Resource Spotlight: Subject Knowledge for Teachers – Apocalyptic and Millenarian Thinking

February 2023

This month we consider an aspect of religion and worldviews that does not receive much attention, although it is an important dimension of our subject. This is apocalyptic and millenarian thinking. You have probably heard the word ‘apocalypse’, referring to the end of the world. Less familiar is the term ‘millenarian’ thinking, which describes the expectation of a thousand years of Jesus’ reign on earth, or a Golden Age of justice, before the world comes to an end. A lot of what we explore in the classroom, whether the idea of an afterlife, the kingdom of God or divine judgment, contains elements of apocalyptic or millenarian thinking.

Read a blog by Dr Alastair Lockhart, academic director of the Centre for Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, who sets out in more detail why this is an important aspect of our subject knowledge: What is Millenarian Thinking and Why is it Important for RE Teachers?

We present three articles from a Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (CDAMM), two are on apocalyptic and millenarian worldviews to clarify the language and underlying ideas. The third is an intriguing example of modern apocalyptic thinking around technology and artificial intelligence. You can browse the dictionary yourself for your wider interest.

Don’t be put off if you teach younger children and do not plan to introduce this mode of thinking to them. Read this as an adult and educator. This offers you a way to make sense of apocalyptic thinking for yourself and improve your understanding of the subject matter of Religion and Worldviews. When we explore stories or religious beliefs with pupils referring to heaven, judgement or the possibility of an afterlife, this is all millenarian thinking. You can be aware of this, even if you do not teach this. In fact, with your enhanced subject knowledge you will be able to answer pupils’ questions around these sorts of topics with confidence. Apocalyptic and millenarian thinking offers a way to frame a key aspect of our subject knowledge.

What is ‘millenarianism’?
What is the ‘apocalypse’?
Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Resource Spotlight: Big Ideas for RE

The Big Ideas for Religious Education project was inspired by the work of US curriculum experts Wiggins and McTighe.

Barbara Wintersgill considered the arguments they made about the curriculum also applied to RE. In 2016 she convened a group to explore this, chosen for the breadth of their academic and professional expertise within RE. The group benefited from the chairing of Michael Reiss, a member of the ‘Big Ideas for Science’ group. The publication was received positively and attracted interest around the world.

The development group identified six ‘Big Ideas’ which focus on what is most important for pupils to grasp in RE. They seek to provide criteria for curriculum content selection, have in-built progression and knowledge transferable to life outside the classroom.

We were concerned that RE curricula no longer reflected society. RE continued to focus on ‘six world religions’ while over 50% of the adult population and a considerably higher proportion of young people no longer held any affiliation to organised religion. Moreover, research had established that these ‘Nones’ were particularly disenchanted with the very aspects of religion that occupied so much space in the RE curriculum, such as organised religion and liturgical worship.

So it was obvious that worldviews other than ‘religious’ ones should feature in the curriculum. Religions have a direct or indirect impact on the lives of most people in Britain, whether they are religious or not. Big Ideas is a curriculum which reflects the world young people experience, and seeks to provide the means for them to make sense of it.

The Big Ideas that emerged were:

• Continuity, Change and Diversity (within and across traditions, through time and places)
• Words and Beyond (expression/interpretation through texts and creative arts)
• A Good Life (being a good person, living a good life, ethics)
• Making Sense of Life’s Experiences (life experience, religious experience, ritual)
• Influence and Power (social, cultural, political influences and interactions)
• The Big Picture (overall account of life/universe/everything).

The Big Ideas project very much fits with a Religion and Worldviews approach. It was developed alongside the REC’s Commission on Religious Education (2016-18), which suggested renaming the subject ‘Religion and Worldviews’. Some of the Big Ideas team were involved the Commission, and in the REC’s subsequent ‘Religion and Worldviews’ Project. There has been synergy and mutual influence between the two projects.

Big Ideas now has a website https://bigideasforre.org aimed at both curriculum developers and individual teachers. The website offers guidance for developing Big Ideas curricula for pupils aged 3-18 and growing number of exemplar units of work, written by a team of teachers and other specialists ­(27 to date).

As well as developing new teaching material the Big Ideas project is currently trialling and evaluating units of work with a team of 13 teachers in a variety of classroom contexts. Four West Yorkshire Local Authorities (Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale) have drawn extensively upon the Big Ideas project in developing their latest Agreed Syllabus. In an exciting development, the team behind this, Pennine Learning, is also adapting this curriculum for the primary section of the Oak Academy RE curriculum.

We hope teachers will feel confident to check out the Big Ideas. We recommend starting here: https://bigideasforre.org/the-essential-guide-to-big-ideas- for-re/

Teachers might find it takes time to move from a curriculum driven by content to a curriculum focusing on the Big Ideas. At KS3, for example, where a teacher might have taught ‘rites of passage’, the Big Ideas approach suggests that students explore how ‘experience of religious rituals… helps people make a connection with God or gods and with each other, or with what is most important to them.’ This would be Big Idea 4, allowing pupils to consider how such experiences allow connection, meaning and wisdom. Here you can see a richer, deeper encounter with the complexity of our subject. It is well worth the effort.

Further reading

The full narratives for each age group are found here: https://bigideasforre.org/what-are-big-ideas-for-re/

Wiggins, G. McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by Design (2nd ed). Alexandria VA. ASCD.

The original 2017 publication, along with later publications, can be found here: https://bigideasforre.org/Big-Ideas-Publications/

Resource Spotlight: Career Journey Map

May 2023

This month we present this ‘career journey map’, for whatever stage of your career, whether just starting out or developing your identity as a leader. This will help you to think about what your aims are, where you are heading and how the Religion and Worldviews community can support you. Beautifully illustrated by Jason Ramasami, the map wouldn’t look out of place on an office wall!

Think about the next steps and sources of support for you, your context and your overall vision. Whether you are in your early career, middle leadership, senior leadership or national leadership, you will find ideas and new challenges. As this resource suggests, be inspired!

Resource Spotlight: Christian Ethics of Farmed Animals Welfare (CEFAW)

December 2023

Why are Christian theologians meeting with farmers and veterinary scientists? What are they talking about? This December we bring you a ground-breaking project connecting the treatment of farmed animals with Christian ethics: the Christian Ethics of Farmed Animals Welfare (CEFAW). Humans farm huge numbers of animals around the world to eat, how can we understand what they need to flourish, and adapt farming practices to improve farmed animals’ lives? You might not think this is a religious matter, but the theologians at the CEFAW project certainly do!

For teachers exploring issues around animal welfare and the environment or looking for interesting ethical case studies, this project offers a new perspective on this significant global phenomenon.

For assemblies, lessons or your own understanding, check out the video resources created by the CEFAW team at Aberdeen University. Teacher resources have now been added on the same link.

Nadia Nadeem is a Primary teacher from East London, read her reflections on being part of this project in her blog Christian Ethics and Farmed Animals: a Teachers’ Fellowship.

 

Resource Spotlight: Developing a multidisciplinary curriculum through the use of knowledge organisers

September 2022

We bring you an innovative project developed by Katy McKay and colleagues at Dereham Primary School, developing a multidisciplinary curriculum through the use of knowledge organisers. Katy reports on the many positives she and colleagues found when introducing thinking and questions drawn from Theology, Philosophy and the human and social sciences. As Katy notes, her inspiration comes form the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus, a multidisciplinary curriculum for Religion and Worldviews in the Primary phase. Read all about Katy’s work here.
Katy’s blog
Knowledge organiser project
Norfolk Agreed Syllabus (download)