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Research

Using the Bible – what secondary teachers can learn from primary teachers

Julia Ipgrave

Research Summary

This research was carried out in a variety of English schools. In primary RE classes, the Bible was seen to be used more positively than was so in secondary RE classes. Primary teachers provided a more positive climate for the development of skills of reading and interpretation. In secondary schools, students (and teachers) often expressed negativity towards books and the Bible in their RE learning. Yet engagement with religious scriptures is necessary for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of religion.In primary schools, the greater scope given to stories, (and their power to provoke new understanding) provides a foundation on which secondary RE teachers could build.

Researcher

Julia Ipgrave

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

  • What are the differences between the use of the Bible in primary RE and in secondary RE?
  • How do primary teachers create a more positive climate for its use?
  • What can secondary teachers learn from their primary colleagues in this respect?

What was done?

The findings emerged from a wider project into the resourcing of RE and examples from related research in the field. There were 20 school case studies in (10 primary and 10 secondary) across England. At each school RE lessons were observed, policy and planning documents were viewed, teachers and pupils were interviewed about the materials they used in the RE class, and the young people participated in focus groups about the merits of selected RE books and resources in their learning.

Main findings and outputs

  • Generally, research shows widespread negatitivity to the Bible amongst young people, whose interest in books also seems to be declining.
  • However, primary schools seem to work harder at and be more successful in promoting a love of reading.
  • Primary pupils often report enjoyment of RE because stories are involved.
  • Secondary pupils tend to be more negative: books contain too many words and too much information. Teacher-produced worksheets or power-points are easier to memorise for the examination, with their short lists of ‘key points’.
  • For secondary pupils, Bible ‘quotations’ were better when taken out of context for re-insertion into examination answers on a range of topics. Teachers treated books as ‘dated’.
  • Primary teachers (when teaching is most thought-provoking) are ready to present Bible stories as representing realities that are different from those of their pupils, and to ask pupils to think about what is strange or puzzling.
  • Secondary teachers could build on this unsettling process. In teaching e.g. Shakespeare they do so. In RE, a critical reading of a text need not be so sceptical that pupils are not open to possible different meanings or puzzles, possibly expanding their horizons.

Relevance to RE

  • Regarding RE’s curriculum, the research finds that religious texts and stories are a rich but under-appreciated resource, specifically at secondary level.
  • In secondary pedagogy, teachers might try to build on the successes of good primary practice.
  • Pedagogical principles would include presenting stories ‘whole’, with attention to their original context. and encouraging pupils to be patient and imaginative whilst reading and thinking about them.
  • Pedagogical strategies would include asking pupils to consider different possible interpretations of stories, the perspective and roles of different characters in stories and the questions and issues raised, including why the stories are strange or puzzling.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The findings relate to a fairly small number of schools, but secondary colleagues can read them and weigh up whether they apply in their own schools. They could help to strengthen primary-secondary liaison and progression. They focus on the Bible but may apply to other religious texts.

Find out more

From storybooks to bullet points: books and the Bible in primary and secondary religious education, British Journal of Religious Education 35.3 pages 264-281 (published online 21 December 2012), http://0-dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2012.750597

https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/wreru/research/completed/dcsf

 

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