Tag: executive

Sad news

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Members of the Executive Committee of EFTRE are deeply saddened to have to give the news of the death of our former EFTRE Chair and dear friend, Lesley Prior, on Saturday 20th April.

Lesley had been involved with EFTRE for over 20 years and became Chair in 2013.  Professionally she was a lecturer at the University of Roehampton, near London, where she was involved in preparing teachers of Religious Education.  Sadly, her health prevented her from taking part in last year’s EFTRE Conference in Rome, despite having been closely involved in the preparations.

We offer our deepest sympathy to Lesley’s family, friends and colleagues.  We hope to present a fuller tribute to Lesley’s life and work in the near future.

A memory book has been started by Lesley’s colleagues and friends in the UK. If you wish to contribute, please follow this link.

Reflection by our new chair Bert Roebben

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At the conference taking place in Rome in August 2023, EFTRE elected a new chair for its organisation. Bert Roebben is professor of Religious Education at the at the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Bonn. He is passionate about teaching and researching learning processes in the field of religions and worldviews in a European context. In his blogbpost, he shares his reflections about the challenges and opportunities EFTRE faces in the Europe we live in today. The EFTRE family is grateful to welcome such a motivated and passionate RE expert as its leader.

Read more about his Ideas

Students are entitled to “grow in shared humanity”, based on particular religious and non-religious narratives of hope and healing. Classroom teachers are their examples in meaning giving, their generators of hope, their “wounded healers”. They deserve all respect and support.

– Bert Roebben, chair

New and familiar faces – the Executive and Board of EFTRE

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A new group of family members has taken over the leadership of EFTRE. The conference in Rome in August 2023 was also the place and time for the regular General Assembly of the Forum, which is electing the members of the board and the executive, the steering bodies of EFTRE.

Executive

For the executive, the election was eagerly awaited as two long-standing members – Lesley Prior (England) as chair and Elisabeth Faber (Denmark) as Secretary – announced to step down from their duties. The EFTRE community thanked them with deep gratitude for their dedication and hard work. It was with great pleasure that the members elected Bert Roebben from Germany/Belgium as new chair and Tuomas Anttila from Finland as new Secretary. Lesley and Elisabeth are continuing to serve as regular members of the executive as do Hugo Verkest (Belgium), Marios Koukounaras Liagkis (Greece), Norman Richardson (Northern Ireland), and Bianca Kappelhoff (Germany).

Learn more about the executive members

Board

Many previous members of the board showed willingness to go on with this role for the next term of office. Members were happy to welcome a new board member for the Ukraine, Kateryna Buchko. Together with Olga Schihalejev, board member from Estonia, she also volunteered to take part in the communication team of EFTRE, coordinated by executive member Bianca Kappelhoff.

learn more about the Board members

All members of the board and the executive are elected until the next General Assembly, which will take place at the next Conference planned for 2025.

EFTRE conference planning gets concrete

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“Building bridges over troubled waters – RE in changing times.” This is the theme of the next EFTRE conference, which will take place from 24 to 27 August 2023. The Executive Board of EFTRE is in the middle of preparations and was able to meet in presence in November 2022 for the first time after 3 years.

In Rome, they were warmly welcomed by their Italian member organisation SNADIR (Association of Teachers of Religion in Italy) and its Executive Director Orazio Ruscica. With the Link Campus University, a beautiful location was found in the centre of Rome that invites teachers, teacher trainers as well as researchers of religious education to learn together, to share meals and exchange with each other.

More information about the venue, the programme and registration will be available soon.

conference page

Screenshot of executive in Zoom meeting

Corona, website and membership: the EFTRE executive’s topics

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Due to the Corona crisis, EFTRE’s board meeting originally planned on 27-28th March 2020 in Valencia, Spain, had to be postponed to the second half of the year. Instead, the executive board only met via video conference.

The group exchanged about how EFTRE can put European solidarity first in times of Corona and support members in current challenges such as distance learning. A first collection of links has been put on the website which will be further updated. RE teachers can find useful materials and tools for distant learning offered in various European countries.

Furthermore, the executive took forward the renewal of the network’s website and an improvement of the membership management.

A cupcake with EFTRE logo

New Executive and Board elected

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During the conference in Dublin the EFTRE General Assembly took place as well. One important point was the appointment of the Executive and the Board of EFTRE.

In regard to the Executive, two new members were elected: Marios Kokounaras Liagkis from Greece and Bianca Kappelhoff from Germany. Former Executive member Florin Tomoioaga has stepped down but continues as the Board Member for Rumania. Thus, the members of the Executive for the next three years are: Lesley Prior, England (Chair), Elisabeth Faber, Denmark (Secretary), Hugo Verkest, Belgium (Treasurer), Sonja Danner, Austria, Outi Raunio, Finland (Communications Officer), Marios Kokounaras Liagkis, Greece and Bianca Kappelhoff, Germany. As the next Conference in 2022 will take place in Rome, Italian board member Orazio Ruscica or his representative, will be co-opted onto the Executive as well.

As for the Board, almost all country representatives agreed to continue in their roles. As Bianca Kappelhoff has now joined the Executive, she is also the German representative on the board. Furthermore, Eliana Hadjioannou joined the board as Cyprus’ representative.

Please note: You find a full list and description of the board members and the executive members on the EFTRE website.

Written by Bianca Kappelhoff