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It was a delight to attend and give the keynote at NATRE’s Strictly RE Conference on Saturday. I enjoyed talking about the various jewels in our treasure boxes – our own worldviews, our pupils’ worldviews, our context, the intent of our school curriculum, our subject of religion and worldviews, and our curriculum content. I talked about falling in love with our subject all over again! If you are interested, you can find a link to my keynote at the end of this blog.

It was wonderful to be with so many dedicated teachers and other RE professionals all sharing their love for our great subject. The enthusiasm of so many teachers to develop their expertise and subject knowledge was evident throughout the day, and it was a pleasure to chat with so many. A few stand-out conversations for me included…. One with a Primary teacher who was so thrilled to be undertaking action research in her classroom with the University of Huddersfield, a Secondary PGCE student who wanted to immerse herself in the RE community from the beginning of her career, a secondary teacher who was now leading RE across a large MAT of over 30 primary and secondary schools, and a University tutor who is passionate about teachers undertaking their own research through Masters study.

Something I noticed this year was teachers’ desire to engage more with and in research i.e. finding out about and applying research and/or doing their own research. The presentations by Emma Raven (MSc), Anne Moseley (PhD) and Jennifer Juniper (Action research) highlighted this. We have recently published an introduction to Theologies of Reading which I spoke about in my keynote https://www.reonline.org.uk/resources/theologies-of-reading-new-perspectives-on-pupil-engagement-with-texts-an-introduction/ and some examples of application of this by Jennifer which she used in her seminar https://www.reonline.org.uk/teaching-resources/theologies-of-reading/

We are also delighted to be partnering with all the main RE Organisations and with Templeton World Charity Foundation to host a conference on Saturday 3^rd October which will bring together researchers and teachers in an exchange of knowledge and expertise. The booking for RExChange 2020 is now open https://www.cstg.org.uk/programmes/rexchange/

We look forward to continuing to resource and reimagine RE by opening up our treasure boxes together.

Download a pdf of the keynote below:

Looking back….

At the start of a new year it is good to reflect on things, to review and evaluate. I’ve now been in post as CEO of Culham St Gabriel’s for eight months. It seems to have flown by! I love my job! In those eight months I have met and worked with some amazing people who are passionate about the study of religion and worldviews. I’ve met teachers who want to see the subject valued and taught well in their schools. I’ve debated and discussed with advisers who spend time and energy supporting quality curriculum and pedagogical choices. I’ve attended meetings of various stakeholders who want to see the importance of the study of religion and worldviews promoted not only in schools, but more generally in public life. I’ve enjoyed getting to know other funders and exploring new ways of engaging with our grantees. The last eight months have been rewarding and fulfilling.

Looking forward…

Culham St Gabriel’s began a strategic review at the end of 2019 and will complete this ready for a new strategic plan to begin in September this year. It is evident that not only is society changing but also the lived reality of religion and worldviews is fluid. The world of education is changing too. These contextual factors are important for everyone, but particularly for a Trust like ours. Over this coming year we will be reviewing our programmes (Teach:RE, RE:ONLINE, Leadership Pilot and Research) and grants, as well as our work with stakeholders and funders in order to ensure they are fully aligned with our new strategy.

We look forward to working with you all in 2020.

I recently attended a seminar where Andrew Copson (Chief Executive of Humanist UK) and Michael Reiss (Professor of Science Education at University College London) were ‘in conversation’ about ‘meaning’. The topic was fascinating. They talked about different understandings of meaning and meaningful. They even asked, ‘How does a giraffe find meaning? Or perhaps what is a meaningful life for a giraffe?! However, what interested me even more than the topic, was the format. The format of holding a conversation.

The etymology of the word conversation comes from the Latin conversatio which means to live with or keep company with. There is a sense of longevity where conversation takes time. In addition, the Old French word means ‘manner of conducting oneself in the world’ or ‘a way of life’. It shows that conversation is about interacting with others, it is more than presenting a position.

Conversation is about exchange; an exchange of ideas and knowledge. Conversation necessities listening and learning from the other person. Andrew and Michael honoured one another, they responded and truly exchanged ideas rather than just waiting for the other person to finish. The conversation was not about winning an argument, it was about understanding, becoming more informed. There is a sense of vulnerability when holding a conversation, particularly in front of others.  You can’t prepare much beforehand; you have to be willing to respond to the unexpected. In conversation you step into the unknown, it requires courage. This is very powerful.

Another occasion this week where conversation was utilised was at a seminar for funders of religious education. At this event grantees and funders took part in facilitated conversations to show why projects had been funded and the impact they had. Grantees and funders openly talked about the value of joint funding, the challenges and successes of particular projects and what they had learnt. Conversation facilitates sharing, relationship building and connectivity. It seems to me that we need more conversation, particularly in the RE community. Conversations about how we can work together better; how we can support each other. This I believe will lead to collegiality. My PhD thesis talked about creating space, encountering others and listening for wisdom in terms of pedagogic principles for RE, but what if we were to use these principles in the wider RE professional community to underpin conversation? What might that look like?

For some time, I have advocated an understanding of the highly contentious phrase ‘being religiously literate’ as the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews. Thankyou Andrew and Michael for exemplifying this for me. If the study of religion and worldviews led to this kind of conversation in classrooms what a transformative step that would be. Imagine what potential impact there might be on our communities and society.

With thanks to:

Andrew Copson
Michael Reiss
Independent Schools Religious Studies Association 2019 Conference
Horizons Reimagined Funders Seminar 2019

My PhD thesis ‘A Pedagogy of Embrace’ is available here: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/index.html

 

Yesterday I attended the RE Council SRGM in London at the East London Mosque and Muslim Centre. Culham St Gabriel’s are one of RE Council member organisations, and I also sit on the RE Council Board as a Trustee. Firstly, I’d like to express my thanks to our hosts who welcomed us warmly and shared their work so openly with us.

The meeting was particularly encouraging as it shared the different ways in which the Commission on RE recommendations are being taken forward by the Council, but also by individual member organisations. I had the privilege to share the Primary Initial Teacher Training project which Culham St Gabriel’s have funded over the last 12 months. The powerpoint I used can be found below. 

Deborah Weston showcased a range of ways in which the new language of ‘religion and worldviews’ is being used in the RE community. This included special issues of academic and teacher publications, the Culham St Gabriel’s Teach:RE courses and RE:ONLINE, the new Norfolk Agreed Syllabus, the Big Ideas project and revised RE Quality Mark criteria. She reminded us that increased bursaries and subject knowledge enhancement funding had been introduced, and that Ofsted are now beginning to call schools to account in relation to RE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. She talked about positive conversations with ministers about a model curriculum, and the beginnings of a pilot Local Advisory Network project with NASACRE.

The most interesting development for me was the proposed religion and worldviews project for which the Council are currently seeking funding. The project will bring together academics and other stakeholders to consider the concepts of ‘religion’ and ‘worldviews’. The aim is then to develop a shared understanding as a Council about what we mean by religion and worldviews education. To me this is a very important step in shaping the future implementation work, and Culham St Gabriel’s fully support this initiative.

Some people have asked me recently if I think the Commission’s recommendations have been put on the shelf. My answer has been categorically ‘no’. I think the last year has been a time of positive reflection, but clearly there has been much action too! I think the showcasing yesterday provided the evidence to back up my answer! The Commission on RE is alive and well, and if we (the RE Community) are to bring about change, we have to accept that we are in it for the long haul. As Trevor Cooling reminded us, when the last game changer report was published in 1971 it was 17 years later that the law finally changed.

 

For further information see:

https://www.cstg.org.uk/2018/12/the-commission-on-re-and-re-policy-issues/ – Culham St Gabriel’s statement fully endorsing the vision of the Commission on RE.

www.commissiononre.org.uk

https://www.religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk/

Last week I spoke at the Learn Teach Lead RE Area 1 conference in Cornwall. It was a delight to meet so many teachers and hear their stories from the classroom. I heard about the challenges of leading RE whilst also being an NQT, the love of subject, the diversity of practice, the creative approaches taken in special education and inevitably some worry about the questions Ofsted will ask. Listening to teachers’ stories is invaluable for us as a Trust. As we enter a strategic review over the coming months, it is essential for us to hear the teacher voice; to learn what is of concern, what challenges they face, but also where they are being successful in shaping really effective study of religion and worldviews.

One of the other highlights for me was Katy Staples’ keynote where she explored the notion of worldviews from a very personal perspective. It was captivating and showed the power of sharing story. It confirmed to me the importance of being open and honest about our own worldviews; acknowledging our own positioning. Katy demonstrated so perfectly what I went on to say in my keynote the following morning. That is, that we bring our prior knowledge, our experience and beliefs to whatever we encounter in life, including the study of religion and worldviews. Hearing others’ stories, learning about the positioning of others is vital. Sharing our own stories also becomes even more important if we are to truly to begin to understand others.

My keynote is available here to download: https://www.ltlre.org/resources/ltlre-conference-area-1-oct-2019/

I am delighted to welcome you to Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. Our vision is for a high-quality, broad-based religious education, exploring religion and worldviews openly, rigorously, critically and reflectively in the context of a changing and globalised world.

The Trust was formed in 2012, bringing together two former Trusts, the Culham Educational Foundation and St Gabriel’s Trust. The former Trusts were established in the late 1970s after the closure of two Church of England teacher training colleges, Culham College in Oxfordshire and St Gabriel’s College in  Southwark, London.

The Trust is committed to providing teachers of RE and other professionals with the support, connections, challenges and professional development they need. We want all partners in RE, such as parents, school governors, faith/belief communities and policy makers, to be positively aware of the benefits of high-quality RE. You can read more about our Strategic Plan 2016-2020 here:

We have a family of websites which support our vision:

www.cstg.org.uk – this provides information about our grant giving programme, including 3froRE our Masters support scheme.

www.reonline.org.uk – this provides practical resources for the classroom teacher as well as detailed subject knowledge, blogs, ‘email a believer’ and news items.

https://researchforre.reonline.org.uk – this brings together those who teach and research RE, sharing research reports and encouraging collaboration and new ideas, so that cutting-edge research can have a real-life impact both inside and outside the classroom.

www.teachre.co.uk – this provides details of our Teach:RE courses programme. This includes our 200 Hour DFE funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement course, as well short distance learning courses for serving teachers.

These are exciting times for religious education. The Commission on RE (2018) report provides a series of recommendations that could transform the subject for children and young people. As a Trust we are fully committed to investing in the reimagining of the subject, seeking changes and improvements in policy and excellence in classroom practice.

I look forward to working with you as we seek to fulfil our vision.

Today I start as the new Chief Executive of Culham St Gabriel’s Trust (CSTG). It is a huge privilege to take up this role. CSTG is a leading agent for change for RE and my vision as the new CEO is to strive tirelessly for the rejuvenation and reimagination of the subject at all levels from the political sphere to classroom practice. Teachers, children and young people lie at the heart of my passion and ambition for the subject.

Culham St Gabriel’s has had a significant impact on my career as a RE Teacher and as an adviser and consultant. My journey has been inspired and supported by engagement with the Trust (and formally as two Trusts) over the last 20 years.

Networking and partnerships
If my memory serves correctly, I attended a St Gabriel’s Weekend Conference in 1998 as a new Head of RE. I took along with me an NQT from my department. We had a great time! One thing we learned was that you could apply for grants to support teachers. So, we applied!! We submitted an application to set up teacher networks including meetings and newsletters in East London. We were awarded the grant and networking began. As a result I was asked to join the local SACRÉ and coordinated a local celebration of RE bringing together schools and faith communities. In my experience, teacher networking and conferences are of vital importance. For many isolated teachers of RE they provide opportunities to learn from others, sharing effective practice. For this reason, I am proud that CSTG has strategic partnerships with the RE Council of England and Wales and NATRE. I am also delighted that CSTG is supporting the National and Regional Ambassadors programme. These partnerships and programmes are designed to support the individual teacher in the classroom.

Teacher engagement with research
Two years later, I attended a St Gabriel’s conference again, but this time it was to present my Farmington Research http://www.farmington.ac.uk In recent years I have presented my own PhD research as well as findings from the Shared Space project https://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/projects/the-shared-space-project/ and developments related to multi-disciplinary approaches to RE https://balancedre.org.uk. CSTG has often provided financial support for these conferences and events. Engagement with research is essential if we are to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and expertise to transform the lives of young people, but also to nurture a love of the subject and love of education more generally. The CSTG research strategy is a vital workstream, and I am delighted that one of my first jobs as CEO is to discuss progress on what are known as the ‘Research 7’ at the AULRE conference next week.

Resourcing subject knowledge and expertise
In the late 1990s I also had my first contact with a CSTG (then Culham) consultant, Dick Powell. Dick was overseeing a project to promote centres of excellence for RE, I suppose it was a bit of a precursor for the RE Quality Mark www.reqm.org My school applied and became a designated centre. A couple of years later as I began work as an adviser in East London Dick contacted me to ask if I would work with a local school on a project with the BBC on Teaching Christianity with Key Stage 1. Providing resources and professional learning experiences related to subject knowledge, expertise and pedagogy are an essential element of CSTG strategy through for example RE:ONLINE, the Teach:RE courses and grant making.

Policy Change
Finally, teacher recruitment has always been on the CSTG agenda. In around 2002, Dick asked me to be involved with a project related to recruitment. The aim at the time was to create case studies showcasing teacher stories about what they loved about RE teaching. For the last few years I have run the Teach:RE courses for CSTG and increasingly used my role to lobby for Subject Knowledge Enhancement bursaries with NATRE and the RE Council, helping to bring about policy change. Working for continued policy change and taking forward the recommendations of the Commission on RE report are at the heart of CSTG objectives.

CSTG has impacted significantly on my career. As CEO I hope over the coming years that teachers across the country will be able to tell me how the Trust has made a difference to them too whether it be through networking, research, resourcing or policy change. I am looking forward to working with such a committed and dedicated RE community to transform our subject for this and future generations.

Culham St Gabriel’s Trust www.cstg.org.uk is a leading funder supporting excellence in RE through research, development and innovation. We work closely with teachers of RE, as well as organisations that promote the subject and offer high quality CPD.

In relation to the aspects that concern RE, CSTG welcomes the proposed new inspection framework. We see it as an opportunity to focus inspection teams on subject curriculum provision including RE, and to focus RE teachers on key aspects of high quality curriculum intent, improvement and impact. We look forward to Ofsted making judgements about whether a school is offering children the full curriculum for as long as possible, including RE. We will support partnership work to ensure that RE teachers rise to the challenge of a new inspection framework. Specifically, we very much welcome:

• The structure of curriculum intent, implementation and impact
• The emphasis on deep learning, cultural capital, long-term memory and progression
• The frequent mentions of ‘National Curriculum and RE’
• The inclusion of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC).

We would also suggest that the framework could be further strengthened by:

• Making ‘National Curriculum and RE’ the phrase that is used every time, not just sometimes; and ensuring that ‘breadth and ambition’ should apply to RE as well as other subjects.
• Throughout the framework (eg 157, 162 and elsewhere), making a clear distinction between the ‘Ebacc’ as a metric and ‘subjects with academic rigour’. Ofsted is already aware that RE has suffered because the Ebacc is assumed in many schools to be a core of academically rigorous subjects. The new GCSE in RS, approved by the Minister of State, is academically rigorous and is not in the Ebacc. This has incentivized too many schools to narrow their curriculum in ways that are either unfeasible for RS, or illegal. We would invite Ofsted to consider a wording such as ‘Ebacc and RS’ in places.
• Having a more tightly defined method for identifying and challenging non-compliance in RE (see 43, 51 and elsewhere) and ensuring that complaints about non-compliance are known about in advance of the visit (this is not currently done).
• Ensuring that the guidance is clear on the duties of schools without a religious character (33). There is some text in the existing framework which has not been transferred over.
• Defining spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as not simply respect for different faiths, but also knowledge and understanding of different faiths and worldviews (204-207).

CSTG has already welcomed the publication in September 2018 of the final report from the Commission on RE and its proposed national entitlement statement https://www.commissiononre.org.uk/final-report-religion-and-worldviews-the-way-forward-a-national-plan-for-re/ . The entitlement is designed to overcome the known inequalities of delivery in RE, the product of a broken locally agreed syllabus system. A nation-wide definition of what every child should know and understand in RE is long overdue. Its facility as a measurement in schools could prove very useful, particularly for busy inspectors. We most warmly recommend that Ofsted’s new framework should reference the national entitlement statement and work with the National Association of Teachers of RE and the RE Council to enable inspectors to be familiar with the entitlement statement.

I’m delighted to announce that the Trustees have unanimously appointed Dr Kathryn Wright to be Chief Executive Officer of Culham St Gabriel’s Trust, starting on 1st May. Kathryn has served RE as a teacher, local authority and diocesan adviser, and lead consultant in charge of our TeachRE course, among many other achievements.

I know you’ll want to join me in welcoming this appointment. Kathryn brings great experience, skills and a long term vision for change and development in RE, along the lines envisioned by the Commission report. This is very, very good news for CSTG and for RE, and we all look forward to working with Kathryn.