Global terms: Research Spotlight

Worlds Apart

Research Spotlight: Worlds Apart

December 2022

Emily Downe & Nick Spencer

 

Science and religion’ is one of the most interesting discussions it is possible to have in the classroom – not that you would necessarily know that from the wider public debate.

That debate has often treated science and religion as different (and competing) theories about the way the world is, and so reduced the ensuing conversations to an either/or: evolution or creation? God or the Big Bang? Religious experience or brain chemistry? Science and religion become worlds apart – and even worlds at war. Discussion slides into debate and debate slides into argument.

This animation is based on a three-year research project conducted by Theos and The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. The researchers conducted over a hundred in-depth interviews with experts (scientists, philosophers, theologians, etc.) and commissioned a 5,000+ national survey of the general public, to get an unprecedentedly deep understanding of how people, at different ‘locations’ in society, conceive of science and of religion.

The research made it clear that the topic was huge and sprawling. Indeed, it is more of a series of topics than just one. Much of this was drawn out in the research report Moving away from the shallow end, and more will emerge in two books on the topic that are due for publication in 2023 and 2024.

However, we are conscious that only a comparatively small number of people read books or research reports on these topics, and we wanted a way to reach a wider audience. Hence the animation.

Worlds Apart sweeps us through a universe of questions surrounding the science and religion debate. Dynamic, fluid visuals illustrate topics such as cosmology, evolution, anthropology, neuroscience, and ethics in a way that engages the imagination and brings the words to life. This allows a young audience to connect with these important concepts in a different way. The overarching idea is moving from seeing things from far off to looking closer at the details of the conversations. The film is bookended with being above the clouds, which acts as the metaphor for how things look different from a distance, and the film takes the audience below the clouds into the details of the conversations. The purpose is to inspire interest in the questions about science and religion, seeing that they are not simply in conflict with each other, and to invite people to join the conversation.

The overall intention of Worlds Apart is to inspire interest, provoke questions, open horizons, and improve conversations. We hope that the resource– along with the on-line Science and Religion Compass which is be launched in autumn 2023 – will (re)kindle students’ interest in a topic that encompasses some of the most important questions in life.

Some discussion questions from the animation follow below. Regarding how to use them, we imagine that teachers will show the animation and then discuss some or all of the questions with pupils, so that the film and questions work together. We would emphasise that the animation should be used to inform and steer the discussion, rather than just being a launch point: the animation serves as an interpretation of what each question means – the bad science vs. good poetry one being a particularly good example of this.The animation and questions seem suited to the secondary phase, but teachers will need to modify the questions depending on the age of pupils within this phase and their state of readiness: in this light, the animation and questions could also usefully guide a department meeting or CPD session during which their use in the classroom is being planned or discussed.

Discussion Questions

  • When did we become recognisably human, and what makes us different from other animals?
  • How should we read holy books? Are creation stories bad science or good poetry?
  • Are spiritual experiences a sign of something deeper, or are they simply an illusion of the brain?
  • If nature obeys laws, does that mean there is a lawgiver?
  • Is altruism just an evolutionary trick or a glimpse of who we were meant to be?

Emily Downe and Nick Spencer

What’s RE got to do with equitable mental healthcare services?

Research Spotlight: What’s RE got to do with equitable mental healthcare services?

Central to all we do at Culham St Gabriel’s is our vision for a broad-based, critical and reflective education in religion and worldviews that has the capacity to contribute to a well-informed, respectful and open society. As part of our current charitable objectives, we are engaging more explicitly with a range of researchers and thinkers who can help us to consider how the RE community can be central in advancing the kinds of knowledge that might contribute to more just, inclusive and equitable engagements with religious and non-religious worldviews across every arena of social life and public services provision.

June 2021 research of the month was presented by Tamanda Walker at the University of Leeds Centre for Religion in Public Life and explores engagements with religious and non-religious worldviews within Mental Healthcare provision in the UK and beyond.

Tamanda Walker talks about her research: What’s RE got to do with equitable mental healthcare services?

While the significance of all religious and non-religious worldviews are considered within mental healthcare provision, particular attention is given in this research project to indigenous African belief systems. These worldviews have often been negated, misrepresented, and/or inferiorised within Eurocentric systems of knowledge that have emphasised learning primarily around the world religions paradigm established under colonialism (Masuzawa 2005).

Emerging evidence shows that some African and Afro-Caribbean service users seeking treatment for both common and severe ‘mental disorders’ have at times felt pathologised as a result of a lack of racial, religious and cultural literacy amongst healthcare professionals. In this context, their normative belief systems have been ignored altogether, or occasionally received by clinicians as signs of ‘disturbance’ and ‘mental illness’, rather than being worked with sensitively and inclusively as part of treatment plans.

Given the stark health inequalities exposed by COVID-19, and in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, there has arguably never been a better or more urgent moment for the RE community to reflect on what role it may play in advancing an understanding of all religious and non-religious worldviews within healthcare. Perhaps most especially, the RE community might have a role to play in advancing a more informed understanding of the belief systems of groups and individuals that have been historically marginalised on the basis of both race and faith and/or subject to unequal or exclusive treatment within healthcare. (Boydell et al., 2013; Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charitable Trust, 2018; Codgoe et al 2019; Kinouani in Watson 2019; Mind 2020; Creasy et al 2021; Rethink Mental Illness 2021.

We invite you to move from the experiences of those ‘at the margins’, to ‘those at the centre’ as you reflect on and explore how a more critical, decolonised and reflective education in religion and` worldviews might contribute more well informed, respectful and inclusive healthcare provision for all.

Discussion & Reflection Questions

Substantive Knowledge 

  • In terms of the substantive knowledge offered to students: How might you develop some of your existing teaching and lessons to support pupils to explore the connection between (their own or others’) worldviews and mental health and wellbeing?
  • How might you use a case study such as the one offered in this video to help students understand the fluidity and complexity of worldviews? In particular, how might the stories of Nkamo and Phatsimo help illuminate how worldviews relate to each person’s social context, location and personal journey, including for example histories of colonialism and/or migration?
  • What substantive knowledge might it be helpful for students to have of indigenous worldviews and beliefs which are frequently left out or engaged less within RE teaching and learning?

Worldview, Personal Knowledge & Disciplinary Knowledge

  • My own worldview, positionality and approach to engaging with religion and worldviews and mental health in this case study might be described broadly as critical, decolonial and sociological. What can RE teachers and students learn from this approach to the subject at hand?
  • What other disciplinary and methodological approaches could be taken to explore and reflect on religion and worldviews and mental health and the issues thrown up by this research? What might theological, philosophical, psychoanalytic and/or clinical approaches offer to advance our thinking in this area?

Critical Religious Education and Social Justice

  • What role does RE have to play in increasing the public understanding of indigenous worldviews that are frequently negated, inferiorised or misrepresented within Eurocentric systems of knowledge? How might a better understanding of these worldviews contribute to a more equal and just mental health services provision?
  • How might critical and decolonial approaches to the study of religion and worldviews – such as those advanced and developed by anti-racist and womanist educator, Alexandra Brown – contribute to a more just and equal society and service provision in general? How might you draw on the resources Alexandra has developed within your own teaching and learning?
  • What expertise might RE professionals have to contribute to advancing the understanding of religion and worldviews as part of your school’s ethos around values, culture and inclusion?

Tamanda has also created an extremely important policy briefing with recommendations for school leadership, school culture, teacher training, curricula reform and RE. It is available to download below.

Tamanda will be joining us for an ‘In Conversation’ event on Wednesday 1st December 2021 to chat about this research, and her wider PhD focus on religious and non-religious worldviews in the public sphere.

Working with academic researchers & teachers on religion and worldviews projects

Research Spotlight: Working with academic researchers & teachers on religion and worldviews projects

October 2022

Jennifer Jenkins

 

In this video Jennifer Jenkins talks about her recent project working with academic researches and teachers to look at Religion and Worldviews. In particular Christian worldviews in relation to advocacy. As you watch the video here are some questions to think about:

  • How might you use these materials in your own setting as part of your existing RE Curriculum or when planning for a new one?
  • Which other social justice topics could be explored using this framework?
  • Are there other topics that would benefit from cross-phase working with academics and researchers from higher education?
  • How can we best distil the knowledge, ideas and expertise of academics and researchers in ways that RE teachers, subject leaders and non-specialists can easily digest and utilise for learning in the classroom?

Download these resources

Presentation slides

PDF — 2 MB

The Worldviews of the so-called ‘Nones’ Listening, Understanding & Teaching in Rural Lincolnshire

Research Spotlight: The Worldviews of the so-called ‘Nones’ Listening, Understanding & Teaching in Rural Lincolnshire

September 2023

Professor Andy Wright and Dr Elina Wright

At the start of a new academic year, we are sharing some early-stage research being done by Professor Andy Wright and Dr Elina Wright. Alongside other current developments in the subject, their work builds on the Commission on RE (2018) and explores new ways of thinking about a religion and worldviews approach. They use their local context, rural Lincolnshire, to exemplify their approach.

 

The Religion and Worldviews Project: Teacher-Led Curriculum Framework

Research Spotlight: The Religion and Worldviews Project: Teacher-Led Curriculum Framework

May 2024

Gillian Georgiou

Questions for Consideration:

  1. How can the RE Council’s curriculum guidance handbook (including the National Statement of Entitlement) provide a scaffold for our process of ongoing curriculum review?
  2. How might the Teacher-Led Framework resource (see below) help us to explore what the reality of a religion and worldviews approach might look like in our context?
  3. How might the Teacher-Led Framework resource support our continuing professional development?

The Religion and Worldviews Project is a project set up by the RE Council of England and Wales to investigate what a religion and worldviews (RW) approach might look like in the classroom. Each of the three teams working on this project used the curriculum guidance produced by the RE Council, which included the national statement of entitlement.

Our team was made up of teachers and teaching assistants located across England. This includes colleagues working in primary and secondary settings across community schools, schools of religious character and academies. Some hold roles across multi-academy trusts and others work as RE advisers and consultants. Each of us works in a different context, and our research needed to reflect that fact. Our driving purpose was to empower teachers to be confident curriculum thinkers.

We began with two key principles. The first is that worldviews start with people. That may be people as objects of study in the classroom, but it can also be understood as people who are interpreters of the world around them. This does not preclude the study of ontological concepts such as God, but it does recognise that it is people who are engaging with and interpreting these concepts. Our second key principle is that pupils’ ability to make sense of what they learn is a necessary part of the curriculum.

We carried out an initial literature review, which focused on three key areas: the definition of a religion and worldviews approach, the forms of knowledge in RE and the significance of questions about purpose, power and authority. We used this to support the development of the first version of our curriculum framework, which was trialed across our schools. We evaluated our work and refined the framework, using it for a second time with colleagues who were not part of our initial project team.

Our framework was constructed of four key areas: personal reflexivity, curricular framing, knowledge selection and person development. The first three relate to the Position, Engagement and Content elements of the national statement of entitlement. The fourth was included to recognise the ways in which our subject might contribute to a pupil’s life more generally. Each area included a series of questions for teachers to consider as they were reviewing either their whole curriculum or an individual unit of study. Addressing these questions supports teachers to move their curriculum towards a religion and worldviews approach.

We carefully reviewed the impact of using our framework. We noted that it gave the curriculum a sharper focus on context, helping pupils understand how this might impact people’s worldviews. This also helped us avoid abstraction and essentialism in the classroom, which impacted positively on pupil engagement. Our second key finding was that an emphasis on analysing the personal worldview of both the teacher and the pupil made learning more accessible for the pupils. Thirdly, increased clarity on the ways of knowing that were framing the learning enabled us to promote much deeper and richer engagement with the subject content in the classroom. We noted that pupils valued this highly.

A key outcome of our research is a resource intended for teachers reviewing their whole curriculum or an individual unit of study. The resource includes a series of short films in which our teacher researchers discuss developing and using our framework and its impact from early years to KS3. We hope you find it useful.

The resource can be found in the RE Council of England and Wales Religion and Worldviews in the Classroom Toolkit It is the Teacher-led Framework.

Further reading

Benoit, Céline, Timothy Hutchings and Rachael Shillitoe (2020), Worldview: A Multidisciplinary Report

The RE:Connect Project: RE and Climate Change

Research Spotlight: The RE:Connect Project: RE and Climate Change

February 2022 research of the month features Jeremy Kidwell

We’ve known about climate change for centuries. Joseph Fourier theorised the greenhouse effect in the 1820s, and we’ve had data indicate the climate was warming and CO2 levels rising since the 1930s. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been meeting and producing alarming reports since 1988. This is why the recent international meeting in Glasgow was COP26, because there had been 25 meetings before it. So why are we still talking about climate change and struggling to mobilise action to save life on earth on we know it? For several years now, climate scientists have also begun to ask this question, that is, why isn’t the clear and decisive information we produce on climate change not having the expected results in social change?

Social scientists call something a “wicked problem” when it becomes clear that there are dynamics at play which render a problem more difficult to solve than we might expect. Climate change is definitely one of these – especially inasmuch as we already know what sorts of changes need to happen in terms of reducing carbon emissions – but the complicated social dynamics of lifestyle and social change have left us stymied in a way that was on clear display in Glasgow at COP26 last November. To put this another way, climate change isn’t just a scientific problem after all. It is, in equal measure, a cultural problem. This realisation is really important inasmuch as we’ve confronted the climate emergency as if it was just a matter of presenting evidence about carbon emissions in snappy charts and ignored the social dimensions. This is reflected in school curriculum, where climate change is often treated as a matter for science and geography teachers, and rarely brought into teaching on other humanities subjects, and RE teaching is no exception. Given the ways that culture, vocation and values can be mobilised with such dynamism and creativity in RE, it’s time to acknowledge the crucial role that RE can and should play in confronting the climate emergency.

So how do we get climate change into our RE curricula? There are a few obvious starting points and well-trodden paths: one might start by adding discussion with pupils on the ways that religions have commented on climate change. The Yale Forum on Religion & Ecology has produced a good website which includes details of many formal statements by religious leaders. There are also an increasing number of religious groups intervening in public policy around climate change, which was seen in a presence from a wide range of religious leaders and NGOs at COP26. But as many teachers and policymakers quickly discover, the religious responses to and experiences of environmental change are far more complex and dynamic than their institutional expressions. By extension, pedagogical engagement across the messy edges of climate change and the messy edges of religion is much more complicated.

This discussion foregrounds the importance of enabling RE teachers to work with continuing research engagement. The research landscape moves in different ways across different subject areas, and whilst this is not the case for all fields, the need for ongoing engagement is particularly urgent for religion and ecology as it is a situation where multiple innovations are at play in an ongoing way: scholarship in religion & ecology often goes outside conventional formulation, highlighting ways that religion can appear in unexpected places. In a parallel way, pedagogical innovation and creativity are also demanded, not least because of barriers presented by syllabi, but also because pupils are often unprepared to engage with nature as part of learning in the Humanities. There are some good examples of dynamic and creative pedagogy which confronts climate change in the space of RE (and we’ll share more about these in a follow-up article a bit later in the year!), but by and large, this is a new frontier for RE pedagogy.

Katharine Burn at the University of Oxford, is one scholar who has done quite a lot of work to confront this challenge of research engagement for teachers. Her work, which has been done in collaboration with the Historical Association, has introduced some exciting innovations: introducing the role of Research Champions in schools, and using action research methods to collaborate with teachers around new approaches to CPD. With a shared desire to help RE confront the climate emergency, Ian Jones (Director, St Peter’s Saltley Trust), Kathryn Wright (CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust) and I sat down to design a project with this same kind of collaborative ethos – aiming to find novel ways to enable collaboration between scholarly subject research and RE pedagogy. We set about to design a project that could connect up cutting-edge research with innovative pedagogical practice to confront this paradoxical challenge. Rather than simply seek to replicate a top-down transmission approach to knowledge transfer, we settled on a teacher fellowship model. With funding support from CStG and St Peter’s Saltley Trust, we’ve brought together six teachers from across primary and secondary and at various career stages. We’ve had to adapt fast under Covid and Plan B protocols, but we’ve still managed to have some really challenging and exciting conversations about the pedagogical challenges that need to be confronted in learning and curriculum design. Our teacher fellows are each working on a curriculum project, and we’ve designed a series of workshops which each present a different kind of nexus where religion, theology, and climate change meet: around environmental justice, activism, scriptural reasoning, and RE learning through fieldwork. Our project research assistant and PhD candidate Amy Barnes, has also designed an ongoing set of personal reflections designed to give fellows a chance to reflect on aspirations, pedagogical and curriculum challenges and probing potential new forms of pupil teacher dynamics.

We’ll have more to share with RE:ONLINE later in the year as our curriculum projects start to coalesce and as we digest and share data from our survey of RE teachers, but for now we’ve confirmed our initial suspicions that there is a huge amount that RE teachers can contribute through their subject teaching to the issue of climate change. And there’s a huge desire out there to get this kind of work underway – 89% of the teachers we surveyed shared that they would like to do more work to explore the environment more fully as a theme in their current RE teaching. However, there are also significant barriers to this work. On that same survey, the highest number (45%) of respondents suggested that one the current syllabus prevents them from exploring the environment more fully as a theme their RE teaching. A lack of available work schemes (35%) and resources (29%) came in second as barriers to exploring teaching on this subject. This opening for “culture” in the midst of this supposedly technological and scientific problem has been a long time coming, but we’re ready and excited to bring insights from RE practice which can help RE teachers across the country to overcome these barriers and create new and dynamic learning opportunities in our subject.

The Faith & Belief Forum Special Objects Project

 

Research Spotlight: The Faith & Belief Forum Special Objects Project

January 2024

Stacey Burman

My name is Stacey Burman and I have been working as an RE advisor for several London boroughs for some years, involving some projects with the Faith & Belief Forum. I was therefore delighted when they asked me to become involved in the Special Objects Project.

How can we increase parental engagement in schools?

We wanted to consider how schools could help their parents and carers to better understand the type of learning that might be happening in the RE classrooms of their children. This followed the publication of the recent Culham St Gabriel’s Religion and worldviews survey in 2022, and the worrying finding of the 2018 NATRE survey that 16% pupils are still being withdrawn from lessons.

Our Special Objects project aimed to engage ten schools across five London boroughs to take part in a pilot program to boost parental engagement in the RE learning of their children. The idea was that children would be sent home with a particular object which was used within a certain religion or tradition. These volunteer families would then host the item in their own homes and explore the object together with their children, and were invited to take part in a simple online questionnaire that was designed specifically to start a learning conversation about the symbolism of this object:

What might it symbolise? How might it connect to some ‘big ideas’ or concepts such as ‘love’, ‘hope’, ‘belief’, ‘community’ and so on? We gave them a list of ideas.

We then asked them to think about how it might be used and what this might be showing and encouraged them to think about whether they had any other symbols or items or practices from their own worldview or tradition or in their own family experiences, that may be similar. Some even took up the opportunity to send in photos and videos, but we think more would have done so had they been able to add these when completing the questionnaire.

How can we encourage learning through personal knowledge?

The objects were purposely selected so that any connections with concepts from a particular worldview would not be obvious, and respondents were asked not to Google the objects. This was so that these families would have the freedom to identify and make connections of their own, as we wanted to focus on a model of learning that engaged parents through their own personal knowledge.

We aimed for 50 responses, but we managed to achieve over 70 and were delighted with the large array of ideas and examples from various worldviews and traditions: 32 of these were shared with us.

All of these were collated and shared with pupils in lessons, as well as in whole school celebratory events.

How can we include more worldviews in the classroom?

Almost all respondents said they really enjoyed the opportunity: 88% said they better understood how their children would be learning RE in their classrooms; and over 70% wanted to learn more. Many even offered to help share some of their own experiences with children at the school in the future. Overall, we feel that this project demonstrates and provides a model for how schools and SACREs can boost parental engagement with RE.

Religious Education and Emergent Technologies

Research Spotlight: Religious Education and Emergent Technologies

April 2022 features Paul Hopkins.

Culham St Gabriel’s funded an innovative project to explore the use of current and emergent technologies in religious education. This project has been both hampered and raised in importance by the pandemic – as this has thrown into sharp light the need and relevance of technology in teaching and learning.

After some initial baseline data gathering a number of teachers and advisors were identified who were doing interesting things with technology in the classroom. Some very much “of the now”, things that could easily be replicated in other classrooms and some more forward thinking. All of these were focussed on learning in RE not on the technology per se.

These teachers all provided a case study of the work they were doing including ideas and exemplifications and these will be put together in both a report and also a series of electronic books to be available via the Culham online portal to all teachers of RE – these will hopefully inspire and develop future practice among teachers of religious education.

As we emerge from the pandemic it is vital that we do not just “snap-bacK’ but consider seriously the opportunities that technology offers us to develop, enhance and challenge our practice both in terms of space, time and content. I hope watching the video will offer you some markers to consider the following questions and I would fascinated by any thoughts you have in these areas.

  1. What technology do you currently use in your classroom that enhances your teaching of RE?
  2. What opportunities are there for the development of the use of technology in your classroom?
  3. What barriers are there to stop this development?

If you want to please do post and thoughts on this to this PADLET (https://padlet.com/p_hopkins/culhamretech) or access via this QR code

Teachers’ Engagement with Research

Research Spotlight: Teachers’ Engagement with Research

May 2021 research of the month features Vivienne Baumfield

Central to the mission of Culham St Gabriel’s Research Strategy is recognition of the value of a productive relationship between research and practice in developing an evidence base on which to improve teaching and learning in RE.  However, much remains to be done to understand how teachers engage with research and how best to promote collaboration with researchers that recognises the expertise of teachers.  We need to know what kinds of research teachers use, how it is used and to what effect?  Developing such understanding is of lasting value to the professional knowledge, confidence and autonomy of present and future RE teachers.  The Teachers’ Engagement with Research project had three phases: a mapping review of published literature on general factors affecting teacher engagement with research; interviews with RE teachers to explore their experiences of using research; integration of the factors from the literature with themes from the interviews.  The outcome is a resource to guide support for RE teachers’ engagement with research.

So, what did we learn?

  • Teachers are interested in research focused on student learning matched to curriculum design as this has immediate relevance to the paradoxes and dilemmas of their everyday world. RE teachers would like greater focus on subject specific research that did not get caught up in discussions about what the name of the subject should be.
  • Access to rigorous evidence to support innovation increases teachers’ willingness to experiment in order to improve their practice, to justify their actions according to educational principles and to take ownership of change. RE teachers would welcome guidance on evaluating the aims, methods and outcomes of different types of research.  Accessible digests of research and funding for subscriptions to journals were also highlighted.
  • Deepening understanding of research does not necessarily provide answers but it does promote ‘boundary crossing’ between the domains of researchers and teachers, flattening hierarchies of knowledge.
  • It is a case of recognizing mutuality rather than similarity; teachers value alternative perspectives from researchers on situations, a ‘different set of eyes’ and working together as ‘co-learners’.
  • The conditions in school to support evidence-based change might be just as important as any efforts to communicate research evidence as schools as institutions can limit possibilities.
  • Research engagement needs to be a long-term, sustainable school improvement strategy with resources allocated to provide time for research in the working day and provision of teaching cover when necessary. Barriers to engaging with research identified by RE teachers include time, mental space and school culture.
  • Efforts to establish a research oriented culture are more likely to be successful when attention is paid to the development of school leaders.
  • Long-term partnerships with research-based institutions are beneficial provided the type of collaboration is discussed and agreed. Determining levels of autonomy and making strategies for critical friendship explicit is important.  Subject-specific organisations such as Culham St Gabriel’s, NATRE and Christian Education were mentioned as sources of support for engaging with research by RE teachers.  They also referred to key individuals, often Initial Teacher Education tutors, whose research in RE continued to be influential in their professional development.
  • We need to establish environments, hospitable spaces, in which learning conversations between teachers and researchers on the nature and use of evidence can flourish.

What next?

The project report includes full details of the mapping review enabling teachers and researchers to have an overview of what is known, what is not known and what we need to know from published sources on teachers’ engagement with research.  Most importantly, they will also be able to see how the review was conducted and evaluate its strengths and limitations.  The factors in supporting RE teachers’ engagement with research can guide the setting of priorities for future activity by research-focused institutions such as Culham St Gabriel’s, teachers and researchers who share a commitment to developing an evidence base on which to improve teaching and learning in RE.

Story Tent

Research Spotlight: Story Tent

March 2023

Anne Moseley

This month’s research looks at the possibilities and challenges of looking inside sacred texts in the primary classroom through the lens of story and dialogue with people of faith or no faith. Questions for discussion are:

  • What stories from other faith traditions do you already use in your RE curriculum? Do you have access to members of local faith communities who could come into school and read them?
  • Are there any places in your school that could be developed into a “tent” space where stories could be shared, and difference explored safely?
  • As we move towards a worldviews approach in RE, do we encourage an openness where pupils talk about their beliefs and values and bring all of themselves to the learning experience?
  • Do you think that it might be possible for primary pupils to become “translators” of religious encounters? Do you think this is a helpful concept to explore further?

The Story Tent was conceived as part of a PhD research project developed at Warwick University. The basis of the research was to explore the possibilities and challenges of looking inside sacred texts in the primary classroom through the lens of story and dialogue with people of faith or no faith. The aim was to explore whether this type of encounter would help pupils to develop intercultural competencies as outlined by the Council of Europe.

Action Research methodology was applied, and an intervention was delivered over two iterative cycles with a group of three primary schools in the Midlands area. A research team was brought together to deliver the intervention which consisted of academics, religious education teachers and community faith representatives. A total of eighty-seven pupils from three upper Key Stage Two classes (children aged nine to eleven years) participated in the research, which included questionnaires and self-assessments, team evaluative interviews and a group of seventeen participating pupils who also took part in a semi-structured interview.

The intervention was based on Scriptural Reasoning principles with an emphasis on face-to-face discussion and the joint study of Scriptures around a shared theme. It provided a safe place for people of faith or no faith to explore the messages within the stories. Three texts were brought together, each with a faith representative as a guide to introduce, discuss and answer any questions. This provided an opportunity for open dialogue about the lived experiences of the story tellers and the pupils themselves. As pupils communicated through the story it helped them to connect with others about the story and begin to explore meaning together.

The Story Tent intervention was built on an age-appropriate application of Scriptural Reasoning which was based on three underlying principles.

  • Firstly, through learning and understanding about the beliefs and values of other people, it enables a deeper understanding of oneself.
  • Secondly, through an emphasis of exploring difference it helps pupils to discover ways to disagree well.
  • Thirdly, at the heart of Scriptural Reasoning is the concept of the meeting place and shared hospitality where friendships can be built. The tent space is not owned or inhabited by one group over another; rather it is a space where participants are both host and guest at the same time: a “tent of meeting”

This in-between location became an interpretative space where all were welcome, and all voices heard. This concept of the tent as a place of meeting was instrumental in the concept behind the development of the research and we used a gazebo to embody the principle of the “tent” space each time we delivered the Story Tent intervention in the classroom.

There were several findings that came out of the primary data collection and data analysis and interpretation that followed. I have listed below some of the significant findings that might be of interest to teachers.

The significance of Story

The practice of listening to stories created a unique space which allowed pupils to suspend judgement, tolerate ambiguity and imagine the views of another. As pupils engaged their imaginations, it broadened their horizons and perspectives to consider alternative viewpoints in a non-threatening way. Pupils develop an understanding of another perspective by relating and interpreting their experiences through empathetic engagement. It was also interesting to note that as well as providing a vehicle for meaning making, the story helped pupils to embed their learning in a way that was easy to recall after the event.

The significance of Dialogue

The Story Tent “meeting” place facilitated an environment which was different in nature to that of the normal classroom setting. It provided a space in which different viewpoints were specifically encouraged in a way that could be held in tension and explored together. Through dialogue in this structured space, pupils encounter the “other” in a way that was not compromising to personal beliefs, but rather expanded pupils’ insights and broadened their understanding.

The significance of Drama

Drama was a particularly good vehicle for enabling pupils to exercise intercultural competencies as outlined by the Council of Europe. Exploring how to present these stories with a group of pupils required attitudes of respect, openness, curiosity, and an empathetic attitude towards the ideas of others. The process of working together required the pupils to be communicatively aware of each other and the different competing interpretations. To deliver the performance pupils also needed to demonstrate the ability to explain what they had heard and relate it to personal experiences to draw out the core meanings extracted from the text with the support of the storyteller.

The significance of Identity

Pupils who identified a personal religious identity and were also able to tolerate ambiguity were more likely to demonstrate higher levels of intercultural competence. Their own beliefs and experiences actually helped them to connect with the leaning and relate it to their experiences as they were already familiar with some of the language and concepts of religion and faith. The literature surrounding interreligious dialogue suggests that there could potentially be a “translation” of religion similar to that experienced in language translation. It would be interesting to explore further whether this idea of religious translation might be conceptually possible at the primary level.

For those who might be interested to find out more about the continuing work of Story Tent we have a growing set of resources available at our website

There is also a Grove Education book which outlines in greater detail some of the principles and findings that came out of this research and available online at Grove Books

Moseley, A. (2022) “Scriptural Reasoning for Primary Schools: How to Share and Explore Sacred Texts and their Stories”, Grove Books Limited, Cambridge. – ISBN978 1 78827 249 0