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“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror.”*

Stories matter deeply in Religious Education because they shape how children understand themselves, others and the wider world. Books can act as windows, to see the world beyond their own lives and location, mirrors, allowing pupils to see their own lives, families, questions and beliefs reflected back at them. They can also act as doors or, in Dr Rudine Sims Bishop’s* phrase, glass sliding doors; offering children a way into experiences, worldviews and religious and non-religious lives that may be different from their own, but which they can step into safely, imaginatively and thoughtfully.

In RE/RME/RVE, this matters because religious and non-religious worldviews are not just a set of ideas to be learned about , but people’s lived experience. Carefully chosen stories allow pupils to stand alongside characters, to “walk through” moments of prayer, doubt, celebration or challenge, and to explore what it might feel like to belong to a religious or non-religious worldview. Children’s literature provides a safe space to explore empathy, identity and meaning; a place where big questions about life, death, purpose and the numinous can be encountered without risk, because the experience is mediated through story.

At the same time, books can affirm children’s own identities and experiences. When pupils see themselves represented, in family life, culture, belief, language or practice, they learn that their stories matter. Texts such as Planet Omar by Zanib Mian or Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai are not just windows into Islam; they are mirrors for some children and powerful correctives to stereotypes for others. In RE/RME/RVE, this means paying close attention to authorial intent, representation and pupil response, and creating space to ask:

• Is this true to your experience?
• What feels familiar?
• What feels new?

Used well, stories help RE move beyond surface knowledge. They support critical literacy, deepen subject understanding and invite pupils into respectful, thoughtful dialogue about belief, belonging and what it means to be human. During the RE:Online Power of Story focus week and in this National Year of Reading, we are reminded that stories do not simply teach about religion; they help children encounter it, question it, and sometimes recognise themselves within it.

In classroom practice, thinking about books as windows, mirrors and glass sliding doors invites teachers to be intentional in how stories are chosen, read and discussed. This means creating opportunities for pupils to respond personally to texts, to ask questions, and to reflect on what a story shows and what it leaves out. It involves slowing down reading, returning to key moments, and using talk, drama, writing or enquiry strategies to explore belief, identity and meaning. Teachers can model critical literacy by drawing attention to authorial intent and encouraging pupils to compare stories with real lived experiences, including those within their own class or community. Used in this way, stories become more than illustrations of content; they become starting points for dialogue, empathy and deeper understanding, helping pupils learn not just about religious and non-religious worldviews, but also to consider their own personal worldview.

*From Rudine Sims Bishop, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books from the Classroom 6, no. 3 (Summer 1990), available at Reading Is Fundamental (January 2015)

The conceptual position of the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) was to favour long-term, incremental improvements over dramatic changes.  A Levels were framed as unproblematic, and pragmatically one can see the case for leaving alone ‘what works.’

However, the obvious problem is that Religious Studies and Philosophy specifications at A Level contain very little on the lives and works of women.

Women’s works are excluded even where their contributions to the disciplines are obvious.  In some specifications, for example, students may learn about abortion from exclusively male perspectives.  Sometimes women’s ideas are included but unreferenced, and sometimes there are simply missed opportunities to include an accurate history of ideas from around the globe, e.g. on human rights, the environment, ethics of care, bioethics or immigration.  In 1979, Adrienne Rich commented on the ‘relentless excision of the female[1]’, which necessitates a kind of ‘revolution in permanence’.  It seems remarkable that this should still be the case in 2026.

Others have of course drawn attention to the issue, such as the End Sexism In Schools charity, and a student-led petition in 2015. Awarding bodies have started to signpost supplementary resources, and these are welcome. Meanwhile, teachers across the country create their own more equitable resources, ensuring representation of diverse voices.

However, as long as there is no or little requirement to study women in ‘official’ curricular, the message to students is clear: women’s works are not worthy of study. I see this as an urgent, inescapable moral problem – an example of a profound, overlooked curricular injustice that may cause harm.  Collective efforts to address harmful attitudes to women and girls nationally are undermined if they are effectively silenced in the curriculum.  Likewise for Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 (ensuring acquisition of knowledge to promote gender equality and cultural diversity).

To help counter some of these concerns in my last school, we co-created a weekly book club with students in KS4-5, with a view to diversifying the reading materials on offer.  This was light-touch but allowed for meaningful discussion and debate.  A few texts that have worked well and can be adapted for different settings include:

Kristin Shrader Frechette – Environmental Justice: Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy (2002).  This book offers an accessible application of the philosophy of science, containing case studies such as the decision to dump chemical waste in locations most affecting already disenfranchised minority groups.  Highlighting the extent of human suffering may help students to engage intellectually and emotionally with the subject matter, and provide interesting stimulus for group discussions.

Mary Midgely – What is Philosophy For? (2018).  In her final work, Midgely reminded us of her definition of philosophy – not as the solving of one fixed set of puzzles, but instead finding ‘many particular ways of thinking’ to help us ask fresh questions and navigate new challenges.  Midgely offers her stance on the mind/body problem, verificationism, religious worldviews in a digital age and, of course, our treatment of animals.

Dan McQuillan – Resisting AI (2022). This book draws on the work of several female philosophers to raise ethical objections to generative AI, including Hannah Arendt on institutional thoughtlessness, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak on epistemic violence, and Judith Butler on performativity.  This could provide a good level of stretch and challenge for students thinking of studying ethics related courses at university.

Whilst I have been encouraged by high levels of student engagement with these ideas, it must be said that adding more diverse thinkers to old specifications is not enough. More radical reform will require careful, detailed scholarship on the extent and implications of omissions. Pupils deserve access to a range of religious and philosophical responses – both contemporary and historical – to existential questions.

[1] ‘What does a woman need to know?’

It feels fitting to start a blog about stories by mentioning a book: “Why Don’t Students Like School?” by Daniel Willingham. In it, Willingham describes the human mind as being “exquisitely tuned to understand and remember stories”. That idea has shaped my curriculum work in three different ways: revisiting stories over time, using stories to teach concepts and vocabulary, and telling our local story.

This is underpinned by deliberate curriculum sequencing, so stories are not isolated moments but part of a coherent journey where knowledge, concepts and disciplinary thinking accumulate over time.

1. Revisit stories over time to build knowledge

From four-year-olds upwards, our curriculum is packed with stories. This is particularly noticeable from our curriculum for four-year-olds to that for up to nine- year-olds. We often begin by teaching the narrative of a story, asking questions about meaning and linking it to children’s own experiences. For example, we might tell the Christmas story and connect it to familiar ideas such as receiving gifts or being excited about the arrival of a baby.

Through the curriculum for 5–11-year-olds, we start attaching concepts to that story, such as incarnation or the idea of Jesus as saviour. For 11–14-year-olds, in a unit on the Abrahamic faiths, students might explore Islamic versions of Jesus’ birth or look at stories from non-canonical gospels that appear to have been familiar in the early Islamic world. For 14–16-year-olds, they encounter a womanist reading of the story alongside different Christian celebrations. By the time students reach 16-18, they examine how Matthew and Luke construct theological portraits of Jesus.

Each time, students return to the same core narrative, but with deeper concepts, richer context, and increasingly sophisticated disciplinary tools. If a student stays with us to A Level, they will have returned to this story many times. It never becomes dull, because they encounter it through different worldviews and disciplinary lenses. Crucially, revisiting familiar narratives frees cognitive space. Students are not learning a new plot or cast of characters, so they can do more challenging thinking with the material.

2. Use stories to teach concepts and vocabulary

Once I accepted that the brain privileges stories, I began creating narratives to introduce key thinkers and ideas.

We tell the story of Heraclitus, famously melancholy, who feels he cannot truly know anything because everything is in constant flux. Later we meet Aristotle, endlessly curious about the changing world, even falling out with his teacher, Plato.

Students’ favourite story is often Thomas Aquinas. They love hearing about a young boy not cut out to be a crusading knight, instead destined for life in the Church. He shocks everyone by choosing the “wrong” religious order, is kidnapped by his brothers, and yet all he wants to do is read his Bible. When he later discovers Aristotle’s works, he realises he can study both scripture and the natural world.

These individual stories become part of a much bigger narrative we tell to our 5-7 year olds onwards: the story of empiricism and later natural theology.

3.Tell your local story to build identity and belonging

I moved to Norfolk in 2020 and still have the zeal of a convert. Norwich claims to be the City of Stories, and I quickly realised that as a Trust Lead I wanted our RE curriculum to tell those stories too.

Our developing curriculum includes figures such as Julian of Norwich, Edith Cavell, Sophia Duleep Singh, Abdalqadir as-Sufi and Thomas Paine. We also tell the story of Norfolk’s rebellious nature: a county where Norwich once claimed a church for every week of the year. When you visit Norwich today, you are still struck by the sheer number of church buildings, yet census data now places us alongside Brighton with one of the highest percentages of “nones”. We deliberately explore this tension through social science and worldview lenses, helping students think about continuity, change and what belief looks like in lived local contexts.

One of my hopes for a national curriculum is that it includes a local unit, and that SACREs are supported to help schools identify their own stories, alongside CPD to help teachers weave them thoughtfully into curriculum design. Because every place has a story. The question is whether we choose to tell it.

I hope this inspires you to look back at your own curriculum and reflect on how you use stories: the stories students revisit over time, the stories that help them grasp big ideas and vocabulary, and the local stories that shape their sense of place and identity.

Reflecting on the opportunity to speak at a National Conference

Early in the spring term, I had a conversation with my Culham St Gabriel’s Leadership Programme mentor about presenting at a national conference. The joint AULRE (Association of University Lecturers of Religion and Education) and AREIAC (Association of RE Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants) conference was coming up in Exeter.

“You’ll get a lot from doing a presentation there.”
“I think you’ll come away disappointed if you don’t.”
“You’re ready to step up, you’ve done local ones. Now it’s time to challenge yourself.”

With those words of encouragement, I submitted a proposal. When it was accepted and I saw my name on the schedule, I felt both delighted and apprehensive. My mentor was right, I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. Here are some reflections and tips I’d like to share:

1. Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Benjamin Franklin’s quote may be familiar, but it’s worth repeating. Success often comes from careful planning and thoughtful preparation.

2. Know Your Audience

Before planning your presentation, ask: Who am I speaking to?
My audience included teachers from across the country, professional bodies, and university lecturers. I wondered, Do they really want to hear what I’ve got to say?
The answer was a resounding yes. The real question became: What do I want to say?

3. Choose a Topic You Know Well

You are the expert during your talk. Pick something you’re confident and passionate about. I chose to speak about SEND in our subject; something close to my heart. A mentor once told me, “You only need to know one more thing than your audience.” (They also said I didn’t drink enough tea to be a teacher!)

4. Use Visual Planning Tools

You don’t need pages of notes. Visual tools like hexagonal thinking or a simple mind map can help structure your ideas.

5. Pause Before You Write

“When you have thoughts, just hold onto them. See where they take you, and as time passes, you will find out if you were right. Never decide right at the start if something is right or wrong.” (Hwang Bo-Reum)

Don’t rush from planning to writing. Take a day or two to reflect. Ask yourself: Will this deliver the message I want to share? That pause can save time and improve clarity.

6. Avoid “Death by PowerPoint”

Slides should support—not distract from—your message. Keep them simple, uncluttered, and easy to read. A powerful image or diagram often speaks louder than words.

7. Create a Memorable Hook

A short, punchy statement can engage your audience and make your message stick. Mine was:
“Autism is not an impairment – it is a superpower!”

8. Tell Stories

“Stories turn concepts into real-world possibilities.” Nancy Duarte
Stories build emotional connections and make your message memorable. Facts alone can be dry; stories bring them to life.

9. Use Your Networks

Don’t underestimate the value of your personal and professional networks. Share your ideas and drafts. Practice with colleagues or at staff meetings. The feedback you get will be extremely valuable and could earn you additional recognition and respect.

10. The Night Before: Rest, Don’t Rewrite

By now, you’ve rehearsed and refined your presentation. Resist the urge to tweak it the night before. Instead, relax and get a good night’s sleep.

11. Have a Backup Plan

Technology can fail so be ready. Speaking without slides can be liberating. Whether it’s a power cut or a missing cable, knowing you can still deliver your message is empowering.

12. Be Yourself

Don’t compare your style to others. Everyone presents differently. I chose to stand beside the lectern rather than behind it, it felt more open and aligned with my SEND values. The lectern felt like a barrier, and I wanted connection.

Enjoy the Experience!

The sense of achievement afterwards is incredible. You never know what opportunities might follow.

When I first began designing a new Religious Studies curriculum across our 28 secondary schools, I knew it would be ambitious but I most certainly didn’t realise how much I would learn along the way. As Trust Strategic Lead for Religious Studies (RS) and Personal Development, I work with schools where RS is often taught by non-specialists and where, historically, it hasn’t always been a curriculum priority.

Where it all began

Until this academic year, RS was taught alongside Citizenship and PSHE under the banner of ‘Life’. The model was well-intentioned but often disjointed, rushed and poorly implemented. Then came a turning point: as part of an extension to the school day, we were given something we had wanted for what seems like forever…Dedicated Curriculum Time.

From September this academic year, every Key Stage 3 student in 20 of our schools is receiving one hour a week of RS, with the remaining 8 receiving this in either January 2026 or September 2026. This was a golden opportunity, but also a challenge: we needed a coherent, high-quality curriculum that could be delivered effectively across very different school contexts, mostly by non-specialists, and it needed to be developed at a significant pace.

Stage one: building the foundations

I began by reviewing the locally agreed syllabuses from our 13 local authorities. I wanted to identify the common ground; the shared themes, aims, and approaches that could underpin our Trust curriculum. It quickly became apparent how much consistency already existed. Many syllabuses had been written or influenced by the same experts and organisations, meaning we were, in effect, edging towards a national curriculum for RE by default. Although our schools didn’t have the curriculum time to follow these, it was useful to see what the intended model was for each Local Authority.

Using these common threads, I drafted a Trust-wide curriculum specification; a document setting out what our students should study, understand, and be able to do by the end of Key Stage 3. This draft was shared with a small group of RS teachers across the Trust, who were asked to outline a three-year plan which would fulfil its demands.

Out of curiosity (and practicality), I also ran the same specification through a generative artificial intelligence tool, asking it to generate a range of possible units that would meet our aims. There were far too many to use — but that was the point. When the teachers later did the same exercise using the AI-generated unit ideas, their models were remarkably similar to both their original plans and my own initial proposal. That gave me confidence that the foundation was sound.

Stage two: defining the core

From there, I identified our core concepts and curriculum aims, drawing heavily on:

• The Ofsted Research Review and its distinction between substantive, disciplinary, and personal knowledge
• The REC Handbook for Religion and Worldviews

Initially, I wanted to offer schools plenty of flexibility. Each unit would contain core lessons that every student would complete, alongside optional lessons that teachers could select based on their school’s needs, interests, or specialisms. The idea was that all students would receive a common “diet” of RS knowledge, while teachers retained some autonomy.

However, this model quickly proved unsustainable. Some units contained up to 15 lessons, which simply wasn’t realistic to plan and would lead to too many variables when implemented. Another challenge was that, because our new timetable allowed RS to be taught across all of Key Stage 3 simultaneously, teachers would be teaching the new Year 7–9 units at once; without students having completed the prior knowledge the curriculum assumed. And in conjunction with this, we have been planning all 3 year groups simultaneously.

In response, I scaled the plan back. Every unit now has a maximum of eight lessons; enough to explore depth and variety, but manageable for planning and teaching. Optional elements remain, but within realistic limits.

We also had to make pragmatic decisions about our Dharmic faith units. Ideally, schools would have a choice between Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh traditions for 2 units — but this would triple the planning load. For this first implementation, we’ve chosen to focus on Hindu for the first unit and Buddhist traditions for the second, with an aspiration to broaden in the future.

Lessons learned along the way

1. Start with purpose, not content

It’s easy to begin curriculum writing with lists of topics, and in all honesty – the things you find most interesting, but the most valuable question is: What should students understand about religion and worldviews and what skills should they develop by the end?

Defining purpose first gives every later decision direction. It helps filter what truly matters from what merely fills space.

2. Less really is more

This phrase has become something of a mantra. Overloading the curriculum helps no one…not students, not teachers, and not long-term understanding. Keeping the number of lessons tight has allowed us to focus on quality over quantity.

You will face resistance, especially from those who equate breadth with rigour, those who want to teach the things they have always taught, those who want to go back to learning a list of facts by rote. Stick to your vision and moral purpose. A deep understanding of fewer ideas is more powerful than a shallow tour of everything.

3. Write for non-specialists

This was one aspect I have been almost militant about. In a Trust where many RS teachers are non-specialists, every detail has to be clear, purposeful, and accessible.

Lesson plans are simple and direct: “Do this, then that.” But each includes a knowledge box outlining exactly what students must know by the end of the lesson. There are teacher guides with key knowledge, extra reading, misconceptions, and context for where each lesson fits within the wider scheme.

Resources also come with tiered reading materials, usually at four levels (e.g., reading ages 10, 12, 14, and 16). This isn’t to match each text to individual students, but to allow teachers to choose what’s most appropriate for their group.

Finally, every resource is as inclusive as possible to support our most vulnerable students: pastel backgrounds, minimal icons, clear dual coding, and accessible fonts. These are simple changes but that are, “harmful to no one, essential for a few.”

4. Listen to feedback but know which feedback matters

Feedback is invaluable, but not all of it is meaningful. Learning to tell the difference is crucial. Comments like “I’m not sure when to hand out the worksheet” aren’t the same as “The pitch of Year 9 feels too high.”

Equally, some colleagues will always resist perceived “top-down” curriculum models. Respond politely and professionally, but don’t let negativity derail progress. If the plan is pedagogically sound, it deserves the chance to prove itself.

5. Keep refining

Curriculum design is never “finished.” I’m continually reviewing lessons using a RAG system (red, amber, green) to track where further development is needed. Once this first academic year is complete and the resources are in place, I will begin the process of refining materials, tightening clarity, and responding to meaningful feedback.

Being open to iteration keeps the curriculum alive — and builds trust with those who teach it.

What’s changed and what’s next

It’s early days, but the impact is already clear. Many Heads of Department who once felt disheartened are now re-energised. Some are actively lobbying for GCSE RS to return as an option in Year 9 not because they suddenly found spare time, but because they finally have the tools and confidence to deliver their subject properly.

That, to me, is the most rewarding outcome of all. Curriculum isn’t just about documents and sequencing; it’s about giving teachers and students back their subject.

Next year, I’ll continue to gather staff and student feedback, refining as we go. But for now, I’m proud of what we’ve built…a curriculum that’s inclusive, practical, and purposeful; one that balances flexibility with consistency, and ambition with realism.

If I’ve learned anything from this process, it’s to stay humble, listen wisely, and accept that you’ll never please everyone. Curriculum design invites strong opinions and that’s no bad thing. It means people care. What matters most is keeping sight of the purpose: giving every student the chance to make sense of religion and worldviews in a way that’s meaningful, challenging, and fair.

As the calendar turns to January 2026, the new year offers a natural pause for reflection. In the fast-paced world of education, it is rare to stop and take stock, but it is necessary.

For us at Outwood Grange Academies Trust, this January marks a significant milestone in a strategy we accelerated in September 2025. It was a strategy designed not to change our direction, but to strengthen our resolve: explicitly placing Personal Development at the heart of our curriculum structure, with Religious Education (RE) acting as a critical lever in that work.

Reflecting on this last term, for us the verdict is clear: deepening this focus was the right move.

The timing has been validated by societal events. In a world where division is increasingly amplified, the importance of this work has never been more apparent. Looking forward, our resolution for 2026 is to pursue this vision with greater intent, ensuring we deliver it with the highest possible quality, depth, and equity.

The Foundation: Unapologetically Ambitious

As an organisation the foundation on which our Trust is built remains firm and strong. There must be no element of doubt in our message to our communities and our peers: achieving the highest possible educational outcomes is, and will always remain, our core purpose. We put ‘students first – raise standards and transform lives’. We serve communities often located in areas of high social disadvantage. In these contexts, we know that qualifications are not just certificates; they are keys. They unlock doors to higher education, apprenticeships, and careers that might otherwise remain bolted shut. Levelling up achievement is a critical social enabler. To dilute our focus on academic rigour would be a dereliction of duty. We remain unapologetically ambitious for every student’s exam results because those results change lives.

The Passport and the Traveller: Towards a Complete Education

However, September 2025 marked a decisive step in how we articulate a ‘complete’ education. We reaffirmed that while academic outcomes are the passport to the future, they do not dictate the kind of traveller our students will be.

We have elevated our focus on Personal Development because we believe that growing ‘great human beings’ is as fundamental as growing academic achievers. Our students are the leaders of tomorrow. Their attitudes, mindsets, and values will shape the future of our world—whether they are leading a country, a company, or a family.

If we want a society defined by dignity, understanding, and respect, we must actively invest in the formation of those virtues.

The Role of Religious Education

This brings us to the specific role of Religious Education. In our strategy to centre Personal Development, we identified RE not just as a subject to be covered, but as a vital component to be championed. We view RE through a dual lens: as a rigorous academic discipline in its own right, and as an essential engine for Personal Development.

 At this specific moment in history, RE provides the only dedicated academic space where students can rigorously explore the concepts of commonality and difference. It is the classroom where students learn to navigate the ‘other’. By strengthening the position of RE within our curriculum, we allow students to:

• Build Intellectual Resilience (The Disciplinary Approach): We want our RE curriculums to be intellectually demanding and multidisciplinary. It is no longer enough to look at religion through a single lens. We are challenging students to engage with three distinct ways of knowing:
  • Theology: Engaging with texts, beliefs, and sources of wisdom to understand what people believe.
  • Philosophy: Wrestling with logic, ethics, and competing truth claims to understand how we think.
  • Social Sciences: Analysing the lived reality of religion and its impact on society and culture to understand how people live. By mastering these different disciplines, students do not just learn about religion; they learn how to evaluate evidence, construct arguments, and understand the complex human experience.
• Explore Commonality & Difference (The Personal Development Component): This is where academic study meets personal growth. Students move beyond superficial ‘tolerance’ to a deep, respectful understanding of why people live, think, and believe differently. They grapple with moral dilemmas and define their own values in relation to the wider world.

Our 2026 Commitment: Depth, Equity, and Place

 As we move into 2026, our focus shifts to refining and embedding this enhanced provision. We are focusing on three key areas:

1. Intellectual Diversity We are widening our lens beyond familiar examples to include genuine diversity across all three disciplines. This includes engaging with Eastern philosophers to challenge Western logic, studying the sociology of women in Sikhi traditions, and analysing the historical theology of ancient religions such as Atenism. This ensures the subject commands the academic respect it deserves while exposing students to the true breadth of human thought and behaviour.
2. Absolute Equity Excellent provision must be systemic. Whether a child attends a small primary or a large urban secondary within our Trust, they have an equal entitlement to this deepened provision. We have scrutinised our resources to ensure inclusivity, ensuring that high-level learning, whether theological, philosophical, or sociological, is accessible to all. This is a matter of justice.
3. The Power of Place Finally, we are embracing a nuanced understanding of community. While there is a global commonality our students need to understand, we also recognise the importance of place in their personal development. We are expanding our resource bank to include localised content. When we study what it means to practise Hindu traditions today, for example, we interchange generic imagery for the Mandir geographically closest to our students. By connecting the ‘big ideas’ of RE to the local context of the child, we make the learning stick and validate their lived experience.

We start 2026 with a determined spirit. The decision to further elevate Personal Development, with a robust, multidisciplinary RE curriculum as a central pillar, reflects our enduring belief that education is about the whole person. Our students will leave us with the qualifications to succeed, but they will also leave us with the wisdom to lead.

They will be the architects of a future where respect and understanding are the norm, not the exception. That is our purpose. That is our commitment.

Addressing the Lack of Initial Teacher Education Bursary and Subject Knowledge Enhancement Funding for Religious Education

20th January 2026

To: The Rt Hon Secretary of State for Education,

Department for Education,

Sanctuary Buildings,

Great Smith Street,

London SW1P 3BT

We, the undersigned funders and supporters of educational excellence, write to you with grave concern regarding the current absence of initial teacher education (ITE) bursaries and subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) funding for Religious Education (RE) in England.

The Importance of Religious Education

Religious Education plays a vital role in fostering understanding, tolerance, and respect among pupils of all backgrounds. It is a subject that equips young people with critical thinking skills and the ability to engage thoughtfully with diverse beliefs and worldviews. In an increasingly pluralistic society, but more divided society, the value of RE cannot be overstated; it is essential for promoting social cohesion and preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. The recent Curriculum and Assessment Review reiterated the importance of the subject stating:

We have heard that RE provides a space for pupils to learn about human mutuality and reciprocity, that it develops their capacity to understand one another, and that it supports strong, secure, and confident communities with good relationships. Given the role that religion, belief and values play in local, national, and international events, it continues to be vital for children and young people to have access to high-quality RE.

p.108 

Current Funding Inequities

Despite RE’s recognised importance, aspiring teachers of the subject are currently excluded from receiving ITE bursaries and from accessing SKE funding. The lack of funding creates unnecessary barriers for talented graduates who wish to enter the profession. Consequently, schools struggle to secure qualified teachers, undermining the quality of RE provision. Currently, 51% of those teaching RE do not have a qualification in the subject[1]. Some of signatories of this letter are now filling this funding gap to ensure the RE teaching profession of the future is recruited and retained.

The Lived Experience of Beginner Teachers

RE PGCE student, 2024-25 Without having a bursary, I would have struggled with childcare costs with my youngest and also the minimum you expect to live including rent, utility bills and food.

RE PGCE Student 2025-26 I am a mother of two young children. The one factor that has granted me the possibility of taking on this new career opportunity is the £10,000 bursary that is available for PGCE students in my subject for September 2025 entry.

RE PGCE Student 2025-26 Many students such as myself do not live with their parents but live in private accommodation and have to travel to university or their placements on a limited budget. The bursary has helped me afford season tickets and travel costs to both the university and the placement school.

RE PGCE 2024/25 The bursary was crucially important to my decision to do a PGCE. I realised when I was doing research that a PGCE would involve a lot of travel over fairly long distances. The nearest place I could do a PGCE in my preferred subject was just under an hour away. I knew I would have to be making this journey frequently. I also knew I could be placed a fair distance away for my school placements.

Impact on Recruitment and Quality

The absence of bursaries and subject knowledge enhancement funding has resulted in fewer applications to train as RE teachers, as candidates are compelled to consider their financial circumstances when choosing their specialism. Thirteen out of the last fourteen years RE has not reached its recruitment target. This not only limits the pool of potential educators but also risks diminishing the subject’s status within schools. The current policy inadvertently communicates a lack of commitment to RE, despite statutory requirements for its delivery in the curriculum. This is particularly concerning following the Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendation that RE becomes part of a national curriculum.

A Call for Urgent Action

We respectfully urge the Department for Education to review and rectify this inequity. Specifically, we call for:

• The immediate introduction of ITE bursaries for RE trainees, bringing the subject into line with other priority areas.
• The reinstatement and expansion of SKE funding for prospective RE teachers who may require additional subject expertise prior to training.

Conclusion

If England is to maintain its reputation for educational excellence and inclusivity, it must invest in all subjects that contribute to the rounded development of its young citizens. Supporting those who wish to teach Religious Education is not only an issue of fairness but also a statement of the country’s commitment to preparing students for a diverse and interconnected world.

We look forward to your response and to working together to strengthen the future of Religious Education in our schools.

Yours sincerely,

Aliya Azim MBE, Interfaith Co-ordinator of the Al-Khoei Foundation, Al-Khoei Foundation

Nancy Benham MBE, Deputy Chair of Trustees, The Rock Foundation

Revd Canon Dr Sarah Brush, Vice-Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon and Trustee of St Christopher’s Educational Trust

Dr Andrew Fowler, Chair, St Hild and St Bede Trust

Revd Mary Hawes, Trustee, St Christopher’s Educational Trust

H M Henderson, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Farmington Trust Ltd

John Hind, Director of Education and Leadership., The Rank Foundation Ltd.

Sarah Holmes, Chair of Trustees, St Christopher’s Educational Trust

Derek Holloway, Chair of Trustees, All Saints Educational Foundation

Derek Humphrey, Secretary, Hockerill Educational Foundation

Ian Jones, Director, St Peter’s Saltley Trust

Dr Peter Kent, Chair of Trustees, St Peter’s Saltley Trust

Jonathan Leigh, Chair of Governors, Sarum St Michael Educational Charity

Andy Malcolm, Trustee, St Christopher’s

Chris Martin, Director, St Luke’s College Foundation

Derek McAuley, Chair of Trustees, The Hibbert Trust

Suzannah O’Brien, Director, The Bishop Radford Trust

Peter Sweeney, Director of Education, Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster

Lady Susie Sainsbury, Chair, Jerusalem Trust

Rev’d Prof David Wilkinson, Chair of Religious sub-committee, Sir Halley Stewart Trust

Dr Kathryn Wright, Chief Executive, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust

Dr Linda Whitworth, Chair of Trustees, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust

Diane Wood, Governor, Sarum St Michael Trust and former Head of Religious Studies at South Wiltshire Grammar School

For media and other enquiries please contact hannah@cstg.org.uk

[1] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-01-06/117942

On 27 January, we stop and remember. We remember the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust, and all those who suffered under Nazi persecution. We remember the victims of later genocides-in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Holocaust Memorial Day is not just about history; it is about humanity. It asks us to look honestly at the past and commit ourselves to a better future. I shall never forget walking through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in December 2024, you may want to read my previous blog reflecting on this.

This year’s theme, “Bridging Generations,” speaks deeply to me. My own dad died last year, and he was the last person in our family to have lived through the second world war. He was not a Holocaust survivor, but even his stories of being a child evacuee in England, what it was like to be in hospital during war time or hide from air raids will stay with me. So as Holocaust survivors grow fewer, the responsibility to carry their stories forward rests with us. It is a call to action: to listen, to learn, and to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are never lost. Memory must not fade-it must inspire.

Education is the bridge between remembrance and hope. At Culham St Gabriel’s Trust, we believe that Religion and Worldviews Education is vital in this work. It helps young people understand diversity, wrestle with ethical questions, and develop empathy. These are not optional skills;they are the foundations of a society that rejects hatred and prejudice.

Holocaust education is not about dates and facts alone. It is about human stories-stories of courage, resilience and warning. When children and young people hear testimonies, they connect with real lives, and that connection shapes their values. It gives them the strength to challenge denial and distortion, which sadly still exist and are worryingly on the increase today.

So how do we build these bridges? I believe this is through dialogue and conversation. Through creating spaces where young people, indeed all of us, can ask questions, share feelings, and explore what remembrance means to each of us. Through intergenerational conversations -between children and grandparents, between communities and schools. And through creative use of digital tools to keep these stories alive and accessible.

So on this Holocaust Memorial Day, I invite you to:

• Pause and reflect: Join the national “Light the Darkness” moment at 8pm by lighting a candle and placing it in your window.
• Use the resources: The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust offers excellent materials for schools and communities – make use of them.
• Champion dialogue: Encourage conversations that build understanding and resilience against prejudice.

Remembrance is active. It is a choice to learn, to speak out, and to stand for justice. Together, we can ensure that the memory of the Holocaust shapes a future rooted in empathy and peace.

Dr Kathryn Wright
Chief Executive Officer
Culham St Gabriel’s Trust

New to RE? Developing Subject Knowledge

Becoming an RE teacher can be daunting. The subject is vast (and sometimes tricky). This blog is aimed at trainee RE teachers and teachers with other specialisms (TWOs). It is important to remember that whatever their background, no RE teacher knows it all; being a good RE teacher means being a perpetual learner. You will come across lived experiences that contradict the textbooks. Religion, by its very nature, is messy, evolving and contested. Expect the unexpected!

The up-side is that we are blessed with the most rich, colourful and captivating material to work with. We do not have to slog away to make our subject engaging; it just is! We have the best characters, stories and imagery. So, we have a lot to work with.

What makes a good RE teacher?

A good RE teacher has a sound knowledge of the basics (and expert knowledge in some areas), a passion for the subject and a huge dose of intellectual humility. We need to model the curiosity, humility and enthusiasm we wish to see in our pupils. We need to be comfortable to admit when we don’t know, rethink when we gain new knowledge and demonstrate how to listen, reflect and learn. In my experience, kids love to be part of the project: ‘let’s try to work this out together’ is more effective than ‘I know, and you must accept’. Many times a pupil has questioned what I have taught, for example, saying ‘but I am an X and we don’t do that at home/ believe that’. In fact, pupils have been one of the greatest resources for my subject knowledge over the years.

Challenges

The challenges we face include how to teach the six main religious traditions in the UK (and non-religious worldviews) in limited curriculum time. We have to work out how much will be enough to engage our pupils as well as equip them for life. And we need to make sure we aren’t dumbing down or over-simplifying so we end up misrepresenting traditions. Sometimes we’ll be managing negative assumptions or a topic with great personal and global/political sensitivities. Ofsted (2021) helped a little, stating it’s not realistic to think we can fully cover every tradition, and instead we should think carefully about what is ‘collectively enough’ to give pupils an authentic and meaningful knowledge of religion (and non-religion). This allows us to delve deeper in some areas, exploring diversity, complexity and controversy in meaningful ways.

A lot of thought and planning is needed for a curriculum that carefully selects content to build on pupils’ knowledge over time, helping them to achieve an ever deeper and more nuanced subject knowledge. You need a good grasp of a topic in order to know what’s essential and what isn’t. You won’t be planning a curriculum in your PGCE year (you may be asked to plan a sequence of lessons), but many RE teachers become curriculum leaders early on in their careers.

Where to start

Many people starting out as RE teachers have had little formal education in the subject. Those who do, may have some specialist university-level knowledge in specific areas. You may, for example, have studied philosophy and know a great deal about the thought of Immanual Kant. You may, however, know very little about the Sikh tradition, which you may be required to teach on your first placement.

It’s common for an RE teacher to have to improve their knowledge on a topic before teaching it. However, what is crucial is that the teacher has a firm grasp of how to represent religious (and non-religious) traditions and worldviews authentically, including the inherent diversity, complexity and, sometimes, controversy. The RE teacher should help pupils to set their learning in context and make meaningful connections. Sometimes you will need to help pupils work through contentious and confusing aspects of traditions and worldviews. That doesn’t mean you have all the answers, but you will have a developed framework and reservoir of resources to call upon.

We know from the growing body of research in the cognitive science and education that we learn by building schema, mental structures that help us to organise and remember. This short video from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) explains the basics of how our memory works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz-VPOtgLXg .

So it makes sense for you to start by building your schema for the religious and non-religious traditions you’ll be teaching. You need to attach new knowledge to old knowledge and understand the significance and influence of key figures, beliefs and practices across different religions and worldviews. One very simple way of organising the knowledge is to make a distinction between the Dharmic and Abrahamic traditions. You need to develop a secure framework for developing your knowledge of religion and worldviews, understanding the chronology and connections of/ between the major traditions.

So, where to start? Below are some of my top recommendations for building your subject knowledge.

This animation of the spread of 5 major traditions is a good place to begin (2 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFl6UBZLv4

Next you might want to watch this 10-minute TedED talk about 5 major world religions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6dCxo7t_aE

The best introduction I have found is Richard Holloway’s A Little History of Religion (2017). A concise and accessible overview of the world’s major religions it explores the origins, beliefs, and impact they have had.

Another book I recommend to trainees is James D Holt’s Religious Education in The Secondary School (2022). As well as providing a lot of practical advice, it includes concise summaries of the six main traditions in the UK. It’s a handy reference.

The Knowledge section on REOnline (https://www.reonline.org.uk/) has detailed and authoritative entries on many religious traditions. This is a very reliable place to go to build the detailed knowledge you will need to teach about specific traditions.

Another wonderful free resource is The RE Podcast (https://www.therepodcast.co.uk/).  The ever-growing number of episodes includes a breadth of topics, often featuring experts and insiders to help use learn more in an entertaining way.

Of course, the best way to learn about religion and worldviews is to hear from people from within the tradition themselves. RE Hubs (https://www.re-hubs.uk/)  have contact details for speakers and places of interest alongside many other useful resources.

And joining NATRE, the National Association of RE Teachers (https://natre.org.uk/ ) will provide you with a wealth of resources, CPD opportunities and the feeling of not being alone. There is a student rate!

Notes

It’s common to worry about pronunciation. Try not to. Ask people who may know to help you and try this SHAP audio glossary to help: https://www.shapcalendar.org.uk/glossary.html

Read Karen’s blog:

https://missevareteacher.wordpress.com/blog/

 References

Ofsted (2021) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-religious-education/research-review-series-religious-education#ambition-for-all

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

Old time is still a flying

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick.

For those old enough to remember Robin Williams’ performance in Dead Poets’ Society, the memory will no doubt recall Williams’ Mr Keating urging his pupils to “Seize the Day”, using Herrick’s poem to press upon his class the importance of the maxim, “Carpe Diem”.

Dead Poets’ Society was released in the same year that the first National Curriculum began to be taught in primary schools, but Religious Education was not included in the new National Curriculum.  The reasons for this decision remain relevant to this day.  Whatever our views on the wisdom of that decision, I would argue there have been negative consequences, including variable quality, weak accountability and the marginalisation of the subject.

However, 2026 brings new hope.  As a consequence of the government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review¹, we are presented with what I think is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ‘gather rosebuds’: inclusion in the National Curriculum.  But this possibility comes with a condition.  The government, aware of the continuing relevance of the reasons for non-inclusion in 1988, requires consensus from the subject community “on an RE curriculum that could be deliverable within all schools¹”.

So, it’s time for us to “seize the day”.

If we are serious about seizing this moment, we need to change how we work together. What follows are four principles I believe must shape our response.

• Start with Humility

The government requires that consensus should include “faith, non-faith and wider school stakeholders¹”, and this means that compromise will be essential, rooted in humility.  While I have lots of experience as a teacher, curriculum planner, and leader, I must acknowledge I don’t have all the answers, and there will be elements of any resultant draft curriculum statement I won’t fully agree with, or even not like.  This is the moment to remind myself that compromise is part of the democratic process, and the only way to reach consensus.

• Lower the Volume

As with any diverse community, there are some loud voices, voices that can be used to speak over others and command attention from outside the sector.  But now is the time for ‘indoor voices’; we don’t need to draw attention to our differences, particularly when we have been tasked with reaching “a clear shared position¹”.  My experience of working with the wider community means I’m privileged to have a voice, but I will keep reminding myself to speak softly.

• Think Long-Term

Inclusion in the National Curriculum will not immediately solve the problems our subject faces, and much will remain to be done even after potential inclusion.  We need to approach this first piece of work with an eye on the long-term.  I would regard the curriculum in my school as innovative.  However, it is unlikely that such an approach could be implemented immediately across all schools, so we need to think of a draft curriculum that is manageable for the current teaching workforce in the short to medium term but is also ready to be developed in the longer term.

• Prioritise Progression

One of the key benefits of any National Curriculum is that we as a subject community can put more emphasis on the long-term progression in children’s learning.  Rather than be preoccupied with how much of the curriculum is learning about worldview X or worldview Y, we can put our energy into “a well-sequenced and structured national curriculum . . . that could be deliverable within all schools¹”, that is, we can devote ourselves to the challenge of pupils’ learning in religion and worldviews from Foundation Stage, through primary school and onto secondary school.

Let’s work together, across our differences, to gather rosebuds; this is a prize worth winning.

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report-government-response