The Shap Working Party on
World Religions in Education

The Shap Working Party was founded in 1969 at the Shap Wells Hotel in Shap, a village in Cumbria in the north of England. Initially its task was to encourage and promote the study and teaching of world religions in schools, colleges and universities and to provide accurate and reliable information for teachers. Today, however, although time has moved on Shap continues to be committed to the promotion of excellence in the study of religions at all levels through the provision of accurate information.

There has also been a developing and significant area where Shap has become increasingly involved. Those working with members of religious communities, politicians, industrialists and people in the public services have all found the contribution of the Shap Working Party to be important.

Membership
The Membership of the Shap Working Party has changed over 30 years though there are normally 35-40 people in membership at any one time. They represent teachers from primary schools, secondary schools, colleges of higher education and universities. The breadth of membership has enabled Shap to keep abreast of developments in the study of religion and religious education in schools.

Influencing Others
Since 1969 other groups have developed under the general auspices of Shap - separate but sharing a philosophy. Scottish Shap was created in the 1980s under the title 'The Scottish Working Party on Religions of the World in Education'. The Chichester Project on Teaching Christianity in Secondary Schools in England also drew its origins from Shap when it was set up in the 1970s. Then 'Euro-Shap' evolved - the European Association for World Religions in Education was created in the 1980s. So the influence of a small group of enthusiasts meeting in a small village in England was to have substantial consequences.

The other major area of influence continues to be the role of Shap members in the creation of Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education. The change in the content of .RE. Syllabuses across England and Wales has been reflected in the interests of the Shap Working Party. Every Syllabus now encourages schools to teach a world religions approach with syllabuses being supported by accurate information to help teachers and students.

Shap members liaise with policy makers at both national and local level. The Working Party provides an advisory service through its members and has an annual award for excellence in published resources for teaching world religions.

What does Shap do?

A Calendar
The Working Party is best known for its annual publication of a calendar giving the dates of festivals in twelve major religions from Baha'i to Zoroastrian. It is a seventeen month calendar running from July one year to December the following year. Accompanied by a large A2 colourful wall planner which sells 25,000 copies, the festival booklet carries a brief description of each religious festival. The Calendar was originally produced to provide help and support to teachers in schools but today it sells 13,000 copies of the supporting booklet to schools, hospitals, prisons, British Airways, social services and large department stores. Remarkably, it sells not through advertising but through a well founded reputation for accuracy and by word of mouth.

A Journal
An annual journal of about 80 pages is published with the Calendar. Each year has a different theme eg. the theme in 1999/2000 was 'Can I teach your Religion?' while in 2000/2001 it is 'Time'. Other themes have included 'Women in Religious Traditions', 'The Environment' and 'Exploring Conflict and Reconciliation'. The Journal includes articles designed for practical use in the classroom as well as more reflective academic articles on aspects of a particular religious tradition. The intention has always been to reflect the breadth of educational provision among the authors from primary school teachers to university academics in addition to a breadth of religious (or non-religious) affiliation.

Conferences and Books
Shap has held a number of conferences over the years to promote the teaching of a world religious approach to the study of religion with the record of many of these published in book form. It has also produced several books to help teachers with resources on the different religions published first by the Commission for Social Equality with recent editions on 'Teaching World Religions' published by Heinemann. There is also a book published by RMEP to support the Calendar by providing much more detailed information on the festivals in the different world religions.

Address and Contact Numbers
For further details contact The Shap Working Party on World Religions in Education at The National Society's R.E Centre, 36 Causton Street, London SW1P 4AU.

Telephone: +44(0)20 7932 1194,
Fax: +44(0)20 7932 1199.
Email: michael.berry@dlondon.org.uk.
Web address: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/nsrec/. or http://www.natsoc.org.uk.

Clive Erricker
Chair

Alan Brown
Secretary