The St Giles’ Centre is pleased to announce the opening of our new Resources Room.
The Resources Room is now conveniently based at Ysgol Clywedog, Ruthin Road, Wrexham (LL13 7UB), in School Improvement Room 1, providing easy access for practitioners across the local authority.
The Room houses hundreds of high‑quality resources designed to support teaching and learning in RVE and related disciplines. There is also attractive working space available alongside the resources.
Resources are available for all age groups and cover a broad range of religions and key RVE themes. The collection includes:
blychau arteffactau
toys and games
llyfrau stori
textbooks
llyfrau cyfeirio
posters
To discuss your resource needs or to arrange borrowing, please contact Libby Jones. Resources are typically loaned on a half‑termly or termly basis, subject to demand.
“The whole day was very helpful and informative. Particularly: priorities for progression; planning mat for RVE; input from colleagues about the document ‘What does progression look like’; discussions.”
These are just a few of the comments about the recent St Giles’ Centre training day held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on 3 July. The day brought together primary school teachers from VA, VC and community schools, special school teachers, and ITE attendees from Wrexham University for professional learning and dialogue about Progression in RVE.
So, what role should ‘religious education’ play in addressing areas of social concern?
A recently published research article about how the social unrest of 2020/21 affects the teaching of religious education provides a stimulus for professional dialogue on the bigger question of what role/s religious education should play in addressing areas of social concern.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought various issues such as social cohesion, social inequalities, climate change and racism to the forefront. Religious education teachers across Europe were confronted with questions as to how and if they respond to such issues in their teaching. On this basis, the research article, published in the Journal of Beliefs & Values, investigates the question ‘How do sixteen religious education specialists see the effects of social issues on religious education in a challenging time?’, making use of the data from a 2022 European qualitative study, which explored what Covid-19 reveals to religious education specialists about their subject.
Research findings show the religious education specialists, from sixteen European countries including Wales, reflecting on the relationships between social issues and religious education in terms of both relevance and caution.
As well as detailing the kinds of social concerns being raised in religious education during the Covid-19 pandemic, the religious education specialists’ responses illustrated three emerging themes related to:
a concern for aspects of learners’ wellbeing and pastoral care arising in the context of religious education and the social issues experienced;
an interest in the development of specific competencies, skills and values in religious education in response to the social issues being raised;
a focus on what social unrest issues mean for religious education curricula / teaching programmes and classroom learning approaches.
Although many of the religious education specialists could see the real value of social unrest issues in religious education, there were also some explicit cautions and hesitancy about potential adverse effects on the subject (for example, a potential imbalance in religious education curricula with an over-focus on such issues and the need to ensure that a religious education subject lens is being used to avoid generic teaching and learning).
Article reference:
ap Siôn, T., Cullen, S., Danner, S., Kappelhoff, B., & Kodácsy-Simon, E. (2024). How does the social unrest of 2020/21 affect the teaching of Religious Education? Findings of a European study on the effects of the COVID-19 period. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2024.2409545
Tania ap Sion and Libby Jones from the St Giles’ Centre, Wrexham and Lincoln Bishop University attended the British Educational Research Association’s (BERA) conference at the University of Sussex, Brighton (9-11 September 2025), where they gave a presentation on the first findings of the national Teacher Voice Survey: Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) in the Curriculum for Wales.
In addition to Tania and Libby, the project team includes: Rachel Samuel (Neath Port Talbot Education Support), Paula Webber (Cardiff Metropolitan University), and Alice Parry (Llanishen High School, Cardiff).
Why is this research needed?
Until recently, statutory Religious Education in Wales largely shared the same legislative framework as Religious Education in England, although clearly differentiated Welsh and English education systems became increasingly visible across three decades when responsibilities for education and training were devolved to Wales. The latest curriculum review in Wales has seen the implementation of the radically new Curriculum for Wales in 2022 for all learners from ages three to sixteen, enabled through the passing of the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021.
Radical features of the new curriculum include: an integrated approach to learning and teaching in which Religious Education (renamed Religion, Values and Ethics) is for the first time legally embedded in the curriculum; and the principle of subsidiarity with a shift of responsibility for curriculum design, progression and assessment to individual education settings, giving teachers new professional autonomy.
At the beginning of a period of great change for religious education teachers in Wales, this research study aims to capture a ‘snapshot’ of teachers’ experience of and engagement with curriculum change through an exploratory qualitative survey of teachers across Wales. Invited participants included teachers from Nursery, Primary, Secondary, All-age School, Special, and PRU schools and settings.
What does the survey explore?
Using an inductive analytical approach , research findings will provide insight into teachers’:
attitudes towards Religion, Values and Ethics within the Curriculum for Wales;
approaches to curriculum design and collaborative working;
experiences of professional agency;
understanding of the Curriculum’s vision and values;
confidence levels and challenges;
hopes for the future.
Plans for the future
A full research report will be published bilingually early in the spring term 2026, and made publicly available on the St Giles’ Centre website and the Wales Association of SACRE’s website.
It is hoped that the findings will support professional dialogue and will inform professional learning at both local and national levels.
Across Europe, more or less simultaneously, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated (and stimulated) the use and development of technology in education settings, as new ways of teaching and learning had to be created in response to practical constraints introduced by temporary school closures. Although a sizeable body of research has examined this phenomenon from a range of perspectives in education, considerably less research has been conducted in the context of religious education.
The St Giles’ Centre has recently contributed to the research and publication of a new study, which aims to listen to 16 RE professionals in Europe (including Wales) as they reflect upon and critically consider their experiences of technology during the pandemic and its implications for both present and future RE.
Content analyses identified eight inter-related areas of interest and concern for participants, which include technology and RE, alongside wellbeing, life questions, understanding RE, teachers’ situation, relationships, social aspects and wider context. Results show that the RE professionals held strong views about the use of technology in RE, including the challenges and opportunities presented in comparison with in-person teaching practices. Four areas of particular interest emerge, which are concerned with the effects of technology on relationships; technology’s potential for teaching and learning; RE professionals’ attitudes towards technology; and RE professionals’ (un)changed understandings of RE.
The article entitled: “Listening to the voices of Religious Education professionals: the relationship between technology and Religious Education” is part of a special issue of the British Journal of Religious Education, which focusses on integrating technology in religious and moral education.
Article reference:
ap Siôn, T. Cullen, S., Danner, S., Kappelhoff, B., & Kodácsy-Simon, E. (12 August 2025, online). Listening to the voices of Religious Education professionals: the relationship between technology and Religious Education. British Journal of Religious Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2025.2543881
For more information:
Cysylltwch â ni at the St Giles’ Centre if you want more information about the project and the findings.
Mae Canolfan St Giles yn cynnig digwyddiad hyfforddi diwrnod cyfan am ddim i ymarferwyr cynradd yn Wrecsam ar gynnydd o fewn Crefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg (CGM). Bydd y digwyddiad yn cael ei gynnal yng Ngwesty'r Ramada Plaza, Wrecsam ar Ddydd Iau, 3 Gorffennaf 2025 (Taflen ynghlwm). Bydd y digwyddiad yn cynnig cyfle i ymarferwyr gymryd rhan mewn deialog broffesiynol gyda chydweithwyr ac arbenigwyr, rhannu syniadau, cael adnoddau defnyddiol, ac ystyried sut siâp allai fod ar gynnydd o fewn CGM o ran eu dysgwyr eu hunain.
Mae fersiwn Cymraeg y cylchgrawn poblogaidd Lefel A, Herio Materion Crefyddol, wedi'i gyhoeddi ar wefan Canolfan San Silen. (Cyhoeddwyd y fersiwn Saesneg ym mis Tachwedd.)
Mae Rhifyn 21 yn cynnwys naw erthygl wreiddiol a ysgrifennwyd gan arbenigwyr pwnc o brifysgolion yn y DU, UDA ac Awstria. Mae erthyglau'n cynnwys:
Pa Gwestiynau Allwn Ni Ofyn am Naratifau Geni Iesu? gan Jane Heath
Astudio’r Efengylau: Dull Sefyllfaol gan James M. M. Francis
Crefydd a Hanes gan William K. Kay
Moeseg a’r Argyfwng Hinsawdd gan Robert Song
‘Yng Nghanol Bywyd yr ydym mewn Angau’: Safbwyntiau Cristnogol ar Ystyr Marwolaeth a Bywyd yn y Ddadl ar Gymorth i Farw gan Sam Hole
Ar ôl Anselm: Sant Bonaventure ac Ail-greu y Ddadl Ontolegol gan William Crozier
Gwragedd Ffyddlon a Duwiesau Ffyrnig: Agweddau Hindŵaidd Tuag at Fenywod gan Steven Jacobs
Ai rhywbeth Pesimistaidd yw Bwdhaeth? gan Phra Nicholas Thanissaro
Cydraddoldeb Rhywedd mewn Islam: Posibiliadau a Chyfyngiadau gan Shama Ajoubi a Fariza Bisaeva
Gallwch ddarllen y cyhoeddiad Cymraeg a Saesneg isod.
Mae Canolfan San Silyn wedi cyhoeddi Cynllunio ar gyfer cynnydd mewn Crefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg (CGM) i blant rhwng 3 ac 16 oed: enghraifft i gefnogi ymarferwyr. Crëwyd yr enghraifft mewn partneriaeth â Thîm Addysg Esgobaeth Llanelwy mewn cydweithrediad â phump ysgolion cynradd yn Wrecsam.
Mae'r adnodd cynllunio ar gyfer cynnydd yn cynnwys hefyd adran i helpu ymarferwyr mewn lleoliadau meithrin i gynllunio ar gyfer CGM, cyn cam cynnydd 1.
Datblygwyd hyn mewn cydweithrediad â’r arbenigwyr sy’n gweithio â lleoliadau meithrin nas cynhelir a gaiff eu hariannu ac ysgolion â darpariaeth meithrin.
Rhagwelwn y bydd ymarferwyr yn defnyddio’r sgiliau CGM a amlinellir yn yr enghraifft hon i’w harwain i werthuso sefyllfa dysgwyr a’u trywydd ar wahanol gyfnodau o’u cynnydd dysgu, yn ogystal â’u helpu i wneud penderfyniadau am gynnwys ac addysgeg CGM.
Yn yr un modd â phob adnodd, mae Canolfan San Silyn yn annog ymarferwyr i ymgysylltu â’r enghraifft hon mewn modd beirniadol. Anogir ymarferwyr hefyd i gyfathrebu â’i gilydd mewn modd proffesiynol i helpu i ddatblygu cyd-ddealltwriaeth o gynnydd mewn perthynas â CGM o fewn eu lleoliad.
Gwahoddir athrawon ledled Cymru i gymryd rhan yn Arolwg Llais yr Athrawon ar gyfer Crefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg (CGM).
Mae'r arolwg hwn wedi'i gynllunio i gael mynediad uniongyrchol at brofiadau athrawon o’r newidiadau cwricwlwm yng Nghymru a'u hymgysylltiad â nhw, gyda ffocws ar Grefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg (CGM). Nod yr astudiaeth yw rhoi 'ciplun' o safbwyntiau athrawon ar CGM yn y Cwricwlwm i Gymru. Bydd hyn yn helpu i gyfrannu at ddeialog broffesiynol a lywir gan ymchwil a dysgu proffesiynol.
Pwy all gymryd rhan yn yr arolwg?
Mae'r arolwg yn agored i ymarferwyr sy'n addysgu yng Nghymru o fewn cyd-destun ysgol neu leoliad 3 i 16 oed. Mae hyn yn cynnwys athrawon yn yr ysgolion a’r lleoliadau canlynol: Meithrin, Cynradd, Uwchradd, Ysgolion Pob Oed, Arbennig, ac Unedau Cyfeirio Disgyblion.
Pwy sy'n gyfrifol am yr arolwg?
Mae’r prosiect ymchwil yn cael ei arwain gan Ganolfan San Silyn a Phrifysgol yr Esgob Grosseteste mewn cydweithrediad â staff o Brifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd, Cymorth Addysg Castell-nedd Port Talbot, ac Ysgol Uwchradd Llanisien, Caerdydd.
Efallai eich bod wedi cael gwybodaeth am yr arolwg gan eich ymgynghorydd lleol, CYSAG / CYS lleol, awdurdod lleol, consortiwm, neu esgobaeth.
Os nad ydych wedi clywed am yr arolwg eto, ac yr hoffech gymryd rhan, e-bostiwch Libby Jones (Ysgrifennydd Cynorthwyol CCYSAGauC) neu WASACRE@outlook.com, a fydd yn anfon dolen yr arolwg atoch gyda rhagor o wybodaeth.
Mae adnodd newydd i Lywodraethwyr ysgolion wedi’i gyhoeddi’n ddiweddar ar Hwb Llywodraeth Cymru.
Mae’r adnodd dwyieithog rhad ac am ddim yn cefnogi dysgu proffesiynol hanfodol mewn Crefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg (CGM) ar gyfer Llywodraethwyr ysgolion, a’i enw yw: Crefydd, Gwerthoedd a Moeseg: Yr hyn y mae angen i lywodraethwyr ysgolion ei wybod
Mae’r adnodd newydd hwn ar gael ar Hwb, a gellir dod o hyd iddo yn y gyfres bresennol o adnoddau dysgu proffesiynol ar gyfer CGM trwy ddilyn y ddolen hon:
