RE Teaching Commission                                 

The Commission has a dual role

a) to take stock of the present condition of RE provision throughout the maintained system of education, and
b) to identify how best the provision can best be replenished, with particular reference to all forms of teacher education and training

Evidence has been invited from all interested parties, including REC member organisations and relevant government agencies (DfES, Ofsted, QCA, TDA). Three surveys are being conducted:

a) Higher Education Institutions about their provision of ITT and CPD
b) other providers, including advisers, exam boards and other independent companies
c) teachers asking about the types of training that has helped them.

Members of the Commission are: John Keast (chair), Dave Francis (project officer), Lynne Broadbent (primary and HE), Judith Everington (secondary and HE), Fr Joe Quigley (faith schools), Barbara Wintersgill (Ofsted experience), Rosemary Rivett (advisory).

SACRE Initiatives

In collaboration with the National Association of SACREs consideration is being given as to how best individual SACREs and their individual members can be supported in their work.

Three areas of activity are presently underway in light of which detailed proposals will be formulated for the Strategy. They are:

a) School self evaluation reports and monitoring. To provide a basis for SACREs to prioritise their support for RE in schools in their local areas, there is small scale pilot project in Hounslow and Haringey with small number of schools to evaluate effectiveness of the self evaluation framework model.

b) Recruitment & training initiative To explore the area of recruitment and training of colleagues from minority faith communities, there is a pilot project in 10 LAs in the Greater Manchester and 10 in the Greater London regions. It is jointly funded by the DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) and the DfES. (see projects section)

c)   National support for SACREs. Three regional conferences are being held for SACRE Officers – in Bristol, Leeds and London to cover the whole country. They are being jointly sponsored by QCA, NASACRE and the RE Council. Their priority is to boost communication and review strategies for annual monitoring and support.

16-19 and Further Education

This is an area which the REC Executive intends to include in the proposals for a National Strategy and an additional working group may be formed to assist with their formulation