1. Welcome and introduction

Jeremy Taylor opened the meeting and welcomed all the participants. Michael Jung welcomed everybody to Austria and to the Pillotihaus. The new participants from Spain, Basque region, Switzerland, France and Denmark introduced themselves. Jeremy Taylor told the members the history of EFTRE. Peter Schreiner told the meeting about 'Who's who in Europe'

2. Approval of Agenda

The agenda of the meeting was approved by the meeting.

3. Minutes of the previous meeting (Københaven 30 August 1998)

The minutes of the previous Board meeting were agreed and approved.

4. Report of the executive committee

Jeremy Taylor presented the report of the Executive Committee

The Danish Executive member Gina Smith has sent a letter to the Board meeting letting the meeting know that she wishes to resign from the Executive committee. Gina Smith was the first formal chair of EFTRE and she has been working incredibly hard for EFTRE for many years. The board decided to thank her for everything that she has done for EFTRE.

The board discussed whether it would be possible to have 6 members in the Executive Committee for the next two years. After discussion the board elected Carin Laudrup from Denmark to continue as a Danish link and Geneviève Locquenville from France to strengthen the links to Southern and Eastern parts of Europe.

5. Review of the Københaven conference 1998

The reactions to the Københaven conference have been very positive. The papers will be published by the Swedish RE teachers Association in October 1999. It will be possible to order via the internet. The board meeting approved the minutes of the General Assembly held at the conference.

6. Plans for the Edinburgh conference 2001

John Stevenson presented the plans for the next conference in Edinburgh in 2001. The following points were raised in discussion:

• There is a member of the panning group from the primary sector

• Edinburgh is very busy during the time when the conference is being held as there is an international festival on at the time. Flights should be booked as soon as possible.

• The Spanish representatives have asked if it was possible to have advance material before the conference. The planning group was asked if this was possible to have some questions/themes for workshops in the programme to be sent in advance to the participants to be discussed in their countries.

• The question of languages was discussed. The need for translation was agreed and it was decided that the conference should be bi-lingual in English and German.

• The structure of the conference was discussed and the concept of the 'Home groups' analyzed

• Peter Schreiener asked the group to consider what was meant when we are talking about 'problem solving' and 'solving and handling moral issues'. That it is necessary to clarify what we want from speakers and to prepare them for their contribution.

• There was a also a need to talk more about RE in different countries

• There is a need for clarification of the term 'workshop' as this means different things in different countries. What is expected from the participants should be clarified in the programme.

7. Finance

Jeremy Taylor presented the financial situation of EFTRE. EFTRE has no money at the moment. The costs of the executive committee are met by the associations of the members of the executive committee. The General Assembly agreed that we need to establish the financial situation on a firmer and fairer basis: at present just five of the fifty member organisations are providing all the money needed to maintain the activities (about 5000 GBP per annum).

There is an agreement to move to a membership fee. The members are asked to give their response at the board meeting in September 2000. A final decision will be made at the General Assembly in Edinburgh in September 2001.

In the meantime we are inviting as many organisations as possible to make a voluntary contribution to EFTRE's funds. Jeremy Taylor emphasized that we do not want to lose members if they have no money. Small Teachers' associations have very little money so it is fair that bigger associations should pay more.

The board meeting asked to clarify what the money is used for - these fall under three areas:

• Administrative (letters, papers, copying etc..)

• Executive Committee costs (Accommodation for meetings etc..)

• Traveling costs (Representing EFTRE on other bodies)

Discussion was held on how to reduce these costs. E-Mail and the Internet is one answer. The Executive committee is also working to find EU funding for its projects.

Jeremy Taylor is writing a letter to the member organisations about the financial situation of EFTRE.

8. European Co-operation

Jeremy Taylor and Peter Schreiner reported on the the progress of CoGREE (the co-ordinating group for RE in Europe). CoGREE has no formal articles or constitution. It is a coalition of independent organisations. EFTRE is a wide organisation but small in practice. So it is necessary to cooperate with other organisations which are working for Religion in Schools in Europe. Within CoGREE six organisations (EAWRE, ECCE, EFTRE, ICCS, IV, RE-Network) have agreed to meet twice a year. It has been discussed how to contribute political discussions concerning RE but there is no agreement on this yet. There is a plan to have a reader in Religious Education in Europe and to have a wider consultation with the member organisations from 25th to 29th April 2001. There will be an internet site in the near future.

The board meeting was happy with the work that EFTRE has done within CoGREE.

9. Teacher Exchanges

Jeremy Taylor reported on the possibility of 'teacher fellowships' discussed in the Oxford meeting (30-31 July 1999) with participants from England, Romania, Scotland, Germany, Hungary and Estonia. It will be a pilot project with those in Oxford.

The general idea is to offer RE teachers a period of study at a University. The starting point is to share the experiences of the Farmington Institute for Christian Studies with Farmington Fellowship programmes. There are still details to agree, especially the financial organisation. The board meeting was happy to have Jeremy Taylor and Peter Schreiner continue with this project.

Carin Laudrup suggested that EFTRE should find out if it is possible to organise teacher exchanges and finance it with local or EU money. The board meeting asked Carin Laudrup (DK) and Jane Brooke (UK) to explore this possibility.

10. Internet

EFTRE has developed an internet site at http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/eftre/ Jeremy Taylor has found a volunteer to develop the site.

11. National Reports

The board meeting gave time to hear the national reports of the newer members of the board: Spain, Hungary and Switzerland. National reports can be seen at the internet site.

12. Date and time of next meeting

Paris, Saturday September 9th 2000

13. Any other business

Peter Schreiner informed the group about the next ICCS Conference in 2000 in Trondheim, Norway.

Kaija Kumpukallio (Secretary EFTRE) - 26.09.1999