CORNWALL HUMANISTS

Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education

SACRE advises the Local Education Authority on Religious Education, and the Act of Collective Worship in their schools.
Peter Wood is currently a co-opted member of SACRE, representing Cornwall Humanists.

Report of SACRE Meeting held at Liskeard College 24th June 2008
(SACRE is the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education)

Morning Session – Training of SACRE Members
The work of the RE department at Liskeard School and Community College was introduced by Sue Braddick, head of RE. Sarah Hall, the Advanced Skills teacher for RE, told us about the assessment scheme, and Dominique Marchant, described her work with the AS and A2 students. Sarah Hall gave out colour coded assessment sheets which are used in the school to record the progress of students in RE, from level 3 to level 8.

There was an opportunity for SACRE members to meet with students from Year 9, to talk with them about their experience of RE. Some pupils felt that RE should be optional, and not compulsory as an option for GCSE. I asked two small groups about the religious beliefs of fellow students, and was surprised to learn that in a class there might be one or two convinced Christians, a few convinced atheists, but that the majority were thought to be uncommitted.

Afternoon Session - SACRE AGM
The existing Chair, Rick Lee, and the existing Vice Chair, Bonnie Rockley, were re-elected unanimously to serve for another year.

The SACRE guidance on the teaching of Creationism and Intelligent Design has been discussed by a working group of SACRE. The guidance from central Government (DCSF) is that Creationism and Intelligent Design cannot be taught as scientific theories in science lessons and that is accepted by SACRE. SACRE’s advice can be rather brutally summarised as “Don’t oversimplify”, and will be issued to schools.

Another working group of SACRE has been considering an updated piece of advice to schools on Collective Worship. The draft advice produced by the working group was considered page by page. Under the section about prayer I asked what the 50%* of pupils who do not believe in God should be doing while the prayers are being offered. The DCSF guidance is that pupils should “not simply be on lookers” but that they should be “engaged with what is going on”. SACRE members were not able to offer many suggestions to help non-believers engage in the saying of prayers. I also said that whilst Cornwall Humanists support the teaching of RE, we do not support Collective Worship. SACRE members can send their comments on the draft guidance on Collective Worship to David Hampshire with a view to its being finalised at the November meeting, unless major revision seems necessary. The RE Advisor, David Hampshire, told us that although Circular 1/94 is being revised, his information is that the part concerning Collective Worship is unlikely to be much changed.
*(50% is the approximate figure from the 2004 research of Dr Penny Jennings in Cornish Schools)

SACRE considered advice prepared by the RE advisor on how RE and Collective Worship might be used to Promote Community Cohesion.

SACRE is beginning to think about the next revision of the Agreed Syllabus, and it was suggested that a delay of six months would fit better with the Local Government reorganisation.

Denbigh Cowley, Assistant Director Children, Young People and Families, gave a presentation on the local government reorganisation currently in progress in Cornwall.
From April 1st 2009 Cornwall Council will be the single authority in Cornwall. There are plans for 18 or 22 community network areas to be created at a more local level, and some services may be devolved to Parish Councils.

The SACRE Annual Lecture will be given in the autumn by Dr Mark Chater with a dinner to precede the lecture.

The next meeting of SACRE will take place on 11th November, probably at County Hall.

Peter Wood 25th June 2008