Big Ideas for Religious Education

June 2024

Within our theme of ‘curriculum approaches’, we are pleased to bring to your attention Big Ideas for Religious Education

The ‘Big Ideas’ is a different way to think about curriculum. Instead of focusing on content, the Big Ideas approach provides criteria for curriculum selection based on what we want pupils to know about the world, encapsulated in each of the 6 Big Ideas.

The Big Ideas project has been created for both curriculum developers and individual teachers. You will find guidance for developing a Big Ideas curriculum for pupils aged 3-18, supported by a growing number of exemplar units of work written by a team of 27 teachers and specialists.

Big Ideas takes a religion and worldviews stance and is consistent with the approach taken in the REC’s National Statement of Entitlement and National Content Standard for RE in England.

Four West Yorkshire Local Authorities have drawn extensively upon the Big Ideas project in developing their latest Agreed Syllabus. The same team are also adapting their curriculum for the primary section of the Oak Academy RE curriculum.

Jake Womack is an adviser in West Yorkshire who is implementing the Big Ideas approach both in the new Agreed Syllabus and in their work for Oak National Academy. Read this thinking here in his blog A paradigm shift.

Naomi Johnson in Essex has implemented a Big Ideas approach in her GCSE curriculum. Find out why this was exactly what she was looking for in her blog Discovering the Big Ideas Curriculum.

The Big Ideas team, Barbara Wintersgill, with Dave Francis and Denise Cush explain in their blog Big Ideas for Religious Education how the project supports teachers of all age ranges.