The Churches' proposal for a national syllabus for RE: Frequently asked questions

This FAQ is to help forward debate started as a result of a letter from the chairman of the Church of England Board of Education, the Methodist Church Education Officer and the Free Churches' Education Officer to Charles Clarke in April 2003 proposing a national syllabus for RE. It is a response on behalf of the Board of Education and National Society to various questions raised. Links to a number of related documents are given at the end.

Why have you proposed a national syllabus for RE?

Essentially because we see it as being the most effective route for raising the standards of teaching and learning in RE.

What triggered your decision?

First and foremost the arguments contained in QCA's March 2003 publication A Non-statutory Framework for RE: Report of a feasibility study

In this report, the QCA argues a powerful case for a more national focus: 'There is no agreement on the standards to be expected of pupils in RE; continuity in the RE curriculum is variable; there are many different approaches to the assessment and reporting of RE; and the degree of resourcing and support for RE varies.' Essentially, the local determination of RE has made it the odd subject out.

The report highlights further problems of the present position, including:

• the wide disparity at all levels among the various local syllabuses;
• the difficulty experienced by many of the unitary and smaller authorities in sustaining an effective SACRE, and the reduction in support for many of the others arising from local-government changes;
• the negative effect on teacher recruitment and training of not knowing what syllabuses a teacher will end up using;
• the difficulty for teachers when they move into a new area; and,
• problems when RE tries to relate to national initiatives such as the online curriculum.

In terms of benefits, the QCA sees a national framework as being advantageous for:

• teachers, as it will help them plan RE teaching, learning and assessment more consistently, and reduce needless differences between RE curricula in different schools;
• faith communities, as it will provide them with a clearer picture of RE nationally;
• safeguarding the future position of RE within the statutory curriculum nationally;
• improving the quality of RE inspection by OFSTED teams;
• publishers and resource producers;
• improving the effectiveness and efficiency of RE teacher training;
• the presentation of RE in the media; and,
• most importantly, pupils, as it will help improve the quality of their experience of RE and raise their standards of achievement.

Did anything else influence you?

Yes. First, we were impressed by OFSTED's quoted evidence that most teachers tell them that they would prefer a national to a local syllabus. This accorded with our own informal evidence. Especially for primary teachers and for secondary non-specialists, we could see that there are many advantages in having RE framed like the other curriculum areas.

Second, RE's biggest success-story recently has been the phenomenal increase in the proportion of students taking RE/RS at GCSE level - now 50 per cent. Furthermore, RE exam scores are the third highest of all subjects. Most significantly, this is the one area where RE is taught according to a national exam-board syllabus.

Will not a non-statutory national framework achieve most of the improvements you seek?

We totally agree that it would be an important step forward. Yet, because it would be advisory only, there is a great risk of its being least influential where it was most needed. Although ten years of non-statutory guidance and advice has had an appreciable effect, there is still a long way to go. In terms of raising the quality of RE, the arguments for an advisory national framework apply even more strongly to a statutory national syllabus.

Does this mean you do not support QCA's proposal for a non-statutory national framework?

No. We have always strongly supported the development of the framework. On several occasions the Chairman of the Board of Education encouraged ministers to give the go-ahead to the implementation of the feasibility study. We see the framework as important in its own right and also as a necessary first step towards a national syllabus.

How do you see a national syllabus being developed?

A national syllabus conference should be established, with officers provided by the QCA, and bringing representatives of the Churches and faith communities together with other RE professionals (teachers, teacher-trainers, inspectors and advisers) and Government. This would essentially reflect at a national level the careful balance of interest groupings already devised for local agreed syllabus conferences.

The syllabus itself should contain plenty of choice, thereby allowing teachers maximum scope for taking account of local circumstances and pupil needs. There is no reason why a national syllabus should have a constraining and centralising effect. A national syllabus broad enough to cover all contexts, which enables teachers to make the choices rather than the local authority conference, is what is being recommended.

How do you see this being achieved?

Basically there are two possible approaches - the grand slam and the evolutionary stepped route map. We have set out the latter for serious consideration, as follows:

1. The development of the framework, as set out in the QCA report, is given the go ahead. A national framework committee, led by QCA and to include professionals and representatives of the Churches and faith communities, is established to take this forward.
2. The framework is presented to the Secretary of State for approval.
3. Assuming an acceptable framework is developed and approved by the Secretary of State, the framework is then formally recommended to the local SACREs and Agreed Syllabus Conferences (ASCs).
4. At the same time as recommending the framework, development of a national syllabus begins. A national syllabus conference, representing as before the range of interests in RE, is established to do this.
5. The syllabus is presented to the Secretary of State for approval.
6. Assuming approval, the national syllabus is then recommended to all SACREs/ASCs for adoption.
7. The final stage of changing legislation to make the syllabus a statutory requirement would follow eventually in order to:
   1. deal with what would hopefully be only a very small number of LEAs which had not adopted the syllabus;
   2. formalize in legislation what had already become the de facto position.

The adoption of this approach, we believe, has the following advantages:

1. By breaking down the process into self-contained stages, it does not require a final outcome to be prejudged.
2. It delays legislative change until the last step.
3. It offers the best chance of achieving consensual development within the RE world.
4. It is likely to be politically safer than going for a grand slam.
5. It still retains the likelihood of achieving the main goal of a statutory national syllabus.

Why did you not consult widely before sending the letter?

We did not think there was time. We met in April 2003 to consider the QCA report of the feasibility study which had only just been published. We knew that the Secretary of State had been personally reviewing RE since coming into post before Christmas. We also knew that at that stage he was hoping to announce his conclusions imminently. Having reached our decisions at that meeting we felt it was imperative to make them known both to the Secretary of State and to the RE world as quickly as possible.

Why did you not make your proposal earlier?

Because, until the QCA report was published this March, we were not in a position to react. However it is no secret that for some while we have had a concern about the effectiveness of local syllabus determination. As early as 1992 the then Archbishop of York, now Lord Habgood, argued very persuasively at the first St Gabriel's national RE conference that RE should become nationally rather than locally determined. He has very recently reiterated his position ('Seeking out whatsoever is true', Church Times, June 2003). A further St Gabriel's conference in October 2000 chaired by Lord Dearing examined the balance between local and national in RE. There were also seminars held either side of the conference.

Why are you, as a faith community, playing such a role in professional educational matters?

Because we are a major stakeholder in the English educational system and have always played a fully professional part in its development. Through the National Society, we took the lead in establishing a national system of education in this country in the 19th Century, the State not entering the scene until 1870. Today 25% of all primary schools are Church of England and a further 10% Roman Catholic. In order to staff our schools we founded our own teacher training institutions which, as the school system diversified, also provided teachers for county schools. More recently, our colleges diversified into general HE work. Currently we have 11 such colleges, two of which are ecumenical. Two have already gained university status and others are likely to follow.

Diocesan education teams play a key role in advising and supporting RE. Advisory staff have normally held positions of responsibility in schools or LEAs as head teachers, heads of RE, LEA advisers or inspectors. Although their focus is on Church schools, increasingly their expertise is being used to support RE in community schools as well.

In the late 1970s a number of our colleges closed and formed funding trusts which have been heavily supporting RE work at all levels. Examples include:

• Keswick Hall - funding the RE Centre and the RE Lectureship at the University of East Anglia;
• All Saints' Trust - many grants to RE teachers doing further study, RE research projects, a three-year RE Fellowship;
• Sarum St Michael - bursaries for RE teacher training for those living in their area;
• St Hild and St Bede Durham - funding the RE resource centres in Newcastle and Durham;
• Hockerill - helping RE teachers in training;
• St Mary's Bangor - funding the Welsh National RE Centre;
• St Gabriel's - funding the St Gabriel's Programme including the national RE Teacher Weekend;
• St Peter's Saltley - support for NASACRE;
• St Luke's Exeter funding the Chair in Theology at Exeter University;
• Culham - funding its own institute;
• St Matthias Bristol - work in RE in FE.

In 1998 a consortium of Anglican College Trusts decided to initiate and fund the TeachRE project for recruiting RE teachers. To date they have given £300,000 for the project.

The Church of England also assists RE in a variety of other ways, including representation on SACREs, supporting RE resource centres and very significantly through committed individual Anglicans working at all levels within the education service. At a political level, through their voting rights within the local authority system Church representatives have frequently been able to defend and enhance RE at a local level. Nationally the Church has often exercised political influence to safeguard the position of RE. The Church of England in these and other ways has and still does play a fully professional part in the overall RE enterprise.

Does a national syllabus spell the end for local SACREs?

Not at all. A national syllabus should not diminish the important role of local SACREs - it is only the Agreed Syllabus Conferences that would go. SACREs would continue to play a key part in supporting RE. The Churches have also recommended that a SACRE's increasingly significant work in interfaith dialogue, and in contributing to local community cohesion, should be added to its formal brief.

Are there not big dangers in having RE nationally determined?

There is of course always a risk of religious issues being used for political ends. Indeed the control and use of the school curriculum for political and other ends is always a concern in a democratic society. This is why we have proposed the establishment of a national Agreed Syllabus Conference to be responsible for the syllabus.

Why have you not proposed that RE should be part of the National Curriculum?

Because the national curriculum is ultimately determined by the Secretary of State and so it would not be possible to have a national Agreed Syllabus Conference. Also there is no right to exercise the so-called 'conscience clause' in relation to the national curriculum.

Why do we still need the conscience clause?

In one sense we don't. The consensus now, shared by the Churches, is that curriculum RE in schools is a properly educational subject and part of every child's educational entitlement. It is not a confessional subject. Therefore there should not be any need for pupils to be withdrawn or for teachers to refuse to teach the subject. However, sensitivities on religious issues being what they are and European human rights legislation being what it is, attempts to change existing legislation on this matter could difficult.

What is the status of the proposal within the Church of England?

The Bishop of Portsmouth, Dr Kenneth Stevenson, made the proposal as Chairman of the Church of England Board of Education, the body responsible for formulating the Church of England's national policy on all aspects of education. The proposal, fully endorsed by the Board, represents the national position.

What will be the position in Church of England schools?

Over half of all Church of England schools are voluntary controlled and as such already follow the LEA agreed syllabus. In some cases they may provide a more Church of England focused RE if it is so requested by parents. If a national syllabus replaced the LEA local syllabus then these schools would similarly change.

The responsibility for RE in voluntary aided schools rests with the school's governing body acting within the terms of the school's trust deed. Around 40% of these schools, on the advice of their diocesan board of education, follow the local agreed syllabus. Most of the remaining voluntary aided schools follow their local diocesan syllabus. In the event of a national syllabus, each diocese would be responsible for deciding what should be recommended to its schools but in every case the ultimate decision would rest with the individual school's governing body.

Whether or not they have their own syllabus, most dioceses also provide all their schools with additional support material and advice for the teaching of RE.

As the Church of England would be playing a significant part in the development of any such national syllabus, it is likely to recommend the syllabus to its diocesan boards of education as a baseline for RE teaching in Church schools.

Why are you not proposing to make it mandatory in all Church of England schools?

As RE in voluntary aided schools is legally a responsibility of the governing body and there are many voluntary aided schools that are not Church of England schools, it would be difficult to make a syllabus mandatory for one group of voluntary aided schools and not another. More significantly though, a strong recommendation of a high quality syllabus would be a better way of achieving the same end.

What of future consultation?

There will be differences of view both within the Church of England and within other faith communities and RE organizations; healthy debate is the way forward. In particular the views of those teaching RE should be actively sought and heard. To this end we have recommended to QCA that they, perhaps in collaboration with OFSTED, might undertake a survey of teacher views and needs as part of any first stage framework process. This is likely to involve the use of a statistically sound stratified random sample. Teachers should also play a full part in future developments.

Related documents:

John G. writes on 08 July 2003 (archived news item from this web site)

Bishop of Portsmouth's letters to the Secretary of State (PDF, 101 KB)

Relevant articles from the Church Times June 2003 Educational web site can be found on the Church Times web site. Go to the Search page of Church Times, and do a search in the area of Features on the text national syllabus RE. You will find the following articles (among others):
- John G., 'If we let go of Nurse we can find something better'
- John Hall, 'Sing the same song'
- John Habgood, 'Seeking out whatsoever is true'