The Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, will host one of the evidence gathering sessions, which are being held nationwide.

An evidence gathering session to review the legal, education, and policy frameworks for religious education (RE), will be held at Exeter on 20th June

The Religious Education Council for England and Wales established a national Commission on Religious Education in 2016 to review the legal, education, and policy frameworks for religious education (RE). 

This review will be a wide-ranging, inclusive and evidence-based process designed to inform policy makers. The ultimate aim will be to provide a new vision for the subject and to improve the quality and rigour of religious education and its capacity to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.The terms of the Commission are to: 

a. To consider the nature, purposes, and scope of religious education. 

b. To identify the enabling factors that currently promote high quality RE, and the barriers that currently limit it. 

c. To identify what changes are needed to ensure the highest quality provision of RE. 

d. To ensure that recommendations focus on realistic and specific proposals aimed at both immediate and long-term implementation in the context of continuing educational reform. 

The Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, will host one of the evidence gathering sessions, which are being held nationwide. This session will take place on Tuesday 20th June in room G18 in the Medical School Building, St Luke’s Campus. Experts and stakeholders, invited by the commissioners, will present evidence between 2.30pm-7.00pm. Members of the public are welcome to observe both sessions. 

Dr Geoff Teece, Honorary Research Fellow and PGCE Course Tutor at the University of Exeter, will consider issues concerning the nature, purpose and scope in RE. Specifically, Geoff will draw from his doctoral thesis and the work of Ninian Smart, John Hick, Peter Valk, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Robert Jackson and Karen Armstrong, to ask some conceptual questions about the use of key terms such as religions, beliefs and worldviews in RE documentation. 

On behalf of University of Exeter Secondary PGCE RE trainees, Lois Vanstone, Mark Narramore and Caitlin Wilson will reflect on the issues, debates and research they have encountered during their PGCE training year and their recent school placements and explore a number of key factors impacting on the quality training, teaching and learning in RE.

Date: 18 June 2017

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