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Under the 1944 Education Act, Local Education Authorities were permitted to set up these councils to provide continuing support and advice on school worship and religious education. Since 1988, Local Authorities have been required to have such councils. The councils are made up of four committees each representing a group with a particular interest in the subject. The committees represent the Local Education Authority, the teachers, the Church of England and the other faiths and Christian denominations.
When formal decisions have to be made each of these committees has a single vote, which the members decide how to use. These votes must all be used in the same direction if the council is to agree a formal decision on policy. Thus each committee has a vote, but individual members do not. (Note In Wales there is no appropriate committee for the Church in Wales, so the Council has only three committees.)
The main tasks of the Council are usually:
Many SACREs offer guidance on various issues related to RE, including levels of attainment, programmes of study and resources. These are not statutory guidelines for schools, unlike the syllabus itself which is statutory, non-denominational RE in voluntary controlled and foundation schools.
Guidance on the responsibility of the governing body to secure religious education in any school can be found in the DfEE Circular 1/94, in particular: paragraphs 17-23.
Guidance regarding the right of the parent to withdraw their child from religious education can be found in DfEE Circular 1/94 paragraphs 44-49.
From time to time the problem of jurisdiction arises. The work of the SACRE is confined to the support of religious education and worship when this is not conducted in accordance with the religious character of the school. The Anglican representatives may need to be alert to any attempt by individual members of the SACRE to lead it into making decisions about matters which are outside its jurisdiction. For example some voluntary controlled schools have mistakenly applied for a determination on their school worship. If the SACRE is not well advised it may assume that it is able to do this. Where the voluntary controlled school has a religious character, the SACRE has no jurisdiction as the worship in the school must reflect its religious character.
The law regarding the responsibility of the governing body to secure religious education in any school is contained in the Education Act 1996, Part 5, Chapter III, sections 376-384. It is also found in the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998, Part II, Chapter 6, section 69 and Schedule 19 of the same Act.
The law regarding the right of the parent to withdraw their child from religious education can be found in the Education Act 1996, Part V, Chapter 3, section 389. The right of withdrawal is also found in the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 Part II, Chapter 6, section 71.
The law on Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education can be found in the Education Act 1996, Part V Chapter 3, sections 390-396 and in schedule 31 of the same Act.
With specific regard to voluntary aided schools there are no legal requirements. The law does require every LEA to have a SACRE and that its faith committees should be representative of the spread of religious communities in the area. See Education Act 1996 Chapter III and DFE Circular 1/94 para. 89:1 and 2.
Who sets up the SACRE?
Can the SACRE influence RE teaching in Church Schools?
Who sits on the SACRE?
What can a SACRE do?
A SACRE's broad role is to support effective provision of RE and collective worship within its remit.
Members of the local SACRE will be involved in the formal process as required by the law. It is, however, an opportunity to work with others to look creatively and imaginatively at the religious education of young people in the local community.
SACRE's should provide advice on:
Methods of teaching RE
How is the agreed syllabus best delivered to each age
group? What mixture should there be of formal content,
thematic work, group work, personal discovery, visits
to specified buildings or events, and visitors with an
educational remit? What is the relationship to
cross-curricular studies, to spiritual, moral, social
and cultural development, to citizenship and to the
personal, health, social and education (PSHE)? Is the
distinctiveness of RE being maintained in such
relationships?
Choices of resources for RE
National publications review all new RE materials and
resource centres can be visited by teachers. The SACRE
should consider cost factors and offer, with an RE
adviser's help, advice on the most appropriate
materials to deliver the aims, objectives and content
of the agreed syllabus.
Training of teachers
National surveys show that the effective introduction
of a new agreed syllabus requires a considerable
investment in resources and in the training of all
primary teachers and are those teaching RE in secondary
schools. If the syllabus is to be properly implemented
SACREs should ensure that LEAs are aware of the need
for teachers to be trained to deliver effectively the
local agreed syllabus for RE.
SACREs may:
Other interests could also include:
Assessment and testing
SACREs should monitor school approaches to assessing
pupils' progress in RE. They should also be aware of
the uptake of external examinations in RE and religious
studies.
RE and SMSC
SACREs should be aware of the links between pupils' RE
and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural
development. Committees A and B have the opportunity to
indicate areas of knowledge that pupils should have
about religious beliefs and the influence these have on
the formation of attitudes and values.
What is a 'determination'?
Determinations are 'exceptions from broadly Christian Collective Worship'. The determination procedure allows for the requirement that collective worship should be 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character' to be lifted in respect of some or all of the pupils in school for whom this is deemed inappropriate.
Applications for determinations are made to the SACRE by the headteacher of any community school after consultation with the school's governing body. Determinations are only possible for schools that have no religious character. The SACRE should review each determination every five years.
The best resource is So you're joining your local SACRE - a handbook for SACRE members, available free of charge from
Free Churches' Council
27 Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9HH
Another resource is the The National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education:
The Secretary
The National Association of Standing Advisory Councils
on Religious Education
Westhill RE Centre
University of Birmingham, School of Education
Birmingham
B29 6LL
In Wales, contact the Wales Association of SACREs (WASACRE):
Secretary Miss Meinir Evans
2 Penllys Terrace
Bangor
Gwynedd
LL57 2AT
Tel: 01248 353121
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