WHY YOU MUST BE A SCHOOL GOVERNOR IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN IN A SCHOOL I am attending a meeting of Faith Leaders tomorrow and in preparation of the meeting I have just finished reading APPG Report: The Truth Unmasked. This report is the result of an inquiry carried out by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education to investigate the supply of and support for teachers of religious education. The report draws on over 400 sources of evidence and concludes that there are some serious issues which need to be addressed if schools are to provide high quality religious education for every young person. The report discovered that RE lessons are frequently taught by teachers with no qualifications in the subject. Furthermore the responsibility to educate young people on the different beliefs and values held in society is often given to teaching assistants, who receive little support, training or guidance. A three month long inquiry by the APPG into the supply of and support for RE teachers in schools, including a review of evidence from over 400 sources, found: • Over fifty per cent of those teaching RE in secondary schools have no qualification or relevant expertise in the subject • In more than half of the 300 primary schools participating in the inquiry, some or all of the pupils were taught RE by someone other than their class teacher • A quarter of all primary schools that responded said the lesson was given by a teaching assistant • Primary and primary trainee teachers lack confidence and expertise in teaching RE, especially in diverse and multi-cultural classrooms • Support for RE teachers at a local level has been dramatically reduced by local authority funding cuts and the academies programme • Because of this lack of training and support many of those teaching RE are unable to meet the Department for Education’s Teaching Standards, selling young people short in their schools. Commenting on the findings, chair of the APPG on RE, Stephen Lloyd MP said: “There are a large number of excellent RE teachers across the country who are doing a first class job preparing children for the challenges life throws at them, and helping them make sense of the wide range of beliefs and cultures around us. But a range of policies, most notably those relating to the EBacc, academies and GCSE short courses, have served to lower RE’s status on the curriculum. “As many children as possible should be encouraged to study GCSE Religious Studies – and it is essential that they are taught by experienced and trained professionals at primary and secondary level. “It is illogical to think that we can dilute the professionalism and expertise needed to teach RE well and still have a generation of young people that understand and are sensitive to the growing levels of religious and non-religious diversity in our society.” The inquiry found that the situation has been compounded by insufficient professional development opportunities for subject leaders, specialist teachers and those who take on the responsibility for teaching RE. Evidence also revealed a wide variation in the amount and quality of initial teacher training for RE with many trainee teachers stating they had little effective preparation to teach the subject. My own conclusion is that if you have more than two children in a school and if you can spare two hours a month YOU MUST VOLUNTEER TO BE A SCHOOL GOVERNOR OF THAT SCHOOL
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 18:48:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015