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