SACRE

Inclusion

(Welsh Government RVE Guidance)

All learners with additional learning needs (ALN) should be supported to overcome barriers to learning and explore their potential in RVE. Schools and settings providing education for learners with ALN, including those with profound and multiple learning difficulties, should consider how best to meet the needs of all learners when planning and providing effective learning opportunities in RVE.

Considerations may include, for example:

• active, multi-sensory approaches to introduce new learning in RVE, taking account of the varied needs and interests of every learner.
• inclusive opportunities for learners to experience awe and wonder in a variety of environments.
• using a variety of stimuli, such as religious and non-religious artefacts and relevant contexts.
• full participation of all learners including those who use a means of communication other than speech.
• activities that include all learners both inside and outside the classroom, for example, when visiting local places of worship and other special places of significance.

When working with learners with additional learning needs, practitioners and carers should be aware of the school or setting’s approach to RVE within the Humanities Area.

For further information on ALN refer to guidance on Routes for Learning (opens in a new tab) and the Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales 2021.

Education in funded non-maintained nursery settings

RVE provision in a funded non-maintained nursery setting should be considered as part of an overarching holistic approach to learning and development. The ‘Designing your curriculum for RVE’ section above provides further information on RVE for ages 3 to 16, to support practitioners in these settings with this holistic approach.

Young learners are endlessly curious; they enjoy exploring and investigating by themselves and with others, and naturally ask questions about life and the world around them. Through engaging, practical, integrated activities in this period of learning, they can begin to learn more about themselves, other people and the wider world.

Effective, learner-centred pedagogy, which is responsive, dynamic and embedded in strong relationships, should be central to the development of RVE provision in a setting. Through play, learners are able to develop their ideas, opinions and feelings with imagination, creativity and sensitivity, which can help inform their view of the world. Spending time outdoors supports learners’ social, emotional, spiritual and physical development, as well as their well-being. Being outdoors also helps them to develop an awareness of the need to show care and respect for living things.

Learners in this period of learning are beginning to understand the concept of ‘difference’. Practitioners should encourage them to share their knowledge and experiences of their own beliefs, heritage and traditions, as well as those of others (for example, through songs, stories and role-play). This can help young learners understand more about themselves, as well as about experiences and viewpoints, which may differ from their own.

A supportive, nurturing environment, where learners can learn about each other’s differences and similarities, can help them to begin to develop respectful relationships and a sense of responsibility. They can begin to explore the language of rights and start to understand their right to believe different things and follow different beliefs. Through this, learners from an early age can begin to identify and understand how their actions may affect others, and learn to reflect on and revise their own perspectives, as appropriate.

For all learners in all settings, RVE curriculum design must ensure that RVE is objective, critical and pluralistic.

Education other than at school

All learners have a right to an education. When considering how best to meet the needs of their learners, providers of education other than at school (EOTAS), including pupil referral units (PRUs), are required to have regard to the mandatory curriculum components, which include RVE, and secure provision in relation to them so far as that would be reasonably possible and appropriate for the individual learner.

Learners’ experiences should enable them to explore RVE concepts through the statements of what matters in the Humanities Area, using various sub lenses in RVE, which are provided in this guidance. Such settings are not required to deliver the agreed syllabus. However, the RVE provided in these settings must still satisfy the pluralistic requirement.

More information on the legislative requirements for PRUs and EOTAS can be found in the legislation section (opens in a new tab)  of the Curriculum for Wales Framework.