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Today I want to share with you another of our strategic objectives. Which is:

• Advocating for the importance of a high-quality education in religion and worldviews within the education world

In my last vlog I spoke about changing public perception and influencing government, this objective today about advocacy provides a pivot between those two, and our last two objectives which I will focus on next time which are more related to the religion and worldviews community itself.

Educationalists – headteachers or school leaders, Directors or CEOs of multi academy trusts, governors or union representatives, local authority advisers or Ofsted inspectors, members of the Chartered College or colleagues in Ofqual – all of these in many different ways hold the key to promoting religion and worldviews. It is this broad group of educationalists who we need to work closely with to advocate for the indispensable nature of the subject.

The Norfolk Agreed Syllabus (2019) says:

Through this subject…. Pupils will have the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews. Pupils will be able to make sense of religion and worldviews around them and begin to understand the complex world in which they live. Pupils will become free thinking, critical participants of public discourse, who can make academically informed judgements about important matters of religion and belief which shape the global landscape.

For these reasons, we need to champion our subject more earnestly with all in the education world.

We need to promote existing research in this field, for example, the work of David Lundie on Social Disadvantage or the University of Bristol/NATRE Shared Space project on community cohesion. We also need to identify gaps in research and consider how we can better measure the impact of an education in religion and worldviews. Equipping leaders of our subject to speak into these spaces is also of vital importance, which is why we support groups such as NATRE, Learn Teach Lead RE and run our own leadership programme in partnership with others.

Next time, I’ll say more about our final two objectives but in the meantime you can find out more on our website www.cstg.org.uk

 

Norfolk Agreed Syllabus (2019) https://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/teaching-and-learning/religious-education-agreed-syllabus

Dr David Lundie https://davidlundie.wordpress.com/2019/08/16/religious-education-and-social-disadvantage-report/

Shared Space Project https://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/projects/the-shared-space-project/

 

A few weeks ago, I shared something of our new vision, mission and distinct values as a Trust.

Today I want to tell you about two of our new strategic objectives which we will begin to work towards from September this year. The first is promoting positive public perception of an education in religion and worldviews. A You Gov poll in 2018 put RE near the bottom of the most important subjects to learn in school according to a sample of public opinion. As a Trust we plan to review the current research on public perception of religion and worldviews so we can establish a clear baseline. We will then work with existing partners, as well as establish new ones, to create campaigns and projects to promote the importance of an education in religion and worldviews. This will most likely include conversations with those involved in the ‘media space’ as well as researchers, organisations, and networks who are already being advocates in this area.

The second strategic objective to share with you today is influencing government policy in supporting religion and worldviews, including the recommendations of the Commission on RE (2018). We already work closely with other partners in this area including the RE Council, and NATRE. The plan is for this to continue and to increase our work around lobbying government. Culham St Gabriel’s was one of the funders of the Commission on RE and continues to support the realisation of its recommendations. For example, a grant was awarded to TRS-UK for a literature review as part of a wider initiative to develop a shared set of understandings about ‘worldview’ as a concept.  In addition, a grant was awarded to Theos to fund the comprehensive dissemination of a report which aims to explain in depth to RE professionals and the general public the meaning and implication of a ‘worldviews’ approach. These important pieces of work provide foundational research and evidence for us, and our partners, to use to influence government.

We have five strategic objectives in total all of which help us to fulfil our mission and work towards our vision.  I will share more about the others in due course. In the meantime, you can find a list of them all on our website.

 

References:

https://www.cstg.org.uk/about-us/our-vision/

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/02/15/english-maths-science-and-computing-are-most-impor

https://www.cstg.org.uk/grant-giving/grants/grants-awarded/

https://www.cstg.org.uk/about-us/our-strategy/

 

It was a year ago today that I started in the role of Chief CEO at Culham St Gabriel’s. It’s been an amazing year. It’s been great to work with so many talented people and organisations which are passionate about education in religion and worldviews. In the last couple of weeks, it’s been fantastic to see over 1000 teachers sign up to our self-study courses. I’m also really thrilled about new virtual seminars and events coming up this term in partnership with all the main RE organisations.

As today marks my first anniversary, it also seemed a good opportunity to share with you some of our plans for the future. The Trustees, staff and consultants have worked hard over the last few months to shape a new vision, mission and strategy for the Trust. We have also reflected on our values and ways of working.

Our new vision is for a broad based, critical and reflective education in religion and worldviews contributing to a well-informed, respectful and open society. We are deliberately using the language of religion and worldviews supporting the vision of the Commission on RE (2018) and look forward to the shaping of this newly defined subject over the coming year. There is much work going on around this at the moment, including a number of publications already in the public domain or soon to be published. In addition, we have emphasised, that high-quality religion and worldviews is not an end in itself but contributes to the transformation of society. This is really important for us as a charity. Above all, we exist to make a difference.

So, we have a big vision! It has therefore been important to consider what the Trust’s unique contribution to this vision is, our specific mission. We have identified six strands to this, and they are:

• Increasing public understanding of religion and worldviews education
• Engaging with, informing and influencing decision makers
• Creating well-informed, empowered and influential educationalists
• Establishing and building strategic and collaborative partnerships and networks
• Commissioning and publishing focused and accessible research
• Championing and developing inspired and well-resourced teaching and learning

You will see that we are shifting our focus to work not only with the immediate world of RE professionals but also to engage with the public, with policy makers, and other influencers. We are really excited about the new emphasis in our mission and look forward to conversations with many of you about how we can work together towards fulfilling it.

So how will we do this? This is about the ways we work and the values that underpin all we do. In talking with colleagues, two of the most important words that came through were collaboration and connectivity. We aim for positive relationships with an emphasis on partnership and networking. We have also been moving towards being more open and transparent.

Listening to others, valuing diversity and sharing our work. Having integrity in all we do is vital.  We strive to be honest, authentic, dependable and trustworthy in the way we work. Above all we are about serving and empowering others. We endeavour to be responsive, generous and available to everyone. We aim to facilitate others to grow in confidence, be creative and bring about change. As an endowed foundation, being good stewards is paramount. We are committed to ensuring a good return on our investments and to use time and resources effectively. Over the coming months we will be making these values more explicit in our communications and they will shape the ways we work now and in the future.

I hope you have captured some of my enthusiasm and excitement for where the Trust is going next. We are really delighted by our new vision, mission and distinct values. We look forward to partnering with you in working towards our vision and putting our mission into action.

In my next blog/vlog I will share more about our specific strategic objectives for the next three years and how we plan to put these into action.

Bringing teachers and researchers together

We are launching an initial research seminar series this Summer 2020, with a view to continuing them in the future.

This first initial series will each take place 3-4.15pm.

This timing will be reviewed once schools reopen.

 

Tuesday 19^th May: Religious Literacy

Your hosts: Kathryn Wright and Kate Christopher

The research being discussed: Religious Literacy: A way forward for religious education?

The researchers in conversation will be: Dr Pat Hannam and Dr Sean Whittle

The research can be found here

Register here

 

Wednesday 17^th June: Teachers and Texts

Your hosts: Ben Wood (NATRE) and Matt Vince (TRS-UK)

The research being discussed: Opening the door to hermeneutical RE

The researcher in conversation will be: Dr Robert Bowie

The research can be found here and here

A quick read: A summary is available through www.researchforre.reonline.org.uk

Register here

 

Thursday 16^th July: Theme TBC

Please check back for more details nearer the time.

For more information about any of these seminars please email enquiries@cstg.org.uk

 

 

 

We are delighted to announce that AULRE and Culham St Gabriel’s Trust are hosting the following event:

A Religion and Worldviews Research Seminar: Teachers’ engagement in and with research

Date and Time: Thursday 14^th May 2-4pm

***Thursday 14th May ‘sold out’ in a couple of hours.***

***An additional date of Friday 15th May 2-4pm has been added***

Registration: The event is free. Please register for Friday 15th May through Eventbrite here. Once you have registered you will be sent the joining details for the virtual seminar a few days before the event. Presentations will also be sent to participants before/after the event.

Registration closes on 12^th May.

Seminar Outline: 

2pm: Setting the context: Culham St Gabriel’s vision and mission

Kathryn Wright, CEO, CSTG

2.15pm The Culham St Gabriel’s Research 7 Projects: An Update

Kevin O’Grady, Lead Consultant for Research, CSTG

2.30pm: Teachers and Texts in the RE Classroom

Robert Bowie, Director, National Institute of Christian Education Research

Chaired by Stephen McKinney (AULRE)

3pm: Emergent Technologies and RE

Paul Hopkins, Lecturer, University of Hull

Chaired by Sean Whittle (AULRE)

3.30pm: Plenary Discussion: Engaging teachers in and with research

Chaired by Kathryn Wright (CSTG)

For more information please email enquires@cstg.org.uk

 

Following on from my previous blog about empowering collaboration, I thought it appropriate to focus on how we can keep connected and support one another at this difficult and challenging time. The word ‘connect ‘comes from the Latin conectere, to join together and in the 19^th Century was particularly applied to establishing relationships.

At Culham St Gabriel’s, part of our mission is to support and empower teachers and leaders, as well as establishing and building networks and partnerships. Relationships and connectivity lie at the heart of who we are and what we do.

We have put together some resources and ideas to help teachers and leaders of RE through our RE:ONLINE website. You can find these here  There are being updated regularly over the coming few weeks. If you have any ideas about what you would like to us to provide, please get in touch.

We are working hard to maintain and build relationships during this time. We are exploring ways of bringing teachers of RE together virtually to help each other, utilising our virtual meeting platforms and social media. I’d encourage you to sign up to our RE:ONLINE newsletter as we will be increasing our issues over the next few months. You can sign up here

We are keen to promote and share free resources and support available from all our strategic partners. We are therefore delighted to share these free resources from RE Today/NATRE: https://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/free-resources-for-you-and-your-pupils/

As a team we are all working from home and are still here to help you. If you would like to contact us we suggest emailing enquries@cstg.org.uk and we will arrange a call with you.

 

Culham St Gabriel’s Trust welcomes the announcement of Dr Richard Kueh as the new Ofsted Subject Lead for Religious Education. Richard is well-known to the Trust through his work on curriculum ( https://www.cstg.org.uk/programmes/research-for-re/) and as a keynote speaker and workshop leader at national conferences for RE over the last few years. Culham St Gabriel’s looks forward to working with Richard in his new role to continue to promote excellence in the study of religion and worldviews.

Many of you will know Culham St Gabriel’s through its programmes such as RE:ONLINE, the Teach:RE Courses, Email a Believer and ResearchforRE. However, I wonder if you have ever thought about applying for a grant? We have recently changed our grant giving approach to focus more on seed corn funding and supporting groups of teachers who wish to collaborate on a small-scale project, as well as giving large-scale grants. https://www.cstg.org.uk/grant-giving/grants/

The Trust aims to empower you. Through both our programmes and grant making we promote approaches which enable and facilitate teachers and educationalists to grow in confidence and bring about change in classrooms and beyond. We are particularly keen to support collaborative working. Could you bring a group of teachers together to work on an innovative project through a local group or hub? Could you connect with a university department to focus on a specific piece of subject knowledge research and apply it to your curriculum?

Some of our recent grant awards have exemplified this collaborative approach. For example, the University of Cambridge plans to bring researchers and teachers together to create resources for GCSE Religious Studies, whilst the Diocese of Bristol and South Gloucestershire Local Authority are working together to provide peer to peer support for teachers of RE. You can find out more about recent grant awards here https://www.cstg.org.uk/grant-giving/grants/grants-awarded/

Some teachers and educationalists I have spoken to are hesitant to apply for a grant as they have never done it before. In my career, I have sat on both ‘sides’ of the process. In my previous roles I fairly regularly applied for grants, so I know what it is like to be an applicant! I now have the privilege of being able to support those who apply. I can talk you through the process, the forms that need to be completed and provide advice. Please do get in touch, I’d be delighted to have a conversation.

Our next grant application deadline for small-scale and large-scale grants is Tuesday 28^th April 2020.

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.