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The Ofsted report, Transforming Religious Education, published on June 6^th 2010, has criticized the quality of RE provision at both primary and secondary levels.

The report, based principally on evidence from visits to 94 primary and 89 secondary schools in England between 2006 and 2009, built on the Ofsted 2007 report Making Sense of Religion (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Education/Curriculum/Religious-education/Secondary/Making-sense-of-religion see also the REonline news summary http://news.reonline.org.uk/re_news.php?181).  It sought to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of RE in English primary and secondary schools and discuss the key issues at the heart of RE teaching today.

KEY FINDINGS

Primary

The quality of RE in primary schools was broadly the same as reported in 2007 and not enough was of good quality – with only 6 out of 10 schools gaining a satisfactory rating.  Although the visited schools took the subject seriously two problems were particularly highlighted.  Most importantly, ‘the pattern of the curriculum delivery of the subject often limited the opportunities for sustained learning in RE’.  This is particularly seen in the reliance on a narrow curriculum model based on RE being delivered in half termly units taught weekly.  This often inhibits sustained learning in the subject and opportunities to link it to other areas of the curriculum.  Secondly, teachers lacked subject knowledge and confidence to plan and teach high quality RE lessons.

Secondary

A significant decline is reported in the quality of RE since the 2007 survey, with only 40 out of 89 schools receiving good/ outstanding ratings and 14 being rated as inadequate.  Factors that were particularly highlighted as detracting from the quality of the provision were the ‘impact on RE of the recent changes to the wider curriculum, particularly at Key Stage 3, and weaknesses in the quality of learning in much of the provision for the short course GCSE in religious studies’.

Another very important issue that was raised is the uncertainty among many teachers of RE ‘about what they are trying to achieve in the subject.’  It is suggested that this results in a ‘lack of well-structured and sequenced teaching and learning, substantial weaknesses in the quality of assessment and a limited use of higher order thinking skills to promote greater challenge’.

General Key Findings

• There were a numbers of specific weaknesses in the teaching about Christianity, with both primary and secondary schools often not paying sufficient attention to the progressive and systematic investigation of the core beliefs of Christianity.
• The teaching of Humanism and other non-religious beliefs was inconsistent and there were some uncertainties about the relationship ‘between fostering respect for pupils’ beliefs and encouraging open, critical, investigative learning in RE’.
• Not enough time and resources were given to support teachers’ professional development in the subject.
• The effectiveness of local arrangements to support RE varied greatly and ‘many local authorities did not ensure that their Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education had sufficient capacity to fulfill their responsibilities effectively.’

Positives

Despite the negative aspects that the report highlights it does emphasize several positive developments in RE.  Examination entries in RS at GCSE and CGE A Level have continued to rise, ‘reinforcing a key success of the subject in recent years’.  Another key success in the past decade has been the improvement in pupils’ attitudes towards the subject.  ‘In most schools visited pupils clearly understood the importance of learning about the diversity of religion and belief in contemporary society.’  Furthermore, although the subjects contributions to promoting pupils’ ‘spiritual development was often limited’, RE made a ‘positive contribution to key aspects of pupils’ personal development’ most notably in their understanding of diversity.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The report makes a number of recommendations for the various organizations and bodies responsible for the delivery and quality of RE.  These are as follows and have been taken directly from the Executive Summary:

The Department for Education should, along with the relevant delivery partners:

• Carry out a review of the current statutory arrangements for the local determination of the RE curriculum, to ensure that these provide the best means of promoting the high quality and consistency of RE in schools
• establish stronger mechanisms for supporting and holding to account the work of local authorities, Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education, and Agreed Syllabus Conferences in relation to RE.
• establish clearer national guidance for Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education and Agreed Syllabus Conferences about the nature and use of key concepts in RE, the definition of progression, and the use of enquiry skills in RE in the design of agreed syllabuses
• provide more guidance on teaching about Christianity and non-religious world views, and effective ways of balancing the need to foster respect for pupils’ religions and beliefs with the promotion of open, critical, investigative learning in RE.

The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (OfQual) should:

• review, and as necessary adjust, the short course GCSE specifications in religious studies to ensure that they are securing a stronger focus on extending students’ ability to understand the place of religion and belief in contemporary society.

Local authorities, in partnership with their Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education and Agreed Syllabus Conferences, should:

• ensure that the work of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education and Agreed Syllabus Conferences has good access to subject expertise to enable them to support schools effectively in promoting high quality RE
• ensure that high quality professional development in RE is available to their schools and encourage them to make the most of these opportunities to improve the quality of RE teaching
• ensure that agreed syllabuses and related advice:

–     offer guidance about the systematic use of enquiry skills in RE to enable schools to plan the subject in a more coherent and rigorous way

–     provide greater clarity about the use of key concepts and the definition of progression in RE

–     include guidance to schools about ways of incorporating RE within more innovative and creative approaches to curriculum planning.

Schools should:

• ensure that RE promotes pupils’ spiritual development more effectively by allowing for more genuine investigation into, and reflection on, the implications of religion and belief for their personal lives
• make proper provision for continuing professional development for subject leaders, specialist teachers and others with responsibility for teaching RE in order to improve its quality
• provide more opportunities to use fieldwork and visitors in RE.

Primary schools should:

• ensure that the delivery of RE incorporates more sustained learning and stronger links with the wider curriculum.

Secondary schools should:

• explore the most effective ways of teaching RE in the context of revisions to the wider curriculum and monitor carefully the impact of any changes on pupils’ achievement
• ensure that there is effective continuity and progression in pupils’ learning especially between Key Stage 3 and GCSE provision.

CONCLUSION

The reactions to the Transforming Religious Education have so far been mixed, with different people and different groups focusing in different parts of the report.  Janina Ainsworth, the Church of England’s chief education officer stated: “These findings suggest an urgent need for the government to invest in religious education both in terms of high-quality resources and attracting and training more specialist teachers.”

Andrew Copson, the chief executive of the British Humanist Association commented: “We know that many non-religious parents and young people are concerned about the quality of RE provided by their school.  Although in some areas RE is good, makes room for the humanist perspective to be included, and contributes to the development and education of non-religious pupils, in others it can exclude their perspectives and undermine their developing values.”

Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector of Ofsted, said: “All young people should have the opportunity to learn about religion, as well as learning from religion.  This requires good teaching based on strong subject knowledge and clarity about the purposes of religious education.  This report highlights two things – first the need for better support and training for teachers and secondly, the need for reconsideration of the local arrangements for the oversight of RE, so schools have a clear framework to use which helps them secure better student achievement in the subject.”

Perhaps Christine Gilbert’s second point is the most significant thing to come out of Transforming Religious Education: the recommendation to ‘review of the current statutory arrangements for the local determination of the RE curriculum, to ensure that these provide the best means of promoting the high quality and consistency of RE in schools’.  This seems to suggest that local determination of the RE curriculum is having a negative impact on the quality of RE in England.  The implications of this are clear: that, at a national level, something more teacher focussed than the Non-Statutory National Framework, primarily designed to advice local syllabus writers, may be needed.

With the new Lib-Con government there is an emphasis on change.  However, removing the local determination of RE would require changes to primary legislation; this is likely to be avoided by a government keen to steer clear of controversy.  But, if a national teacher focused frame for RE is unlikely, a similar end could still be achieved through greater collaboration and communication between SACREs and Agreed Syllabus Conferences.  If significant national collaboration were to take place at the syllabus design stage, greater national consistency could be achieved.

To download the full report, Transforming Religious Education, see: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Transforming-religious-education

Download the 2007 report, Making Sense of Religion, from: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Education/Curriculum/Religious-education/Secondary/Making-sense-of-religion

See the RE Council’s reaction to Transforming Religious Education: http://www.religiouseducationcouncil.org/content/view/172/46/

James Robson (Online and Knowledge Manager, Culham St Gabriel’s)

Following on from Jim Robinson’s article on Lesson Starters, here is an example of a good lesson starter that has been used successfully for both Key Stage 3 and 4 students.

Pick a Card, Any Card can provide an effective Assessment for Learning opportunity and engage the students, appealing to several different learning styles.  The activity itself can be as elaborate or simple as required and be adapted to any scheme of work where opinions and their underlying reasons are being explored.

Preparation

-Produce a number of ‘opinion cards’, some with For and some with Against on them.

-Produce a number of cards with the names of belief traditions on them, e.g. Hinduism (change the number of belief traditions according to the context of the lesson).

-Produce a card with One Minute Wonder written on it.

-Stick the cards up around the classroom face down, keeping the different groups separate so you can easily direct the students as appropriate.

Activity

Briefly introduce the topic(s) you want to discuss (e.g. vegetarianism).  Having selected which student should go first (e.g. by asking a general knowledge question and choosing the person who puts their hand up first), ask them to take down one of the cards.  You can either let them choose freely or direct them.

The player reads out what is written on the card then provides a reason to support that view (For or Against) that a believer might hold about the topic.  For example, if the topic is vegetarianism, on picking an Against  card a student might propose the argument that one should eat animals since meat is part of a balanced diet and therefore necessary to stay healthy.

In the same game, if a belief tradition card is selected, the student would need to discuss the topic in that context.  For example, if the Hindu card is picked, the player might comment that Hindu beliefs on eating animals are affected by their belief in reincarnation.  If the One Minute Wonder card is chosen, the student must talk about the topic for one minute.

Further Developments

The length of this activity is flexible, but it is worth bearing in mind students’ desire to complete all the cards.  Therefore don’t produce more cards than are necessary.

There is plenty of room to embellish the exercise.  For example, the concept of Consult a Classmate (reminiscent of ‘Phone a Friend’) could be introduced to enable fuller class participation.

Benefits and Intended Learning Outcomes

• The activity could be used in work on almost any subject/ theme.
• It breaks away from more traditional ‘find out and write about’ activities.
• It can be used to engender full class participation and bonding.
• It can be used to review work / or show evidence of research of a topic /study of theme.
• Detail of work expected and set out on the cards could be used to assess students’ work at different levels.

Conclusion

The usefulness of strong, relevant lesson starters should not be underestimated but it is important to select one that is most appropriate for the topic, the class, the students etc.  Pick a Card, Any Card has the potential to cause noise and movement so might not be best suited to particularly rowdy classes.  However, the activity is extremely flexible in terms of, length and embellishment as well as the topics it can be used for.  It is a good Assessment for Learning activity, appealing to different learning styles and an element of competition can be especially engaging for the boys in the class.

Lucy Butler

Think of the opening sequence of a film. Let’ say ‘Gladiator’ for example, or Star Wars. Do you remember it? How about the opening chords of ‘Blue Danube’ by Johann Strauss? Does it evoke a feeling, a mood? Is it memorable? Composers, writers and even master chefs know the importance of starters to captivate, preface or foreword what will hopefully be a moment and experience to remember and savour. Starters, openers, call them what you will, they tell you within the first few seconds, minutes at the most, what you are likely to be getting next, whether you will like it or not.  They can get you in the mood, intrigue you, and make you want more.

Working on this principle and pre-empting the question of whether we can have a fun lesson in RE today, starters may be the essential yet often missing ingredient of any RE lesson plan. Some RE teachers are already adept at it or do it instinctively and their lessons are fun, captivating and memorable. Most of us are often too busy to give this part of the lesson any thought. Yet good lesson starters may hold the key to making RE lessons enjoyable, something students look forward to and talk about afterwards. This can all be achieved within the first few minutes of a lesson.

If we work on the principle that the three peaks of concentration in any lesson occur at the beginning, middle and end, then the beginning is where we might be wise to invest more energy and thought rather than the more traditional plenary at the end when we aim to consolidate learning. Given that most school days for any student are a mix of lessons, each with different demands, styles of learning and materials, then perhaps it is worth pausing for a moment to consider what a student might expect when coming into an RE lesson. How will it be different to the other lessons yet the same in terms of expectations and the overall learning experience?

Psychologically, students need a moment to re-adjust from let’s say Maths to RE, to understand the lay of the land by visual clues such as the layout of the tables, the displays on the wall, the way the teacher greets you as you enter, the initial activity which may be familiar and routine or may be unexpected and designed to jolt you into a certain way of thinking. Looked at in this way, lesson starters could be seen as warm up activities designed to realign the focus of students to an RE way of thinking in much the same way as you might limber up before a strenuous PE lesson or a demanding drama exercise.

The secret then is to find intriguing new ways to enliven the beginning of your lesson so that your students are with you from the start, wanting to learn, to join in and settle to the main focus of the class. But we have to be pragmatic about this. Do you really want a starter that is designed to encourage noise, movement and activity with a class that is already quite a handful, or do you want one to be completely the opposite and geared more to settling them? Would one kind of starter be more suitable to a particular sort of lesson over another, a morning lesson rather than an afternoon one, for example? Could lesson starters be interwoven with the usual things any teacher has to do when a class comes into the room such as taking the register, going over learning objectives, getting all the resources distributed so that all the students go with the familiar and recognised routine? Could you combine taking the register with asking the students individually to recap from a previous lesson or get them to solve a puzzle or mystery?

The balance is important as is being realistic about what you can achieve within those first few moments of any lesson. What is clear is that these few moments offer a unique opportunity to captivate and intrigue and to set the mood for the rest of the lesson: the battle for hearts and minds is often either lost or won in them.  When the stakes are this high, lesson starters in RE are vital in every sense of the word.

Jim Robinson

‘Every school – whatever its intake and wherever it is located – is responsible for educating children and young people who will live and work in a country which is diverse in terms of cultures, religions or beliefs, ethnicities and social backgrounds.’ (DCSF Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion July 2007 DCSF-00598-2007)

‘By community cohesion, we mean working towards a society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; a society in which similar life opportunities are available to all; and a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community.’

(DCSF Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion July 2007 DCSF-00598-2007)

The requirement on schools from September 2007 to promote community cohesion makes this aspiration particularly significant. From September 2008 Ofsted has included community cohesion as an important focus of Section 5 school inspections.

Religious Education (RE) provides a key context for children and young people to develop their understanding and appreciation of diversity through the study of religious and non-religious beliefs. It helps to promote shared values, respect for all, and to challenge racism and discrimination. In many schools this is achieved by providing a high quality classroom experience of RE enriched by opportunities to visit and meet with representatives from communities of religions and non-religious beliefs in the local area.

Good RE will promote community cohesion at each of the four levels outlined in DCSF guidance:

-the school community – RE provides a positive context within which the diversity of cultures, beliefs and values within the school community can be celebrated and explored;

-the community within which the school is located – RE provides opportunities to investigate the patterns of diversity of religions and non-religious beliefs within the local area. It is an important context within which links can be forged with different religious and non-religious communities in the local community;

-the UK community – a major focus of RE is the study of the diversity of religions and non-religious beliefs which exists within the UK and how this diversity influences national life;

-the global community – RE involves the study of matters of global significance recognising the diversity of religions and non-religious beliefs and its impact on world issues.

Where RE provides an effective context to promote community cohesion it has a focus on ‘securing high standards of attainment for all pupils from all ethnic backgrounds, and of different socio-economic statuses, abilities and interests, ensuring that pupils are treated with respect and supported to achieve their full potential’. (DCFS Guidance on the duty to promote community cohesion July 2007 DCSF-00598-2007). In order to achieve high standards, pupils’ progress in the subject should be monitored carefully and any under-achievement by particular groups tackled.

The role of RE in promoting community cohesion has been a major focus of Ofsted’s subject survey inspections during 2007/08.

Survey evidence suggested that RE is making a good or outstanding contribution towards community cohesion and this is now one of the distinctive strengths of the subject. In most schools, pupils were clear RE was one of the main contexts in which to develop their understanding of diversity and the importance of respect towards others – key threads of community cohesion. In some cases, pupils spoke powerfully about the way RE teachers were models of anti-racist attitudes in the school.

In most schools in the survey RE was making a significant impact on pupils’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, religious and cultural diversity. Pupils recognised two aspects of RE as important. First, RE provides much of the knowledge and understanding essential to an appreciation of diversity and the impact of faith in people’s lives. Second, RE was a ‘rare’ opportunity to express opinions and explore ideas and matters relevant to community cohesion.

In the best cases, schools had given careful thought to the way the subject can contribute to the promotion of community cohesion and had audited its impact alongside that of other subjects. Occasionally this work linked to wider involvement with interfaith networks or local authority and SACRE initiatives, although this was rare.

In some of these, RE additionally provided an important context for building bridges into the local community as part of the school’s wider commitment to engagement and extended services.

Examples of good practice seen in schools include:

• providing opportunities to explore controversial issues related to religion and belief in the modern world – including misrepresentations of religion in the media
• providing opportunities for representatives of ‘hard to reach’ religious communities to work with the school and develop confidence that their traditions were respected
• providing opportunities for pupils with strong religious and belief commitments to share their experience in a safe context and see that their faith is valued and respected
• providing enrichment activities, including fieldwork and visitors, designed as opportunities for first hand engagement with diversity of religion and belief in the local area.

Successful approaches linking RE to community cohesion.

• ‘Off-timetable’ theme days or assemblies related to, for example, Holocaust Memorial Day, often working in partnership with other subjects, most notably, citizenship. In one school the headteacher had used RE as a context for analysing patterns of religious/cultural diversity in the area, forging links with local mosques and between mosques and local churches, using these links to develop extended school and family learning opportunities.
• A school with a white mono-cultural intake had twinned with a school with a high percentage of pupils from the Muslim tradition to extend the curriculum enrichment opportunities for RE.
• Using focussed RE theme days to extend opportunities for pupils to explore cultural diversity in more depth, using visitors.
• A school in another white mono-cultural area which had investigated the range of parents with ‘global’ experience and invited them to contribute to RE and beyond. Another had built links through a local interfaith network project.

In order to evaluate the way RE is contributing to this important aspect of school life, schools might consider the following questions.

• Do pupils value the subject and do they recognise the contribution it makes to their understanding of different communities and ways of life?
• Do pupils have real opportunities to explore and gain first-hand experience of diversity of religion, belief and culture?
• Does RE provide a context to build relationships with the communities in the local area and particularly those groups who might be hard to reach?
• Does RE provide a voice for minority groups within the school, developing a culture of mutual respect and harmony?
• Does the school treat religions and non-religious beliefs seriously and model ways of building respect?
• Does the school know enough about the diversity of religions and non-religious beliefs within the local community and does it explore ways of making links with those communities?
• If the school is mono-cultural, how well is RE working to foster a broader awareness of cultural and religious diversity?
• Is the school providing enough opportunities for fieldwork and enrichment activities to extend the potential of RE to promote community cohesion?

Alan Brine (2008)

I recently visited a Church of England Business and Enterprise College – I still find it a little odd to see those two terms linked together. One doesn’t automatically associate the Church of England with business and enterprise! But in the college newsletter appeared this injunction:

Remember:

• Believe in yourself.
• If you believe you can, then you can!

I wondered whether this was spiritual advice or business advice or both and I found myself thinking that there is mileage for RE in any school examining with its students the motto or slogan by which the school presents itself to the world. When I was a boy in 1588 my school motto was Each for All, All for Each. It appeared on the blazer – an item of school clothing currently enjoying a revival. In those distant days, I wondered whether All for Each meant that fellow pupils would rush to my aid if I was being attacked by a gang from a rival school (I was and they didn’t). There is lots of scope for AT2 RE in school mottos. What does the motto mean? Do students find it acceptable? Does it affect them at all? If they had to devise a new motto, what would it be? If they had to invent a ceremony to go with the motto, like UK citizenship welcome ceremonies, what would it be? If they had to create a new badge to match the motto, what would it look like? But these mottos have one thing in common and that is that they are usually memorable.

Rote learning, except for maths tables and modern languages, has disappeared from many schools. But there’s nothing wrong with learning a sentence or two that have probably been preserved within a religious tradition precisely because they were highly memorable in the first place. We should really emphasize the memorable in RE more. For instance when we teach about Jesus, why don’t we teach and also unpack some of the memorable sayings:

• The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath (Mark 2.27)
• Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3.35)
• Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye and don’t notice the log in your own? (Matthew 7.3)
• Nothing that goes into a person can defile them… It is what comes out of a person that defiles.(Mark 7.18)
• It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. (Mark 10.25)

There are scores of similar remarks – and if you’re getting bored and your classes are getting bored with teaching the life of Jesus in the same old way, why not structure an entire unit of work around some of these phrases, so that knowing and understanding a single one becomes the Learning Objective for each lesson. There is AT1 mileage in understanding the context and culture background of the saying and AT2 mileage in reflecting on and representing or illustrating its meaning in different ways. Think of the saying in the Gospel of Thomas: “Become yourselves, passing away”. What might that mean? It almost certainly means a more challenging approach to teaching about Jesus than some of the current alternatives.

A saying-oriented approach is by no means restricted to Christianity. The Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus supply ample Jewish one-liners, sometimes about God and humankind, sometimes simply advice for living. Similarly, one focused way into work on Islam is by use of the Hadith, reports about the statements or actions of Prophet Muhammad e.g.

• One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshippers.
• Power consists not in being able to strike another person, but in being able to control oneself when anger arises.
• The person who remembers their Lord and the one who does not are like the living and dead.

Or words attributed to the Buddha:

• The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
• To keep the body in good health is a good task. Otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

What about sayings for RE teachers and students? You could fill a display board with competition entries. But for starters, how about:

• Humankind shall not live by the National Framework alone, but by every word that the agreed syllabus utters.
• Don’t be a devil – raise your QCA level!

Terence Copley 2008

There’s always been a tendency for some teachers to feel apologetic about RE and to try to conceal from children that it’s religion they are getting so interested in. One occasionally hears cases of puzzled Year 12 students going into the AS exam to find that the paper is called – Religious Studies! – not, as they thought, Philosophy and Ethics or some similar title. Some secondary schools have even re-named the RE department to keep religion out of the shop window, which seems strange given that religion is a potent force in the lives of women, men and children across the planet. Not that being a potent force makes religion necessarily true, or good, which is why we don’t need to worry about the R word appearing in the title. There’s such a lot to debate. Not only that, but a seasoned campaigner like me has noticed a change in attitudes at classroom level. 20 years ago, children tended to keep their religious identity secret in class. It was distinctly uncool to be seen as religious. In those days RE teachers sometimes had to protect religious children from ridicule. Now in classrooms I regularly hear children informally asking others what they believe and listening with respect to what they are told. Religious beliefs are no longer haraam in the classroom!

But the issue goes a lot deeper than the title of the subject and the extent to which students reveal or conceal their personal religious identity – if any. I have written on a number occasions about a tendency in some RE to secularise religious material. Thus, for instance, Joseph is treated like the liberal secular hero of the Amazing Technicolor (©) Dreamcoat rather than the Joseph of the Hebrew Bible or Yusuf of Sura Yusuf in the Qur’an. Any dream will not do in these sacred texts, as dreams are seen as one way in which God communicates. The Biblos Project at Exeter University found plenty of other evidence of secularisation, for example of David and Goliath being reduced to a secular narrative about bullying, or made subordinate to that Great British myth, the little guy standing up to the big guy.

Little has been written about another prime example of this tendency to secularise religious material, the treatment of Martin Luther King Jr. in some RE. MLK is a very popular subject in KS3. There is, of course, a real element of martyrdom in the story and there is the tendency to present him as a secular hero figure, battling for human rights. In some RE lessons, that’s as far as the story goes. MLK is depicted as a landmark hero in the history of human rights. But why? Iwan Russell-Jones, a BBC director who has interested himself in RE (he directed the Secular Believers series for KS4 and 5 RE by BBC Wales in 2006) recently produced a documentary, MLK: American Prophet, shown on BBC2 in April this year. The presenter is Oona King, whose uncle happened to be MLK’s lawyer. The Radio Times (29.3.08) makes the point, as if for RE: ‘by making King into a secular saint, we have airbrushed his faith out of the picture. Oona is “a devout atheist” but she argues that, for King, being a Baptist pastor (from a line of them) was central to his sense of mission. He saw himself as a prophet called by God to redeem the soul of America.’ The time has come to rehabilitate King along these lines in RE.

MLK is, of course, one example among many. We really need to rehabilitate some RE rather than bits of it, so that the issue of motivation – of our religious subjects, not of the classes! – is explored in more detail and more depth. What people did must be matched with equal consideration of why they did it. And if we find motives are complex, not always selfless, sometimes confused, and for some people perceived as God-driven, we are simply inducting our students into people as they are and the world as it is. This treatment has another off-spin and that is for those who go on to post-16 modules in Black theology. They will have a better grasp of MLK to compare with what they will then be learning about James Cone, Dwight Hopkins etc..

We have every right to be atheists or agnostics if we choose, as do the children we teach, but we have no right to edit God out of the lives of religious people in the way in which we present them in the classroom. Once upon a real time I wrote a biography of Thomas Arnold, the head of Rugby School. At one point in writing it I became aware that I probably knew more about Arnold than anyone else – which gave me dangerous power in the book to make him whom I chose. Historians have this awesome power, as they are the custodians of the dead, who cannot contradict how they have been presented. But RE teachers also have this power over the people whom they are presenting in RE, MLK among them. We have to be fair to them and to the faith traditions to which they were so committed, in the way in which we represent them in the classroom. Put in the formal language of agreed syllabuses, we have to help students to consider how religious and other beliefs lead to particular actions and concerns (Oxford Agreed Syllabus, 2007, p12). The 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus urges RE to ‘give close attention to what religious traditions treasure as inspiring, good, beautiful, true and sacred’ (p5). MLK’s life would be a case study for that.

Terence Copley

The late, great Terence Copley wrote this article for RE:ONLINE in 2008.  Although the situation regarding RE teacher training is very different now to five years ago, this piece still contains some very relevant and useful advice.

It’s now common for many experienced RE teachers – sometimes not very experienced! – to be given the task of mentoring a PGCE student or perhaps a GTP appointment. I saw one infamous case of under-experience where a GTP trainee had been asked to mentor a PGCE student. The PGCE student was not happy, with good reason. But although that case is exceptional, and institutions and consortia that act as providers of training make mentor training compulsory, it’s often a one day or a half day process that is necessarily taken up with how to operate the detail of what that particular course requires. I’m often asked for overview tips, not on how to do the paperwork attaching to course X, but how to be a good subject mentor in RE. Here they are!

1. Remember your own L plates!

Some teachers move so quickly from their original training to impressive performance that they forget what it’s like to take first steps. It’s also the case that some students take longer than others to see how to make connections between their own religious knowledge and insights and how to translate them into the world of children – but when they do get there, they are every bit as competent as those who got there more quickly. If one gave a first lesson taught by any trainee all the criticism that could be applied, they’d probably pack teaching in. Criticism has to relate to how far down the line a student teacher has travelled. It’s not just about meeting so-called objective criteria in the form of the Skills and Standards (which change from time to time). What is a good lesson in week 2 could be a very bad one in week 12. So while there has to be a pass line and external standards matter, the week by week individual progress review is equally important – and a student who plateaus out needs to be challenged to move forward, however far they have progressed through the Standards.

2. Give the student teacher time

Getting dedicated time from a mentor for at least an hour a week, or failing that for two half hour sessions, is a ‘must’. Otherwise the student teacher gets the impression that the mentor ‘can’t be bothered’ with them, teaches less effectively, loses morale, produces even worse lessons and eventually lands in serious trouble. All because the mentor didn’t provide quality one to one time.

3. Walk the tightrope between over-protectiveness and throwing them to the lions

Sometimes mentors over-protect – either the student teacher or their own classes. Nobody wants relationships and RE subject image and morale they’ve carefully built up with classes or difficult individual children, perhaps over some years, wrecked by a student teacher in one term. But we have to cut our teeth. Careful monitoring and co-teaching in the early stages means that gradually the student teacher can be allowed to develop more independence and you’ll both feel happier. But in any co-teaching, make clear who is the police person (or is it student teacher and mentor jointly?). In other words, who sorts out the off-task or misbehaving child? Student teachers often assume the mentor will do this in a team-teaching situation, but some mentors feel that student teachers should be pulling their weight equally. Tell your student teacher how you want to ‘play’ class management in that situation. At the same time, help the student teacher to see how to use and not abuse the TA.

4. Their lesson plan or your lesson plan?

It’s important for student teachers to learn to plan and although it’s helpful in the early stages if they are given a scheme of work and individual lesson plans, they must learn to plan their own lessons, so that they can make a big input into their NQT departments at the end of training and operate independently. I once had a case where a mentor was simmering because after six weeks the student had not produced a single original resource. The student’s reason or excuse was that the department was so well resourced that she was not aware that she was expected to invent her own individual lesson plans. (Actually it was only well-resourced for Death by Worksheet). This was clearly an issue of communication. Mentors should not assume that professionalism is inborn. It is acquired and it helps if expectations are explicit rather than implicit. A lot of expectations are made of student teachers in today’s schools, but mind-reading should not be one of them.

5. Giving a student teacher the class of a non-specialist

Some non-specialist teachers in RE are superb. Others are conscripts, sometimes weak on subject knowledge and not particularly committed to their RE lesson or lessons. Attempts to re-brand such teachers as TWOs (Teachers With Other Specialisms) are unconvincing. They may feel very vulnerable if given a specialist trainee to work with – and in my experience – out of this vulnerability can sometimes come hyper-critical lesson commentary and bad pedagogy. Clearly the RE mentor will want to give student teachers the classes of some non-specialists, but it is important that the mentor oversees the quality of support and feedback that the student teacher is receiving. What if a student teacher with a first rate knowledge of, say Buddhism, is attached to a class in which misinformation about Buddhism is being provided by the ‘real’ teacher? The mentor has to anticipate this situation – and why not use the student’s expertise to the good of the department? This could be exactly where to place their major lesson / resource planning exercises to help the department.

6 ‘We like having students to keep us on our toes and make us aware of new developments’

Lots of teachers say this, but not everyone plans the student’s contribution so that it actually happens. The truth is that a student teacher is both a drain and a resource. A drain because they take up precious staff time – a weak student can take up a very great deal of it. A resource because an average or good student can, over a term or more, make an input into the department (creation of resources, small group support work in some classes from Y7 to Y13, subject knowledge expertise on a particular religion possibly not existing in the department etc). The best mentors are those who want to train teachers and don’t merely see it as a grim duty.

Terence Copley

It hardly requires saying that religious education (RE) in Europe is extremely diverse, so this brief account will inevitably be rather generalised. The diversity is a result of many differences in the histories, languages, constitutions, traditions and cultures of the various countries of Europe. All of these aspects affect the development, nature and provision of RE. The complexity of this diversity makes it difficult to get a comprehensive view of all that has happened, or is happening, regarding RE across Europe.

First, terminology is important. For most educationalists in the UK, RE has come to mean a professional and educational process of learning about and from religion. In community schools, RE is not ‘confessional’ (though there are many meanings to that term) in the sense of nurturing children into confessing a faith for themselves. This is usually regarded as the role of the family and faith community, including in some cases, faith schools. In most schools then, RE is regarded as open, plural and inclusive, sometimes even being called religious studies.

However, for very many people in Europe, RE has a confessional intent, not just because it may be controlled by churches or other faith groups, but because RE means education ‘into religion’ or a religious education. In many European countries, RE may therefore be quite different from the rest of the school curriculum. It may be controlled and taught by people who are not teachers, or provided outside the normal curriculum and teacher training arrangements. Attitudes to RE of this kind are often shaped by more general attitudes to churches or other faith communities, or to power issues connected with them: for example, whether churches are state churches. Europe’s largely Christian heritage and its continuing influence are deeply influential on the thinking and practice of many European peoples. The social structure of many European societies is often rather different from the UK, with higher levels of religious observance or influence.

There is evidence, however, of some change taking place as a plurality of religions and their contribution to Europe’s continuing development becomes more widely recognised. RE is tending to take on a more multi-faith and educational character. Some scholars link this with a continuation of secularisation, increased migration and globalisation. Often European countries look to the UK for a model in developing this kind of RE, on the grounds that the UK has been deeply influenced by such factors for a longer period.

Broad Patterns in Europe

Within the diverse provision and nature of RE in Europe, some broad patterns can be distinguished. The Scandinavian countries have, by and large, separated their RE from Lutheran dominance and provide a curriculum similar to that of the UK, although there are variations both in curriculum and arrangements. Indeed, some aspects of Norway’s RE curriculum are currently the subject of dispute at the European Court of Human Rights.

German, Swiss and Austrian RE depends largely on their individual states (i.e. counties or provinces that make up the national federation), and are a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and/or ethical courses. Germany, for example, has a constitution where RE in schools is taught according to agreements made with Protestant or Roman Catholic authorities; it is now trying to work, with some difficulty, similar arrangements with Islamic authorities.

In practice, much of the curriculum, methodology and resources may be of a multi-faith character. In Southern Europe (e.g. Greece, Italy, and Spain) RE very much represents the dominant Christian culture of those countries, with little teaching of ‘other faiths’, though often with withdrawal arrangements for ethics courses instead of religious ones. In Spain, for example, there has been a quite radical change in the prominence of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in religious education in recent years.

Most educationalists in the UK are familiar with the French prohibition on RE in the curriculum of state schools, as part of the separation of church and state dating from the early 20th century (except in Alsace-Lorraine). France is often regarded as the paradigm of a ‘secular’ education system. However, teaching about religion is making some kind of comeback in France following the Regis Debray report of 2002 which recommended an increase of knowledge of religions to help raise standards in literature, philosophy, history, etc. as well as dealing with social issues. At the present moment, though, France seems unlikely to introduce the teaching of RE as a subject into its national curriculum. The view that RE is essentially ‘confessional’ is deeply held, but the teaching of “religion as fact” (similar to learning about religion in the UK) is gaining greater momentum, with the publication of new materials and the establishment of teacher training arrangements. What is not clear is how teachers of ‘religion as fact’ react when pupils begin to ask questions about the significance of this fact, and apply their learning to their own thinking, their own living, and their own society (as learning from religion in the UK does). Events over the past year or two in Paris and other French cities would seem to indicate that the French education system has a long way to go yet in dealing with the ‘facts’ of religious diversity and influence in society. Similarly, the banning of the wearing of religious symbols in French schools reveals some tensions in the French approach to religion and schools, including RE.

Who Controls Schools

Another part of the complexity and diversity of RE in Europe is found in the question “Who controls schools?” For many countries in Eastern Europe there have been vast changes in the ownership and control of education in the past twenty years: the collapse of former communist regimes, the re-establishment of church schools, new curricula etc. Some of the countries of the Balkans have a particular experience of this as the collapse of the former Yugoslavia was accompanied by terrible violence and war. In some of these countries, the links between religion and culture, national identity, pride and history, means that the control of the RE curriculum in schools is a matter of high political importance and contention, accompanied by tension and suspicion. Again, educational issues are linked to more general issues of how religions and denominations get on with each other in society and community. It is no accident, then, that some of these countries have made use of UK RE specialists in trying to take their RE curricula forwards.

Key RE Organisations in Europe

It is not surprising that the diverse historical and other arrangements concerning RE in schools across Europe is broadly reflected in the different organisations that contribute to or support developments of RE across Europe. Among these is the European Forum for Teachers of RE (EFTRE) recently (and significantly) chaired by a prominent RE specialist from the UK (Jeremy Taylor, Chair until 2004). EFTRE represents several organisations of teachers who mainly subscribe to the kind of approach to RE found in the UK, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, especially Germany. Another ‘familiar’ kind of European organisation is the European Association for World Religions in Education, often called a ‘European Shap’ in that it tries to be for Europe what Shap is in the UK, an influential group of highly qualified and well-respected experts in religion and RE dedicated to the study of world religions. Other organisations represent different approaches, including what might be termed faith based education or confessional approaches. Among these are the European Conference on Christian Education (ECCE), The Intereuropean Commission on Church and School (ICCS), and The International Association for Christian Education (IV).

Common Ground

Today there is a growing commonality in Europe in many ways. The Council of Europe and the European Union have brought different countries of Europe closer together politically, socially and legally. Many different European countries are experiencing social, population and economic changes that affect them all equally – consumerism, environmental degradation, immigration and racism, to name but a few. Common problems may need common solutions, and the need for greater social cohesion and better community relations is one. It is therefore possible to view European RE not just as diverse resulting from its history, but very similar in its need to relate to current social questions. How can education in general and RE in particular, help Europe face and deal with the religious dimensions of cultural difference, community relations and social cohesion? What RE should be taught to the wide variety of children co-existing in schools all over Europe? Who controls, teaches and resources it are no longer historical questions but are contemporary imperatives. The events of 9/11 brought this home to the Council of Europe (CoE), which since 2002 has been engaged on a project dealing with the religious dimension of intercultural education. The project resulted in the publication of Religious diversity and intercultural education: A Reference Book for Schools¹ in 2007. Beyond the political and social level, the increased power of the media and rise in globalisation mean that the young people of Europe are more interested in the diverse range of religious beliefs and practices (including secular ones) than before. TV, travel, the internet, global events and developments – all these require the curriculum to equip young people with the knowledge, understanding and skills to understand religion and religions and their current roles both in European society and beyond. There is a growing awareness of the educational and curricular imperative to develop the role of RE in Europe.

In the same way as the diversity of European RE is reflected by its organisations, so the common issues for all RE in Europe means that these different organisations are now also looking towards each other for common approaches to the development of RE in the future Europe. Most notably, the establishment in 1998 of the Co-ordinating Group for RE in Europe (CoGREE)² has started to bring together the range of organisations referred to above. These are beginning to cross the boundaries: confessional/non-confessional, the Catholic/Protestant, the north/south/east European. CoGREE organised a remarkable conference in Berlin in October 2005 that gave evidence of this. Significant inputs were made on the kind of RE Europe needs by speakers who reflected work in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and especially the UK. A real desire and need to expand the work of COGREE was identified, with talk of developing European standards for RE. If they could be brought into existence, such standards could inform RE practice across Europe in a way not seen in centuries. Significant and difficult questions remain as to how this might be done, of course. What is clear is that RE in much of the UK is in a good position to help other parts of Europe here. UK approaches that involve both national and local responsibility for RE, the links between RE and community cohesion being developed by SACREs, the nature of RE as set out in the non-statutory National Framework for Religious Education, the professionalism of subject organisations and RE resource providers- all these are examples of how RE of the kind needed across Europe is being articulated and provided in the UK.

John Keast (Chair of the REC)

Most of us involved in RE believe this. But is it true, and if so, how? The short answer is that RE matters because religion/belief matters.

You may ask ‘What’s this religion/belief?’ Fundamental to this article is the view that there is no such thing as a person without beliefs. People have beliefs like they have thoughts – it goes with being a person. You cannot get by without them. Non-religious people have beliefs, some conscious and some less so. Believing in no god is a belief. More specifically this term is now widely used under human rights legislation to include those who have convictions and philosophical views that are not usually regarded as religious, such as humanism.

OK, why does religion/belief matter so much? Apart from the fact that anything so fundamental to being human as religion/belief is bound to be important, there is the obvious reason being shown us on TV every day at the moment: religion/belief matters because it is a persistent, widespread and potent form of power in contemporary life.

Some of the ways in which this power is exercised are:

• Religion/belief shapes or sets understanding – of oneself, of others, of the world, of life in general. It helps to make sense of things.
• Religion/belief guides or manipulates our values, i.e. the importance we put on particular aspects of life and which determine much of what we think, say and do
• Religion/belief influences or specifies attitudes – to people, places and events
• Religion/belief directs or requires action for it shows itself in our behaviour.

This is not an exhaustive list of ways, but they apply to all forms of religion and belief, including secularism, scientism, humanism, for they too are part of the landscape of ideas in which we live. And as everybody has religion/belief in one form or another, this form of power is very important in our times.

Note the double-edged nature of this power. Religion/belief can be used for good or ill, for opening or closing minds, for liberating or enthralling human potential and spirit, for deeper or shallower understanding, etc.. Religion/belief involves a battle of ideas, concepts, values and positions, and as a result has differing impacts, applications and effects on human life.

It is worth pointing out two things. First, religion/beliefs do not have to be regarded as competing forms of power all the time. They have much, perhaps more in common as well as in difference. They may all wish to promote their own brands, but as often as not, they may also work together where there is a common approach to important issues, such as community cohesion. Second, the diversity encompassed in religion/belief is itself of different kinds; there is obvious diversity between one religion/belief and another, e.g. Christianity and Buddhism but a more important diversity might be the type of religion/belief held, e.g. liberal or conservative, progressive or traditional, open or closed. This sort of diversity unites all religion/belief because it is found in them all.

There are several things that exercise power and influence on how we live. Many of them are part of the school curriculum. For example:

• The power of number underpins our sense of order, logic and structure, studied in Mathematics
• The colossal classification of knowledge and its applications which is characteristic of Science
• The power of words, studied in language and literature
• The importance of a sense of time and change, studied in History
• The importance of a sense of space and place studied in Geography
• The power of creativity, symbolic representation and imagination found in the Arts.
• Education is all about knowledge and understanding – of self, others, the world, life – about how to acquire such knowledge and understanding, and how to use them to act.

In other words education is about theory, skills and practice, i.e. about ideas and their power.

What is missing from the list above is the form of power (and its corresponding subject) that unites all the others, that puts them all into a full context of ultimate meaning and purpose – religion/belief and RE. This form of power uses all the others; religion/belief brings into service symbolism, imagination, time, place, order, knowledge, language etc. in explaining and expressing itself. In one fundamental sense, then, religion/belief is central to all education, for they are both about values, assumptions, ethos, concepts, attitudes, behaviour.

Education is thus an arena, in which the various forms of power of religion/belief are to be found, both as fundamental aspects of life to be discovered, understood and controlled (to be educated about), and as influences which actually shape the educative process itself, i.e. to be experienced and worked out (to be learned from). These forms of power may present different images, have different agendas, and pull in different directions. They may not all be powers for good in every way. Education becomes an arena where their similarities and differences are explored, tested, debated, and exploited. Education is, in this sense, an ideological conflict zone.

This goes for the classroom too. Here, you will be only too well aware of the ‘battle of wits’ that goes on every day. This battle may take different forms:

• between understanding and ignorance (the vocation of the teacher),
• between rules and behaviour (the ideal and real life in school),
• between theory and practice (assessment and marking),
• between wills (yours and theirs),
• between intention and action (homework set but not done),
• between ideas in debate (pro and anti views).

It is in engaging in such battles of wits that learning takes place. Without them, there would not be that progress in knowledge, understanding, skills and practice that comprises education. If this engagement did not encompass the forms of power found in religion/belief then it would be shallow, lacking direction, relevance, meaning and purpose. In other words, if the curriculum did not include RE then it would not be meeting the need for and entitlement of pupils to engage in the serious battle of ideas in life. If they do not do that at school, they will be ill-equipped to do it later and prey to those who do it for them for their own purposes through leaflets, preaching, TV image or worse.

John Keast (Chair of the RE Council)

If we are to believe the Oxford English Dictionary, museums are buildings where items of historical and scientific interest are ‘stored and exhibited’. What you can be sure of is that more or less every city in the country has one and that they are brilliant places to find RE resources and ideas.

Most of us have a favourite museum amongst these ‘national treasures’ and most are still free, even if they do request donations from visitors. Several have had a revamp of some kind or another recently and, like the British Museum, are becoming more family friendly, laying on free workshops and events such as the Mexican Day of the Dead in 2009, which was so popular you could barely squeeze past to see the dancing, hear the music or taste the specially prepared food. Nowadays there are sleepovers for kids and high quality lectures for the grown ups. And if you want to take things a step further and have free access to exhibitions and special discounts, you can join as a Friend of the museum and feel good about doing your bit to preserve collections for the future. This way you also get to hear of events way before they happen through monthly ‘What’s on?’ guides. But beware, sometimes the cost of Friend membership can be high and you have to think about how much you are likely to use the museum over the course of a year.

So how can you use a museum as an RE teacher? Well, you might be surprised at what is on offer and what you can find out if you know where to look and, crucially, who to ask. First off, most museums have an education department as well as different kinds of learning resources, many of which are increasingly online and digital or else available as printed documents. But working with education departments in museums needs some prior preparation. Bear in mind that not all are geared to both secondary and primary level. Often it is a case of being very specific about the needs of RE, especially if you are thinking of arranging a visit to see a specific gallery or an exhibition. Museums will get in touch about special exhibitions, such as the ‘Hajj: journey to the centre of Islam’ exhibition at the British Museum in 2012, which attracted over 140,000 visitors. If you cannot get to exhibitions such as this, there is often an online presence that trails away afterwards and artefacts or videos are available in museum shops linked to the exhibition, which can provide useful resources. If you do decide to use the services of an education department you need to be specific about what you want from them and be prepared, if they ask, to give a small donation. Often their services are free but it is important to check first. Museums, like many other institutions, rely on donations and do not get a lot, if any, government funding. A small donation will help them as well as you when you come to arrange another visit.

The clue about the kind of resources you might be able to use in a museum lies in its definition as a building where items of interest are both ‘stored’ and ‘exhibited’. Most people are unaware that the proportion of items ‘stored’ far exceeds what is ‘displayed’ by at least four to one. Tucked away behind the scenes in storage facilities is a vast array of items that you can have access to with prior permission, but most of the time they are in too delicate a condition to be seen or accessed by the public. Some await restoration or conservation and others are waiting to be catalogued. Sturdier items can become part of an object handling exercise under the careful supervision of a member of the museum staff even if they are thousands of years old. However, do not expect museum curators to advise you though as they are usually far too busy and have academic responsibilities directed at high-level research. Many take sabbaticals which means they are away from a telephone or out of email contact anyway. Instead look to museum staff, as they will always be there to help. After all, museum collections are for the benefit of the public and they play a key role in education. We have a right to these collections, provided we ask nicely of course and are reasonable in what we expect in terms of access. And if you want to photograph anything on an individual basis, expect to sign a disclaimer saying that the photograph will not be used for commercial purposes. Most items come under copyright and in some galleries photography is strictly forbidden. Damage to items from flash photography and bright light is a very real concern. Taking any kind of electronic equipment on a visit needs to be cleared first in fact.

Not all items ‘displayed’ are part of the permanent collections either. On one occasion I was frustrated to find that the Throne of Weapons, usually on display at the British Museum and part of work I was doing with some trainee teachers on attitudes to war and peace, had been removed so that it could be given out on loan to a travelling exhibition. At other times items are taken away for restoration or returned to their owners who had only given them as a temporary loan. It pays to check before going to make absolutely sure the items you are going to see are on display. And if an item is extremely popular you will of course have lots of other admiring people looking at it so think carefully about how to view it and when.

There never has been a better time than now. Museums are more open and willing to accommodate your needs as an RE teacher, whether it is to see what is on ‘display’ or what is ‘stored’, so why not take the plunge?

Dr Jim Robinson

Dr Jim Robinson is currently researching sacred objects in the collections of major UK museums and working with their education departments to think about how these can be used to create stimulating resources for RE.