Agenda item

Lincolnshire Religious Education Agreed Syllabus

(To receive a report from Jill Chandar-Nair, Inclusion and Attendance Manager, which asks for the Committee's views on the Lincolnshire Religious Education Agreed Syllabus, which will be considered by the Executive Councillor Adult Care, Health and Children's Services on 19 March 2018) 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report, which invited the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider a report on the Lincolnshire Religious Education Agreed Syllabus, which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Service's on 19 March 2018.

 

The Chief Commissioning Officer – Learning introduced the report and advised that the County Council was required to review its locally agreed syllabus for Religious Education every five years by convening an Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC). The Committee was advised that the ASC had unanimously recommended that the County Council should adopt the revised syllabus as detailed in Appendix A to the report on the basis that it reflected that the religious traditions of Great Britain were in the main Christian whilst taking into account the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.

 

The Committee was advised that the new syllabus had a clearer structure and comprised of compulsory and additional units. It was highlighted that in addition to Christianity the compulsory units now included Islam at key stage 1, Hinduism and Islam at key stage 2 and either Islam or Hinduism at key stage 3.  The additional units would provide teachers with the opportunity to choose from a number of topics so that they could introduce the study of a different faith/topic or deepen knowledge and understanding about aspects of work covered in the compulsory units.

 

It was reported that the new syllabus would be introduced to schools through a series of training events and support for individual/groups of schools.  It was reported further that supplementary sessions would be added to the agreed syllabus during 2018/19 i.e. Judaism and assessment.

 

During discussion, the Committee raised the following points:-

 

·         Confirmation was given that for 2018/19 Judaism would be added to the document;

·         Concerns were raised that religious education was not compulsory as parents were still able to exempt pupils from lessons.  It was highlighted by the Church of England Representative that he had come across some schools that did not teach Islam or arrange visits to mosques in case parents put in exemptions to religious education classes due to a fear of radicalisation;

·         The Committee agreed that religious literacy was important to improve awareness of different religions.  It was highlighted that philosophical discussions about the similarities between religions would help promote community cohesion; and

·         The Committee agreed that there needed to be a clear link between the Prevent agenda and religious education.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    The Committee unanimously supported the recommendations contained in the Executive Councillor report.

 

2.    The Committee requested that the following comments be passed on to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services:-     

 

o   Concerns were raised that religious education was not compulsory as parents were still able to exempt pupils from lessons.  It was highlighted by the Church of England Representative that he had come across some schools that did not teach Islam or arrange visits to mosques in case parents put in exemptions to religious education classes due to a fear of radicalisation;

o   The Committee agreed that religious literacy was important to improve awareness of different religions.  It was highlighted that philosophical discussions about the similarities between religions would help promote community cohesion; and

o   The Committee agreed that there needed to be a clear link between the Prevent agenda and religious education.

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