whole. “The fundamental interconnectedness
of things” as Douglas Adams would perhaps
say.
Spiritual Development
One of my current responsibilities is to chair
the Sheffield Standing Advisory Council on
Religious Education (SACRE). I was also a
member of the SACRE in my previous
Authority. Now, we have all heard, I am sure
about the notion of having our learners
experience “awe and wonder” but I think
their spiritual development is perhaps a bit
more complex than that. Suffice it to say that
all SACREs have their Agreed Syllabuses and
these, I have found, have been a great
vehicle for developing high quality teaching
and learning approaches. Rather than
single out any one individual Agreed
Syllabus, may I direct you to the National
Association of SACREs website, as follows:
www.nasacre.org.uk. Please note, of course,
that there are other organizations (e.g. the
National Association of Teachers of Religious
Education – NATRE- and the Religious
Education Council of England and Wales REC) that have a great deal to offer us as well.
My simple message is that the more
practitioners engage with the writing and
revision of Agreed Syllabuses, the better we
will be able to enable high quality spiritual
development. Notwithstanding the point
that Academies will not have to adopt an
Agreed Syllabus nor that RE itself is part of
the formal current review of the National
Curriculum. A pity, but the