Primary RE forum

The following questions came up during the recent Primary RE Conference in a workshop on "teaching faiths that aren't your own". The answers have been provided by Judy Johnson, RE co-ordinator at West Twyford Primary School. Starting in September, Judy will also hold the post of LST (lead subject teacher) in religious education.

Note: If you have any further comments to add to the discussion, please send them to the above address.

Obviously some sources are more reliable than others.  I would suggest that you can rely more on those such as the BBC schools pages and RE online than on those such as Wikipedia which can be edited by anyone who chooses (but are useful for looking at opinions rather than for facts.)  Colleagues will recommend sites and most faiths have informative sites where they might take a certain view, e.g. denominational, but will be keen not to publish errors.  I think bias often shows and in some ways there is no reason to doubt a website more than a book.

In terms of how up-to-date a site is, it will usually have some indication of when it was last updated.  In our subject the facts believed in the various faiths tend not to change anyway.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/NR/WANDSWORTH/localpdf/sacre/legalFramework1-4.pdf

You could also ask the relevant union about this.

I think the head teacher should deal with this.  The local agreed syllabus is legally required and a teacher who does not wish to follow it should withdraw from teaching the subject on grounds of conscience.

It is important that all teachers understand that evangelism has no place in the classroom.  The syllabus is about information, thinking and reflection.

The pack on Judaism that Keith Field provided at the conference has many ideas (see below for links to some of the resources in the pack).  If you look through these you could try to adapt them to other faiths, e.g. instead of a ‘ plagues box’ you could make a box representing the story of Siddhartha leaving his palace with Channa.

The following website has lots of craft ideas for Christianity: www.mssscrafts.com/crafts/

Some of those from the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) could be adapted for projects on Judaism.

Your art co-ordinator might have some books of ideas.  Think about drama also.

I think this would make a useful subject for a co-ordinators’ meeting – what do you think?

Making a succah (pdf)
Keith Field's notes on Pesach (pdf)
Overview of Judaism (pdf)

Keith also recommends the following websites:

Babaganewz (Link takes you to a page with resources for teaching the Jewish holidays)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/worksheets/ (worksheets for a variety of religious festivals)
About.com: Judaism

Unless their parents have asked for them to be withdrawn from lessons they must participate.  However, we do have a responsibility to ensure that tasks are chosen with sensitivity, e.g. not asking Muslim children to draw a picture of any prophet.

You would have to think on your feet if a number of children were offended by a task – but don’t we always think on our feet in the classroom and spend a lot of time working to plans B, C through to Z!

The parents might want to withdraw their children from RE but of course this must come from the parents and not the children.  I think it should also be discussed, as parents might not think of the advantages for them of having their children exposed to other faiths while they are still living at home, rather than as young adults when they are perhaps less likely to listen to parental views.

Your children are your best resource.  Unless the child is likely to criticise for the sake of it, I would try to find out why (e.g. putting holes in a prayer mat) and perhaps get more information from a parent of the same faith as the child.

The things that offend one person of a particular faith might not offend others.  I think we have to be ready to apologise and adapt as we learn.

You might find that there are certain children and/or parents who are particularly informative at such times.

Manifold!!!

You will ensure that the scheme of work for your school is updated and complies with the new syllabus.  This should be given to all class teachers and you should help them to put it into practice by ordering resources, feeding back information learned at co-ordinators’ network meetings and being available to help them with issues such as those discussed above.

You will decide how to use your budget and order resources for each unit of work in the scheme of work.

It is important to understand the value of teaching RE so that you can explain this to people who do not share your view but have to teach the subject anyway (unless they withdraw for reasons of conscience – not simply because they do not fancy it!!!)

Firstly, you need to know if it is the child objecting or the parents.  Of course sometimes parents tell their children to pass on the things they do not want to say themselves!

At the recent Primary RE Conference, a colleague related that it had made a big difference when she included in the letter about the visit an assurance that no child would be expected to participate in worship in the building.  It could be worth including this assurance in the school's RE policy, as this is available to parents.

Response 18.05.07: SACRE will (hopefully) agree at their next meeting (5 June) that the final draft of the new syllabus can be sent to Ealing Cabinet for ratification. If it passes Cabinet, then it will indeed come in force for the beginning of the academic year this coming September.
 
The programmes of study for the foundation stage and key stages 1 & 2 haven't changed since I sent them out to you for consultation; there have been only minor changes and additions to the text of the syllabus posted on the EGfL.
 
The schemes of work that have already been posted are examples only. The important thing is the programmes of study, i.e. the material that is to be covered in each of the key stages (starting on page 11 of the syllabus): however you choose to structure your lesson plans and classes, you should be covering the material listed in the programmes of study.
 
One of my objectives for the next year is to get schemes up on the site for all the core units; at present, in ks2, there is only an example scheme for the core subject of Judaism. This is partly why I've scheduled workshops for all the main religions for the RE conference scheduled for 15 June. 

SACRE knows that schools won't have had the finalised syllabus until the end of the academic term this year, and that is through failures at our end, not yours. All I would suggest is that you do the best you can to try and make the beginning of a transition. (Nora Leonard, SACRE consultant)

Topic two: Would anyone find it useful to share experiences of using some of the links in the draft curriculum (assuming it becomes our new syllabus!)?  I would be particularly interested to know how people have used the links about stories:

  http://betterre.reonline.org.uk/using_ict/developing_ideas.php

There are so many links to follow and it would be easy to kiss a lot of frogs without finding many princes! (Posted 16.02.07 by Judy Johnson, West Twyford Primary School)

Topic one: Has anyone taught or is anyone planning to teach soon the key stage two unit on ‘Life after Death’?  I would like to teach it as I feel it is a subject kids are interested in while many have few people to discuss the issues with.  I am reluctant because I am unsure how to deal with ideas of heaven and hell.  Will people deal with the subject on the basis of rites of passage?  

Having lost a child myself, I also realise how easily flashbacks to painful times can be evoked and I am concerned about reawakening painful experiences in children without realising I have done so.  Any ideas? (Posted 16.02.07 by Judy Johnson, West Twyford Primary School)