- If you work in student services, tutorials and curriculum, community partnerships, equality and diversity, staff development or college management, we can assist you in your work by:
- Supporting and helping to create projects concerned with improving religion and belief literacy and provision for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of students
- Putting colleges wishing to link with faith communities in touch with Christian and other faith partners
- Organising networking and training opportunities to develop good practice in chaplaincy and other faith-related work
Click on the three tabs below, to read more (top tab is already open when you land on the page).
ROUNDED: Ready for Life (SMSC Resource for 16-19s)
ROUNDED is our new resource exploring significant themes in spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and aimed specifically for use with 16-19s in college. The resource consists of six themed sessions which can be used as stand-alones or as part of a series. Each contains a central multimedia component, plus a menu of supporting activities so that you can build your own session, regardless of whether you are using ROUNDED in a 20 minute tutorial session, as a lunchtime activity in the college atrium for an hour, or as part of a drop-down day or enrichment afternoon.
Six ROUNDED sessions focus on:
- Cultivating Identity, Inclusion and Belonging
- Being Fair and Just
- Being Thankful
- Being Merciful and Forgiving
- Being Hopeful and Visionary
- Caring for Others, Animals and the Environment
ROUNDED has been commissioned by WMCFEC and Dare2Engage, and created by Simeon Whiting. Each session focuses on key ‘dispositions’ cultivated by many religious traditions and worldviews, as identified in the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for RE.
We are grateful to the following organisations for funding the development of ROUNDED: the Jerusalem Trust, St Peter’s Saltley Trust, Westhill Endowment, the St Christopher’s Educational Trust and the Friends Hall Farm Street Trust.
Visit our ROUNDED page to find out how to download it!
(image: from ‘The New Lad’ audio-visual presentation, part of ROUNDED’s session on ‘cultivating identity, inclusion and belonging’)
WM Further Education Chaplaincy Ambassador
The WM region is unique in having a dedicated Further Education Chaplaincy ambassador, Nigel Roberts, who is available to advise colleges on establishing and developing chaplaincy.
This post has been created and funded collaboratively by the Anglican Dioceses of Coventry and Lichfield, the Heart of England Baptist Association, the West Midlands Synod of the United Reformed Church, and St Peter’s Saltley Trust, with support from WM Churches’ FE Council.
Please contact Nigel here
What do FE Chaplains Do? Watch our Short Films!
In 2019 we commissioned 5 short films about further education and chaplaincy, featuring North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, Burton and South Derbyshire College and Halesowen College, and produced by Mazo Creative Agency. Film 3 (What is Further Education Chaplaincy?) and 4 (What can FE Chaplaincy look like?) give a particularly good insight for colleges into what chaplains actually do, and how they can help your college.
CPD on Religion and Belief for FE College Staff
WMCFEC runs occasional CPD sessions for FE College staff around matters of faith literacy in a college context, since appropriate attention to matters of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development contributes significantly to students’ rounded development as whole people and their competence as future citizens and employees. Becoming literate in faith matters will also help college staff to deal appropriately with faith-related issues which arise in the course of college life. Previous sessions have included:
- Handling Difficult Faith-Related Discussions and Disputes in your College
- Creating and Managing Faith Spaces in your College
- Increasing Faith Literacy in your College
If you would like us to deliver a workshop to your staff on this or another faith-related theme, please contact us.