Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School

A Companion to School Experience

Philip Barnes, L. Philip Barnes, Philip Barnes, L. Philip Barnes, Philip L Barnes, L. Philip Barnes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138783720
• eBook ISBN: 9781317666660
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The third edition of Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School draws together insights from current educational theory and the best contemporary classroom teaching and learning, and suggests tasks, activities and further reading designed to enhance the quality of initial school experience for the student teacher. This third edition has all new content and contributors, which take account of recent developments in the subject.

Key themes addressed include:

• the aims and place of religious education in the curriculum;
• recent policy developments;
• developing lesson plans and schemes of work;
• the role of language and talk in religious education;
• spirituality and spiritual development;
• assessment in religious education;
• religious education at both Key Stage 4 and at A Level;
• religion education in relation to moral education;
• the role of computers;
• inclusion;
• professional development.

Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School is designed to provide student teachers with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to teaching religious education in the secondary school.

Part I

The context of religious education

1 The aims and purpose of religious education

Geoff Teece

Introduction

In 2010 the Department for Children, Schools and Families (now the Department for Education) said that the development of religious education (RE) in community schools, and also the provision of state-funded schools with a religious character, has been evolutionary (DCSF 2010: 20). This evolution begins with the Education Act 1870. During the period from 1870 to the present day RE has evolved to meet and reflect political, educational, theological and social changes. Significant social changes such as increasing secularity and plurality are fundamental influences in the way that RE has developed over time. You will find information on policy and other issues elsewhere in this book. In this chapter we shall explore the aims and purpose of RE both philosophically through thinking about a number of contested views about RE, and historically as expressed in agreed syllabuses and more recently in a variety of national documents.

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• reflect upon a variety of contrasting understandings of the aims, nature and purposes of RE;

• understand how the subject has developed over about one hundred years of historical development;

• formulate your own views about the aims and purpose of the subject.

Thinking philosophically: RE as a contested subject

Task 1.1 Your view of the aims of RE

As a new RE trainee you will have explained your reasons for wanting to become an RE teacher in your application and mostly likely been asked about them at interview. Reflecting back on that, how would you answer the question ‘What in your opinion should be the aims and purpose of RE?’ And why?

There are varying views as to what the aims of RE should be. This is partly due to the fact that RE for many people is bound up with personal values which are sincerely held, in so much as their religion is the most important thing in their lives. The idea of RE, therefore, can raise strong emotions and fixed positions. Uncertainty about RE may also stem from the two words which comprise its title: religion and education. Both of these words represent, what can be called, contested concepts. This means that it is possible to disagree about what we mean by the terms. For example, is education about developing whole persons, a form of human development or is it merely a utilitarian enterprise designed to fit people for the world of work? Religion is just as complex. Does it make sense to talk about something called religion which exists independently of individual religions as some kind of universal phenomena into which we should initiate children, or can we only talk about the Christian religion, the Hindu religion, etc., and hence how many of these religions we should teach children about? Alternatively, we could take the view that this latter possibility isn’t RE at all and that if RE is to be religious, then children should be taught to be Christians, Hindus and so on. Of course this view highlights a key dilemma within RE. On which of the two words should the emphasis lie – religion or education? These may seem like big and intractable questions to begin with, but my experience as a teacher educator has convinced me that we do intending teachers a disservice if we do not allow them opportunities to discuss such questions.

Strong evidence pointing to uncertainty about the nature of the subject can be found, for example, in reports from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and in the findings of the project developed at the University of Glasgow (Conroy 2011) called ‘Does RE Work?’ Recently Ofsted (2010; 2013) has reported that in many cases teachers are uncertain about the ‘core purposes’ of RE. They note that whilst this may provide the basis for stimulating debate within the subject community, it doesn’t help teachers to become effective in the classroom. Indeed ‘teachers were often working with a variety of different perspectives about the basic purposes of the subject’ (Ofsted 2010: 42).

Arguably one of the most interesting aspects of the briefing paper that accompanied the ‘launch of findings’ conference of the major Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project ‘Does RE Work?’ is how it throws light onto why such lack of clarity has come about. The project claims that unlike curriculum subjects such as history, geography or maths, which are ways of understanding the world, religion ‘represents a way of standing in the world’. In other words, religion is, like education itself, a social practice. According to the project, RE carries an ‘explicit burden’ to address many of the ‘normative concerns, social expectations, economic considerations and cultural anxieties inherent in education as part of its charge to shape young people’s spiritual, moral and social attitudes and behaviours’ (Conroy 2011: 2). Consequently, according to the project, politicians and policy makers have burdened RE with a list of expectations, not all equally shared or understood, the result of which is that the subject has become ‘freighted with too many expectations’ (Conroy 2011: 5–6). The project lists thirteen such expectations ranging from religious literacy to sex and relationship education. It is because of this impossible burden that RE ‘struggles to enjoy a well-defined academic space in schools’ (Conroy 2011: 6). This may be an overly pessimistic generalisation, but beginning with a discussion of some of these various ways of possibly understanding the subject is important for intending teachers of RE.

What is the purpose of RE?

I begin all PGCE RE courses with a discussion exercise which attempts to get at the heart of these issues about the nature of RE. Such an exercise would involve something like the following; see Task 1.2.

Task 1.2 Contrasting purposes of RE

Consider the statements below, and try and identify how far and in what way you agree or disagree with such views. You might like to note what is acceptable to you and why. Additionally, you might like to consider how these statements stand as complete views of RE. (Try and do this before reading the comments below.)

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to establish social cohesion to prevent extremism.

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to reinforce pupils in their own faith.

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to teach pupils morals.

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to teach pupils about the major religions of the world.

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to enable pupils to understand religion.

The purpose of RE is. . . . . .to enable pupils to engage with the ‘big questions’ in life.

Is the purpose of RE to establish social cohesion to prevent extremism?

The first thing to say about this is to question whether such an ideal as social cohesion can be an aim of a particular subject on the curriculum or whether it should be an aim for education in general. Furthermore, can one aim to make someone tolerant? Isn’t tolerance, acceptance of others’ lifestyle or values, a consequence of something else? So, is this suggested aim saying that learning about religions leads to social cohesion? Can simply knowing something change or contribute towards the development of someone’s attitudes, for this statement is primarily concerned with attitudes? Is this the reasoning behind the clause in the 1988 Education Reform Act that states that agreed syllabuses for RE should ‘take account of’ the teachings and practices of the other (non-Christian) religious traditions? Certainly this has been an accepted aim of the subject since the 2004 Non-Statutory Framework for RE, which states that RE ‘enables pupils to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. It promotes discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice’ (QCA/DfES 2004: 7). Recently the role of education in contributing to social or community cohesion has included aspects of the coalition government’s ‘prevent strategy’ whereby schools amongst others are expected to play their part in preventing young people becoming involved in religious ‘extremism’ or terrorism. We could spend a lot of time unpicking what religious extremism might mean, but RE is one subject that has been identified as contributing positively to this government initiative. The 2013 Review of RE in England (REC 2013: 14 and 15) arguably develops this ideal more comprehensively and places emphasis on developing pupils’ critical faculties in studying religion so that they can, for example, ‘appreciate and appraise the nature, significance and impact of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning’; ‘express with increasing discernment their personal reflections and critical responses to questions and teachings about identity, diversity, meaning and value, including ethical issues’; and ‘enquire into what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the wellbeing of all’. The extracts from the 2013 Review are helpful here in that they appear to suggest that the aim of the subject in this area is to enable pupils to become more discerning and intelligent about diversity. In so doing it is setting expectations that are ambitious but understandable within the context of a curriculum subject.

Is the purpose of RE to reinforce pupils in their own faith?

It could be said that this statement implies that we recognise fully the pluralistic nature of society. However, whilst we may wish to assert that RE must take into account the variety of pupils’ religious backgrounds, it is generally agreed that it is the role of the family and the religious community to ‘bring children up’ in the faith. It is not the job of the maintained school, though it may well be the job of the voluntary school along with the family and religious community to nurture children in their faith. That is why, for example, it is seen as appropriate for children attending a Roman Catholic primary school to take mass on a regular basis. This is not allowed in law for maintained schools. It also explains why RE and collective worship are governed by different regulations in voluntary aided schools, and to some extent in voluntary controlled schools.

Is the purpose of RE to improve pupils’ morals?

Most teachers reply to this statement, ‘Whose morals?’ It seems there is a difficulty with this view, not only because of the complex question of whether there really is agreement in society about shared values, but also because many would question whether it is indeed possible to teach children to be moral or good.

Secondly, whilst we must recognise that all religions have a moral dimension, learning only about that aspect is not enough.

Thirdly, if the teaching of morals is a task that the school should engage in, and it is difficult to see how this aspect is not to be addressed in some way, this is a task for the whole of schooling. Very recently the coalition government as part of its prevent strategy, mentioned above, have tasked schools to ‘promote’ British values. Much discussion has arisen from this, both for and against. What are British values and what makes them British? Aspects of what schools are tasked to do include:

• enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

• encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, to show initiative and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling pupils to acquire an appreciation and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people.

There are moral dimensions to all subjects, as well as the part that moral values play in the general ethos of the school and the hidden curriculum. One can see how effective RE might contribute to the above, but for some teachers, to ally morality too closely to RE as a school subject is seen as both limiting and potentially misguided.

Is the purpose of RE to teach pupils about the religions of the world?

Many teachers might wish to support this view, but it is not without its difficulties. Firstly, detractors point to the possibility of conf...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Notes on contributors
• Introduction
• Part I The context of religious education
• Part II Teaching and learning
• Part III Classroom issues
• Part IV Religious education and the whole school
• Part V Supporting professional development
• Bibliography
• Index