Agenda and minutes

That the minutes of the meetings held on 7 June 2016 and 10 November 2016 were agreed.

Prior to the HSACRE meeting, a sub-committee was set up to look into the possibility of adding Humanism to the HSACRE syllabus. The proposed addition was sent to schools, and responses were gathered on whether schools were in favour of opposed to the addition of Humanism, and most responses were in favour of adding Humanism to the syllabus.

It was commented that some responses highlighted that Humanism was a "philosophy, not a religion" and that Humanism could be confusing for children, although Members stated that the purpose of Religious Education in schools was to take away confusion for children and replace it with awareness. Members stated that HSACRE should not tell teachers or schools what to teach, and instead should give them the options; teachers can then choose which of the options they wish to teach.

It was commented that a new national SACRE syllabus may still be under discussion, and it was questioned whether this would supersede the local syllabus and require further ratification that may make this decision obsolete, and the HSACRE Advisor confirmed that all SACREs would have to take on board any new national syllabus. It was also noted by the Muslim representatives that, in the future, the syllabus may be challenged as new Islamic groups, who are not Shia or Sunni Muslims, have come to the UK from Syria, and they may wish for their strand of Islam to be recognised in the Muslim section of the syllabus.

It was proposed that the addition of Humanism to the draft syllabus be approved, with a copy of the new syllabus structure coming to the next HSACRE meeting. This proposal was put to a vote, with four members voting in favour of the addition, and four members abstaining. There were no votes against the addition.

-        RESOLVED: That Humanism is included in the draft syllabus.