Teaching Religious Education

Primary and Early Years

Elaine McCreery, Sandra Palmer, Veronica Voiels

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780857252524
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica delle scienze sociali

Many trainee primary teachers are uncertain as to the place and purpose of RE in primary schools. This book is designed to alleviate such fears and give trainees the security and confidence to teach RE effectively. Trainees are encouraged to recognise their own religious position and understand how they handle their own beliefs and commitments in the classroom. In addition, they will learn how to be sensitive to children?s religious viewpoints, allowing children to share their beliefs in a secure and supportive environment. A range of strategies help readers to provide engaging and appropriate RE across the primary age phase.

1

RE in England and Wales: the law, the
curriculum and attainment targets

Chapter objectives

By the end of this chapter you will have developed knowledge and understanding of:

• the law regarding RE;
• the role of a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education;
• the location of the curriculum for RE;
• the aims and objectives of RE;
• the Attainment Targets for RE;
• RE and school worship.

This chapter addresses the following Standards for QTS: Q3a

Introduction

Religious education (RE) can be one of the most dynamic and exciting areas of the curriculum to teach, for it is here that children can gain an understanding of the rich world of faith and explore some of those questions which are fundamental to human existence. Who am I? What is the purpose to life? What are my responsibilities to others? What will happen after death? How should I react to someone whose beliefs are different from mine? These are just some of the questions of meaning and purpose which form the core of RE as it is conceived in the law of England and Wales. These questions are not explored in a vacuum but in learning about beliefs and practices of different religions.

The notion that you should explore such big questions with young children and help them understand the world of religion may feel quite daunting. This book is written to help you. However, before you can begin to think about how to teach the subject you need to understand what the subject is about.

REFLECTIVE TASK

Before you start to read the rest of the chapter stop and think about your own religious education. What did you do? What do you think was the point of it?

How do you feel about it? Write your answers down so that you can return to them at the end of the chapter.

The law: what you need to know

Each country has its own understanding of RE. In Australia, for example, children are taught a social studies syllabus in which children learn about religion in society but also have a period of religious instruction given by teachers, usually volunteers, from their own Christian denomination or another faith. In France and the U S A the teaching of religion is banned in state schools. In Germany children receive denominational teaching.

A particular understanding of RE has evolved in the British context though, as in any subject, there are debates and controversies. This understanding of RE is embodied in the law as expressed in statutes and guidance. It is important that you have a good grasp of the legal requirements and understand its implications for you as a professional: Be aware of the professional duties of teachers and the statutory framework within which they work (Q3a).

The types of legal documentation

• Acts of Parliament and statutory circulars regarding the content of RE. Local authorities are bound to obey these documents.
• Non-statutory guidance about the content of RE. It is here that we find guidance about the aims and objectives of RE. These documents are offered as guidance to the implementation of the law.
• Local Agreed Syllabuses for RE (see below).
• Diocesan syllabuses or those supplied by the religious foundation of the school.

Two Acts of Parliament are of particular significance:

• The 1944 Education Act, which gave every child an entitlement to free education until the age of 15.
• The 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA), which established a National Curriculum.

There is a requirement to teach RE in community schools

The 1988 ERA (Chapter One section 8) makes the provision of religious education mandatory in all maintained schools (now known as community schools). This was a continuation of the 1944 Act. Children have an entitlement to RE unless the parents exercise their right to withdraw them (see below). Children should thus not be taken from RE for extra lessons in reading or any other activity, however worthwhile.

The curriculum is set at a local rather than a national level

Although RE is part of the basic curriculum, if you look in your National Curriculum you will NOT find a section on RE there. Instead your statutory curriculum document is a Local Agreed Syllabus. This syllabus is determined at a local authority level at a Local Syllabus Conference convened by a committee set up by the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE). SACREs meet regularly to oversee and support RE in the local authority and must, by law, review the syllabus every five years. A SACRE is comprised of four groups representing the Church of England, other religions and other Christian denominations, the council and teachers.

The RE curriculum is determined at a local level because this practice was already in place at the time of the 1988 ERA. Before 1988 all schools determined their own curriculum; what they taught in English, maths and science was completely up to the individual school or even teacher. The one exception was Religious Instruction; maintained schools had to follow a Local Agreed Syllabus. This was an indication of the sensitivity at the time surrounding what should be taught to children about faith and religion. The content had to be agreed by the community and not just left to the individual teacher.

At the time of the 1988 Act and the birth of a curriculum set at national level Parliament decided to maintain the status quo rather than set a National Curriculum for RE, a decision which some have since regretted. It means that there are as many syllabuses for RE as there are local authorities. An unfortunate consequence of this local location of the syllabus is that RE is often side-lined in school because it isn’t in the National Curriculum. Nevertheless, it is just as much a legal requirement as any other area of the curriculum.

There are, however, three significant differences between the 1944 Act and the 1988 Act. Under the 1944 Act religion in school was referred to as RI: Religious Instruction. The 1988 act changed the word ‘instruction’ to ‘education’. Government circular 1/94 further reinforced the idea that RE was education, with the decree that Agreed Syllabuses must not be designed to convert pupils or to urge a particular religion or religious belief on pupils. (DfE, 1994, p15).

REFLECTIVE TASK

Analyse the difference between instruction and education. What are the implications for the way you teach RE?

Secondly, an Agreed Syllabus shall reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain. (DfE, 1994, p45)

The explicit reference to Christianity has been perhaps the most controversial aspect of the law. Christianity was not mentioned in the 1944 Act because there was an assumption that Religious Instruction would be Christian. However, significant studies by Loukes (1961) and Goldman (1964) suggested that children were not understanding the subject matter and were finding it irrelevant. As a consequence, from the early 1970s onwards there was a move away from the Bible-based syllabuses of earlier years to syllabuses that prepared children for the understanding of religious concepts and then in later years to syllabuses that embraced the increasingly multicultural society. Rather than being a sharing of one faith, some syllabuses became the examination of world-views. These shifts brought about a backlash among those who were concerned that children were failing to understand the Christian cultural and religious heritage and who feared that a national identity would be lost. Their lobbying ensured that an explicit reference was made to Christianity in the new act. The justification for the predominance of Christianity was largely a cultural one rather than to do with the RE.

REFLECTIVE TASK

List evidence that Christianity is the religion which has had the most influence on this country. Think of the landscape, history, festivals, rites of passage and the Arts. What do you think children need to know and understand in order to have an understanding of this society?

The third significant change is that the law made explicit for the first time that all children should learn about the other principal religions practised in Great Britain. It thus recognised and valued the increasing presence of people of non-Christian religions in the UK, an indication of a hope that knowledge and understanding would also lead to mutual respect between members of different faiths.

The current guidance to SACREs is that Christianity should be studied at each key stage whereas the other religions must be studied in the course of a school career. The Non-Statutory National Framework for RE (QCA, 2004) also encourages teachers to draw on the religious backgrounds of children in their classes from smaller religions such as the Bahai faith and from non-faith perspectives.

The other principal religions studied are not prescribed by law but are generally held to be Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. There is an introduction to each of these religions at the back of this book.

The changes outlined above were specific to RE. The 1988 Act also introduced a requirement for the whole curriculum that it should: promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical [SMCMP] development of pupils at the school and of society (Ch. 1, ERA, 1988). SMCMP is a duty of the whole curriculum but has special resonance for RE. Chapter 5 of this book pays particular attention to it.

The right of withdrawal from RE

Parents have the right to withdraw their children from RE. If a parent asks for a child to be withdrawn from RE try to have an open discussion with him or her about the nature of their objections or if you don’t feel confident enough to do this, refer the parent to the head teacher.

Many teachers are understandably concerned when parents ask for a child to be withdrawn from RE, especially since it suggests that the parents are not willing for their child to learn and respect viewpoints other than their own. The most common group requesting withdrawal is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not permit the observation of festivals, including birthdays. There is also a concern that children will feel excluded if asked to leave the classroom. This is ultimately the parents’ choice and there are no neat answers to the problem. However, you can give the child something to do which is related to the subject under discussion. Example: ask the child to write a story on the theme of good overcoming evil when doing Diwali. Or try to think of an unobtrusive positive way of enabling them to be absent from the class.

CASE STUDY

A Year 2 teacher was concerned about the fact that a shy Jehovah’s Witness child would feel further excluded during her RE lessons so she arranged that the child should be made a special helper in the Nursery; her time in the Nursery just happened to coincide with RE lessons. She also held non-religious celebrations of the seasons so the child could join in.

You also have the right to be excused from teaching RE on the grounds of conscience. We hope that after reading this book you will see that you can teach RE without being unfa...