Westminster S Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education

Living Difference

Westminster’s Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education

(Being an amended version of the Agreed syllabus of Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton)

July 2006

(the original syllabus having been adopted by Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton in July 2004)

ISBN: 1-85975-614-X July 2004

Page number

Contents iii

Westminster Preface viii

The legal requirements x

Acknowledgements xi

The purpose of religious education 1

Introduction to the Agreed Syllabus: Living Difference 2

Concept development 4

Enquiry and skills 6

Attainment target: Interpreting religion in relation to human experience 7

Programme of study 8

Enquiry and skills - a methodology for teaching and learning 8

Knowledge and understanding 10

Hierarchy of concept development 11

Breadth of study 12

Attainment target and level descriptions 13

Levels of attainment 14

Performance descriptions 16

Students with special educational needs 19

A model for sequencing enquiry and skills in the programme of study for students with special educational needs 21

Knowledge, skills and understanding for students with special educational needs 22

Breadth of study 23

Foundation Stage 24

Introduction 25

Enquiry and skills 26

Hierarchy of concept development 27

Key Stage 1 28

Introduction 29

Hierarchy of concept development 30

A model for sequencing enquiry and skills in the programme of study at Key Stage 1 31

Knowledge, skills and understanding 32

Units of work 34

Content for the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 37

Buddhism 38

Christianity 39

Hinduism 41

Islam 42

Judaism 43

Sikhism 44

Key Stage 2 45

Introduction 46

Hierarchy of concept development 47

A model for sequencing enquiry and skills in the programme of study at Key Stage 2 48

Knowledge, skills and understanding 49

Units of work 52

Content for Key Stage 2 - the religious traditions 55

Buddhism 56

Christianity 58

Hinduism 60

Islam 62

Judaism 64

Sikhism 66

Key Stage 3 68

Introduction 69

Hierarchy of concept development 70

A model for sequencing enquiry and skills in the programme of study at Key Stage 3 71

Knowledge, skills and understanding 72

Units of work 75

Content for Key Stage 3 - the religious traditions 79

The Bahá’í Faith 80

Buddhism 84

Christianity 86

Hinduism 89

Humanism 91

Islam 93

Judaism 95

Sikhism 97

Key Stage 4 99

Introduction 100

Hierarchy of concept development 101

A model for sequencing enquiry and skills in the programme of study at Key Stage 4 102

Knowledge, skills and understanding 103

Post-16 104

Introduction 105

Suggested material for a post-16 curriculum 106

Lists of concepts

Concept type A

Concepts within the experience of most people irrespective of any religious or philosophical affiliation 107

Concept type B

Concepts common to some religions and non-religious worldviews and also used in the study of them 108

Concept type C

Concepts that are particular to specific major religions or to non-religious worldviews 109

The Bahá’í Faith 110

Buddhism 112

Christianity 113

Hinduism 114

Humanism 116

Islam 118

Judaism 119

Sikhism 120

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on the Bahá’í Faith 121

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Buddhism 124

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Christianity 127

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Hinduism 129

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Humanism 132

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Islam 135

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Judaism 137

Examples of ways of constructing units of work on Sikhism 139

Learning across the curriculum: the contribution of religious education 142

Promoting spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development through religious education 143

Promoting citizenship through religious education 144

Promoting personal, social and health education through religious education 145

Promoting key skills through religious education 146

Promoting other aspects of the curriculum 147

Inclusion: providing effective learning opportunities for all students 148

Use of language across the curriculum 156

Use of information and communication technology across the curriculum 157

Westminster Preface

By statute, every local authority is required to adopt an agreed syllabus of religious education and to review it every five years. Westminster’s last agreed syllabus was adopted in 1998 and therefore came up for review in 2003. At that time the Local Authority duly set up an Agreed Syllabus Conference to conduct the review

Initially the Agreed Syllabus Conference ascertained that the current agreed syllabus was popular with schools and that there were relatively minor revisions required. Specifically, it wished to include units on each of three new topics, the Bahá’í Faith, Humanism, and interfaith dialogue, at key stage 3 (the existing syllabus dealt with two of these already, but at key stage 4). It was also recognised that more advice needed to be given about assessment, particularly the use of levels. SACRE set up an agreed syllabus working party, chaired by a primary headteacher, Annie Sevier, charged with looking at how best the 1998 agreed syllabus could be amended.

However, shortly after the agreed syllabus conference began its review it became known that the DfES intended to produce a non-statutory National Framework (NSNF) that would offer guidance to agreed syllabus conferences. It was therefore decided to delay consideration of the new agreed syllabus until the NSNF became available. The NSNF was published during the autumn term of 2004. Through a consultation with primary school subject leaders with responsibility for religious education a very strong request was made that any revised syllabus should come with a complete scheme of work, including recommendations as to resources and as much guidance as possible about teaching the material. At about the same time it became known that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) was intending to publish a scheme of work to accompany the NSNF and this was promised for the end of the summer term, 2005. It was therefore decided that the sensible option was to await the publication of the QCA scheme of work before proceeding to make recommendations to the local authority.

The QCA publication date for the new scheme of work was delayed several times and as of June 2006 no part of the scheme had been published. To avoid further delay and act quickly to put in place a new syllabus to meet the needs of the pupils and students in Westminster schools, the Agreed Syllabus Conference decided to adopt a recent syllabus from another local authority, if one could be found that met the needs of Westminster schools. After researching a range of syllabuses it was decided to recommend Westminster Council to adopt the agreed syllabus of Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, subject to minor amendments.

Why the Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton syllabus?

The quality of the support material

In looking for a suitable agreed syllabus it was essential to find one that offered a handbook that gave guidance at the level of individual lesson plans and resource materials. Relatively few agreed syllabuses do this and of the few that do, most date from before the NSNF. A number of agreed syllabus conferences are currently meeting and there may eventually be comprehensive guidance material to accompany these syllabuses, but it does not yet exist. The Hampshire syllabus was produced at the same time as the NSNF and there was close liaison so that the two documents can be seen as complementary. From the time the Hampshire syllabus was published in 2004 work has been proceeding on both a primary and secondary handbook. These are now completed with the secondary handbook extending to more than 500 pages and the primary handbook to just under 200 pages. This material has been produced with the involvement of classroom teachers (including advanced skills teachers) and the two county inspectors for RE. It has been trialed in schools and has received a warm response from teachers..

Consistency with the Non-Statutory National Framework

The NSNF is not itself a syllabus and could not be used as one. It is a framework that needs to be fleshed out before it can be used by schools. However, the NSNF will be the document that publishers and TV programme makers will look to when they produce materials for use in schools. It is likely that all future initial training of RE teachers, and any nationally provided professional development for RE teachers, will use the NSNF as its basis. It therefore seemed imperative that a Westminster syllabus should be compatible with the NSNF.

The Hampshire syllabus is consistent with the NSNF. There are two apparent differences; the first will make no difference at all to teachers, and the second makes teachers lives easier. The first difference is that the two attainment targets of the NSNF, ‘learning about religion’ and ‘learning from religion’ have been conflated into the single target of “Interpreting religion in relation to human experience.” There is no difficulty here because both of the NSNF attainment targets are incorporated within the Hampshire attainment target (one cannot begin to interpret religion until one has learned about it, and the process of interpreting it in relation to human experience is to ask the question, “what can I learn from this?”) The second difference is that the wording of the 9 levels of attainment of the Hampshire syllabus (8 levels plus ‘exceptional performance’) is different to the wording of the NSNF. However, the levels are compatible in the sense that any particular level in the Hampshire syllabus corresponds to the same level in the NSNF. The reason for the difference in wording is that the Hampshire level descriptors are closely tied to what pupils are actually required to do in their lessons at each key stage. Teachers will find the process of assigning levels to pupils easier using the Hampshire wording than using that of the NSNF.

The Hampshire syllabus allows Westminster schools to deliver the religious education most appropriate to their situation

Quite intentionally the Hampshire syllabus is primarily a syllabus about how to teach religious education, rather than what to teach. At its heart is a methodology based on concept-acquisition that could be applied to almost any religious content. The requirements of the Hampshire syllabus, as to content, are wholly in line with the NSNF in terms of expecting Christianity taught at each key stage, with one other religion at key stage one, and two other religions at each of key stages two and three. (There is a national expectation that students will be following accredited courses at key stage 4 and in the VI form). Hampshire has encouraged Westminster to develop further units of work to meet specific needs of Westminster schools, using the examples in their handbooks, so Westminster SACRE is developing units on the Bahá’í Faith, on inter-faith dialogue and on HumanismThe legal requirements

The Education Act 1996 requires that:

• religious education should be taught to all students other than those in nursery classes and except for those withdrawn at the wish of their parents. Teachers’ rights are safeguarded, should they wish to withdraw from the teaching of religious education

• religious education in all county and voluntary controlled schools should be taught in accordance with an agreed syllabus

• an agreed syllabus should reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teachings and practices of the other principal religions in Great Britain

• an agreed syllabus must not be designed to convert pupils, or to urge a particular religion or religious belief on pupils

• an new Agreed Syllabus Conference must be convened within five years of the adoption of an agreed syllabus to review the existing syllabus.

The status of religious education within the curriculum

Section 352 of the Education Act 1996 identifies the distinctive place of religious education as part of the basic curriculum alongside the National Curriculum. Religious education is to have equal standing in relation to the core and foundation subjects within the school. It differs from the subjects of the National Curriculum only in that it is not subject to national prescription in terms of attainment targets and programmes of study. It is a matter for the Agreed Syllabus Conferences to recommend locally prescribed procedures for the LEA in relation to attainment targets, assessment and programmes of study.

Time for religious education

It is recommended that the following minimum hours should be devoted to religious education, and the programmes of study that come in the Living Difference handbooks have been designed with these time recommendations in mind:

• Key Stage 1: 36 hours per year

• Key Stage 2: 45 hours per year

• Key Stage 3: 45 hours per year

• Key Stage 4: 45 hours per year

• Key Stage 5: there is no recommended minimum time allocation.

The requirement to teach religious education does not apply to nursery classes but it does apply to children in Reception classes.

NB Collective worship is not part of the taught day and cannot be considered as part of the recommended time for teaching the Agreed Syllabus
Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks go to members of the working party and others who have contributed to the shaping of this document:

Mandy Post, Manor Infant School (Fleet)

Lorraine Smith, Western CE Primary School

Angela Smith, The Crookhorn Community School

Neil Powney, Bay House School

Philippa Hughes, Fair Oak Infant School

Catherine Macdonald, Maple Ridge School (Special)

Esther Squibb, Ringwood Junior School

Zoe Hayes, Valentine Infant School

Rebecca Payne, St Mary’s Primary School

Caroline Mulvey, Bitterne C of E Infant School

Jackie Meering, Fairisle Junior School

Cheryl Hubbard, RE teacher

Matthew Pitcher, Bitterne Park Secondary School

Georgie Tuzeman, Solent Junior School

Sue Ganter, RE teacher

Patrick Quirk, Miltoncross School

Cath Ilsley, Redwood Park Special School

Sylvia Fletcher, Copnor Infant School

Rona Doyle, St Jude’s C of E Primary School

Chris Hughes, Hampshire SACRE

David Bothwell, Hampshire SACRE