Looking at Data, Learning to See: A ‘Ways of Knowing’ Lesson in Primary RE

Why ‘Ways of Knowing’ matter in RE

‘Ways of knowing’ have been spoken about for many years in RE (Ofsted, 2021) and it has become clear that in order to teach high-quality RE it is crucial that pupils are not just taught about ‘what to know’ (substantive knowledge) but that they must be taught ‘how to know’ (disciplinary knowledge). In our new Gloucestershire locally agreed syllabus this push towards explicitly discussing and exploring scholarly methods has seen a toolkit approach introduced so that pupils can consider the tools available to them to investigate concepts, practices or beliefs.

In my classroom, one lesson in particular, showed me the impact that ‘Ways of Knowing’ can have as it radically altered my relationship with my pupils.

Let me explain.

The tool I used: ‘Looking at Data’

One of the tools our syllabus encourages us to use while exploring the history and current​ situation of the Jewish community​ in our area is titled ‘Looking at Data’.

Now I have used data before but in a very limited way. My previous approach would have been to organise the latest national census so that I could highlight the responses of the local Jewish population. During the lesson, we would have briefly discussed how the local population was quite small and identified that the local population is focussed in one locality. I might have answered one or two of the children’s questions, but primarily the encounter would have been managed by me with pupils looking on. I would have been the tour-guide pointing out what I felt was interesting, relevant and useful while ignoring those I felt were irrelevant or confusing.

This time around I decided that embracing ‘Ways of Knowing’ meant me dropping the tour-guide role to become a fellow-traveller.

Moving from ‘tour-guide’ to ‘fellow-traveller’

I started the lesson by explaining what a census was and how the information was collected. We then explored census maps relevant to their locality. As we talked, questions were raised and some answers were suggested but there were also times where we recognised that to answer our questions we might need to explore the locality’s history or complete further surveys. I was reflecting, evaluating and analysing alongside my pupils. I felt that my position had shifted my tour-guide to experienced fellow-traveller. This experience only grew richer when I presented them with the local data responses.

Again, previously, I would have directed their attention towards the data I wanted them to see so that they could come to the conclusions that I wanted them to make. This time, I was determined that to hand the hermeneutical baton over to them.

So, we went through the data slowly allowing the pupils to review it themselves and identify what they felt was ‘noticeable’. This altered my comments from explanation to provocation from “This is because…” and “You can see that…” to “What might this mean for these people?”, “How might it feel to live here?” or “How could you explore that information further?” Interestingly, pupils began to reflect on the population data across different worldviews and how this might lead to them engaging with one another. We did eventually talk about the responses of Jewish people, but we came to it together.

This exploration allowed us to interpret pictures of the local synagogue and its community in a different light. Pupils reflected on how living in a place with fewer Jewish people might impact the way the community gathered or the buildings in which they gathered. We also considered how living in a place with people of similar or differing worldviews might impact your identity or relationships with others.

What changed when I taught ‘Ways of Knowing’ explicitly

After this lesson, I reflected on how explicitly using ‘Ways of Knowing’ altered our RE experience:

1. Explicitly showing a ‘Way of Knowing’ had allowed me to transition from tour-guide who holds all the knowledge to fellow-traveller noticing, exploring and questioning alongside my pupils.
2. The children had embodied the role social-scientists, activists, architects and theologians. Instead of being given my conclusions and those of others they had been empowered ‘to be’ the scholar and to come to their own conclusions.
3. The children had seen that a person’s worldview as well as their traditions and practice might be shaped and formed by their local or national experience. For children in a school whose pupils are pre-dominantly from White-British backgrounds this is powerful. Might this have ramifications for their ideas on race, religion, politics? I would hope so.
4. The children’s confidence with the census and data meant that I could use this in other areas of the unit such as exploring the concept of ‘ethno-religion’.

This experience has encouraged me to embrace ‘ways of knowing’ as a key aspect of my RE teaching. I know that I have a way to go, but I am determined to take that path as a fellow-traveller and not as a tour-guide.