It was reported that Living Difference had enabled strong developmental progress in the schools that Katherine had contacted and that the methodology of the syllabus had aided development. Members were concerned about the schools where contact hadn't been made, as there was no way to find out how effective the teaching of Living Difference was, particularly as inspectors had to be invited in. Members were informed that Katherine Wedell's research would be used alongside the quantitative survey from 2006 as an evidence base for the upcoming review of the Agreed Syllabus.
The group had insufficient time to analyse the School Self Evaluation Forms, and therefore the results of the forms would go before the next meeting of the Sub Group and before SACRE on 9 July.
The Council discussed Member monitoring visits. Members shared their experiences of the visits and were pleased to see the positive impact Living Difference was having on children. Members were keen to continue these visits as they felt they were particularly important to their development as effective SACRE Members. It was acknowledged that the QCA welcomed Member involvement in schools.
RESOLVED:
That a report on the monitoring visits of SACRE Members go to NASACRE, and be made available to the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services, and that a further allocation of money for monitoring visits in 2009/10 be sought.
129 TEACHING ABOUT THE CREATIONISM AND EVOLUTION DEBATE IN SCHOOLS
The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on a unit produced by the County RE Inspector, to provide a structure to support enquiry into creationism and evolution in Secondary schools. The unit would use the conceptual enquiry based model of Living Difference and would introduce `inter-disciplinarity' into schools as recommended by the QCA.
Members praised the unit and felt it was a good example of Living Difference as it would help children ask questions, particularly how faiths respond to evolution stand points.
Members felt it important that the unit recognised a number of faiths and the positions taken by them, as the paper largely focused on Christian ideas of creationism. Members were keen for the paper to provide further areas of reading, but acknowledged its value in enabling children to understand that there are different responses made by faiths to evolution standpoints.
RESOLVED:
That the unit, which exemplifies the conceptual enquiry approach of Living Difference, be disseminated to secondary schools through the IT learning platform, secondary mailing and development groups, subject to additional reading references being added to the paper, and that feedback be invited.
130 COMMUNITY COHESION PROJECT
The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the progress of the Community Cohesion Project in its second year. Schools were continuing to collaborate on the project with many incorporating it into both RE and History.
Members were disappointed to learn that the funding to support schools in this project would not be available from the end of April 2009, however, they were pleased that the Archive Office and Museum Service would be continuing to provide support. Members praised the impact of the project and hoped that schools would recognise this and continue to pay for it.
RESOLVED:
That SACRE endorse the continued developments of the Community Cohesion project.
131 NETWORKING WITH LOCAL SACRES
The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the activities of the joint SACRE meetings. Members endorsed joint meetings as good opportunities to share ideas and good practice.
Members discussed the proposed activities suggested at the previous meeting of the joint SACRE to raise the awareness of SACREs and their work. Members were broadly supportive of these plans as they believed raising the profile of SACREs was important. However, they felt more clarity was needed from the next networking group, particularly if they were to support the production of a pamphlet. Members were enthusiastic about the potential for a website.
Members endorsed the review of a joint agreed syllabus.
RESOLVED:
That SACRE endorse the proposal to pursue a review of a joint agreed syllabus and that the profile of the work of SACREs be raised by supporting some of the initiatives suggested.
132 THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM
The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) summarising the review of the primary curriculum by Sir James Rose. Members were pleased that many of the suggestions in the report have already been introduced by Living Difference, particularly a concept led program and using a methodology. Members felt this review had the potential to develop RE further and were pleased to note this review advocated `inter-disciplinarity' in much the same way as the paper at item 7.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.
133 CHANGE OF MEETING DATE
The Council noted the change in date of the next meeting to Thursday 9 July, starting at 2.00pm at an outside venue.