Good Practice In Primary Religious Education 4-11

Derek Bastide, Derek Bastide University of Brighton.

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138157590
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134077656
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Intended for the use of primary head teachers, class teachers and teachers in training, this book examines the requirements of the 1988 Education Reform Act in respect of religious education in schools. It offers guidance on ways in which religious education can be developed successfully.

1 Introduction

Derek Bastide

There can be no doubt that the Education Reform Act of 1988 has caused a revolution in the educational system of England and Wales. The educational tradition and practice of more than 100 years was swept away and schools found that the system of which they were part and which had been one of the most decentralized in Europe was now one of the most centralized. A National Curriculum emerged with profile components, attainment targets, programmes of study and statements of attainment along with a requirement for formal assessment at the end of four key stages in a pupil's educational career. Within these new requirements were embedded a number of concerns for clearly identified skills, knowledge and understanding, for development and progression.

RE has a unique position within the curriculum framework of the Education Reform Act. It forms part of the basic curriculum — indeed, it is listed first — but is not part of the National Curriculum. Because it is not part of the National Curriculum it is not subject to the same requirements as the subjects which form the National Curriculum, though it is still a legally required part of the school curriculum (and has been since 1944). The Act has much to say about religious education and collective worship and this is looked at in some detail by the editor in chapter 3.

There is much evidence to suggest that as well as quickening the pulse and increasing the blood pressure of many schools, the Education Reform Act has breathed fresh energy into an RE which had in places become tired and weary. It seems a good time as the Education Reform Act is becoming part of the thinking of primary schools and the time of teacher panic is passing to take a fresh look at RE in the primary school curriculum.

The contributors to this book are all practitioners in the field of primary RE, either in schools, in training institutions or in advisory positions. All have much to offer which is thoughtful, informative and appropriate to primary aged children — in fact, what is good practice in primary RE. All the contributors write as individuals from their own experiences but at the same time all display a considerable unity of view. All would subscribe to the view that the role of the school in matters of religion is different from that of the religious or faith community and that attempts to proselytize in the county school are inappropriate. All are agreed, too, that RE must transcend the informative. Cold, hard facts are not enough! RE must foster understanding of religions at both a cognitive and at an affective level. There is a shared concern, too, that the pupils' understanding of religion should progress and develop and, in so doing, keep pace with the growing child.

Chapters 4 and 5 focus closely upon the RE syllabus in two schools: an infant school and a junior school. Both Hazel Waddup and Liz Collis recognize that RE must be planned across the whole school and that there is need for an agreed policy. Both are alert to the dangers of haphazard and individual approaches to RE — the odd story arising out of the class topic, for example — and Liz Collis makes special provision of RE mini-topics to guard against this. Hazel Waddup is particularly concerned about the spiral nature of the curriculum and the consequent need for planned integration. They both ask the question at different stages: 'What ought the children to know and understand?' and there is the emerging recognition that RE must be defined in terms of its subject content and its key concepts.

Comparatively little has been written about making RE special in the primary school and this is an unfortunate omission. Erica Musty has the advantage of a background which includes both religious education and the education of children with special needs and she applies her wide experience in the preparation of an appropriate approach to RE in chapter 6. At the heart of her concern is the philosophy that all children have individual needs in learning and that schools can manage classrooms to meet those needs. Because of their learning difficulties children often spend a disproportionate amount of time in acquiring basic knowledge and skills, with the result that their cultural and spiritual development may be neglected. Arguing from the position that pupils' learning should include aspects of the curriculum which they enjoy and in which they are able to progress and develop, Erica Musty presents a range of practical approaches designed to meet this situation.

Planning implies a planner and RE seems to nourish best in primary schools where there is a curriculum consultant who will coordinate RE and oversee the planning, unless, as in Hazel Waddup's case, the head-teacher takes personal charge. Elaine Bellchambers is a lively RE consultant who describes her work in chapter 7. In this autobiographical chapter, full of good sense, she discusses the problems encountered in the staffroom and describes in detail the strategies she used to establish RE as an important element in the curriculum of her school. It should prove to be essential reading for newly-appointed and established RE consultants alike.

A crucial issue which pervades all thinking about RE in the primary school is its place in class topics. Such a concern underlies the chapters from Hazel Waddup, Liz Collis and Erica Musty. Dennis Bates tackles the question head-on in chapter 8 'Developing RE in topic-based approaches to learning'. It is a contribution which requires particularly careful reading. In an incisive way he analyzes the approaches which have been adopted to RE since the work of Goldman and the popularity of 'depth' theology in the 1960s and urges that the core of RE work within a topic-based approach in primary schools must be the subject content of religion and the concepts which underlie it. Readers who are familiar with the changes and developments both in RE and in approaches to topic work over the past twenty-five years will enjoy reading the chapter from the beginning. Those less familiar may find it more helpful to read the last part first, beginning at 'Good practice in topic work in RE'.

Having considered curriculum planning issues, the next three chapters examine three different strategies in teaching RE: the use of artefacts, story and drama.

Artefacts — objects used in the life and practice of religions — can be a powerful way of providing children with first-hand experience of religion in the classroom. Vida Barnett emphasizes the importance of the visible and tangible in the understanding of religion. Aware that artefacts out of context can be completely dead objects, she demonstrates ways of using them creatively in the classroom. She looks carefully at ways of using artefacts which do not give offence and gives helpful guidance on acquiring them inexpensively.

Carole King discusses the importance of story in the educational experience of children, and not just of young children. She identifies a number of the functions of story and discusses in some detail the significance of a variety of stories for developing an awareness of religious ideas and symbols. In a very practical chapter, Carole King discusses a number of helpful books for teachers to read with children and then goes on to show the importance too of the children writing their own stories. The chapter concludes with a detailed consideration of the role of story in assembly — a useful cross reference with Alan Brown in chapter 12.

From the rare position of being both a highly experienced teacher of drama as well as a primary education specialist, Kate Fleming argues in a tightly written chapter for the importance of drama as a tool in the development of children's religious understanding. She leads the reader firmly away from the notion of drama as a simple straightforward enactment of religious stories to an approach based on thinking from within. Using the symbolic language of drama to interpret abstract concepts into a concrete form she takes, as an exemplar, the parable of the Good Samaritan and demonstrates in a detailed way how she would develop it over four workshops. By experiencing from the inside, she argues that children are able to discover the implications of a role which could lead to a change in understanding.

It is impossible to look at the clauses on religious education in the Education Reform Act without giving some consideration to collective worship in the primary school. Alan Brown addresses himself to this controversial area. He acknowledges that the provisions of the Education Reform Act are detailed and therefore intricate; it is this complexity, he argues, which has led to poor and inaccurate reporting in the media, leading in turn to considerable misunderstanding among many teachers. He spends time looking closely at the provisions of the Act, exploring in particular the notion of worship as an educational activity. He offers a helpful and constructive framework within which primary schools can approach and plan their assemblies. He does not 'spoon-feed' — planning assemblies is an activity which staffrooms must work through themselves in detail. However he does include an extensive annotated bibliography which should prove to be of considerable use in the task.

One of the most significant current issues in RE is attainment and assessment. Since the framework of profile components, attainment targets, programmes of study, statements of attainment, assessment and so on has been established to deal with the foundation subjects of the National Curriculum, there has been extensive discussion as to whether RE ought to conform to the same framework. The editor considers the issues involved and proposes a way in which a familiar foundation model of RE — Ninian Smart's seven dimensions of religion — can fit into the National Curriculum framework with advantage both to the teacher and the pupil. There is, of course, risk here as this is, as yet, a largely uncharted sea and it may well be that the process used in the chapter is more important ultimately than the product. However, SACREs around the country are giving active consideration to this issue and no treatment of the contemporary RE scene can ignore it.

The intention of this book is that to assist headteachers and teachers in primary schools, teachers in training and members of SACREs to plan RE in the 1990s. Not only has RE itself been developing and changing but the whole system in which it is inevitably embedded has also been subject to change — and a change which has been swift and in ways revolutionary. Schools have been forced to examine their practices and to reorder their priorities and these have inevitably had implications for religious education. The following chapters seek to address these implications.

2 The Aims of Religious Education¹

Derek Bastide

A number of primary school teachers attending courses at a teachers' centre were asked the following question: 'What do you think ought to be the aim of religious education in school?' Here is a sample of their replies.

• (a) To get the children to know something about God. Hardly any of them seem to go to Sunday school these days so it's the only opportunity they'll have to learn about Him.
• (b) I don't know. I never teach it myself. I'm not religious.
• (c) To give the kids some knowledge of their religious background. After all they've got to know something to understand Milton and Shakespeare.
• (d) To help the children to have some understanding of how other people live and what they believe. To make them more tolerant I suppose.
• (e) To make children Christian.
• (f) To make children better behaved. I guess — though it doesn't seem to work!

It is this wide range of answers which shows how much confusion there is about the aims of RE. Views certainly do differ though it is possible to detect three broad — and differing — approaches:

• (i) the 'confessional' approach;
• (ii) the 'giving them the facts' approach;
• (iii) the 'understanding religion' approach.

Briefly, these mean:

The 'confessional' approach sees the aim of religious education as leading pupils into Christian commitment — replies (a) and (e) above fit neatly into this approach. The approach assumes the truth of the Christian religion and would seek to initiate pupils into it over the period of compulsory education. In practice, this aim is little different from that of the Church or the Sunday school. Sometimes it has been called the 'missionary' approach. It is interesting that reply (b) might also subscribe to this view of the aims of religious education — although she does not agree with it!

The 'giving them the facts' approach rejects completely the 'confessional' approach with its desire to teach children to be Christians. It adopts a completely neutral view of whether religions are true or false; they are around and children ought to know about him. Reply (c) above fits well into this approach.

'The understanding religion' approach rejects both these approaches. It starts from an uncommitted position but does not feel that just giving children information is sufficient. Children need to be helped to understand religion. Reply (d) fits partly into this approach.

How Did All This Come About?

Historically in England there has always been a close link between school and church. Most schools before 1870, the date when compulsory education for all was agreed, were founded by religious bodies and transmitted their religious teaching. Most of the schools built as a result of the 1870 Act continued the practice of giving religious instruction although of a non-denominational kind. In the 1944 Butler Education Act, when religious instruction was made compulsory, it was only making mandatory what was universal practice.

The 1944 Education Act required the following with regard to religion:

• (i) that religious instruction should be given in every county school;
• (ii) that each day should begin with an act of worship;
• (iii) that there should be a right of withdrawal for both pupils and teachers on the grounds of conscience;
• (iv) that each local education authority should formulate its agreed syllabus for religious instruction (or adapt that of another authority).

This clearly implied a 'confessional' approach to religious teaching. The name of the subject, religious instruction, the daily act of worship, the provision for parents to withdraw their children from both the teaching and worship and of non-believing teachers to refuse to enter into this part of the curriculum on the grounds of conscience all showed that what the Act intended was that children should be inducted into the Christian religion. Agreed syllabuses, written at this time, make this abundantly clear. Here is an example from the Surrey Syllabus of 1945:

The aim of the syllabus is to secure that children attending the schools of the county ... may gain knowledge of the common Christian faith held by their fathers for nearly 2000 years; may seek for themselves in Christianity principles which give a purpose to life and a guide to all its problems, and may find inspiration, power and courage to work for their own welfare, for that of their fellow creatures and for the growth of God's kingdom.

This approach to religious teaching reflected the sort of society at the time. Most people identified in some way and at some level with the Christian religion. A large majority turned to the churches for the rites of passage — for baptism, for marriage and for burial, though the majority were not regular church attenders. There were, of course, groups within society which clearly rejected the Christian religion, bodies like the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society. They were persistent campaigners for the removal of this sort of religious teaching from the schools but they made little headway with the vast majority of parents and teachers.

However changes were afoot both in school and in society. During the 1950s and 1960s there was immigration into Britain on a large scale from the Caribbean, Africa, Cyprus and from the Indian sub-continent. Practically all those from India and Pakistan practised religions other than Christianity. Mosques began to appear in Bradford, Hindu temples in Manchester and Gurdwaras (Sikh temples) in Middlesex. These new residents had children who attended local schools alongside indigenous children and it was not unusual in many of our cities for a teacher in a primary school to find that she had within her class adherents of four or more religions.

This, of course, raised the question of whether it was right given a class containing practising Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus to present Christianity as the religion. Some people saw no problem but many others did.

In a wider way too within the general population there were changes ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Aims of Religious Education
• 3 Religious Education and the Education Reform Act
• 4 Planning RE Across an Infant School
• 5 Planning RE Across a Junior School
• 6 Making RE Special in the Primary School
• 7 The Role of the RE Consultant
• 8 Developing RE in Topic-based Approaches to Learning
• 9 The Use of Artefacts in the Classroom
• 10 The Place of Story in RE
• 11 Drama as a Teaching Strategy in Primary RE
• 12 Worship in the Primary School
• 13 Attainment in RE: An Exploration
• Notes on Contributors
• Index