Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education


Birmingham City Council \| Birmingham Grid for Learning

Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2007

5. Programmes of Study
A. Foundation Stage

Foundation

Introduction

The foundation stage describes the phase of a child's education from the age of 3 to the end of reception at the age of 5. Whilst Religious Education is statutory for all pupils registered on the school roll, this statutory requirement does not extend to nursery classes in maintained schools.

Religious Education is, therefore, not a legal requirement at this stage but may nevertheless form a valuable part of the educational experience of children in this age group. Helpful advice on this is offered in the non-statutory guidance below, and on this website.

The Contribution of Religious Education to the Early Learning Goals

By law since 2002-3, teachers are required to complete a Foundation Stage Profile of each child receiving government-funded education by the end of the Foundation Stage. The profile has 13 summary scales covering the Early Learning Goals in 6 areas of learning. These areas have been identified as:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
Communication, Language and Literacy.
Mathematical Development.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World.
Physical Development.
Creative Development.

There is evidence to suggest that young children have an innate sense of transcendence15 which relates directly to the spiritual and moral dimensions of the child’s development. Attention to these dimensions will fall largely within the area of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

These areas of learning have an important bearing on the development of the child’s dispositions and attitudes, a significant concern in this Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. Religious Education can therefore clearly contribute to these areas of learning and potentially to all the other areas but it must show that it is doing so by explicitly relating Religious Education’s own specific interests to the aims devised for the foundation stage16.

Other Considerations

Parents

The Foundation Stage of formal education links most closely to the educational endeavours of parents so that teachers are encouraged to liaise with them and to establish effective partnerships with parents to ensure their child makes proper progress in the six areas of development.

Such partnerships with parents will be difficult to establish if the religious and cultural heritage is ignored. Religious Education in addressing this aspect is able to play an important part in securing continuity in school with the parental home and community environment from which the child comes, whilst simultaneously making a significant contribution to the aims of this phase of education.

Inspection

In addition to the six areas of learning devised by the QCA, early learning teachers must also bear in mind the Ofsted inspection regime. Ofsted’s interests in: 1. Achievement and Standards 2. The Quality of Provision 3. Leadership and Management 4. Overall Effectiveness	are mapped against the five outcomes of Every Child Matters envisaged in the Children’s Act. In this document children are encouraged to: [a] ‘Be Healthy’ [b] ‘Stay Safe’ [c] ‘Enjoy and Achieve’ [d] Make a Positive Contribution’ [e] Achieve Economic Well-Being’
There are, in effect, certain considerations which are internal to religious life and to the subject of Religious Education, and external considerations which derive from societal concerns for the well-being of children and for effective schooling.	The structure and content of the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus, which focuses on the whole child and on society, using the resources of religious traditions as a means of learning from faith, is designed to meet these various demands.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)

The QCA aim of teaching and learning in this phase of education is to
‘underpin all future learning by supporting, fostering, promoting and developing children’s:

Personal, social and emotional well-being.
Positive attitudes and dispositions towards their learning.
Social skills.
Attention skills and persistence.
Language and communication.
Reading and writing.
Mathematics.
Knowledge and understanding of the world.
Physical development.
Creative development.’

Again, the aims of Religious Education match and fit most, if not all,
of these foundation aims, particularly in what Religious Education seeks
to learn from faith and in its use of the resources of religious traditions for doing so.

Examples of Points of Contact between the Early Learning Goals and Religious life

There are some important points of contact between religious life and the aims of education at the Foundation Stage. For example, at the core of religious life is the capacity of being attentive17, of listening or of being mindful. This resonates directly with the aims of developing in children in the foundation stage the Early Learning Goals/QCA aims: ‘Positive attitudes and dispositions towards their learning’, ‘Attention skills and persistence’ and ‘Knowledge and understanding of the world’.

Furthermore, the religious consequence of 'revelatory' events and response within human life usually take the form of various affections, dispositions and virtues, that is to say, religions are concerned with human relationships and character. These concerns in turn relate well to the areas of ‘Personal, social and emotional well-being’ and ‘Social skills’, key concerns at the Foundation Stage. It is also the norm for religions to be expressed socially and thus they require forms of communication both in language and by other means [e.g. in body language and dress]. These aspects of religious life can be used to serve the educational interest at the Foundation Stage of developing children’s ‘Language and communication’.

It is possible to illustrate the relevance of RE to the aims of the Foundation stage of education still further with specific reference to the two attainment targets of Religious Education.

For example, using:

Attainment Target 1: learning from faith

[This learning in Religious Education should address the whole person as a spiritual, moral, social, and cultured being. Such an education will have cognitive [knowledge], affective [emotions], conative [will] dimensions, cultivate abilities/skills, and develop outcomes in relation to others. See the general statement of the aims of Religious Education above.]

At this foundation stage this means:

	Dimensions of the person (primarily focused on the individual)	Examples of some key questions for pupils
COGNITIVE	Encouraging children to be open about their observations of living and dead creatures, about what makes them laugh and cry, about what worries them and what gives them confidence. Conveying, e.g. the Christian response that God cares for people [them] no matter how things go, and similar responses from other traditions.	What makes you happy? How do you show that you are happy? How do (religious) people show that they are happy or sad? What makes you sad? How do you show that you are sad?
COGNITIVE	Listening to religious stories and begin to work out what they might mean	What are some of the stories that (religious) people love to tell? What is important about them?
AFFECTIVE	Expressing thankfulness, generosity, happiness, sadness. Prayers of thanksgiving, hymns of praise.	What is a gift? What do we say when we have received a gift?
CONATIVE	Helping and sharing with others.	Why should we help/share with others?
CONATIVE	Being fair and kind to others and oneself, being sorry when others are hurt. Conveying the religious response that we are responsible for each other, for animals and the world.	What do we do when someone has hurt him/herself? What does it mean to be kind?
ABILITIES	Listening to others and making sure they understand them. Listening to our hearts, listening to God, ‘a still, small voice’ [1 Kings 19:12].	How quiet can we be when someone else is talking? Why do we need to be quiet? Why do some people try to be quiet or find a quiet place?
ABILITIES	Identifying the people, things or actions we think of as deserving respect, that which is good, beautiful or true or as set apart from others. Encouraging children to talk about their observations.	Why do we like the sun to shine? Why do we need the rain? Why do we like colours? Is it important for the world to be beautiful?
SOCIAL	Identifying the people who care for them and thinking about how they might help them in return. Religious people and institutions as caring people and institutions	Who cares for us? How do we show that we care for someone? Why do some people say prayers?

The resources of religious traditions are identified in the second Attainment Target of Religious Education and one can see how these may prove to be useful resources for teaching at the Foundation Stage level.

Thus:

Attainment target 2: Learning about religious traditions

[This learning in Religious Education should relate to all aspects of overt religious life, its thought, its language and communication, its past and present expression and its orientation to the future, its conversation with others that leads to renewed thinking.]

At this foundation stage this means:

	Area of study	Examples of key questions for pupils
COGNITIVE	Thinking about various religious stories, and what they mean; thinking about stories in which children are cared for.	What are some of the favourite stories about how the world came to be? What are some of the most important stories we like to tell?
	Learning some basic religious terms and ideas/concepts: e.g. God, forgiveness, love, justice, compassion, suffering, liberation.	What does it mean to be fair? What is unfair?
	Learning to become familiar with some important religious places and times, and with practices of listening and reflection.	Are all places the same or are some places seen as being different and special? How do we know that they are special/sacred?
AFFECTIVE	Marking key religious festivities and occasions: e.g. Christmas, Epiphany, Eid, Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Buddha Day	Are all days the same or are some days different? What makes these days different?

	Identifying and using religious symbols, music, art, buildings.	Why do we like to sing? Why do we like to paint? How do we know that this is a ‘religious’ object?
CONATIVE	Learning how religious communities help others; showing how children have helped and are helping others.	How can we help each other? How do (religious) people help others?

Examples of Religious Education Topics at the Foundation Stage:

Attention to the following overt features of religious life will directly relate to a number of early learning goals examples of which are indicated below:

I. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Early learning goal related to Religious Education	Religious Education teaching might include:	Examples of key questions for pupils
Personal Social and Emotional Development	Encouraging the sense of belonging to the family and wider society. They might be taught about the connections that exist between the people they know today and religious traditions and how everyone belongs to the human family.	How did you get your name? What does it mean? Are there others who share your name? Who were these others and what did they do?
	Considering the actions of people in the past as in some way potentially exemplary for today.	How well do you listen to others?
	Encouraging children to care for others and to treat them as distinct and valued individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, and wills.	Can you repeat what they said?
	Encouraging children to take responsibility for their interactions with others.	If you hurt somebody by accident what do you do? How can you help?

Example of activities:

1. Assuming Identity: Being called by name

Background Comment: By considering the names of children in the class one can readily develop the child’s self-esteem, capacity to inter-relate with others in the class and to see themselves as part of the wider community and its history, including its religious history. As part of this history one will encounter the fundamental religious conception of each person being called by name by God18.

First names are chosen for the beauty of its sound or for its associations [e.g. family, famous figures, flowers] or for its meaning. Names often have a history, which may locate them in a religious tradition that can be recalled. Names are given. There are often social celebrations and religious rituals to mark the presence and identity of the new-born e.g. in baptism/christenings/epiphany or Aqeeqah. Names are recorded. Children become a formal part of our society by being recorded in the Registry [birth certificate], Church Records etc. Names are sometimes changed. There are cases where the development in life means a change in name; examples include nicknames, diminutives as expression of intimacy and love, marriage, religious callings e.g. the Pope. Names confer identity. Surnames, in particular, may echo a family history identifying a place of origin, work, family connection, or some personal feature. In the end we belong to one human family.

One’s name is a treasure and ‘living up’ to one’s name an important task [taking responsibility], one might also enquire into why ‘name-calling’ can be hurtful despite the nursery rhyme.

2. Religious Figures as role models

Background Comment: Traditionally religions have told stories of saints, gurus and heroes to set examples of how life might be lived and which to some extent one might learn to imitate in one’s own way and in our own time. For example, within the Buddhism, stories are told to the young of the Buddha’s former births (Jataka tales) and how he developed the ten virtues necessary for a perfected being.
These may be accessed at:

Jataka Tales

http://directory.google.com/
Top/Society/Religion_and_
Spirituality/Buddhism/
Teachings/Jataka_Tales/

II. Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Early learning goal related to Religious Education	Religious Education teaching might include:	Examples of key questions for pupils
Knowledge and Understanding of the World	Helping children to understand the interdependence of people and nature, and the dependence on a deeper reality of meaning.	Why do we need the rain and the sunshine? How do we say thanks for these things?
	Enabling children to express important human emotions intelligibly and well.	What makes us laugh? Cry?
	Sharing with children some of the key cultural and religious traditions and practices.	What happens at Christmas? New Year?

Example of an activity:

1. Giving Thanks

Background comment: Learning about oneself, others, various cultures, and religious life is central to education. A key feature of various cultures is the demonstration of thanks and the celebration of thanksgiving and it is to be noted in this context that a key religious disposition is ‘being thankful’. Human beings soon realise that they are dependent on others, on nature, and as many religious people would say, on God. A normal human response to the realisation that all we have and are, is dependent on others, (is a gift from others and ultimately from God), is to respond by giving thanks. Culturally there are many ways to give/say thanks, whether in words or in actions, to others, e.g. mother, or to the divine; exploring some of these ways is to learn about people, societies, and to learn about the character of religious life. One might begin to ask, about when it is appropriate and how we know whether it is sincere or insincere, i.e. that it is truly meant? What is meant by taking things for granted?

2. Making New Beginnings

Background comment: New beginnings in nature, new beginnings in society, new beginnings in life are necessary, marked and often celebrated. The capacity to leave behind past disorder and mistakes is an important feature of a flourishing life. It is a capacity which is also incorporated in the concepts, and experienced reality, of rebirth or a second birth. Yom Kippur, the festivals of light e.g. Diwali, the lengthening day, the New Year, Christmas, Easter all provide social and religious occasions for marking, expressing and dramatising this important aspect of life. Any such drama should be rooted in the cultural and religious background from which the children in the classroom come so that connections are made with home life whilst the school builds on these roots and extends the social range and depth of the occasions.

III. Creative Development and Physical Development

Early learning goal related to Religious Education	Religious Education teaching might include:	Examples of key questions for pupils
Creative Development and Physical Development	Helping children with aspects of cultural and religious traditions [e.g. art, music, dance, drama, sculpture, artefacts] and practices that arise out of, and facilitate, creative activities.	Why do we like to sing? Paint? Does it matter that we make things beautiful?
	Enabling children to express themselves in some fundamentally creative but non-literate way and by means that are familiar within religious life e.g. in art, or in bowing, prostration, genuflection, postures of meditation.	What colours make us happy? What pictures make us smile?
	Children might be taught to treat their own bodies with respect and as a ‘gift’, entrusted to them.	How does one show respect physically? Why do we need to eat? Sleep? Why do we need to look after ourselves?

Example of an activity:

1. Expressing selected affections in song or chant

Background comment: Affective human responses and commitments are expressed in sound via music and song. Children should be encouraged to develop this capacity. Reflecting the cultural and religious background from which the children in the classroom come, a range of songs (and chants) should be selected from religious traditions which, for example, express joy19, awe20, thanks21, love and care for the world22 and for one another, devotion23, patience, sadness. An indication of different musical traditions and expressions could be used to note the universality of the affections whilst the musical means of expressing them may vary e.g. through singing and chanting. It is noticeable, however, that whilst many of our cultural achievements are tied to traditions and conventions, the capacity of music to express certain moods and emotions is not wholly conventional but innate. This can readily be demonstrated from the music used e.g. in films.

2. Exploring and expressing key moods in art or dance

Background comment: In addition to sound, fundamental affections are expressed in colour, shape, form as well as in movement. Children should be encouraged to depict these affections in a variety of media. Examining the cultural and religious background from which the children in the classroom come, may provide models and sources of inspiration for the expression of joy, awe, thanks, love and care for the world and for one another, devotion, patience, sadness. The introduction of some material from another tradition(s) could be used to demonstrate the universality of the affections whilst the means of expressing them may vary.

IV. Communication, Language and Literacy

Early learning goal related to Religious Education	Religious Education teaching might include:	Examples of key questions for pupils
Communication, Language and Literacy	Children might be introduced to some common religious terms and concepts. Children might be given the opportunity to engage with stories, narratives and parables from religious life.	What are some of your favourite stories? Who was Jesus? Mary?
	Children might be introduced to the communicative value of buildings, art, body language, dance, music, ritual, silence, attentiveness and concentration etc. as expressed and practiced within religious life and to their substantive content.	What is your best song? How do our bodies show that we are happy?
	Children might be encouraged to articulate their responses to religious ideas and practices in the local community.	Do you like the lights in town at Christmas time? Why do we have them?

Example of an activity:

1. Stories of bravery and commitment

Background comment: Life constantly offers new situations and challenges. Pupils should be encouraged to meet these challenges with resolve and courage. On this score, history provides many models; fiction, too, are sources of inspiration. In both cases, language offers the tools through which to analyse the complexity of human situations and relationships.

The act and the drama of telling and re-telling, perhaps through arts activities and role-play, is the means through which both children and adults exercise ownership and identify their position in life. The cultural and religious background from which the children in the classroom come will suggest many examples of courage and commitment in the face of life’s challenges. The introduction of some examples from more than one tradition could be used to demonstrate how people universally respond to challenges whilst developing the roots of their identity.