Issues and challenges regarding environmental education policy implementation
Challenges in Religious Education
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RE teaching at Secondary School Level in England: Challenges Angela Quartermaine MA Hons (Edin), Mst (Oxon) PGCE, MA (Warw) 3 rd Year Doctoral Candidate, WRERU Email: [email protected]
Transcript of Challenges in Religious Education
RE teaching at Secondary School Level in England:
Challenges
Angela QuartermaineMA Hons (Edin), Mst (Oxon) PGCE, MA (Warw)
3rd Year Doctoral Candidate, WRERU
Email: [email protected]
Understanding the Challenges ...
RE Academic backdrop
RE teaching in England
Policy impact on Schools
Impact in the Classroom
Discussion
What is RE? The Academic Backdrop
“... In the English-speaking world [religious studies] basically dates from the 1960s, although before
then there were such fields as 'the comparative study of
religion', the 'history of religion', the 'sociology of religion' and so
on..." Ninian Smart (1999:ix) Approaches to the
Study of Religions
Non-confessional, methodological agnosticism
Academic multi-disciplinary study of religious beliefs, behaviours and institutions
Terminology: Religious Education or Religious Studies or The Study of Religions ... or is a completely different descriptive term required?
What is RE? The Academic Backdrop
RE in English Schools: Historical Overview
1944 Education Act: “Religious Instruction” (RI)
1970s: RI began to include the teaching of world religions and humanism, as well as phenomenology. Non-confessional.
1988 Education Act: RI changed to RE 1990s: Experiential Approach (learning about/from religion)
2004: National Framework for RE, covers the non-statutory requirements for the subject
RE in English Schools: Some considerations
Outside National Curriculum
Legal requirement
Locally 'agreed' syllabus Parents / teacher rights to withdraw from RE
Hitting the Headlines
“Gove [UK Education Minister] to send copy of King James Bible to all English Schools” The Guardian, November 2011
“Archbishop: Omission of RE from English Baccalaureate 'indefensible'” The Telegraph, March 2011
“Showdown looming over cuts in teacher training'” The Telegraph, January 2011
Hitting the Headlines
Oct 2013: The Guardian
“Over half of schools failing in religious education, says Ofsted”
BBC News, Oct 2013
RE in English Secondary Schools:
Impact of policy in classrooms Subject status Content Time allocated
Limited number of specialist teachers Relationship of statutory requirements to exams
Wider school issues: league tables etc.
Professional Experience: Dealing with Pupil views
“I'm not religious, so why should I study RE?”
“Why do we have to study X ? I don't believe in that and I'm never going to meet anyone from that background!”
“Religions are just excuses for violence, we shouldn't be studying them!”
Main Challenges ... Historical vs current subject trends
Methodological challenges: does methodological agnosticism ensure respect for all?
Dynamic content: responsive to current issues
Appeasing all religious/non-religious groups?
Final Thoughts Need to improve awareness of subject's aims
Can have a positive impact on pupils' understanding of the world around them
The subject addresses a number of issues that would otherwise be ignored in the curriculum
