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In times of hardship, it is natural for people to band together and use their sense of community to overcome challenges that they face. However, COVID-19 has kept communities of all sizes apart in a way that was previously unthinkable. The impact that the pandemic has had on communities across the globe has been life-changing, and this includes religious communities. As a part of a Subject Knowledge Enhancement course through Culham St Gabriel’s, I had the opportunity to research a topic of my choosing and I chose to research how the Muslim community and Eid celebrations have been affected by lockdowns.

For the UK, Eid ul-Fitr happened in the middle of the national lockdown. A celebration typically characterised by lavish festivities and families coming together to feast was instead celebrated as individual households, lacking the sense of community that is usually central to Eid ul-Fitr. A similar situation arose for the celebration of Eid ul-Adha, with Muslims having to celebrate in line with the relevant social distancing measures and also with the further restrictions imposed by the Health Secretary in Northern England on the eve of Eid ul-Adha. There were many adaptations that the celebrations underwent in order to go ahead, but the sense of community and celebration was not diminished because of these.

These issues and adaptations are not completely specific to the UK, with many Eid celebrations internationally being affected too. One of the biggest changes for this year was the restriction on how many Muslims would be allowed to take part in Hajj; even those who were permitted to go had to undergo quarantining prior to rituals and observe social distancing measures at all times. What is also common though is the praise that the Muslim community have received across the globe for their resolve and their compassion in this time of crisis. The respect for the government guidelines and protecting the wider community has been at the heart of the global Muslim community’s response to COVID-19 and is an excellent example that many could learn from.

In the midst of the pandemic and the lockdowns that so many people have found themselves in, it is very easy to forget that these same issues are having an effect on communities across the country and across the globe. It was enlightening and somewhat grounding to research how our global community has worked together to maintain a sense of togetherness. COVID-19 has of course caused celebrations such as those for Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha to be reshaped and reimagined quite dramatically. However, it is apparent that a new sense of community has been able to emerge in spite of the restrictions, and the sense of unity and understanding within the Muslim communities I studied was particularly inspiring. My research often provided a refreshing perspective on a situation that has caused such unhappiness and separation, and I think this would be incredibly valuable to consider in the classroom. Undoubtedly, COVID-19 will have an impact on students in either a physical or emotional capacity, and engaging in conversations about global communities’ reaction to the challenges they’ve faced may provide a sense of comfort and compassion that students have struggled to find at this time.

The old adage that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is undoubtedly true. The subjectivity of an image sparks individual moments of wonder, interpretation and understanding. And yet, the opportunities and realms of understanding that are opened up as we delve into the meaning(s), stories and origins of a word can be equally as illuminating.

I am a self-confessed etymology geek; I love learning about the origins of words and this fascination has been exacerbated by the wonderful podcast, Something Rhymes With Purple’ hosted by the walking lexicon Susie Dent, of Countdown fame and the exuberant spinner of yarns, Gyles Brandreth. From eggcorns to scurryfungers (you’ll definitely know some), the episodes left me feeling more knowledgeable about the world around me and, vitally, feeling like I could understand and interpret it in different ways.

And yet, I don’t know if I’d truly taken this intrigue into the RE classroom in an overt manner (apart from one of those ‘word-a-day’ calendars a few years ago!). Yes, I had made the link between incarnation and reincarnation and where the word ‘Christian’ came from, but no more than the obvious. That was until I came across this podcast.

As I walked, ran or drove and listened to the weekly instalments, I found myself becoming drawn to looking at the origins of many of the plethora key terms that I would teach across a week, especially to my GCSE groups. Take the topic of Crime & Punishment and the three aims of punishment outlined in the AQA specification. As I have spoken through deterrence, reformation and retribution, I found myself dwelling on the words themselves for longer than I had before, yet the results have justified the outlay.

With retribution, I may have previously resorted to a simplified, banal explanation of ‘get your own back’. Yet by delving into its origins, seeing how it emanated from the concept of “that which is given in return for past good or evil”, my students have been able to make quicker connections to which forms of punishment might therefore be seen as retribution, rather than the usual correct, yet simplistic, connection to being physically harmed as a punishment.

The same has been true in Key Stage 3. With my new Year 7s, as I sought to establish their varying previous knowledge, the concepts of monotheism and polytheism arose. By choosing to spend longer on these terms than I would have done previously (and making the, hopefully , memorable link to Monopoly), I immediately saw some sparks of realisation as connections were made to polygons, monorails and even atheism, as they also grasped the true meaning of theism, which was originally meant to be explored in a future lesson.

I have also already had students remark on how their understanding of terminology studied in RE has aided their learning in other subjects, especially in English and History, where religious or spiritual motifs and references are commonplace. Long may it continue!

And so, the journey continues; as I plan, rework and adapt lessons, I aim to continually challenge myself to talk about the words more, to delve deeper into their meanings and origins and to see how this opens up our wonderful subject in a different way. If I also create some etymology fanatics – which, by the way, has stronger religious connotations than you might think – then great!

‘Once upon a time,’ four seemingly ordinary words, but, whenever spoken together have the power to transport the listener to far-away worlds, and on thrilling adventures. Yet, these words tend to stay in our childhood, belonging rather to the primary school, than a secondary Religious Studies classroom.  So, it was with great surprise that my MA research led me to discover that teenagers are still inspired by, and want to learn through the power of a story.

My MA research took the form of a social action research project, which was conducted in collaboration with a group of Year 10 students.  Together we explored the intent, implementation and impact of RS within our secondary school in York, specifically focusing on a Scheme of Work on Holocaust Education.  Baumfield (2012:206) comments that pedagogy builds the bridge between the curriculum and the learner.  So, together, through a group interview, the students and myself explored pedagogical strategies, and discussed how they wanted to be taught in RS; what would engage them in their studies and inspire them to want to learn.

These students consistently referred to wanting RS to be relevant to their lives.  When asked how they thought they should be taught, all of the students preferred activities which were more creative and engaging, with one student stating that RS was about real people, so should be made about real life.  Consistently, all the participating students leaned towards a more experiential learning style; they wanted RS to be something more than facts in a textbook which has no relevance to them, but rather something more tangible that they could relate to.

The perception of experiential learning is often that it needs to be something exciting and out of the ordinary.  However, Brand (2013) suggests various experiential activities which can be completed within the classroom.  Certainly, one of the findings discussed within my research, which has personally fascinated me and had the biggest impact on my own teaching, is the use of stories as part of experiential learning. Pelupessy-Wowor (2016:102) comments that human-beings are story tellers; we have a natural disposition to interpret our experience into a story, meaning that consequently the use of a story is a universal teaching aid (McNett 2016:185-186), which engages students (Yogan 2020:2).   The use of storytelling is not a new concept, with McNett (2016:188) suggesting that when trying to teach a large topic or event, frame it around one key figure; teach it through their story. Student G commented that ‘listening to someone made it real.’  The students agreed that by listening to a real-life story about something, it makes it relatable and real. For example, hearing how someone felt whilst completed Hajj makes it more understandable, than just learning the stages of Hajj and being able to regurgitate it for an exam.  As an RS teacher, I do not just want students to learn facts, I want them to be engaged, challenged and inspired.

Obviously, this does not come without its dangers, as Stern (2006:21-22) comments there is a danger that when using dialogue in teaching, it can turn into a monologue.  A story is from one perspective, so whilst I may use a story to frame a topic, it is done critically through using other stories and factual evidence, to try to ensure fairmindedness.  However, rather than this being a concern, I have found this generates more debate; exploring how one event can have different interpretations; how one religion leads to many individual faiths.

The educationalist Hywel Roberts (www.createlearninspire.co.uk) has coined the term ‘botheredness.’  Explaining that most students will be engaged with their studies because they are conscientious and want to do well.  However, if teachers can get students to be bothered by their subject, to see a relevance beyond a GCSE grade, then their motivation increases and consequently their progress is enhanced.  I have found that the use of a story to share experience and feelings, makes students bothered. Religion is not merely a fact to be learnt, but for millions of people around the world is a lived reality.  For students to engage in its study, they must be inspired, they must have something tangible that they themselves can experience and relate to. So, whilst I may not use the words ‘Once upon a time’ I am finding myself asking ‘are you sat comfortably, the story is about to begin…’

Baumfield, V (2012) ‘Pedagogy’ in Barnes, p, (ed) Debates in Religious Education. Oxon:Routledge. Pp 205-212.

Brand, N (2013) ‘Learning from the Past, Building for the Future’ in Journal of Museum Education. 38:3. Pp 298-307.

McNett, G (2016) ‘Using Stories to Facilitate Learning’ in College Teaching. 64:4. Pp 184-193.

Pelupessy-Wowor, J (2016), ‘The Role of Religious Education in Promoting Religious Freedon: A Mutual Enrichment Between ‘’My Story,’’ ‘’Your Story,’’ and ‘’Our Stories,’’’ in The Review of Faith & International Affairs. 14:4. Pp 98-106.

Stern, J (2006), Teaching Religious Education. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Yogan, L (2020) ‘Where are All the Happy Stories? The Role of Positive Stories in Teaching and Curriculum Design’ in Sociological Focus. 53:1 pp 1-9.

Reflexivity as a learning process is a focus needed in all RE classrooms to develop learners who can become critical interpreters of the world. Reflexivity is defined as the “reinterpretation of oneself, having considered the ‘other’, with awareness of one’s own distinctiveness heightened by the encounter of the other” (Freathy and John, 2019). In the conscious active development of self, reflexivity encourages pupils to become active participants of this pluralist modernity which has been called ‘post secular’ by scholars such as Radford (2019) and Boeve (2019).

Having reflexivity as a focus during lesson planning is likely to make the teacher aware of their own biases. It is probably not wise to deem one’s pedagogy as entirely objective, irrespective of how a teacher might be critical in their pedagogy (Cooling, 2020: 411). Striving to create learners who are reflexive will create a learning space which promotes a critical hermeneutic approach to all knowledge including the unconscious moments where teachers share their views.

A teacher seeking to create reflexivity in RE can approach it from different angles including art, where pupils create their interpretation of a knowledge that has been presented to them with the help of prompt questions or a thinking criteria. It can also be done orally, in classroom vocal debates or silent debates. The depth of evaluative essay writing is also a way of promoting reflexive learning. Pupils can at times be told to argue in writing or vocally against the view they personally hold to encourage them to reflect on their own views/ biases and those of others. It is however very important to make the knowledge being studied very relevant to the everyday life of pupils.

For reflexivity to happen the classroom must also be a safe haven where pupils must feel comfortable to allow themselves to be creative and evaluative. There has to be a relationship with pupils. Irrespective of the opposition they might face, there has to be a culture of respect and freedom to speak without being judged. Pupils must know they must respect others if they want to be respected. A mantra that can be a classroom law.

It is important to realise that the process of reflexivity takes time and as a RE teacher it needs to be an intention. Reflexivity will not only fulfil the assessment criteria’s for exam boards such as AQA and Edexcel; but it encourages learners to develop from their learning. It is possible that their personal views will change or become stronger, but yet evolved forming their educated views. Pupils will seek to learn for life long and they will naturally become curious participants of our world. Having it as teaching and learning intention in RE will not only encourage open-mindedness but a deep desire to allow one’s self to thrive and commune with and alongside others who are different because of the education and richness it brings. This skill and attitude reflexivity births is very much needed in our globalised modern 21^st century.

Bibliography

Boeve. L (2019) Faith in dialogue: the Christian voice in the catholic dialogue school, International Studies in Catholic Education, 11:1, 37-50, DOI: 10.1080/19422539.2018.1561132

Cooling. T (2020) Worldview in religious education: autobiographical reflections on The Commission on Religious Education in England final report, British Journal of Religious Education, 42:4, 403-414, DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2020.1764497

Freathy. R & Helen C. John. H C (2019) Religious Education, Big Ideas and the study of religion(s) and worldview(s), British Journal of Religious Education, 41:1, 27-40, DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2018.1500351

Radford. M (2012) Faith and reason in a post secular age, Journal of Beliefs & Values, 33:2, 229-240, DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2012.694065

In spring we had the same meeting that many departments had before the A Level reforms came in to play.  Which religion were we going to teach? Should we teach Buddhism- being so close to the London Buddhist Centre and with staff expertise in the area? Should we teach Christianity- which was guaranteed to have a textbook? Or should we teach the religion that the majority of our students adhere to- Islam?

We had some year 13 A Level students in a room nearby working late, so we asked them for their opinion. “Oh no, you can’t do Islam at A Level- It’s too challenging to study your own religion… It makes you think way too hard!” As their Year 13 teacher, I took it as a compliment that my teaching had made them think.  Their comments tipped the balance for us to go with Islam.

That summer we got hold of as many sources as possible and went back to studying like undergraduates. We knew it would be tough, but we had until the Spring term the following year to prepare. The summer holidays were spent reading, and the autumn term planning lessons and resources.

As a department we were still getting to grips with the GCSE reforms, there were times I wished we had gone with Christianity- so that I could pull a text-book of the shelf, and use my own subject knowledge to teach it. But having taught the Fundamentalism A2 course, which came with very little guidance and no specific resources, I had already been through something similar. It went from being the scariest thing I taught to my favourite lesson each week, as it was something I knew from the original sources and I had created all my teaching resources from scratch.

By the end of the year, Developments in Islamic Thought was my new favourite- and in that first round of exams it was the unit our students achieved most highly in.  It transformed how I taught the subject at GCSE, and whilst I was annoyed initially with the timing so close to the GCSE reforms, I have to admit I’m glad they both came in at a similar time. The year was intense, but I loved having debates on Islamic Theology across the office table at lunch with my colleagues and having mind-blown moments myself when I was expecting only the students to.

If your department is facing a similar choice at the moment, and you’re concerned about not having a textbook for your chosen religion here are my tips and reassurances, having been in that same position myself.

Collaborate with your colleagues– although we taught separate parts of the course, planning with my colleagues was an absolute game changer. If you are teaching and planning it alone- reach out on social media, you will find someone else in the same boat as you to bounce ideas off of. I made a Facebook group for Islam at A Level teachers so that I could find other people to share ideas with.

Teach each other what you are learning– in our fortnightly key stage 5 meetings we taught each other 15 Minute sessions on what we were planning and teaching- this helped us all to see the bigger picture of the unit, and helped our students with making those synoptic links across the religion topics as well as the Philosophy and Ethics units we taught.

Connect with faith members, ex-faith members, representatives and communities– either in person, or online- see how the theory matches up to the lived experience of what you are teaching. This helped me to bring the wordy sources to life as well as give points for debate and evaluation to my students.

Communicate with your exam board– let them know that you are teaching the religion- it will encourage them to offer more training, more resources and more support for others too. We found our exam board really helpful in answering questions and directing us to more clarification for tricky content matters.

Have confidence in your ability as a learner– as teachers we hope to foster a lifelong love of learning in our students, and this was a great opportunity for me to return to learning. Except this time round I learned in a far more focused and fine-tuned way than I ever managed as an undergraduate.

While we endeavour to direct you to helpful, trustworthy resources, RE:ONLINE has no control over the content of external resources.

Many teachers will be able to empathise with me when I begin my ‘Inspired by….’ story with the panic of having arranged an outside speaker to present to the whole of Year 9 who pulled out a few days before!

Our proposed speaker was a Holocaust survivor who I had arranged through the Holocaust Education Trust. We had been very fortunate to host a survivor at my school for several years in a row, including Rudi Oppenheimer, Ruth Barnett and Joanna Millan. It was inevitable that one day the visitor would not be able to attend due to illness. But, I had 200 Year 9 pupils prepared for the talk and numerous colleagues who were looking forward to both listening at the back of the assembly hall and to not teaching Year 9 that day!

Five days before the scheduled date I began phoning all the contacts I had trying to find a replacement who would be able to travel to my school in the West Midlands. A very helpful member of staff at the Holocaust Education Trust gave me the number of Mrs Mindu Hornick. He knew she was a survivor of Auschwitz and she lived in Birmingham, but he did not know if she had spoken of her experiences before, especially to a school group.

Between lessons, I rang the number not knowing who would answer or what I would say.

Mindu answered, “Hello?”

I began, “Good morning, my name is Rebecca, and I teach RE in a local school. We were expecting a Holocaust survivor to come and speak to Year 9 next week, but he has pulled out due to ill health. I wonder if you might be able to come and talk to 200 enthusiastic and interested pupils about your experiences of Auschwitz?”

“I have not visited a school before and I am still trying to get my story into a coherent presentation”.

[So that isn’t a ‘no’. I thought] “My pupils aren’t bothered about a neat presentation, they would just love to meet you.”

“Would I be able to bring two friends from the Synagogue to accompany me?”

Whoop! And so began Mindu’s service to educating pupils about the Holocaust in many schools across the West Midlands, including 5 years visiting my own school.

Mindu Hornick is an incredible woman. She will cause a rowdy group of Year 9 pupils to be awe-struck and show deep respect. Her story of survival is astonishing and pupils fall into a revered silence listening to her voice.

In 2015 I moved into Higher Education, after 20 years in the secondary RE classroom. Mindu was delighted for me and when I asked if she would speak on Holocaust Memorial Day to staff and students at the University of Worcester, she immediately accepted. Once again, she gripped the lecture theatre which was filled, standing room only.

Little did I know at the time that a number of staff in the room were so inspired by Mindu’s far-reaching work within West Midland schools that shortly afterwards she was nominated for an Honorary Doctorate for her work to educate young people about the Holocaust. She received her Doctorate in Worcester Cathedral on 8^th November 2018 and you can read the citation here.

Following this well-deserved achievement, I worked with the Vice Chancellor’s office at the University of Worcester to nominate Mindu for a New Year Honours. In December 2019, Mindu was awarded an MBE for her work on Holocaust education and commemoration. A BBC news report about this is here.

Mindu receives all thanks, praise and admiration with her usual modesty and humility. She makes everyone she meets feel valued and has time to answer questions from pupils. She responds honestly, patiently and positively leaving her audience with a sense of wonder at her survival and also with hope for a brighter future. It is my privilege to call this inspiring woman a friend.

You can find out more about Mindu’s story by watching this episode of HARDtalk, filmed in January 2020, where she is interviewed by Stephen Sackur.

As we start a new academic year RE:ONLINE are launching a new blog series called ‘Inspired by…’

Perhaps over the summer you have been inspired by a book? One of the books that has inspired me is Inspirational Leadership: Timeless lessons for leaders from Shakespeare’s Henry V by Richard Olivier. One of the key messages for me in the book is about the importance of stories as storehouses of wisdom (p.10); stories are ways in which we pass on wisdom, they teach us and fire the imagination.

Perhaps you have been inspired by a colleague? I have too many colleagues to name here who have both inspired and influenced me. However, Dr Bill Gent who sadly passed away earlier in the summer was a true inspiration to me as I started out in my teaching career. Bill encouraged me to engage with curriculum development, to read widely including research, and supported my Farmington Fellowship.

Perhaps you have been inspired by some recent professional development? In July, Culham St Gabriel’s hosted a seminar with Professor Rob Freathy. He unpacked his excellent joint paper Worldviews and Big ideas: A Way Forward for Religious Education. The four big ideas expounded by Rob helped me to understand and better articulate to others the object of knowing (the ‘what’), the knower as subject, (ourselves) the process of knowing (methods) and the why of knowing (aims/purpose). I have also really enjoyed our own blog series over the summer ‘Opening Up Conversations about religion and worldviews’.

Perhaps you have been inspired by visiting a new place? In 2017 we visited Borneo as a family. It was one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ trips. As part of our visit we wanted to engage with local life so we stayed with a family in a traditional longhouse. As a result of this I began to consider more deeply how we engage with the lived reality of different worldviews in RE. How do we engage with the insider perspective? How do we hear the voices from within religion and worldviews? I’m delighted to say that RE:ONLINE is launching a new set of resources on this theme.

Or maybe your inspiration is from your pupils? When I first started teaching I worked in a secondary school where inclusion was highly valued and an essential part of its vision. In light of this, the school welcomed pupils with complex additional needs. Pupil N, as I will call her, was autistic and unable to communicate verbally. She inspired me to think creatively, to consider non-verbal responses and to think very differently about outcomes.

I have shared very briefly five different ways in which I have been inspired. We hope our new blog series will open up endless possibilities for you to tell us about what you are inspired by whether it’s a book, blog, conference, colleague, the creative or visual arts, your pupils, a family member, a magazine or journal article, visiting somewhere new or a holiday destination, a TV programme or a YouTube influencer…..

If you would like to contribute a blog to our new series please email contact@reonline.org.uk

Olivier, R., 2013. Inspirational Leadership: Timeless lessons for leaders from Shakespeare’s Henry V.  London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing

NATRE statement about Dr Bill Gent: https://www.natre.org.uk/news/latest-news/dr-bill-gent/

Access to Rob Freathy and Helen John’s paper is available here: http://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1386095/FULLTEXT01.pdf

https://www.reonline.org.uk/blog/

My 10-year-old daughter was asked to teach a song to her French classmates recently so she belted out her current favourite “Take me to Ch-”. She was stopped at this point of the chorus, due to the act of saying the word “Church” in the classroom breaking the principle of Laicite or Secularism which runs through the State of France.  I asked her if she told the teacher that its not a religious song but was written to highlight the problems of the Catholic church and its stance on homosexuality and was even influenced by the writings of the atheist Christopher Hitchens, but seeing as her French was still fairly minimal at this point, she said she just stopped singing and returned to her seat.

I’m a Religious Studies teacher currently on sabbatical in France and the principle of Laicite fascinates me. I’m not teaching RE whilst I’m here, I couldn’t if I wanted to due to the Laicite- and so I’m intrigued as to how and when the teenagers of France get to have those heated debates in the classroom around the existence of God and all the various belief systems humanity has developed around it. A typical day for me as a London RE teacher involved debates around homosexuality and religious views, discussions of predestination and free will and singing the Lord’s Prayer Anglican style to unsuspecting and slightly alarmed kids, when we got to that bit of a handout on Christian practices- how could they not get a weekly lesson of this here?

I wonder if not discussing religion in French state classrooms leaves anything missing from those student’s lives? Bumping into ex-students of mine years later on the highstreets of East London and hearing them say that they remembered our lessons- “Oh! The debates we had Miss!”- shows me the importance of the space given in RE for evaluating views that are different to our own, and how much teenagers love to argue. As RE teachers we relish the chance to play ‘Devil’s advocate’- role-playing the questions and challenges in the classroom that our students may be asked, or may even ask of themselves later in life.

If the discussion of religion is contained in the private sphere- then how can a teacher role-model intelligent and respectful discussions around the tricky material that religions can give us? Students would often say to me that they could talk about things in my classroom they never would at home, or at least could try out their views and hear people’s reactions before discussing it with family and friends.

And whilst I have on occasion, had to inform my students that I do not have a hotline to The Almighty, when they are alarmed by world events– “Miss is that hurricane a sign of the end of the world?”  I know that my classroom was a space for them to discuss world events, including the role that religions and religious followers may have had in them.

When I worked as a volunteer teacher in Nablus, the West Bank , I lived in a house full of other volunteers from around the world, at one point a few from France and the USA me to give them RE lessons in the evening so they could understand Islam better, and so understand the children we worked with more  (Both are countries that have this separation of Church and State).  When I told my adult English class of Palestinian peace-workers there what I taught in the UK, they asked me for lessons on the key similarities between Islam and Judaism so that they could understand the Israeli’s over the border a few miles away, better.

And here in France? I find myself in the same position, English conversation sessions have turned into me explaining what the Baha’i religion is, and dinner table small talk has ended up as a debate around interpretations of Hijab or the Veil within Islam. I’ve met so many people here fascinated by religion and spirituality that I take any opportunity to discuss it. I might have stopped teaching RE to come and live here, but I will always be an RE teacher.

While we endeavour to direct you to helpful, trustworthy resources, RE:ONLINE has no control over the content of external resources.

I didn’t complete my PhD. It’s something that is a source of deep regret – I had thrived on carrying out research and writing, but life intervened and it was the right decision in the circumstances. Luckily for me, in order to supplement my PhD funding I had begun working as a secondary teacher of Religious Studies and Philosophy and I found that I loved teaching. I spent several happy years working in a large secondary school in North London taking every opportunity for professional development and research – you won’t teach well if you’re not prepared to be a learner. As I had during my PhD, I sought out collaborative partnerships using social media (particularly Twitter), actively pursued opportunities for writing (I blogged often – because I wasn’t busy enough already…!) and carried out a diverse range of professional conversations with other teachers, researchers and advisers.

I moved from secondary teaching to work as an RE adviser in greater Lincolnshire. This was a huge learning curve for me, but it also provided a myriad of opportunities to carry out new and exciting research and, as ever, I wanted to write and write and write. I was very lucky in this regard: I connected with a number of people who opened doors for me and provided me with opportunities to realise this ambition. I began to work collaboratively with Kathryn Wright, Olivia Seymour and Jane Chipperton; together, we wrote and published our thinking online. This, coupled with a careful use of social media to help direct people towards our writing, enabled us to establish an audience for our thinking. Throughout, we were keen to emphasise that our writing was being offered as a form of professional conversation, noting that we, as learners, developed our thinking in relation with others.

In 2016, I was asked to co-author a chapter in We Need to Talk about Religious Education (ed. Mike Castelli and Mark Chater, Jessica Kingsley Publications, 2017). Whilst I had found writing for my PhD a very isolating experience, this was a much more creative and exciting process because it was carried out collaboratively. We produced many drafts of the chapter before it was signed-off for publication, listening carefully and responding to the editorial advice provided. Working with a trusted colleague gave me more confidence to write and allowed me to see how my writing ‘voice’ was distinctive from theirs. This was very important as it gave me a greater sense of confidence in developing my own voice and style. I went on to write an article for Impact, the journal of the Chartered College of Teaching, and a Grove Booklet on religious literacy in schools.  In both these cases, the final piece was edited and peer reviewed to ensure that the publications fulfilled the stated briefs. By this stage, I felt more comfortable with my written style and so was able to see more clearly where the editorial advice would enhance the writing and, at times, where it would impact negatively on the content and ideas expressed. I became more confident in being able to say no to suggested changes, where I had clear reasons for doing so. Most recently, I have co-authored a chapter that was published in Reforming RE (ed. Mark Chater, John Catt, 2020).

Receiving a copy of a book or journal in which your writing has been published is a wonderful feeling. It feels strange to see your name in print and it can be quite disconcerting to re-read what you had written often many months previously. One thing I have learned, however, is that re-reading your work is very important. This is not simply a case of reminding yourself of the professional journey you have been on over those months; it is also about checking that what you actually wrote is what has been published.

On at least one occasion, I have found that writing I have signed-off for publication has been altered after this point. Now, it is perfectly reasonable for copy editors to slightly adjust your text for the purposes of clarity and accuracy; however, it is not ok for the substance of one’s ideas to be altered without your permission as author. This is what had happened in my most recent published contribution, although there was no malicious intention at all. It had significant repercussions: readers purchased the book, read what I had written and quite fairly assumed that this was what I had intended to write. It was not, however, and this meant that a significant number of readers were misunderstanding and potentially misrepresenting my thinking. One thing you quickly learn as a published author is that others will respond to your writing, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. This is ok – it’s all part of the conversation that helps ideas flourish and develop. However, in this instance, people were preparing critiques based on words I had not written. This raised several problems: firstly, whether I could tell them that their critique was mistaken because it was not based on my actual thinking and secondly, whether I had any right to challenge the editor for having changed my writing after I had signed-off the agreed copy. I had to investigate copyright and intellectual property law to see what I was entitled to. This led to a challenging conversation with the editor, and the agreement that, amongst other things, I could write about this incident as part of a blog post about starting out as a published author. I am grateful that the editor and publisher have also agreed to revert to the original in the second print-run, which will soon be available.

So what have I learned?

That everyone has a voice that is worth hearing, that writing is one form of expressing that voice, and that writing takes practice.

That writing collaboratively is one of the most exciting and worthwhile things I have done in my professional life.

That working with editors and publishers is a learning curve and that it is always worth listening to their advice.

That it is ok as an author to say no sometimes when you have good reason to do so.

That you should always, always read what you have written after it has been published!

We are delighted to be launching a new summer blog series called ‘Opening up conversations about religion and worldviews’. This blog series is being run in collaboration with the RE Policy Unit, a partnership between NATRE, the RE Council and RE Today. It will include contributions from a wide range of teachers, those working in initial teacher education and researchers in this field.

Some questions don’t seem to get asked in religious education as much as others. Here are three examples designed to pose questions about the relationship between questions and curriculum and what we think an education in religion and worldviews might be for.

Question One

Explain how a common response to poverty can be reached from people who hold different religious and non-religious worldviews.

In your answer show:

• how a point of consensus can be reached from different theological and or philosophical principles, and
• refer to hypothetical or actual case studies.

Two observations about question one: We tend to prefer questions that are about difference leading to disagreement, rather than difference leading to overlapping consensus. Should RE consider having structured questions designed to test out the possible range of areas where difference might still lead to cooperation or consensus?  We don’t explicitly ask for case studies (although students can use them in their reasoning). As case studies are interesting way of thinking about communities in context, might this be a useful tool for RE?

Question Two (designed to follow from a longer sacred text extract)

Read the extract from a sacred text. Identify and explain different ways this text is engaged within religious traditions. In your answer refer to each of:

• communal ritual or private prayer/meditation/reflection
• scholarly debate or public moral discussion
• communities / individuals living in contrasting contexts (poverty and wealth or peace and war)

This question is designed to show diverse ways of ‘knowing’ and ‘engaging’ in religions and worldviews. It is also about the importance of context in textual interpretation and in the way religious life develops. This goes further in explicitly acknowledging different kinds of dialogue that the subject should entertain: scholarly and public.

Question Three

Should voluntary assisted dying be permitted?

Explore this question and two different settings in which it might be answered. First consider a political debate in the media. Second consider a hospital chaplain asked to counsel a family faced with a request from a terminally ill relative. Identify any differences or similarities in the way the question might be engaged. 

This question illuminates the kind of classroom experience we want to have happening and the sort of argumentation there might be. Should RE help students win arguments? Should it help them be good listeners and pastoral helpers of others in times of personal crisis?

A few things might jump out from these questions. First, the question structure will ‘beg’ for different kinds of content shaped in different kinds of ways in any curriculum that prepares the students for this question. Second, distinct social aims are apparent. Question one requires the idea of consensus being reached from different starting points to be structured into the exploration of the content. Question two requires blocks of texts to have been explored through multiple types of engagement and multiple contexts (it is multidimensional and contextual in character). Question three requires an explicit treatment of different settings for discussion: one that speaks to a pastoral context, the other that speaks to a more traditional debating context. I think all of these are interesting, and all of them should have space in a religion and worldviews classroom.

Now it is possible that my suggestions are not the ‘right questions to ask’. Indeed, some of these might not work very well in practice – they could surely be improved. However, they do reveal the relationship between question and curriculum, the way knowledge is organised, and the kinds of skills developed in association with that content. They reveal something of the possible character of learning in religion and worldviews classrooms and they focus on the ‘how’ of the subject, as well as the ‘what’, something highlighted by the Commission for RE (2018) report.

Professor Bob Bowie, Canterbury Christ Church University

@bobbowie, bob.bowie@canterbury.ac.uk, www.bobbowie.com,

This blog is linked to a piece of work written by me in a book currently in press. ‘The implicit knowledge structure preferred by questions in English Religious Studies public exams’. The book, edited by Gert Biesta and Pat Hannam is Religion and education: The forgotten dimensions of religious education? Leiden: Brill | Sense. It also links to the Texts and Teachers research project (www.nicer.org.uk).