New to RE? Developing Subject Knowledge
12 January, 2026, Karen Steele
New to RE? Developing Subject Knowledge
Becoming an RE teacher can be daunting. The subject is vast (and sometimes tricky). This blog is aimed at trainee RE teachers and teachers with other specialisms (TWOs). It is important to remember that whatever their background, no RE teacher knows it all; being a good RE teacher means being a perpetual learner. You will come across lived experiences that contradict the textbooks. Religion, by its very nature, is messy, evolving and contested. Expect the unexpected!
The up-side is that we are blessed with the most rich, colourful and captivating material to work with. We do not have to slog away to make our subject engaging; it just is! We have the best characters, stories and imagery. So, we have a lot to work with.
What makes a good RE teacher?
A good RE teacher has a sound knowledge of the basics (and expert knowledge in some areas), a passion for the subject and a huge dose of intellectual humility. We need to model the curiosity, humility and enthusiasm we wish to see in our pupils. We need to be comfortable to admit when we don’t know, rethink when we gain new knowledge and demonstrate how to listen, reflect and learn. In my experience, kids love to be part of the project: ‘let’s try to work this out together’ is more effective than ‘I know, and you must accept’. Many times a pupil has questioned what I have taught, for example, saying ‘but I am an X and we don’t do that at home/ believe that’. In fact, pupils have been one of the greatest resources for my subject knowledge over the years.
Challenges
The challenges we face include how to teach the six main religious traditions in the UK (and non-religious worldviews) in limited curriculum time. We have to work out how much will be enough to engage our pupils as well as equip them for life. And we need to make sure we aren’t dumbing down or over-simplifying so we end up misrepresenting traditions. Sometimes we’ll be managing negative assumptions or a topic with great personal and global/political sensitivities. Ofsted (2021) helped a little, stating it’s not realistic to think we can fully cover every tradition, and instead we should think carefully about what is ‘collectively enough’ to give pupils an authentic and meaningful knowledge of religion (and non-religion). This allows us to delve deeper in some areas, exploring diversity, complexity and controversy in meaningful ways.
A lot of thought and planning is needed for a curriculum that carefully selects content to build on pupils’ knowledge over time, helping them to achieve an ever deeper and more nuanced subject knowledge. You need a good grasp of a topic in order to know what’s essential and what isn’t. You won’t be planning a curriculum in your PGCE year (you may be asked to plan a sequence of lessons), but many RE teachers become curriculum leaders early on in their careers.
Where to start
Many people starting out as RE teachers have had little formal education in the subject. Those who do, may have some specialist university-level knowledge in specific areas. You may, for example, have studied philosophy and know a great deal about the thought of Immanual Kant. You may, however, know very little about the Sikh tradition, which you may be required to teach on your first placement.
It’s common for an RE teacher to have to improve their knowledge on a topic before teaching it. However, what is crucial is that the teacher has a firm grasp of how to represent religious (and non-religious) traditions and worldviews authentically, including the inherent diversity, complexity and, sometimes, controversy. The RE teacher should help pupils to set their learning in context and make meaningful connections. Sometimes you will need to help pupils work through contentious and confusing aspects of traditions and worldviews. That doesn’t mean you have all the answers, but you will have a developed framework and reservoir of resources to call upon.
We know from the growing body of research in the cognitive science and education that we learn by building schema, mental structures that help us to organise and remember. This short video from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) explains the basics of how our memory works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz-VPOtgLXg .
So it makes sense for you to start by building your schema for the religious and non-religious traditions you’ll be teaching. You need to attach new knowledge to old knowledge and understand the significance and influence of key figures, beliefs and practices across different religions and worldviews. One very simple way of organising the knowledge is to make a distinction between the Dharmic and Abrahamic traditions. You need to develop a secure framework for developing your knowledge of religion and worldviews, understanding the chronology and connections of/ between the major traditions.
So, where to start? Below are some of my top recommendations for building your subject knowledge.
This animation of the spread of 5 major traditions is a good place to begin (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFl6UBZLv4
Next you might want to watch this 10-minute TedED talk about 5 major world religions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6dCxo7t_aE
The best introduction I have found is Richard Holloway’s A Little History of Religion (2017). A concise and accessible overview of the world’s major religions it explores the origins, beliefs, and impact they have had.
Another book I recommend to trainees is James D Holt’s Religious Education in The Secondary School (2022). As well as providing a lot of practical advice, it includes concise summaries of the six main traditions in the UK. It’s a handy reference.
The Knowledge section on REOnline (https://www.reonline.org.uk/) has detailed and authoritative entries on many religious traditions. This is a very reliable place to go to build the detailed knowledge you will need to teach about specific traditions.
Another wonderful free resource is The RE Podcast (https://www.therepodcast.co.uk/). The ever-growing number of episodes includes a breadth of topics, often featuring experts and insiders to help use learn more in an entertaining way.
Of course, the best way to learn about religion and worldviews is to hear from people from within the tradition themselves. RE Hubs (https://www.re-hubs.uk/) have contact details for speakers and places of interest alongside many other useful resources.
And joining NATRE, the National Association of RE Teachers (https://natre.org.uk/ ) will provide you with a wealth of resources, CPD opportunities and the feeling of not being alone. There is a student rate!
Notes
It’s common to worry about pronunciation. Try not to. Ask people who may know to help you and try this SHAP audio glossary to help: https://www.shapcalendar.org.uk/glossary.html
Read Karen’s blog:
https://missevareteacher.wordpress.com/blog/
References