The Syllabus
Getting Involved with RE
Monitoring & Understanding RE
The National FrameworkWriting the Agreed Syllabus
Each Local Education Authority must produce an Agreed Syllabus. Sometimes this is adopted or adapted from another Authority, sometimes it is written afresh. Today most LEAs refer to the National Guidelines for the curriculum produced by QCA (the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority).
Syllabuses are agreed by a Council comprising separate committees representing the interested parties:
- Committee A: Other Denominations and Faiths
- Chosen to reflect the local and national profile of various groups Usually most mainstream Christian denominations will be represented as will, often, the other major faiths even if they don't have a significant presence in the area.
- Committee B: The Church of England
- The Church of England has its own committee by virtue of its role as the national church and by having a large number of controlled schools that will be teaching the syllabus being drawn up.
- Committee C: Teachers' Associations
- To safeguard the professional interest.
- Committee D: The LEA
- Very often represented by elected members.
Each Committee has one vote and is required to agree the final document. It is then passed to the Education Committee for formal adoption as the Authority's Agreed Syllabus.
Syllabus construction is quite specialised work and some syllabuses are better than others. A straightforward test of a good syllabus might be:
- Is it clear exactly what pupils are supposed to know and understand at the end of each section of teaching/learning?
- Is it clear how different levels of knowledge and understanding of the same material can be identified and described?
Process
How the conference gets it final document varies:
- Sometimes it is written entirely by teachers in small working groups and the Conference merely rubber stamps it.
- Sometimes Conference members are heavily involved in the drafting. This has become more common as more details has been included about the different faiths. Members of Committee A have had an important role in overseeing the content of their faith teaching, ensuring it is acceptable in the local context.
- Sometimes most of the drafting has been done by one or two people, perhaps employed for that purpose, and Conference has edited or collaborated as appropriate.
Whatever the mechanism, a significant number of practising Christians have been involved in the production of the syllabus. It is important that others, including clergy, recognise their work and their integrity in doing their best for Christianity in the context of that syllabus and that locality.