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Welcome to this issue
of the REC newsletter. If you have information about projects,
conferences, reports or developments you'd like included in the next one please
email it to me by 21st July. It should be in the format of a
heading, two or three sentences giving the basics and a website or email
address where readers can obtain fuller details.
Best wishes,
Sarah Smalley,
Executive Support Officer, RE Council of England and Wales
CELEBRATING RE
A bi-national month long celebration of RE in England and Wales is being
planned for March 2011. Activities are
being planned by SACREs and faith and belief communities as well as schools;
these will include visits, performances, creative approaches and competitions
as well as exhibitions and displays which flag up the interesting work people
are already doing in RE. We hope every
pupil in every school will be able to take part in some kind of special event
or activity during Celebrating RE month.
Further details on the website (now live, at last!): www.celebratingre.org
RE CPD E-HANDBOOK
With the aim of developing the subject and professional knowledge of teachers
of religious education, the DCSF and the Religious Education Council of England
and Wales have commissioned the production of an online Religious Education
Handbook. The Handbook is actively supported by a number of leading religious
education organisations. While not aiming to be comprehensive, the Handbook
aims to make a major contribution to the continuing professional development of
both primary and secondary teachers. In addition to guidance on teaching,
learning and assessment in religious education, the Handbook will provide
up-to-date information on important initiatives such as community cohesion.
With the contributions from faith communities, academics, advisors and
teachers, this new online resource will be peer-reviewed before publication,
and should be live from June 2010. The
link for the project will be: www.re-handbook.org.uk - PLEASE note this is still work in progress until peer review and steering
group approval.
The Religious Education Handbook is edited by Professor Liam Gearon,
,
to whom should be sent comments, critiques and suggestions.
RE-SILIENCE
The REsilience project,
designed to build secondary teachers'confidence to handle contentious issues in
RE, has now completed its pilot stage in England and is in the process of doing
so in Wales. Project mentors have been
interviewed and selected and training will take place in late June. Schools are invited to register interest in
taking part by signing up on the website at www.re-silience.org.uk
WESTHILL ENDOWMENT FUNDED RESEARCH
PROJECT
'How has a Subject Booster
Course influenced a group of RE interns in their classroom practice and sense
of competence as emerging RE teachers?' (Department of Education,
Oxford University)
This is a qualitative research project using a 'life histories'
approach examining whether a subject booster course in world religions and
humanism gives trainees the skills needed to build their competence in the
classroom and how it might affect the kind of RE teachers they want to
be. A control group who did not do a booster course, alongside the perceptions
of course providers, will help to identify emerging themes. In terms of impact
and benefit to the wider community the findings will help ITE providers and
students evaluate the benefits of such courses as well as contributing to wider
academic and professional understanding of the concept of subject knowledge
within RE and hopefully pave the way for further research and collaboration
into the role of PGCE courses in RE.
Further details at: www.share-re.org.uk/pg/dashboard/ or from
JAINPEDIA
JAINpedia
is a national project which is digitising Jain manuscripts held in the V&A
Museum, British Library, Wellcome Trust Library and Bodleian Library Oxford; it
will hold major exhibitions over the next 2 years at these institutions. The
first JAINpedia exhibition opened at the V&A on Friday 14th May
10 and will be displayed in the Museum's prestigious Nehru Gallery of Indian
Art till 31st December 2012. The exhibition will consist of 20
beautiful manuscripts, manuscript covers and paintings a series of events and
activities will coincide with this special display. For more information please visit www.jainpedia.org or contact Rajiv Anand (Museum Consultant) or contact
NEWS
FROM INSTITUTE OF JAINOLOGY
Dr Harshad N Sanghrajka was invited by several
ASEAN countries to present lectures on Jainism.
A course developed by the Institute to discuss a
philosophical poem, The Self Realisation, on Jain ontology, doctrine and
sotereology was delivered in 10 sessions of two hours each. The course was well
received and advantage was taken of the spare time to arrange discussions on
various religious topics. The tour lasted for two weeks in India as a religious
retreat and eight weeks in Singapore, Malaysia and Perth in Australia; similar
courses have been requested for the future from all locations. www.jainology.org
NEW RESOURCES ON NATRE WEBSITE
NATRE has launched four new resources on its website (www.natre.org.uk):
1.
Developing RE through Music. This
resource is based around a database of songs which could be used to support
teaching and learning in RE. It is divided into 60 different RE themes. You can
'click and listen' to an extract. More will be added over the course of
the term
2.
Big Picture for RE. The
Big Picture for RE contains links from each aspect of the curriculum
to relevant RE materials. It is an ideal tool for quick reference and to
support CPD.
3.
Support pack. This
is designed to support new groups starting out as well as providing some
inspiration for established NATRE group of teachers. The pack is full of ideas,
tips, resources, examples of what is working well in other groups ... and more.
Email
if you want to
find out more.
4.
Bursaries. The
outcomes of 20 NATRE curriculum bursaries. Projects cover the 4 - 16 age-range
and provide an invaluable collection of ideas and stimulus to your own planning
and delivery of RE. [Members' area]
NEW
BREA WEBSITE
BREA,
the Baha'i RE Agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
UK, has just launched its new website. This is intended to be of
assistance to RE teachers wishing to address the Baha'i faith and
its teachings. The website is located at www.BREAuk.org
AULRE CONFERENCE
The Annual Conference of the Association of University
Lecturers in Religion and Education (AULRE) will be held on July 1st and
2nd in Norwich. The topic is "Religion, Education and Spiritual
Development" and keynote speakers include Professor Ursula King and Dr
Marion Bowman. The conference is open to members and non-members alike - all
REC member organisations are very welcome - and will address the nature of
spirituality as well the its relationship to education.
For further details and application forms please see the AULRE website: www.aulre.org.uk
RESEACH
REPORT ON CHRISTIAN AND ATHEIST STUDENT TEACHER ATTITUDES
Dr Lynn Revell, an RE tutor at Canterbury
Christ Church University, has completed a research project on Christian and
atheist student RE teachers' attitudes to objectivity and professionalism. This
revealed that the Christians believe that sharing their faith would be
unprofessional whereas atheists believed that sharing their beliefs could be a
positive contribution to an RE lesson. The research report is available from
Lynn at Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1QU or
.
THE RE TEACHER
WEEKEND OCTOBER 16-17TH 2010
‘RE for the 2010's - a new curriculum context'. Have you thought about this
outstanding residential opportunity for CPD provided by the leading providers? If you've attended one of the earlier
Weekends - do tell your colleagues who are RE teachers and encourage them to
share good times. If you haven't been to
an RE Teacher Weekend go to http://www.culham.ac.uk/sg/octoberconference.php for details of the weekend [free except for
travel costs] and previous events - including a short video of what's in store
if you come.
ALL FAITHS AND NONE
(AFAN)
(www.afan.uk.net) All Faiths and None is
the curriculum resource developed with DfES support, primarily for 16-19
students in FE colleges. The resource is
being used in many colleges to assist with the implementation of the new
non-statutory framework for SMSC in FE (available at: http://www.lsis.org.uk/Documents/Publications/SMSC%20Web.pdf ). It has also been trialled and found
useful in school Sixth Form and 14-19 contexts. Free staff development workshops are being offered to
colleges this term and it may be possible to include one or two schools,
initially in the London/SE region in July. If your school would be interested
please let us know at
.
HINDU ACADEMY
Assembly at Eton College
on: ‘Why youth today prefer to be labelled Spiritual rather than Religious?'
It was suggested that the reason why youngsters move away from religions
and prefer to be labelled as spiritual is because they find religious teachings
at loggerheads with science and common sense. The term spiritual offers them
greater freedom to explore a deeper dimension to themselves as well as the
world they live in. Discovering spirituality through variety of other
endeavours like art, music, poetry, literature and science are considered far
more attractive. Religions can be viewed as theistic as well as non-theistic
approaches adopted by mankind to achieve the same end using different
guises. For further information see www.hinduacademy.org
HINDU COUNCIL UK
Hindu Council UK (www.hinducounciluk.org) continues to
offer a faith perspective on health issues. A session was organised by the
Association of Pastoral Care for Mental Health in Croydon. Hindu insights on
issues relating to mental health were explored. Consumerism promoted by strong
commercial forces with the support of robust advertising produces a vicious
cycle that keeps the ordinary person permanently under stress to perform and on
the point of mental breakdown. It was suggested that religions have a serious
role to play in breaking this vicious cycle by promoting spiritual aspirations
over material ones. HCUK also contributed at a seminar held by the Ethnic
Minority Centre of Mitcham on the theme of ‘Preventing Violent Extremism' by promoting the idea of spiritual democracy which allows each individual to
unfold spiritually in the mode that suits his or her own temperament.
SHARE
REonline has recently launched a new online
social network for RE (www.share-re.org.uk ). This is for everyone involved in religious education and enables users
to network at a professional level.
Entitled Share, the
site has been piloted with Oxford University's RE PGCE group and has proved a
great success with trainees, tutors and mentors; users can set up profiles, join
and set up groups, search for and share resources and get help and advice from
their peers. We hope all RE
professionals will join the network and really connect with RE. We are also
extending an open invitation to all RE organizations and RE PGCE groups to
freely use the site to interact with their members and trainees, promote their
resources and news or simply to promote themselves to the RE community. For
more information, see: http://www.share-re.org.uk or contact James Robson:
BAHA'I INTER FAITH STUDY COURSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The
Bahá'í community of the UK is offering an Interfaith study course entitled
"Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change". Developed by
the International Environment Forum and piloted in the US and UK, the course will
enable participants to gain a deeper understanding of climate change by
learning about its underlying causes and some of its impacts, to explore
ethical questions connected to climate change and address these within the
context of the spiritual teachings found in the world's religions, and to
discuss and apply practical solutions. A participant on the UK pilot course in
April 2010 commented "The course fills an important gap in my understanding
that the earth is a vital resource. With greater knowledge comes greater
responsibility. Now I need to address the causes and do
something!".......... For further
information email Ineke Gijsbers on
or Jenny Lockwood on
.
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