Author: Woodward

MODEL SYLLLABUSES FOR
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Cherry Gould

Former RE Inspector/Adviser with Berkshire and a member 
of the Shap Working Party on World Religion in Education.

The Model Syllabuses for Religious
Education have attracted much media
attention and, with Ofsted Inspections, 
have raised the profile of RE.
There has been much misunderstanding
about the models and for whom they are
intended. The misunderstanding has echoed
some of the confusion that there has been,
and often still is, about the National versus
the Basic Curriculum.

First it has to be emphasized that the model
syllabuses have no statutory basis whatsoever
and are not for schools. The model syllabuses
state this very clearly in a footnote to the
introduction to both syllabuses:

"The model syllabuses are NOT statutory
documents. The models are intended for use
by agreed syllabus conferences. They are not
intended as schemes of work for schools."
 
RE remains a matter for local decision making;
it is not centrally decided despite media inter-
pretation such as the 'Church Times' headline
on 8 July 1994: "RE is now centrally decided."

This point seems to have been lost on many
people. The models are there to provide help
and support to agreed syllabus conferences
who have all got the task of writing a syllabus
that, for National Curriculum subjects, is done
centrally. RE specialists have bemoaned the
fact that all other curriculum subjects have had
money spent on them in producing their
National Curriculum documentation. RE being
part of the Basic Curriculum, rather than a
National Curriculum subject, has lost out on
all of this money and time. The model
syllabuses have filled this gap and have
helped give RE some parity with National
Curriculum subjects.

The 1993 Education Act placed a huge burden
on LEAs concerning religious education. All
LEAs which had not produced a new agreed
syllabus since 29 September 1988 were
required to convene an agreed syllabus
conference by 1 April 1995. Agreed syllabuses
then have to be reviewed every five years. The
amount of work required for such an
undertaking is enormous and very hard for
every LEA to do, particularly in times when
resources are being taken away from them.
What the work of the model syllabuses has
done centrally, is to do the massive amount of
research from which agreed syllabuses can
draw but which they may not have been able to
fund or support. Not all LEAs would have had
the communities of different faiths available
locally from which to get help and advice.

The model syllabuses have no statutory basis.
RE remains in the unique position of being
locally rather than nationally determined. The
model syllabuses have not changed this. RE in
county schools continues to have to conform to
the locally agreed syllabus, in GM schools it
has to conform to the agreed syllabus of the
authority that has been agreed upon.

The model syllabuses may help agreed
syllabus conferences, who are responsible for
drawing up agreed syllabuses, to put together
their syllabus. The conferences may draw
largely on the work of the model syllabuses.
They may use the models in part. It may be
that some conferences will totally ignore the
models. It is the conferences who will be
judged on whether or not their agreed syllabus
fulfils the legal requirements. Schools will be
inspected according to their agreed syllabuses,
not according to the model syllabuses.

The model syllabuses contain much useful
information and are a very helpful summary of
how people in the faith communities want to
see their tradition represented. The cooperation
of the faith communities in drawing up the
model syllabuses was unprecedented and a
huge landmark in religious education. The
people present at the launch indicated the high
profile of the model syllabuses - the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Moderator of
the Free Churches, Bishop David Konstant
(chairman of the Catholic Education Service),
the Chief Rabbi, and representatives of the
Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths. The
model syllabuses also had the support of The
Evangelical Alliance.

Some educationalists  have  been  rather
negative about the fact that the faith
communities, rather than educationalists, drew
up the agenda for study in the models. This
has clouded the huge achievement of the
models as regards gaining central money for
RE and uniting faith communities behind
religious   education.   All  the talk of
"Christianising" RE has obscured the fact that
8[3] of ERA has brought about the full
multi-faith nature of RE in Britain which is
about living religions. The model syllabuses
have now confirmed this position in a way that
once did not seem possible.