VINE’s RE RESOURCES SUPPORT TEACHERS IN WALES
We are grateful to Jennifer Harding-Richards for submitting this insightful article on the use of VinE’s RE classroom resources in Wales. As an Adviser for Religion, Values, and Ethics (RVE) in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Swansea, Jennifer emphasizes the importance of incorporating ethical veganism into their RVE Agreed Syllabi, recognizing it as a significant moral philosophy that resonates with many learners. It’s wonderful to see that VinE’s classroom materials have become an invaluable resource, and are providing essential support to teachers and are being used extensively and successfully.
Engaging with Ethical Veganism as a Worldview
Reflections following the writing of three locally determined agreed syllabi for RVE
Jennifer Harding-Richards; RVE Adviser (Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Swansea)
In September 2022, Wales adopted its own curriculum entitled the curriculum for Wales. Very much based on the ideas of empowering teachers, it ultimately gives subsidiarity and autonomy to schools to design and resource their own curriculum. There is no longer a national curriculum to follow. However, whilst RE/ RVE as it is now known, remains a locally determined subject, the legislation surrounding the constitution of the agreed syllabus and therefore curriculum design in all schools has mandated a number of changes:
- Name change – RE is to be replaced by religion, values and ethics
- The right to withdraw from RVE has now been removed
- The scope of RVE must include both religious and non-religious worldviews.
With the rebranding and re purposing of Religious Education in Wales, created by the vision that each and every school within Wales designs its own bespoke curriculum, schools have the opportunity to develop an RVE curriculum that not only meets the needs of their learners, but also fulfils legislative responsibilities and duties. While there is no specific statute outlining which philosophical convictions should be included, it has been logical, guided by the input of learners, to design curricula that incorporate and respect students’ beliefs, values, and attitudes towards morality.
With the Welsh Government RVE Guidance being published in January 2022, we had just a few months to put together our locally agreed syllabi for RVE, in readiness for first delivery in September 2022. However, we were determined that teacher and learner voice needed to be fed into the process and so we undertook some work around this as our starting point. Both teachers and learners were keen to ensure that RVE was a subject that was meaningful, purposeful and delivered the knowledge and skills that were essential for existence and co-existence in our diverse and organic society. Teacher voice requested that:
“The focus for this agreed syllabus needs to be up to date and reflect the learning and lives of children today.”
“The focus for this agreed syllabus needs to be up to date and reflect the learning and lives of children today.”
Additionally, the large pupil voice survey echoed the same thoughts and reflections, with learners suggesting that RVE needed to include
“More challenging and relevant topics to me.”
“Teaching kindness to all would be better.”
In thinking about worldviews, we wanted to ensure that we supported our teachers to deliver an RVE curriculum that not only met the needs of their learners but also allowed their learners to see themselves within the curriculum, with their values and ethical approaches recognised and valued. In incorporating ethical veganism into our syllabus, we were able to see the value that this worldview would bring to RVE and allow teachers to develop a broad and balanced curriculum that would engage learners and allow them to understand the richness and diversity of belief and how it impacts upon our behaviours and ethical choices.
A BBC survey[1], carried out in 2021 found that 8% of children are following a vegan diet and of those who don’t follow a vegan diet, 15% would like to. They also found that 13% of children are vegetarian and around one in five (21%) of children who are not currently vegetarian would like to be. Developing a learner centred curriculum, where all learners were able to see themselves within the curriculum has meant that for many schools, ethical veganism as a worldview has found itself firmly on the RVE menu.
The mapping documents within our agreed syllabi, whilst not mandatory, support schools and teachers as they use their autonomy and subsidiarity to develop their own bespoke RVE curriculum. They do not provide a curriculum, nor a scheme of learning, but have been carefully designed to provide guidance, along with the Welsh Government RVE guidance[2], to allow schools to develop their own objective, critical and pluralistic RVE learning opportunities. The intention of the co constructed syllabus was to provide teachers with the tools and ingredients to create their own wonderfully rich and localised RVE curricula.
Incorporating ethical veganism into our RVE Agreed Syllabi was important for us as it represented a significant moral philosophy that clearly resonates with many of our learners. Ethical veganism goes beyond dietary choices; it embodies a commitment to compassion, environmental sustainability, and the reduction of animal suffering. By including ethical veganism in the curriculum, students are exposed to diverse perspectives on how ethical and moral values can shape our interactions with the world. This inclusion encourages critical thinking and helps students understand the broader implications of their choices, fostering a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of life and ethical responsibility.
Many schools across our region, in wanting to ensure that RVE prepares their learners for life in our diverse, multi-cultural and multi secular world, have embraced the opportunity to include ethical veganism as a worldview within their curricula. The ‘Teach Vine’[3] resources have been an invaluable resource and source of support for our teachers and have been used extensively and successfully.
The examples below are taken from a key stage 2 class within a primary school in Swansea. The pupils in the school are exposed to a wonderfully bold and beautiful RVE curriculum with opportunities for creativity, self-expression and have RVE provided very much as a living and breathing entity. Their work around ethical veganism was based on the Teach Vine resources.
Schools have utilised the ‘big questions’ approach to challenge and stretch learners around how belief can impact upon values and ethics, engaging learners with the core principles of faith and belief. Additionally, opportunities have been afforded to learners using ethical veganism as an example of a worldview to explore their own beliefs and values and how these beliefs impact on their lives, as well as those of others, and the society in which they live. The examples here show how a secondary Church school in Pembrokeshire has used their RVE agreed syllabus to deliver some quite sophisticated and challenging themes to their learners, really encouraging them to think deeply about the consequences of adopting a vegan diet. The school has then woven the topic into some philosophical discussions around the work of Peter Singer.
In addition to the mapping documents of the Agreed Syllabi and the Teach Vine resources, the region has partnered with the National Centre of Religious Education for Wales, to develop monthly twilight professional learning seminars for teachers. The final of the ten sessions, held in July of this year explored ethical veganism as a worldview and using the case study of Jose Casamitjana, gave teachers lots of opportunities to develop their own knowledge and understanding and the necessary confidence to embed it as an aspect of their RVE curricula. Feedback was extremely positive;
(I now) “know how to approach teaching veganism in a way that engages rather than puts people/children off from what can be considered a controversial subject”.
“I will share my findings from the course with colleagues and work together to plan how we will teach the pupils in our school about ethical veganism”.
(The training has allowed me to) “make links between ethical veganism and pupils lives so they can make informed choices”.
Carmarthenshire colleagues were privileged to be joined by Angela Hill[7], the author of the Teach Vine resources at their RVE Agreed Syllabus launch in 2023. Angela delivered a wonderfully inspirational session which stimulated reflection and discussion around how ethical veganism can be incorporated into an RVE curriculum using a wide variety of pedagogical approaches. The example below shows how teachers can utilise Welsh stories and the concept of cynefin to draw out ethical veganism themes and principles.
We are very much at the start of our RVE journey here in West Wales. But the examples clearly show that there is a lot of brave and challenging RVE happening across the region which over time will really support our learners into becoming ethical and informed citizens and able to take their place within our complex and beautifully diverse world. Incorporating the rich diversity of belief and allowing learners to understand how one’s belief can impact on choices and ethical decisions is integral to high quality, purposeful and meaningful RVE.
[2] Humanities: Designing your curriculum – Hwb (gov.wales)
[3] TeachVine | Veganism in education | Vegan teaching resources – Veganism in Education
[4] Gwyrosydd Primary School
[5] Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi VA
[6] Dr Gareth Evans-Jones; National Centre of Religious Education for Wales (NCREW)
[7] National Adviser, RE Today
[8] RE Today Services, 2022
