Subject Knowledge for Teachers – The RE Podcast
March 2023
For this term’s theme of ‘subject knowledge’ what could be more perfect than the RE Podcast? If you don’t know about this already, you will be glad to find out about it here. The RE Podcast is an enjoyable way to explore religion and belief in the world created by RE teacher Louisa Jane Smith. Louisa brings a wide range of information to listeners through interviews, first-person accounts and analysis.
Whatever age you teach, this is a wonderful resource to develop teachers’ own subject knowledge. You can listen while you drive, walk or complete other tasks so this is an easy and accessible way to fit CPD into your life. Find out about your world!
Louisa recorded the 100th episode of the RE Podcast in February 2023. Here she gives her top take home points from 100 interviews:
- Bad deeds don’t get written down straight away in the book of deeds – Allah gives you time to make amends
- The books of Acts was written before the Gospels
- Hinduism is more authentically called Santan Dharma
- Sikhism is more authentically called Sikhi
- There is a Religion Media Centre and they are awesome
- It is better to use the word Allah, not God when teaching Islam
- Intersex affects the same number of people as those who have green eyes
- There is something called Sunday Assembly which is like Church but non-religious
- CSTG run a Leadership Programme every year for RE teachers who want to progress their career
Louisa recommends this ‘decolonising’ series as a good place to start:
S2 e10: The one about the decolonisation of RE
Lou talks to ash about why we need to decolonise our curriculum
S3 e4: The one about decolonising Sikhi
Lou and Ash Kundi chat to Dr. Jasjit Singh about how we can be more authentic in teaching Sikhi
S3 e9: The one about decolonising Sanatan Dharma
Lou and Ash chat to Molly Acharya about how to decolonise our teaching of Hinduism. Or Hindu Dharma
S7 e7: The one about decolonising Islam
Lou and Ash talk to Shabnam Khaliq about how we can more authentically teach Islam with a focus on the impact of prevent.
S7 e12: The one about decolonising Buddhism
Lou and Ash talk to Dr. Wendy Dossett about our bias when teaching Buddhism.