Last word
This article is for paying subscribers Small change for RE?
Mark Chater argues for radical reform of RE. Abbreviated from a keynote given to the Humanists UK RE conference, 28 November 2020.
Articles by Mark Chater
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For the staffroom
This article is for paying subscribers On Attainment in Religious Education: keep the main thing the main thing
IntroductionHow do we measure pupil progress and attainment in RE? Have we got it right, could we do it better? This article argues that our current models of attainment are too complex, and calls for a radically simple...
Opinion
Seven lives in seven books
It is easy for us educationalists to fetishise books. In and out of our conscious lives, books get everywhere: books for marking, books for research, books to write and – I hope – books for simple recreation. Since...
Theory and practice
Shifting ground: why current debate about the future of RE matters to teachers … and to society
There is growing recognition that the situation in which RE finds itself today is a tangled and unhelpful web of different ideas, understandings and structures. Though this might feel like a ‘thousand miles’ from...
For the staffroom
We need to Talk about LISA
RE is not yet free of the curse of levels, argues Dr Mark Chater, the Director of the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. ‘Grade me, grade me!’ wails Lisa Simpson. This bright 8-year-old has just shown some artwork to her...
Last word
This article is for paying subscribers Against the Baals
Mark Chater is the Director of the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust Baal and the Baals Baal is perhaps best known as the Canaanite deity whose prophets were confronted and defeated by Elijah in 1 Kings 18. In various forms,...
For the staffroom
This article is for paying subscribers We need to talk about Charlie
Mark Chater wrote the first part of this article on the weekend of 7–9 January 2015, and the rest in early February.
On reflection
This article is for paying subscribers On reflection: a sea change
The perfect stormAre things looking up for RE? If 2010–13 were the years of the perfect storm, can we detect signs of a coming calm? The litany of disasters from the last four years is familiar enough to many of us, so...