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The Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS) is a freely accessible online publication that provides theological commentary on the Bible in dialogue with works of art.

Each section of the VCS is a virtual exhibition comprising a biblical passage, three high-resolution (zoomable) art works, a short commentary on each one, and a longer ‘comparative’ commentary drawing them together.

 Using visual art to help unlock and support understanding for pupils

VCS exhibitions aim to transform interaction with Scripture.  Our hope is that our users will never read the biblical passages or see the art works in the same way again.

The exhibition curators represent a diversity of disciplines, methodologies, and perspectives as they explore illuminating interactions between the text and images.  Their choice of artworks ranges from the ancient world to the contemporary: you’ll find Hans Holbein next to Banksy, and video art alongside illuminated manuscripts.

Hermeneutical principles

The VCS is a constructive contribution to living traditions of thought and practice that converse with the Bible as an authoritative resource in contemporary contexts.

Its theological hermeneutics align with the seminal defences of the role of images in Christianity advanced by theologians like John of Damascus.  Artworks are selected on grounds comparable to those that governed the choice of commentary for inclusion in Jewish Talmud or in Christian Catenae: not because they all said the same thing, but because their insight and dialogical potential were fruitful for their communities.

Interdisciplinary thinking

The VCS is a theologically driven project, informed by biblical studies and art history, with an interdisciplinary team based in the TRS department at King’s College London. Each page of the VCS is theologically ‘curated’, and each has the potential to become a dramatic event, perhaps even an ‘epiphany’ for the viewer.

The contemporary conversational engagement of art with Scripture builds mutual understanding and creative perspectives on present issues for non-religious as well as religious audiences, in our increasingly polarised times. Visual art offers an hospitable space for multiple viewpoints to be explored, and the ‘conversational’ mode of interaction fostered by groups of three artworks promotes peaceable rather than conflictual interpretative practices.

The VCS in the classroom

RE teachers are already discovering the VCS and using it in the classroom. You can search the website by book within the Old Testament and Apocrypha or New Testament  or by theme (e.g. Wisdom, Creation, Miracles…), explore a ‘spotlight’ topic (currently Coptic and Ethiopic art), use the video channel, or learn more about the hermeneutical principles behind the VCS. There are 265 exhibitions currently online, and hundreds more in the pipeline.

The VCS is working on tailored school resources to bring the Bible alive in new ways for students. If you would like to join a focus group for school resources, or pilot them in your teaching, or if you’d just like to discuss ways of using the VCS, please contact Dr Chloë Reddaway at vcs@kcl.ac.uk

You can subscribe to the free VCS mailing list at the bottom of the homepage.

I was always going to be a linguist. My Dad was a French teacher and, not wanting to be lectured on the conjugation of French verbs at home, I threw myself into every opportunity to learn languages other than French. I took German and Russian A Levels, discovering along the way a love of poetry, etymology and collecting alphabets. When it came to choosing what I wanted to do at university, I was torn between pursuing languages and RE, my other great love.

What swung it for me was the fact that most Theology and Religious Studies degrees required the study of a language associated with sacred texts – Sanskrit, Qur’anic Arabic, Hebrew, Greek. I jumped in enthusiastically, getting from zero Hebrew to the equivalent of A Level in 7 weeks. Despite the odd mistranslation, the journey of discovery into these text’s original languages opened my eyes to entirely different ways of living in and thinking about the world. For example, in Hebrew, thinking is something you do with your heart, rather than your head; so where ‘Moses thought…’ in an English Torah translation, in the original Hebrew “Moses said in his heart…”. That puts an entirely different spin on decision-making.

This was powerful: it gave me permission to step outside my own worldview and temporarily inhabit someone else’s. The impact of doing this was something that I wanted to share. I continued my studies, earning a Masters and then working on a PhD. However, life intervened, and despite reaching the writing-up phase of my PhD, ill health meant that I never completed it. I moved into teaching Secondary Religious Studies and Philosophy and *loved* it.

Writing as a postgraduate researcher was both frustrating and daunting; the audience were the experts and I was just starting out. In teaching however, my teenage audience was curious (usually) and enthusiastic (sometimes), and my job was to explain things never before encountered. My writing changed – I needed to make complex, abstract ideas accessible. It was at this point that I started blogging and through this, connecting with other RE teachers.

In my current role as an adviser to a huge range of Lincolnshire schools, my writing changed once again. I had the chance to re-engage with research in my field, considering its adaptation to the classroom. I was now writing for an audience not of academics or teenagers, but teachers, and needed to speak into their contexts in practical and useful ways. Several generous colleagues shared their time and expertise, providing collaborative writing opportunities which opened doors for me; Mark Chater, Kathryn Wright, Olivia Seymour, Jane Chipperton, and many more. Writing can feel like a lonely and isolating activity, and I was astonished by the power of collaborative writing. I can say with absolute certainty that my writing improved a hundred-fold. I have taken that lesson into my day job and intentionally seek opportunities to work collaboratively with teachers who are writing for publication, for research and for their own professional development.

I did not set out to become a writer, but throughout my professional life, writing has challenged me to present what I know to others and, perhaps most importantly, to a range of different audiences. It can often feel, at the end of a long working day when the laundry still needs doing and paperwork needs sorting and there are still 50 unread emails in your inbox, that writing is an added extra – something you’ll get round to once you’ve sorted out everything else. I would urge you to revisit that assumption. For me, writing has been a way of trying out ideas, of improving my ability to communicate effectively to different audiences; it has provided me with a space to think and to work collaboratively with others. Writing has helped me grow professionally and it has become an invaluable part of who I am.

There are lots of ways in which you can get involved in writing – why not start with a blog post for RE:ONLINE?

In my last blog I laid out my proposal for why hermeneutics should be part of any good Religion and Worldviews curriculum. It is my belief that exploring hermeneutics can start in the primary phase. Pupils can be supported to make their own interpretations of texts and consider how their own worldview impacts on their understanding. They can think about the meaning they take from text due to their own prior understanding.

What can textual hermeneutics look like in Primary? Take the Noah story, which many pupils will have encountered in several forms before studying it as a text in an RE lesson. Pupils can explore the specific historical-social context of the text, considering who wrote it and why, who they wrote it to and how it would have been interpreted and understood at the time. They can move on to consider whether the interpretation of the story is different today. They can think about the ways in which a text is interpreted.

Not sure where to access resources for hermeneutical exploration? Books such as The Lion Handbook of the Bible, websites like the British Library’s Sacred Texts or the excellent collection of materials on the Bible Project website can support teachers in locating this knowledge for hermeneutical discovery.

There is also scope for engaging KS2 pupils in philosophical discussions around where meaning lies within a text; with the author’s intention or the reader’s interpretation? Is meaning a static thing or does it evolve and change over time as texts find themselves used and read in new circumstances? Theological hermeneutics could take the form of Dawn Cox’s lenses to ask questions: How would a theologian understand this text? What about a Christian? Would it be understood differently by a Muslim and why? Is there anything of value in this text for someone with a non-religious worldview who might interpret it without religious affiliation or experience?

Primary pupils are more than capable of engaging with interpretation of sacred art in a similar way. They might explore how images represent not only theological ideas but also the contemporary worldview of the artist. For example, studying images of Jesus from different time periods, cultures and geographical regions offers pupils the opportunity to practice interpretative skills. They will consider what an artist is trying to show about their understanding of Jesus for themselves and their community. They will think about how they, as the viewer, makes meaning of the artwork, and how and why this might differ from the meaning made by their peers.

In the secondary phase, pupils can continue to hone these skills, building up their knowledge of the contexts within which sacred texts were written and the authorships and readerships of these texts, as they study more complex and sophisticated texts. They may also be introduced to the ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’, where they ask themselves what the text is not telling us at face value and for which we may have to dig a little deeper e.g. who does it benefit to interpret a text in this way? Who is harmed by such interpretations and why would that be desirable for some? This could lead to study of the Bible through the lenses of topics such as womanism or racial justice.

Not convinced? I can forgive you; maybe I am being cunning just like Hermes. But take a look at my recent article in RE Today on ‘RE Alert to Hermeneutics’, where I shared ten practical ways to bring hermeneutics into the RE classroom or dive into RE:ONLINE’s hermeneutics resource. Hermeneutics is waiting for you to discover its merits for your RE teaching! I hope you come to love it as much as I do.

Useful links:

https://retodaylibrary.org.uk/article/theologies-of-reading-ten-examples-of-re-alert-to-hermeneutics/

https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts

https://bibleproject.com/

Note on terminology:  ‘RSE’ stands for the statutory legislation published in 2019 that has been compulsory in all schools since 2020, Relationships and Sex Education.

As a teacher in a faith school myself, I am interested to explore how RSE can be taught in faith schools. As part of an extensive training programme in RSE, I encountered other teachers from faith schools. My own faith background (and school) is Shi’a Muslim, but I met teachers from the Catholic sector who were asking the same questions as me. Through this experience I have uncovered some fascinating and useful research, with the end result that an ‘Abrahamic Commentary’ on RSE has now been produced.

I was delighted to meet Lucy Emmerson, CEO of the Sex Education Forum. The Forum provides excellent resources and clarity on all the different issues involved in RSE, such as being aware of diversity in your classroom and the community. It was a suggestion from Lucy to show non-Christian families and weddings, to embrace diversity, and that got me thinking. I wanted to represent other faiths and provide more information for parents and pupils from these faiths too. After speaking to others, I decided upon an Abrahamic model.

I sought advice and expertise from advisers, teachers, Local Authorities, the PSHE Association and scholars from the three faiths. I was particularly pleased to meet Dr Jo Sell, whose doctoral thesis explored ‘faith, relationships and sex education’. Through Jo I learnt that young people from a faith background struggle with the same issues as those from a non-faith background; consent, mental health concerns and silence. In some religious communities issues that young people experience can become hidden. Young people of faith can struggle with observing a traditional form of their faith, upholding their family expectations, and experimenting as young people will, especially as they are bombarded with an external culture that is more open and direct about matters of sexuality.

However there are many faith-sensitive ways to open up a conversation and it has been wonderful to learn more about them. A conception of being made in the ‘image of God’ for example, speaks to human dignity and respect for the body. However some principles are simply traditional village culture given a religious spin. During a discussion at an Islamic conference the issue of sex and relationships came up. It was refreshingly honest, open and balanced – the trouble was that from start to finish the whole thing could have been taking place in a secular ‘marriage guidance’ context. ‘Muslim’ only denoted the cultural context of the discussion and there was no input from Islam at all. As a Muslim myself I would like to see a thorough study of Islamic anthropology, addressing the question of what is it to be human? From there I would like to see an exploration of the dynamics of relationships, community and society from an Islamic perspective. It would be wonderful to see this for all faiths.

The Abrahamic commentary provides support for teachers when delivering RSE. They can refer to the three faith areas to further develop and explore understanding of the principles and topics, such as families, the body, marriage or respect for others. The commentary has been created for both Primary and Secondary phases, and is age- appropriate. We also hope parents from the Abrahamic faiths will also find interest and support in the commentary, as well as parents from all and no faiths; the scriptures are treasures of wisdom for all humanity to benefit from.

The commentary can be found here.

Further Resources:

Dr Jo Sell’s faith- and student- sensitive approach to RSE can be found on her website: https://realationships.co.uk/

Jo has published her thesis: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072639/1/Sell_10072639_Thesis_sig-removed.pdf
The Sex Education Forum: https://www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/

I have been listening with interest to conversations about the shift to Worldviews. I have long wondered how far my teaching reinforces for my mostly white, largely atheist students, the impression that all followers of a religion think and do the same thing. And moreover that religious beliefs and actions exist in a place distant to my students’ lives and concerns. Worldviews thinking seemed to respond to my concern. I wanted to move away from my comfortable World Religions focus on the holy building, the holy book, the core beliefs, but how?

I have been proactive in using and emphasising a multidisciplinary approach. I have explicitly tried to achieve a balance of theology, philosophy & social sciences in my planning – using lots of the RE: Online, NATRE & RE Today CPD and resources (I’m starting to feel like Lat Blaylock’s stalker!). Awareness of these different lenses has allowed me to clarify my aims when engaged in the constant and almost overwhelming process of selection, omission and deciding, from everything that could/should/ would be great to cover, what will actually make it into each precious little lesson.  I wanted to introduce more reality, more diversity, more challenge and a nuanced understanding at KS3 but with only a 50- minute lesson a week and largely religiously illiterate (and many uninterested) young people I wasn’t sure where to start.

Into this overloaded head space came Islam as a Worldview. What caught my eye was not just the level of research and detail, but the emphasis on the personal, lived experience of different Muslims across history. This was just what I needed. I chose the Malala Yousafzai resources for Year 8 who were already looking at Islam. I had looked at Malala for a previous ‘inspirational religious people’ unit but it had felt trite and superficial. The Islam as a Worldview on the other hand really resonated with what I was looking for. It was my first attempt in exploring wider political and geographical contexts in lessons and I was keen to try!

We began with the context & background to Pashtun life- I never knew Malala’s father was such a great example. Then we moved to fundamentalism and why the Taliban gained support.  Many students commented that it challenged their ideas to consider that terrorists weren’t necessarily ‘all bad’.  My favourite lesson was looking at what Islam taught about education and the events leading up to Malala’s shooting as a ‘what would you do?’ style activity – most of us were considerably less courageous than Malala!  We rounded off with a reflection, debrief and a ‘what Malala did next’ lesson.  I really enjoyed teaching the whole unit and felt it had been a much more thorough and engaging way to cover the tricky question of religion and terrorism. The student’s feedback was overwhelmingly positive and there were many interesting questions and conversations in the classroom.

It is exciting to trial a multidisciplinary Worldviews approach. It has given me an insight into the value of real-life contextualised ‘stories’ and a way to tackle tricky, messy questions like who is a ‘real’ believer. This process illustrated to me particularly the importance of not just telling students there is religious diversity, but of really showing them the massively wide spectrum of belief and thinking (of which religion is just one strand) that can see Malala and the Taliban striving to be ‘good Muslims’ in such different ways.

Samantha Keddie has been a Secondary teacher of RE for 15 years, firstly in South London and now East Sussex.

What is Hermeneutics?

We all have our niche topics. Hermeneutics appears to be mine. Likely, this comes from a joint-honours degree in English and Theology and a teaching career spent leading English and RE at primary level. Hermeneutics is the art or skill of interpretation. Hermeneutics involves texts but also a consideration of the positionality of the reader alongside the historical-social context of the text. This could encompass the author, the recipient, the reasons for writing, or all three. The aim is to arrive at an understanding of what texts may be saying.

Hermeneutics sits squarely in the Worldviews approach as we encounter the worldviews of authors from the past through their work. It also draws upon the disciplines of both theology and history. So, in Religion and Worldviews terms, you could say it’s an ‘all the feels’ approach.

When I throw the word ‘hermeneutics’ into the CPD I lead for local RE teachers and subject leaders, I am often met with ‘herma-what?’ in response. It’s a big, fancy word from the Greek hermēneuein, meaning ‘interpret’. The word also alludes to Hermes, the cunning messenger to the gods, who often delivered messages with his own slant to manipulate interpretation. It really just means learning how to interpret and being aware that different interpretations are part of studying religious texts.  As we increasingly talk in Religion and Worldviews circles about how important it is for pupils to understand diversity and the impact your worldview has on your thinking and expression, I fully expect hermeneutics to become something all teachers will see the merit of exploring with their pupils.

Hermeneutics can be applied to art as well as text. Pupils can explore sacred art and encounter worldviews from other eras, cultures and geographical locations as they learn to interpret the beautiful things associated with diverse religious traditions. They will learn to ask themselves what an artist is trying to show them and why. In comparing different examples of religious art intended to capture the same elements of scripture, they will see for themselves how differently the same text can be interpreted by an artist and understood by a viewer.

I’d love to see hermeneutics take its place as part of disciplinary study of religion and world views in a well-thought-out curriculum. After all, it’s a classic example of what Ofsted’s Dr Richard Kueh termed ‘ways of knowing’ and it is another key way of developing critical thinking in pupils, turning them into ‘responsible readers’ and thoughtful viewers of sacred images. Through hermeneutics, pupils are confronted with their own personal knowledge that they bring to every learning experience. It naturally requires consideration of positionality and encourages the skills of reflexivity and reflectivity.

In my next blog post I will aim to share some specific examples of hermeneutics in the primary and secondary classroom, but in the meantime you may want to check out Bowie et al’s Teachers and Texts.

The Visual Commentary of Scripture is also a great starting point for finding sacred art interpreting passages of scripture.

This blog is dedicated to Andy Squires, a great boss who encouraged me in promoting an RE curriculum that includes both religious and non-religious worldviews and addresses controversial issues in the classroom. Young people need a safe space to discuss difficult questions about the benefits and challenges of living in an increasingly multicultural society and here is my argument.

If Religion and Worldviews is to remain relevant to young people this will sometimes involve discussing controversial issues that arouse strong feelings, particularly those that raise questions about authority and power. In this blog I will argue that we should not avoid these moments of complexity or uncertainty, which are a natural part of our subject matter. Helping our young people acquire the tools to make sense of complex and often emotive issues could be the most important thing we do for them.

The world is complex and there is no getting away from controversial issues. Examining an issue that arouses disagreements might take us out of our comfort zone. We can see it as akin to sex education, uncomfortable at times but absolutely crucial for students to encounter, for their future health and confidence.

I suggest that we therefore need to embrace interpretation. Instead of using short lines of text to make a point, often with no acknowledgement of context, we could consider taking more time and exploring different ways text can be interpreted. We can help our young people in their developing critical awareness by exploring with them different interpretations, including interpretations we or they may not agree with. We can show the roots of each school of thought or tradition, the claims or purpose of the text, and the context in which the text was written as well as how this particular mode of interpretation has come about.

Of course any source can be open to this process, not just text. Outlooks, practices and traditions can be traced to a way of thinking and made sense of in context, offering a more textured and complex understanding of belief, belonging and culture. In becoming more comfortable exploring different interpretations, we are halfway there to understanding the roots of ideologies at play in current controversial issues, a key part of making sense of where the controversy has sprung from.

I propose that the consequences of not allowing young people to engage critically with aspects of religion and worldviews can lead to a limited understanding of religion, history, beliefs and ethics. It is also to reduce the intellectual challenge of the subject. As well as the educational case for critical analysis, there is the moral case for preparing our pupils to make sense of, engage with and thrive in a complex, diverse world.

Teachers might feel they lack the expertise or confidence to broach controversial issues, and we do need to both do our research and tread carefully. However if we steer away from critically analysing religions to avoid any difficult conversations, this can also trivialise religion. We can hold on to an educational argument in our uncertainty; we sometimes need to address controversy for educational reasons, in other words, so our young people gain a valuable understanding. A critical engagement with religion and worldviews is a particular approach that could feel uncomfortable to some pupils, so we have to defend it educationally, while approaching certain topics with sensitivity and care. Such care does not dilute our overall aim, it is part of our professional toolkit.

This term we will be exploring the idea of ‘ways of knowing’. How do we help our pupils, of any age, to make sense of the learning material as they grow and develop? The phrase ‘ways of knowing’ is found in Ofsted’s 2021 Research Review to describe how the substance of the lesson is framed.

In my own classroom I have been experimenting with a historical ‘way of knowing’. We have reshaped a Year 9 Unit to take a deliberately historical view. We make sense of Christian theology with reference to historical contexts. Through role-play, guided stories and discussions we explore emerging Protestant concerns in the 1500s, contrasting to Catholic trust in centuries of church tradition. Pupils are in actual fact contrasting ‘faith’ and ‘works’, without using these abstracted words. Although these are theological concepts, I found that looking through a historical lens allowed me a certain amount of freedom from the precise meaning of the different visions of salvation. The broad brush strokes of the argument suffice to explain the ensuing conflict as well as identify the core, shared Christian beliefs.

Our historical timeline has taken us to the English Reformation, the European Wars of Religion, the Troubles and finally to the work of Corrymeela in the modern era. We have been able to discuss at each point how far conflict between Catholic and Protestant groups is political or religious. My students have mastered the theological disputes comfortably without even knowing it.

And the students? In our first year of teaching they were, frankly, confused. ‘Why are we learning all this history?’ was the most common objection, and, ‘when are we going to learn about religious beliefs?’ I was unsure of myself. Coming in and out of lockdown added to the sense of confusion. However students’ reflected nuance and critical analysis. A more textured understanding of the impact of religion, politics, power and community was emerging.

This year I am confident. I see how the unit flows and small pieces of information connect to a bigger whole. My current Year 9s respond to my confidence, discussing the pros and cons of biblical translations, assessing Henry VIII’s ‘true’ Catholic soul and comparing traditional Catholic to various Protestant views of the eucharist.

A concern lingers; the sheer speed at which we work. Huge chunks of history, theology and politics are glossed over in a way that doesn’t feel historically appropriate. If we are taking a historical view of theological differences, we don’t really give enough time to context and place. It was in the penultimate week of the term that my concerns suddenly resolved into a solution. When considering Corrymeela’s work in conflict resolution and reconciliation, I had it- this is an ethical unit. We are looking through an ethical lens! The various case studies of conflict between religious siblings all point to an ethical question; is conflict in the name of religion ever acceptable?

My teaching next year will therefore adopt an ethical ‘way of knowing’. We will draw on historical context, power, theology and place to make sense of this urgent question of the world.

Through blogs and resources this term on RE:ONLINE we will be considering the what ‘ways of knowing’ means in the classroom and in our development. As always we welcome your questions, blogs and comments. What changes are you making, how can you assess their success, and how will you develop in future?

If you are anything like me and wonder where everyone gets the time to read educational journals and books you last set your sights on at university (I am convinced there is a secret community of teachers who own Bernard’s Watch!), then listen up!

My time saving secret is The RE Podcast! It is filled with insights into Religion and Worldviews, available in 10 – 30 minute sessions. As well as covering religious and non-religious worldviews, the podcasts delve into difference and diversity, philosophical debates and address current concerns such as decolonising the language we use and representations of religion in film.

Below I outline five ways the RE Podcast has added value to my understanding and development.

1: CPD for Teachers

Even when I choose a podcast I consider I have good subject knowledge in already, I am always left with greater insights, more examples and personal views to add into my classroom practice. A recent example is ‘The One About the Messianic Judaism’. Messianic Judaism is a topic that I sometimes refer to in lessons, so my knowledge was passable, but after listening to the podcast I have gained greater insight into what Messianic Judaism means in practice. The podcast presents Binyamin Sheldrake, Rabbi of a Messianic synagogue in Norwich, and his own views regarding Yeshua and the links between Jewish beliefs and Christianity. This fascinating interview gave me further understanding of Messianic views of the Trinity and salvation. This will clearly aid me in my lessons on the Jewish view of the Messiah and the Messianic Age.

Each podcast alternates between experts and every day experiences of religion. They are relatable, relevant, and easy to digest without important ideas being watered down. They offer statistics, stories, historical views and religious teachings. You can absorb the information whilst completing other tasks which make them the perfect way to add to your own knowledge without feeling the time restraint of reading heavy articles.

2: Manageable CPD for your department and non-specialists

Many departments contain non-specialists. The podcasts are manageable boosters in subject knowledge that don’t cost money or too much time. It’s easy to pick out topics that are linked to your curriculum, such as ‘The One About Ramadan’ or ‘The One About Easter’. This means the whole department has access to high quality, supportive subject knowledge.

Moreover, the podcasts help to put religion into context rather than the abstract nature of religion often found in textbooks and religious texts themselves. The podcasts have clear links to worldviews thinking, they contextualise religious and secular beliefs, draw on historical, religious and philosophical thinking whilst providing the interviewees personal insights into their faith. This improves accessibility by providing connections that non-specialist colleagues already know about.

3: Extra- and super-curricular activities for students

I have suggested many podcasts to my students for their home learning. This offers a variation on conventional written homework, and they have proven very popular. The podcasts can be used as pre-learning activities, as additional information, extension tasks or as the basis of discussion and P4C stimulus.

Podcasts I recommend for student development are ‘The One About Capital Punishment’, ‘The One Where God Exists’, ‘The One About Abortion and Euthanasia’ and ‘The One Where There Is Life After Death’.

4: Stay up to Date

Many of the podcasts address religious, philosophical and ethical themes from a modern and relevant context, without ignoring the historical roots of theories and religious beliefs. For example, ‘The One About Sikhi’, ‘The One About Halloween’ or ‘The One About Knowledge’. These show a connection between the world today and the subject knowledge I might be covering, allowing a more textured understanding of living religion and belief.

5: Shut out Distractions!

Finally, the podcasts provide background noise to your workouts, accompanies you on car journeys, entertains you whilst doing the housework, or even drowns out the sound of your partner/child/pet!

For more information check out Louisa Jane Smiths website https://www.therepodcast.co.uk/ and listen to The RE Podcast on Spotify or iTunes.

This year we are trialling a new approach to the start of year 7 RE. In my teaching career I have tried several approaches including looking at why we study RE and have never been happy with them. This year I created a new scheme that asks the enquiry question ‘How do we study religion and belief?’

We see students for one hour a week, so time is very tight, and I proposed to my colleague that we trial using a booklet with students. This is a great time saver as students don’t have to write titles each lesson and it’s easy to refer to page numbers which is the same for all of them. I have also found that when exploring a new approach it helps to organise my ideas and share them with my colleague as I’ve had to create and sequence the learning in the booklet.

The booklet pulls together the different ways we can study religion and belief and the things that we look at. One part of this approach involves introducing students to worldviews.

We start by thinking about our own personal worldview. We are clear that this is about how their own views have been developed over time (and will continue to develop) rather than being their specific view on something.

We have used two short clips to support this. The Theos ‘Nobody stands nowhere’ clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFRxKF-Jdos  and this ‘What is your worldview?’ clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXnSE0uvwzM

Interestingly, I have found a very small number of students have struggled to grasp this concept. It is very abstract and requires a conceptual understanding of themselves that some students cannot conceive. A couple of my students have replied ‘I don’t have a worldview’ or ‘My view hasn’t changed’. This kind of self-knowledge is a challenge for a small minority of students and colleagues that teach students with some types of SEN may find this more common.

To help students with this abstract concept I chose to use the metaphor of a magnifying glass; to help students understand that our personal worldview is how we ‘see’ things. I have used some ‘big questions’ to help them to understand how their worldview works and then we work together to unpick where our views may have developed from.

I have bought several magnifying glasses to add to the explanation. This has helped students to understand that we all have different personal worldviews as I hold them up when explaining each individual view. It also helps to illustrate other worldviews. I have also shown how these lenses can ‘cross over’ which illustrates how views can be ‘combined’. An example was when we were discussing ‘how did the world get here?’ Students came up with answers ‘God made it’ and ‘the Big Bang’. I held up a lens for each of these views and then crossed them over. For some students this was a new Christian worldview; that God created the Big Bang.

This has helped them to understand that it may be better for us to discuss the many views within a religion for example we discussed ‘Christianities’ as a better term to show that within Christianity there are many different interpretations.

It is interesting to see how their understanding of worldviews is shown in their explanations. Here are responses from two pupils:

“We can study religion and belief by looking at people’s worldviews and opinions. But before we start we need to understand how people get their personal worldview. You are not born in the world with our own opinions as you cannot understand anything yet. But over time as you grow up you start to develop your own worldview and beliefs as you are surrounded by many different influences like your parents and what they believe or your friends and even video games! If you are a religious person your religion may have a big impact on how you see the world as religions normally have quite a lot of sources of authority….”

Jude, Year 7

“We can study religion and belief by looking at our personal worldview. We have got our own worldviews from many things but these aren’t permanent. These worldviews can change throughout your life, for example, when you are younger your parents would be your main authority and sources of your opinions and beliefs but when you’re older you probably wouldn’t take as much notice of them”

Luke, Year 7