After RE aims to explore the nature of the educational representation of religion(s) and to support the development of a new vision for Religion Education (Religion and Worldviews). Its primary question is:

What ought to be the educational logic governing the presentation and representation of the subject matter of Religious Education?

The project draws attention to the limitations of the predominant world religions paradigm in the educational representation of religion(s). Drawing on the expertise of academic specialists in Religious Studies and Education Studies along with skilled and experienced teachers, the project seeks to reimagine Religious Education by recognising the complexity of subject matter while acknowledging the pedagogical challenges.

There’s no getting away from the complexity of the subject, so this project offers a framework of seven principles for dealing with it:

1. Purposes/aims first: education always begins with an intention, purpose or aim. While teachers have a variety of intentions and influences underpinning their practice, the general purpose of holistic formation (Bildung) allows diverse aims and intentions to be aligned and harmonized.
2. Agency: acknowledging the agency of teachers in selecting and representing the curriculum content, as well as bringing it to life in the classroom. This means trusting the judgement of teachers.
3. Pedagogical reduction: we can’t present everything. Selection, simplification and representation are fundamental to teaching. Reduction should not be accidental or prejudiced, but should be self-conscious and considered.
4. Exemplarity: examples are of something so there is nothing ‘sacred’ about the examples themselves. Teachers are freed from overspecification of subject matter.
5. Resonance: effective teaching and learning requires a curriculum that resonates with the ‘lifeworld’ of students.
6. Interpretability: subject matter is not just there, but always arises through interpreting the world. Good RE has a methodological emphasis which highlights that subject matter (knowledge, skills, attitudes, values) is contextual and perspectival.
7. Decolonising: all knowledge has a history which is not neutral. RE should explore the margins and the unfamiliar and select examples that show diversity.

Instead of only studying examples of ‘religions’, this approach encourages the study of the nature and implications of the term ‘religion’.

This approach can also be called exemplary teaching: because we can’t teach everything, we must select general examples that speak to our students about what we consider worthwhile. The questions for teachers: What are the selected examples chosen for? What are they trying to communicate? What diverse examples could be used (beyond the tried and tested)?

The framework does not begin from the point of view of settled content that must be taught and learned, but by first thinking about what one is trying to achieve and then seeking exemplary content in order to bring that about. This framework employs Wolfgang Klafki’s 5 questions for didactic analysis (https://www.afterre.org/framework): the questions allow for diverse, contextualised, interpretive responses, that acknowledge the agency and responsibility of the teacher, and the emerging autonomy of the student.

For more details check out the website: https://www.afterre.org

Recent project publications:

• Lewin, D., & Korsgaard, M. T. (2024) The power of exemplarity in religious education. Journal of Curriculum Studies , 1-12. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2024.2309973
• Lewin, D. (2023) After religious education: lessons from continental pedagogy. Journal of Religious Education, 71(3), 197-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-023-00211-2
• Lewin, D., Orchard, J., Christopher, K. & Brown, A. (2023) Reframing curriculum for religious education, Journal of Curriculum Studies. DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2023.2226696