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Research

Some suggestions for improving pupils’ attitudes to RE

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Research Summary

The author shows how a ‘banking’ model (where content is ‘delivered’ efficiently to pupils who have scant personal involvement in it, in order to boost scores) is inappropriate for RE. He sets out to assess the value of RE in terms of their overall experience of the subject. 369 London teenagers are surveyed. Most are positive about RE (it builds respect and understanding); but non-religious pupils, Y10 pupils and boys are less positive. Questions are raised about how to engage these groups. Generally, participatory learning methods such as visits, debates and computer use boost motivation, and perhaps non-religious world views should be studied in RE. Teachers could look further into these ideas.

Researcher

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

  • Young people’s attitudes to RE and how they can be improved.
  • Differences between different groups regarding attitudes to RE, based on gender, religious practice or not and age.
  • How participatory learning methods (visits, debates, computer use) build more moptivation than ‘banking’ practices (where knowledge is ‘delivered’ to pupils in pursuit of examination grades).
  • Whether non-religious world-views should be studied in RE (in general, motivation is higher when pupils’ home backgrounds are affirmed).

What was done?

Questionnaires were completed by 369 young people – 237 boys and 132 girls – aged between 13 and 15 years, attending London schools.

Main findings and outputs

  • A ‘banking’ model is inadequate for RE (content is ‘delivered’ efficiently to pupils who have scant personal involvement in it, in order to boost scores).
  • Taking account of pupils’ background is favourable (e.g. if religions are presented in a way that they recognise from their own experience, their motivation increases).
  • The value of RE needs to be assessed in terms of the overall quality of pupil experience.
  • A questionnaire was designed to do this (see What was done, above): generally, RE was valued positively, 66% of pupils reporting that it aided respect for and understanding of different religions.
  • But less than half agreed that RE helped them to understand their own religion and only two-fifths agreed that RE had taught them something new about their own religion.
  • Girls broadly had more positive attitudes to RE. Year 9 pupils were significantly more positive than Year 10 pupils. Religious pupils were significantly more positive.
  • Pupils expressed a more positive attitude to RE where a church had been visited, computers had been used, or there had been a classroom debate. None of the other classroom factors, including teaching style, made any significant difference.
  • These activities can be classified as participatory as opposed to ‘banking’.
  • Questions arise about how to build the motivation of non-religious pupils (perhaps their backgrounds should be affirmed and non-religious world-views studied) and why motivation in RE decreases over time. Further research is needed.

Relevance to RE

  • Policy and curriculum documents, at different levels, should address the need for RE’s content to relate to pupils’ backgrounds and experiences.
  • Regarding pedagogy, when presenting religions, teachers should aim to take pupils’ experiences of them into account (bearing in mind that this can be a sensitive process).
  • The inclusion of non-religious worldviews in the RE curriculum should be considered, as a way of affirming the backgrounds and convictions of many students.
  • Participatory methods of learning (e.g. visits, debates, computer use) may be developed by teachers in order to boost pupils’ motivation.
  • Teachers could also monitor any decrease in pupil motivation over time in their own schools. If it is evident, what reasons do pupils give, and how can it be addressed?

Generalisability and potential limitations

Evidence is cited by the author to show that the research is reliable and valid.

Find out more

Measuring attitude towards RE: factoring pupil experience and home faith background into assessment, British Journal of Religious Education 34.2 pages 195-212 (published online 7 November 2011)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01416200.2011.623154

 

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