Click to access Agreed Syllabus for RE (launched July 2005) (661KB) Click to access Amended Page 55 from Agreed Syllabus for RE (462KB)

Launch of the New Cross-Unitary Agreed Syllabus for RE

The East Riding of Yorkshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education was produced following a review of the 1999 Agreed Syllabus.

The Agreed Syllabus is the result of the partnership between East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull and North and North East Lincolnshire.

Each one of the four unitary authorities shares the same syllabus.

Presentation at the launch of the new syllabus by Professor John Hull,
Chair of Practical Theology at Birmingham University.
July 13, 2005.

(With thanks to Dr Julian Stern of Hull University for his notes from the launch)

This is the challenge today, with a pupil saying of going to church 'I wouldn't be seen dead with people like that'.

We are at a most dramatic and tragic time in the development of our culture (following the bombings in London on Thursday 7th July), and I want to describe how RE can contribute to a more compassionate and intelligent world.

There is a new phrase in our vocabulary 'faith crime', carried out in the name of religious faith; children beaten, tortured, decapitated, exorcised of evil spirits - faith is producing a new and terrible kind of criminality.

I have read your syllabus: it is about good citizenship, about values, truth, harmony, loyalty, respect and understanding. The syllabus is launched at a vital time: let this occasion be a challenge to us.

- Professor John Hull, Chair of Practical Theology at Birmingham University

Yet the link between religion and violence is very well established.

In the past, religion and terror stalked the world hand in hand.

Every great religion has produced and is producing its own particular kind of extremism.

Even in Sikhism or in Buddhism, both of which have their extremists, such as the Little Buddha sect who claimed responsibility for the gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1992.

The Christian faith is no exception, with the Ku Klux Klan having as its symbol the burning cross of Jesus Christ.

There are also Christian groups, members of which have been executed for having murdered those who work in abortion clinics.

So the state kills people who kill people, who kill people and so the violence continues.

In Islam, nothing could be further from the compassion and goodness at the heart of the religion than the appalling crimes that have been carried out in London.

Yet in much religious life, there is a kind of denial taking place.

Religious representatives have denounced violence and terror in the name of their faiths.

Yet, however distorted are these terrorist views, the fact remains that, when Christian terrorists kill, in the name of Jesus Christ, there can be no question that they are Christian terrorists.

There is something deep down in the religion itself that lends itself to such distortions: they are religious distortions.

Anthropologists, psychologists, those that have studied the extremists know that these people are not lunatics: they are very very sane.

Indeed, the typical religious fanatic is characterised by a cold, logical, rationality: from their point of view, what they do is rational.

The first thing religious people have to do is to admit that there is something in the religion that lends itself to such distortion.

Religion is not only capable of being captured by tribalism, and grasped by communities that seek to advance their own cause: it is also capable of supporting a narrow view of a religious fanatic basing views on a narrow set of texts.

40 years ago the secularisation thesis was popular, but there has since been a renaissance around the world - only in Europe does secularism still have some strength (and this we should question - why is secularisation not disappearing from Europe?)

The religious resurgence has led to a religious meltdown: religious can no longer exist in ignorance of each other.

Relations between Christians and Muslims are no longer territorial: they work and live together; we can not deny the other.

Why do we find it so difficult to accept otherness?

Is it our insecurity?

Liking people like us - same colour, same nationality, same town, same street - it is uncomfortable to face up to otherness: I have experienced that ever since I became blind.

I realise there are many human worlds: the world of the sighted is (for the sighted) 'the' world; ‘the world’ is determined by those in power.

There is a multiplicity of worlds and therefore relativism.

A religious tradition that resists relativisation can have particular difficulty with otherness.

Yet all the great traditions regard all humanity as a common species, the brotherhood of man, the human spirit, one and indivisible with compassion our greatest aspiration.

Jesus asks, 'Can the same fountain produce both sweet and bitter water?'

The answer is ‘Yes’.

The acceptance of otherness is the task of RE.

Another feature that lowers the status of religion is the failure to take up the human rights agenda.

The human rights agenda tells us not to discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexuality, race or religion.

Yet religion seems to rise above human rights.

Look at the parable of the work people in the marketplace being hired for different hours of the day, with those working for the whole day getting the same pay as those working for only part of the day.

There is a sense in which religion deals with grace, not rights, we come before God as human beings with no rights or claims, dependent on the mercy of God: that is the religious instinct.

Nevertheless it is important that religions consider human rights from above as well as below, surpassing human rights with compassion and grace, the doctrine of creation, life comes from God and all life is sacred.

Yet, so many religious traditions reject the equality of human beings, of human rights and of the creation accounts common to many great religious traditions.

The rejection of women bishops by 1000 misogynists - avoiding equality - that is harmful to religion, no wonder our young people are turned off.

Young people view religion as a funny old-fashioned thing run by old men who don't like women or gay people.

What can RE do to restore the situation?

It can't educate the fanatic, but it can reduce the possibility of religious fanatics emerging from religious communities.

Young people can be informed about religions in an intelligent and compassionate way and therefore see religious and non-religious people as fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, seeking truth, whilst maintaining loyalty to one’s own tradition as well as respecting others.

I have read your syllabus: it is about good citizenship, about values, truth, harmony, loyalty, respect and understanding.

The syllabus is launched at a vital time: let this occasion be a challenge to us.

Let us dedicate ourselves to educational enterprise; to contribute to the resolution of human narrow-mindedness.

I trust the syllabus will go on from strength to strength, giving our young people enthusiasm for a growth in humanity and breadth of understanding in the welfare of each other, their country and the world.

God bless you all.

The Purpose of the Agreed Syllabus

The purposes of the agreed syllabus is to:

• enable schools to provide a quality religious education curriculum
• provide appropriate criteria to those responsible for monitoring its provision, including school governors
• enable parents and other interested parties to be informed about the provision of religious education in schools

Religious education can be provided through the schools curriculum in several different ways or a combination of ways including:

• through a topic approach
• as a discrete subject
• as an identifiable component of a Personal and Social Education programme
• within a scheme of work for Humanities
• through recognised and appropriate examination and short courses (particularly at Key Stage 4)
• within a General Studies programme

Some of these possible approaches are more appropriate for primary, and some for secondary schools.

Implementing the agreed syllabus will normally be achieved in school by devising schemes of work based upon the Programmes of Study and associated Core Objectives found within the Framework which follows.

The learning experiences of the pupils, which are gained from the Framework, give opportunities to demonstrate response to and knowledge of the central concepts.

They also contribute to the development of positive attitudes and relevant skills.

To evaluate the learning and assess the progress that has been achieved by the pupil, it will be necessary to monitor both individual progress and the effectiveness of the Programmes of Study.

This may be achieved through the use of the Key Assessment Objectives.

The criteria for such evaluation must relate back to the stated aims for religious education and to the Attainment Targets.

To deliver the syllabus it is recommended that each school ensures that a suitable allocation of time is devoted to religious education.

A minimum of 5% curriculum time is considered necessary to deliver the content.

It is also recommended that a subject leader is identified to take charge of delivering the syllabus.

The Aims of Religious Education

Religious education aims to contribute to the development of young peoples beliefs and values and to develop their knowledge and understanding of religion.

Religious education involves:

• exploring and evaluating how beliefs and values affect the individuals way of life
• developing a knowledge and an understanding of the beliefs, practices and institutions of Christianity and other major living religions
• analysing and evaluating the status and functions of religions in human societies
• investigating religious and other interpretations of human experience

Within this syllabus the word religions usually refers to the living faiths of the world.

Religious education involves the whole personality:

• personal beliefs will be explored
• self-understanding may be gained
• self-identity may be fashioned
• knowledge will be acquired
• skills will be developed
• positive attitudes are to be encouraged
• emotions may be explored

Religious education should be enjoyable and contribute to the growth of self-esteem.