WMCFEC
When external faith groups are invited into schools and colleges to work with students, we know that this needs doing sensitively and with respect. NATRE (National Association of Teachers of RE) have just published new guidelines for schools and visiting groups here. How might these relate to further education?
Recently we’ve been updating our records on what chaplaincy provision exists within colleges in the WM region. If your college has a chaplaincy, and/or there have been any changes in it over the past year, we’d love to hear from you.
It’s particularly great to be able to say hello to the new fledgling chaplaincy team at Leek College – we wish you well in your work!
Network with other college staff and chaplains with responsibility for faith, with news and contributions on current projects and developments taking place within the West Midlands region and beyond. Free to attend – email jennifer.roberts[at]churchofengland.org to book your place. Venue tbc.
Our thanks to North Warwickshire and Hinckley College for hosting last week’s West Midlands faith and FE forum, organised by the National Council for Faiths and Beliefs in Further Education. The next forum will take place in June 2014 – contact jennifer.roberts@churchofengland.org or info@wmcfec.org.uk to be added to the mailing list to receive further information.
Our friends at Dare2Engage have been working hard on a new resource called OPEN, designed to facilitate personal reflection on questions of life, values and faith/belief. If you are a chaplain working in a West Midlands FE college and would like to help trial this, do get in touch with Dare2Engage.
fbfe West Midlands FE Faith Forum for college staff to share best practice in SMSC. Friday 15th November 2013, 12.00-3.15pm, starting with lunch and networking. Venue: North Warwickshire and Hinckley College (Nuneaton Campus). To book now, contact Jennifer Roberts at: jennifer.roberts@churchofengland.org.
fbfe (The National Council for Faith and Belief in Further Education (http://www.fbfe.org.uk/)) convenes regional forums to support colleges in their endeavour to ensure staff and students are engaging with matters of faith and belief. As part of previous meetings we have reviewed: SMSC guidance issued by LSIS, managing chaplaincy, tackling faith in policy; and concerns with the community cohesion agenda. It is a great chance to network and discover what other colleges are doing on this topic. This forum is part-funded by LSIS to support your college in matters of SMSC guidance. Curriculum Managers, Student Support, Student Services Managers, Equality and Diversity Manager, Vice Principals and chaplains normally attend. This forum is organised jointly with the West Midlands Churches’ Further Education Council.
Having posted a number of links to resources on reconciliation and good discussion/dialogue practice in recent weeks, readers may be interested to know that WMCFEC is considering running the third in its series of ‘faith literacy’ workshops for FE college staff on this topic in Spring Term 2014. Do you have any experiences or stories to share? Or have any views on what might be most helpful for such a workshop to include? If so, please get in touch!
If you are regularly dealing with issues of individual and community conflict in your college, some great resources are available from the West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project – including some high-quality short films on their Vimeo pages, which can be used as discussion starters. The main focus of the project’s activity is the schools sector, but there’s plenty here that can be used in FE too.
We’re particularly glad to share this information as a tribute to Linda Pegler, much-valued Quaker representative on WM Churches’ FE Council and formerly involved in the WMQPEP, who sadly died earlier this year.
One of the most common issues we hear raised around the place of faith and belief in college life concerns the lack of confidence amongst some members of college staff in curating discussions about faith and belief, or in dealing with disputes and discussions when they arise. Some help is given in a report on Dealing with Faith- and Belief- Based Differences, Disputes and Conflicts, researched for FBFE (The National Council of Faiths and Beliefs in Further Education) by Neville and Yvette Adams, and published last year. Take a look and see what you think.
This autumn, WMCFEC seeks to gather together a group of those involved in further education from the region (chaplains and college staff) who would be interested in helping to develop resources for reflection on their work in FE, based on the Book of Jonah. If you’re interested, get in touch (and dare I say, we’ll have a whale of a time…)