Meeting students’ spiritual needs in the multi faith context of Further and Higher Education

One day conference
15th January 2008
At Church House - London

Very well attended over 180 people there for the keynote addresses.

There was a good representation from the FE sector. There was opportunity in the day to discuss the topics raised and feed back plus at the end of the day a number of seminars on practical issues.

This report is on three of the main talks and given from and FE perspective.

Readers of this website will know that on September 1st 2007 a new initiative was launched to support Christian students and staff in FE Colleges and Sixth Forms. The steering group was convinced that such a work was needed and everytime we shared the vision with others they were so encouraging seeing that there was a gap in this area with support for schools work and university being much greater.

What would our strategy be and how could we take it forward on a fairly tight budget? We decided to go with a part time worker - Steph Bushell, publicity postcards and a website www.festive.org.uk.

Two and a half months later we are so encouraged to find that our website is listed on Google’s front page worldwide and comes in fourth on a UK search. We know that lots of people have been visiting the site and we have heard from people who have downloaded and successfully used our resources. So if you haven’t visited already - log on and see what you are missing. Oh and by the way if you are into that sort of thing you can also find us on facebook - Friends of Festive.

So whether you are looking for support or encouragement or you can help us to grow the resources and prayer wall please contact us - you can do that directly throught the website or by emailing at info@festive.org.uk.

CHAPLAINCY FOR ALL
Meeting Students’ Spiritual Needs in the Multi-Faith Context

Keynote Speakers: (some tbc)
Dr Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth and Chair of Church of England
Board of Education
Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Further and Higher Education
Dr Les Ebdon, Vice-Chancellor, University of Bedfordshire and UUK
Paul Head, Principal, College of North East London and Chair, London Principals Group

Recent Reports on: Faiths in HE Chaplaincy; Islam in UK Universities; Guidance for FE Colleges on Multi-Faith Chaplaincy; All Faiths and None will be discussed at a Round Table session.

There will also be a strong emphasis on discussion and interaction between FE and HE chaplains in workshop sessions, with one group of sessions focusing on competing policy demands: e.g. Responding to Diversity and Community Cohesion. In the second group of workshop sessions the emphasis will be on managers and chaplains from HE and FE learning from their practical experience; trying to balance the different demands on their time, for example: Multi-Faith Teams, Pastoral Care, Working with Students and Staff, Curriculum Involvement, Worship and Space, Institutional Priorities, Funding, etc.

The Conference has baseline funding from the CofE Board of Education and is being organised in association with the Methodist Church, NEAFE and CHELG (the Churches’ Higher Education Liaison Group).

A booking form will be available shortly or you can reserve an early place by emailing: carole.brown@c-of-e.org.uk.

The process of bringing together NEAFE and the Faiths in FE Forum moved a significant step forward last month, with the approval by NEAFE Council of a new organization, to be titled the National Council of Faiths and Beliefs in Further Education. It is hoped that work to register the new organisation with Companies House and Charity Commissioners will begin shortly. The new company will be introduced to the FE sector at AoC National Conference in November 21st – 22nd when NEAFE will be hosting two seminars:

Making Space for Faith work: FE’s role in promoting community cohesion and preventing violent extremism

The FE sector is seen by government as playing a critical role in promoting community cohesion and preventing violent extremism. Drawing upon examples of collaborative local leadership and effective college practice documented in Making Space for Faith, the recently published report of the national enquiry into values beliefs and faiths (VBF) in further education, this seminar will explore the business case for responding to the VBF agenda, with particular emphasis on helping colleges develop leadership strategies and curriculum/student support provision to tackle extremism and encouraging integration. It presents colleges with a first opportunity to take part in the consultation on the sector wide cohesion action plan.

Multi-Faith Provision in Practice

This seminar will be an opportunity for principals and senior managers to experience at first hand how faiths can work together to meet the spiritual needs of students and staff of all faiths and none. The seminar will begin with worship and prayer from Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim traditions led by NEAFE Regional Development Officers and chaplains from FE colleges. Participants will have an opportunity to questions the Regional Development Officers and chaplains afterwards.

Please draw these seminars to the attention of those attending AoC Conference from your colleges. Conference delegates can register for these seminars through the AoC Conference website.

At the recent dare2engage conference I showed the series of posters we used here in Luton schools last Easter. The response was overwhelming and very encouraging, so we’ve now put the jpegs of each of the 8 posters on this site for you to download. (Iby the way, it’s a large file just over 11Mb in size, so it’ll tajke a whil;e to download and you’ll need to unzip it). If you want higher resolution files or to borrow the mounted sets we had made, just get in touch with me through the normal dare2engage email address. The download is filed on the right hand side of this page under ‘recent publications’.

values, beliefs and faiths in the learning and skills sector.
A report on the national enquiry into the opportunities for spiritual and moral development in further education.
By - NEAFE - National Ecumenical Agency in Further Education
and the FIFEF - Faiths in Further Education Forum.
with forwards by Bill Rammell MP, Dr Ann Limb (Chair of the enquiry and NEAFE), Lynne Sedgmore (Chief Executive of Centre for Excellence in Leadership CEL) and Paul Head (Principal of The College of North East London).

This report is the result of the work comissioned by the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) in which NEAFE and FIFEF were asked to undertake a sector wide review of opportunities for spiritual and moral development in FE, focussing on a national enquiry in to values, beliefs and faiths in the Further Education system. The evidence was gathered and research undertaken by an independant and specialist organisation Purple International, a not-for-profit arm of Focus Consultancy Ltd.

Report of FE Chaplain’s Annual Conference
July 10th - 12th 2007

A brave title that originated as a question put to Alan Murray in the context of provision of/or lack of provision of entitlement to spititual, moral, social and cultural development in FE Colleges. Thankfully the question was not asked in isolation, as it might have been in the past, but is part of the change of attitude there has been over the recent past to the question of the spiritual needs of students in governement and educational circles.

It was great to hear the QCA make reference to the work of the RE Council and especially the recommendations they have made concerning the need for provision for all 16 - 19 year olds. We had an update of the work ‘All Faith’s and None’ jointly funded by the Jerusalem Trust and the LSC and directed by Alan Murray and Andrew Wright. This is an exciting project aimed at supporting and resourcing spiritual and moral development of student of all faiths, those of no religious belief and those who are challenging their faith background. Still very much in the planning stage it was easy to see that this is a major piece of work that is incredibly complex but it was also a great opportunity for the participants in the conference to make some positive comments.

The conference also welcomed input from young students and they should be congratulated for their contribution. Christian and Muslim students prepared statements as to what was important to them in their faith. The detail and use of technology showed that this was not something they had put together at the last moment but had spent time preparing. Later they were ready to try and answer questions from the floor and did very well. Professor Denise Cush also brought the voice of young people to the conference in the presentation of her research into teenage Wicca and Paganism and its importance for engaging with young people and shaping provision for SMSCD.

It was fantastic to be able to roll out Breathe for the chaplains to see, experience and hear how it can be used in colleges. Once seen there is definately no need to persuade people to have a closer look and so it is no suprise that bookings have been made.