Minutes:
W Gray asked if an item could be placed on the agenda for the next SACRE meeting to discuss the ‘Additional Guidance for Humanism’ that Members received at the last SACRE meeting.
She wished to debate the document and make a formal decision on whether the additional guidance for Humanism should be endorsed by SACRE.
She indicated at the last meeting it was agreed that ‘Agreed Syllabus’ should be removed from the title, and noted that some secondary school colleagues had used the document and found it an excellent resource.
There were concerns in relation to the links contained within the document to further online resources. At the last meeting members were advised that the document, including those links, could not be amended, and she believed that there was not a clear consensus about endorsement of the document.
The published document shown on the Humanism website carried a forward that was an endorsement by Durham SACRE. Endorsement of documents was not something that SACRE had done before and this could set a precedent and be open to requests to endorse other teaching resources.
The document contained links to resources that could be amended without SACRE approval and she was not sure what value it was for SACRE to endorse. In secondary schools you had specialist RE teachers, but this was not the case in primary schools, so she was particularly concerned about some of the resources at primary level, and that an endorsement by SACRE may lead people to assume that the resources were suitable for use without relevant links to the Durham Agreed Syllabus.
Materials produced by a faith were developed with that community in mind whereas SACRE was responsible for the provision of Religious Education which was non-partisan. She felt that the document was good quality but that SACRE had not had an opportunity to look at the document properly.
She suggested that some primary teachers could give some feedback on the document in advance of the next SACRE meeting.
She asked if the draft document that was available on the Council’s website if a clarification could be applied to the document to make it clear that it was not part of the agreed syllabus. She also asked that the endorsement of this document be temporarily rescinded.
Members discussed the proposals from W Gray, and the Chair indicated that the document formed part of the agenda and was on the Democratic Services area of the website under SACRE and not the Education Section and was the historical version that was presented to SACRE and formed part of the agenda for that meeting. He accepted that, if someone carried out a Google search, it might lead them to a more recent or amended version. He indicated that he was of the understanding from the meeting that SACRE had asked for some changes to be made to the document, but the document had been endorsed by SACRE as no one opposed the proposal.
He suggested that SACRE proceed with the suggestion made by W Gray, that an item be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of SACRE, and that the endorsement of the document be temporarily rescinded by SACRE. He would approach the Council to ascertain if the website could be amended.