Welcome to our latest edition of our Newsletter!
Note from Chair
As we reach the end of term, no doubt everyone is also feeling like we have had the busiest year this year and for STARME it is no different. In our first year we have been setting out the groundwork for our association to support members and the delivery and reputation of RME in Scotland.
- We have now over 300 members! Welcome folks!
- We have run our first CLPL event
- We now have a website up and running being updated regularly with plans in place to expand the offerings available in the next year
- We have made connections with Education Scotland, the GTCS, faith groups, research groups, the SQA, museums, unions, and more.
- We have arranged for members to take part in consultations relating to RME/ RMPS
- We have worked on a plan for rolling out more events and support in the next year and beyond
Our committee have been working hard alongside their everyday jobs in schools and universities across the country from Dumfries, to Glasgow, Fife, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and around, representing a range of backgrounds and experiences. Their work in turning an idea into a functioning association has been extraordinary. In the next year we have plans working with others to develop and release resources, to widen the opportunities for members to be involved in relevant consultations, to increase CLPL events and resources and to focus in on skills, careers and subject promotion.
Our AGM is due to take place on 24th August online – an opportunity to look back on our first active year, look forward to the year ahead and to look at what we are aspiring to do longer term. Steph will send out an e-mail about this nearer the time – it would be great to see as many of you as possible.
On behalf of the whole committee, I hope that you have a wonderful and relaxing summer holiday and that you will be refreshed by this time and buzzing with enthusiasm and ideas for our return to school in August.
Stuart McKinlay
Chair
Higher CLPL Event
Our first CLPL successfully took place in March with a focus on delivering Higher RMPS. It was attended by over 100 practitioners. We have typed up some summary messages from Leigh Anderson, Principal Assessor which can be accessed here. Delivering Higher RMPS – Key Messages from Principal Assessor, Leigh Anderson and the key advice for learning and teaching from experienced practitioners which can be found here Delivering Higher RMPS – Advice from experienced practitioners. We are looking to host similar events for sharing good practice and key messages in the future.
Feedback from Survey
Thank You to all our members for filling out the latest STARME survey. We are keen to gather as many experiences and thoughts from our members as possible. This is especially helpful when we are speaking to other organisations as we can share views from our members to give an accurate picture of RME across Scotland.
We will be collating results from this in the coming months and sharing some key messages at our AGM.
Education Scotland: Supporting Learning, Teaching and Assessment in RME/RERC and RMPS
Education Scotland is keen to support the delivery of RME and RERC 3-18. There are a number of activities which you may wish to be aware of and get involved in.
1. National Teams Networks for RME & RERC. These are on Glow and used as a way to communicate and collaborate with the RME/RERC Teaching Community. The Networks share news and signpost matters of interest nationally as well as providing a monthly programme of Career-Long Professional Learning in RME/RMPS. A number of other support mechanisms for RME/RMPS can be found in this resource on the National Improvement Hub.
2. Education Scotland is currently exploring the development of two new resources. The first is a Learning, Teaching and Assessment Toolkit for RME which will cover a range of matters around our subject and bring a wide range of resources together in one place. The second is a resource which will explore the relationship between RME and Numeracy similar to one we recently published on Expressive Arts and Numeracy .
3. We regularly receive requests for information about Scottish Government Guidance around RME/RERC and Religious Observance. The most recent Scottish Government Guidance documents are from 21 February 2011 and 30 March 2017
4. Education Scotland also offers free Professional Dialogue Support Visits which can be virtual or face-to-face – providing you with support tailored to your requirements.See the document below for details. If you would like any further information about any of these or would like to offer your support for their development, please contact Education Scotland’s Senior Education Officer for RME, Joe Walker
Education Scotland – RME/RMPS/RERC Subject CLPL Calendar 2023-2024
Now being planned – your assistance required!
I am about to begin planning the CLPL calendar for RME/RMPS/RERC; Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy for 2023-2024. The recent National Discussion on Education Report made clear that there is a continued need for subject-based CLPL. I aim in 2023-2024 to have a more extended and much fuller CLPL calendar across all four subject areas, but I need your help.
I therefore have two asks of all members of these subject networks:
- What would you like to see in these calendars?
- Would you be prepared to lead/ be involved in a session (or more) exploring an area of Learning, Teaching and Assessment which is of interest to you?
All offers and suggestions gratefully received! Contact joe.walker@educationscotland.gov.scot
Scottish Bible Society – ‘Must Know Bible Stories’ Resources
https://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/resources/schools
The Must Know Bible Stories resources are packed full of ideas that encourage children to talk! The lesson plans will help you involve the children as active participants, as you explore a Bible story and discover Christian belief together. They’ll ask questions, share their views and together consider how faith and belief affect the world they live in.
“The discussions were exciting. I liked hearing what other people were thinking.” P5 Pupil
“It got them thinking very deeply about issues they had previously probably never discussed. The level of engagement and variety of responses were wonderful.” P7 Teacher, Middleton Park Primary school
Find out more about how the resources get children talking in this blog: https://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/blog/lets-get-talking
The Must Know Bible Stories resources are free to download and available here: https://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/resources/schools
Primary RME research
Dr Joanne Malone is looking for Primary Schools contacts to work with in her research project. The project explores the relations between citizenship, national identity and religious and non-religious beliefs and values in primary schools.
Find out more here – https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/research/current-research/religion-in-primary-school-life/
Sharing Good Practice – Robert Gordon’s College
Lesley Ross, one of our members got in otuch to share their great work with creating an Interfaith group in school,
Robert Gordon’s College interfaith group was formed by pupils from S4 and S5 with the aim of showcasing the diversity in faith and belief at the college. The group meets each week where they have engaging discussions, stimulating activities and interactive sessions that enable the members to increase their understanding of other faiths, strengthen their own perspectives on different matters and encourage positive conversation.
One of the events the group decided to host was the Faces of Faith Exhibition which had been launched by Interfaith Scotland. The gallery highlights 16 people of faith who describe the joys, challenges, and complexities of living as a person of faith in Scotland, and the impact these communities have on a local, national, and international level.
Our pupils found it an interesting and stimulating experience and the members of the College’s interfaith group were also able to share some of their stories too. We also made sure that the core S3 classes got use of the exhibition when we were discussing exactly what a religious person was, it certainly gave them lots to think about! Here is one of our members talking about the exhibition: Interfaith Exhibition
The whole event was a huge success and we hope to do more interesting things in the future.
Message Trust
The Message Trust has 30 years of experience working in schools throughout the UK, Europe and as
far afield as Kenya and South Africa.
The Message Trust have multiple schools’ teams offering thought provoking lessons and music
performances. In every school, we aim to communicate the Christian faith to young people in a
relevant way, and to encourage them to think about their own lives, values and experiences.
Our PSE/RME resource offers a unique and complementary approach to PSE/RME and self-esteem
education. I believe we are uniquely placed to provide PSE education that cares for the whole child,
promoting a healthy sense of self, positive mental health and emotional wellbeing. Underpinned by
our Christian values, our mission is to help young people know they are loved, accepted and valued,
and that there is hope for their life.
The lessons all meet with all the relevant E’s and O’s, Benchmarks, Learning Intentions and Success
Criteria to support students’ learning for the RME curriculum. I cover topics such as Self-Esteem,
Bullying, Living Online, Pornography, Positive Relationships and Sexting, Abusive Behaviour and
Consent from a Christian perspective. The lessons have been hugely well received by the schools I
have visited, and the lessons are accessible to young people of all faiths and none.
Teaching Digital Citizens – The Ethics of AI
With the rise of A.I. and the Ethics surrounding its use in both education and wider society. We wanted to highlight current research on AI. We have been asked to share this survey for practitioners about Digital Ethics from the University of Glasgow. gla.ac.uk/digitalethics
This is something we are also looking into running as part of our future CLPL events.
10 Questions With
Our ongoing series of ’10 questions with . . .’ is continuing, sharing a variety of experiences and insights into many of our members. You can catch up on the series here – https://starme.co.uk/category/latest-news/10-questions-with/. If you would be willing to share your experience please fill in the form here. We are also looking to hear from our ‘non teaching’ members and partners who can complete this form!
Higher RMPS – World Religion Research
I am interested in exploring topics around SQA RMPS Higher examinations.
At a time when so much about the formal structure of Scottish education is under review, including examinations as part of the Hayward review, I am also interested in the content of what is being examined in RMPS, particularly at Higher.
As many teachers will be aware, the theoretical model that the SQA Higher is based upon, in particular the so-called “World Religion” section (that in so many ways forms the basis of the the other two parts), is at least two-three decades behind current scholarship in the broad field of Religion, which has mostly moved well beyond the “World Religions paradigm” (see work by Fitzgerald, Goldenberg, McCutcheon etc.) However, even within that context, I have heard numerous teachers express varying degrees of frustration with the ways in which the SQA marks pupil work, with comments such as, “that may be Buddhism, but it’s clearly not SQA Buddhism”, “Muslims believe X, but only in the SQA”, or “everyone else would say you should reference what Jews do like this, but not the SQA.”
I am interested in gathering such accounts, with a view to publication in some form (depending on the responses received, this could be a simple blog posting, or perhaps even a refereed article in an OA scholarly journal). If you would be interested in contributing with some details of what you perceive to be inaccuracies or misrepresentations in content or form that the SQA examines, I would be glad to hear from you: this could be in your capacity as a teacher, or as a teacher/marker for the SQA. I am hoping to write a short piece exploring these questions, that would hopefully be published in Open Access form in the coming year. If this gathering of information does reach any kind of publication stage, I expect, of course, to be contacting the SQA for comment as well.
All contact will be treated in confidence, and full written consent would be sought for publication of any information you share with me. If you are interested in offering any thoughts on this, please contact me on my Glow or personal email address in the first instance: gw19martenmichael@glow.sch.uk OR michael@marten.org.uk.
0 Comments