The
Executive's report to the General Assembly
on the work of EFTRE 1998 - 2001
Introduction
Since
the last General Assembly in Copenhagen in 1998 the work of EFTRE
has been carried forward along the lines agreed at that Assembly.
The value of the organisational changes made in 1995, establishing
a democratic and accountable structure, has been proved by the progress
that has been made in this period. We would like to acknowledge the
contribution made by Gina Smith, the first Chairperson of EFTRE, who
had to resign from the Executive in 1999.
Meetings
In the
period 1998 2001 the EFTRE Board (which includes one representative
of each nation that has member bodies or contacts) has met twice -
in Vienna and in Paris. The elected Executive of six people has met
additionally on four occasions - in Amsterdam, Helsinki, Haywards
Heath (UK) and Copenhagen. It should be noted that all the expenses
of attending and hosting these meetings have been covered by the member
organisations of those attending. This has meant that some bodies
have taken on a very much greater share of funding the work of EFTRE
than others; the proposals below on a membership fee seek to redress
this situation.
Membership
There
are currently 51 member organisations from 12 different nations, a
net increase since 1998 of eight members and three nations (Hungary,
Northern Ireland and Spain). We have also made contacts in Belgium,
Italy and Turkey. These additions have begun the process of expanding
EFTRE's membership beyond its roots in northern (and predominantly
protestant) Europe. More excitingly there are representatives from
15 further nations in central and eastern Europe attending the 2001
Conference in Edinburgh as the result of an initiative taken by REM
(the Religious Education Movement) in Scotland to raise the finance
to make this possible. We are extremely grateful to them for doing
so and for organising an innovative and successful pre-conference
programme for these 20 delegates. We are working to build on the contacts
made in Edinburgh to establish effective links with RE teachers in
this rapidly changing part of Europe. This would fulfil a longstanding
target for EFTRE and would open up exciting prospects for further
work over the next three years.
Finances
Fuller
details of EFTRE's financial state will be given in the Treasurer's
report. The significant point to make is that the appeals for voluntary
contributions made at the last General Assembly and in the Chairman's
letter in October 2000 have produced responses from just a small number
of members. As explained above this has meant that the financial burden
has fallen on a small proportion of the membership. As a result of
consultations and discussions within the Board a proposal will be
made at the 2001 General Assembly for an annual subscription of at
least 100 Euros. This figure could be
reduced either for those bodies providing services to EFTRE
(such as hosting meetings, publishing reports, etc) or where
the member body is unable to pay the full fee; in this case the Executive
should be empowered to reduce or waive the fee. We are anxious not
to lose any member bodies by taking this step, and are particularly
conscious of the need to make it possible for those organisations
joining EFTRE for the first time to afford to do so. Nevertheless,
we believe the time has come in EFTRE's development to place the finances
on a more reliable and fair basis.
European
cooperation [CoGREE]
Following
the policy guidelines agreed in 1998 EFTRE has remained an active
partner in CoGREE (the Coordinating Group for RE in Europe), an alliance
of six bodies concerned with promoting the quality of RE in the schools
of Europe. This cooperation has developed well over the last 3 years
following the "twin-track" approach agreed at a seminar
in Koblenz in June 1998. Work on the broad track of discussions
between the organisations on the nature and purpose of RE in the different
school systems across Europe will culminate in the publication of
a Reader of articles and papers in early 2002 and the holding of a
Consultation with invited delegates of each organisation in Vienna
in May 2002 (a year later than originally planned). It is intended
that out of this Consultation sufficient agreement will emerge for
it to be possible for CoGREE to take a more narrowly focussed
political initiative, thus fulfilling our original intention of acting
together in the European political arena as we recognise that none
of the bodies has sufficient significance to be effective individually
at this level.
Internet
EFTRE
has had a small website since 1997, but more recently this has been
expanded, redesigned and maintained as a result of work done by Paul
Hopkins of the REfIT Project of the Professional Council for RE in
the UK. We are very grateful for this work and for the funding that
made it possible. We now have an easy and economical way for EFTRE
to communicate about its activities and to provide a forum for the
exchange of ideas and good practice between RE teachers and organisations
throughout Europe. For this to be effective it depends on the active
contributions made by our members. The Executive hopes that all member
bodies will publicise this site and encourage teachers to use it.
Its address is http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/eftre
Teacher exchanges / fellowships
Peter
Schreiner and Jeremy Taylor from the Executive attended a meeting
in Oxford in July 1999 called by Martin Rogers of the Farmington Institute,
Oxford, to set up a pilot scheme to enable RE teachers to spend time
studying at a university in another European country. The countries
involved in this pilot scheme are Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Roumania
and the UK. So far one teacher (Toomas Jurgenstein from Estonia) has
participated in the scheme by spending a month at Westminster College,
Oxford. He also attended the Edinburgh Conference in August 2001.
Conferences
The
Executive is very grateful indeed to John Stevenson and the Scottish
group that has organised the Conference at Pollock Halls in Edinburgh;
in particular Agnes Mullen of the Church of Scotland Education Office
has undertaken a large amount of the administration involved. Discussions
are continuing about future conferences; a number of possibilities
have been suggested.
On behalf
of the EFTRE Executive,
Jeremy
Taylor (Chairman EFTRE)
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