My pupils are desperate to know what religion I am. I am not telling them. It’s been a quite amusing and unintended behaviour management strategy; low-level disruption dissipates instantaneously to be replaced by rapturous attentiveness the very moment an individual tries to gather clues about my identity. My reasoning, though, goes much deeper than this. My religious beliefs are not that relevant.
It frustrates me that so much credit at GCSE can be given-over to the “in my opinion” response. I am interested the views of my pupils and enjoy giving opportunities for debate and discussion. But, I am not that interested. What I have seen in the RE classroom over the past 3 years is a worrying lack of time given over to enriching children’s’ skills in empathy for others views via a genuine critical assessment of their own views. This, I argue, is much more important. As we look to implement the changes which have been made nationally, I hope that this is might be on the cards for the future of RE.Read More »
Religious Education Matters 