Agenda and minutes

To note the membership of the Camden SACRE Agreed Syllabus Conference:

Panel A (Christian and other religious/humanist representatives):

Jean Harrison, Lynndy Levin, Rev. B. Ananda Mangala, Abdul Quadir, Krishna Pujara, Liam Whitton, Shahanaz Begum.

Panel B (Church of England):

Rev Dr James Walters, Mary Thorne, Peter Ginnings

Panel C (Teachers):

Michelle Chalibamba, Ann Boater, Eric Bateson

Panel D (Camden LA representatives):

Siobhan Baillie, Julian Fulbrook, Heather Johnson, Oliver Lewis, Phil Rosenberg, Stephen Stark, Paul Tomlinson.

The nominating bodies had been asked to confirm that they wished their current members to continue. For Panel A and D, it was the local authority themselves that decided on the membership, in the case of Panel A if they were convinced they were representative of the faith or denomination in question.

The Church of England had been contacted with regard to Panel B and no response had been received. The NUT had been contacted with regard to Panel C and had confirmed they wished their current members to continue. No response had been received from the other teachers’ associations.

RESOLVED –

The membership of the Agreed Syllabus Conference was noted.

Apologies for absence had been received from Peter Ginnings and Eric Bateman.

James Walters was nominated as the Chair of the Camden Agreed Syllabus Conference. There were no other nominations.

RESOLVED –

THAT James Walters be elected Chair of the Camden Agreed Syllabus Conference.

Abdul Quadir was nominated as the Vice-Chair of the Camden Agreed Syllabus Conference. There were no other nominations.

RESOLVED –

THAT Abdul Quadir be elected Vice-Chair of the Camden Agreed Syllabus Conference.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no announcements.

There were no items of urgent business.

To consider the current syllabus and whether to renew it, to amend it or to opt for a new syllabus.

The committee had wanted to conduct a survey of RE teachers. If this could be done by the next meeting, then this could feed into the discussions members had then, as they wanted to produce an agreed syllabus that tied in with the needs of staff teaching RE.

                        ACTION: Executive Director of Supporting People (OR)

The teacher members highlighted that many RE teachers were not subject specialists, and this was particularly the case in primary schools. They also felt it was important to distinguish between teachers who were RE leads and those who led on moral education. They wanted the questionnaire to elicit information about this and also felt there should be an “any other comments” question.

Teachers also noted the limited time available for RE in most schools, and that this meant the syllabus could not cover as many aspects of faith and religious traditions as would be desirable.

There was a discussion about the syllabus. The Chair said he felt that the title “Living Difference” was somewhat of a “post-modern” title. He felt it was important to try to keep the more conservative elements of religious communities engaged and to recognise that religion was about competing truth claims. Other members said that they thought it was important that the commonalities between religions be emphasised.

Another member said that there was a uniqueness to religious traditions that had to be recognised, and that people needed to be prepared to ‘dialogue across difference’.

The Professional Advisor to SACRE highlighted four principal approaches the Conference could take to the agreed syllabus.

Firstly, the Conference could choose to retain the current syllabus which it had agreed in 2012. This would however mean that it would not be taking into account updates of the Hampshire syllabus or what other local authorities in London who had bought the rights to that syllabus were doing.

Secondly, they could adopt a syllabus from a different authority. Ms Prior said that she would circulate links to the online versions of syllabuses from authorities that did not use a version of the Hampshire one.

ACTION: Professional Advisor to SACRE (LP)

Thirdly, they could adopt the London version of the new Hampshire syllabus. Westminster City Council was currently working on producing one, and Camden could liaise with them and buy the rights from them and Hampshire for what they had created.

Fourthly, the Conference could decide to write its own agreed syllabus. However, that was likely to be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

Members agreed to discuss these options further at future Agreed Syllabus Conference meetings.

It was agreed that the Clerk would liaise with the Professional Advisor and members as to when would be a suitable date, most probably in October, for the next meeting of the Agreed Syllabus Conference.

                                                            ACTION: Committee Services (VS)

The Chair, Jim Walters, announced his intention to resign from SACRE and the Agreed Syllabus Conference. Members thanked him for his work for the body and wished him well for his future endeavours.