Opinion

Mark Quinn and Mark Evans September 2019 saw the introduction of Ofsted’s new Education Inspection Framework (EIF). This focuses on the real substance of education: the curriculum. Through its ‘quality of...

Lat Blaylock commends a new resource for RE from one of our great institutions of cultural capital, the British Library. If inspectors want to see a rich knowledge curriculum, and pupils deserve to explore sources of...

I made an uncritical start. I was a third-generation priest. I went to a Church of England primary school before starting at the age of 10 at a religious foundation public school. The given was that everything to do with...

What did broadcaster and atheist Melvyn Bragg mean last year when he announced that it’s a disgrace that children don’t read the Bible anymore? He was, of course, talking about reading the 1611 King James Version! I...

do these words always mean the same? Suhaiymah is in her 20s. A third-generation Pakistani Muslim born in Bradford and schooled in Leeds, she studied History at Cambridge University and Postcolonial Studies at SOAS. She...

Professor David Wilkinson of the University of Durham shares a perspective on the difference between you, dear reader, and a cauliflower.

Geoff Teece, RE teacher trainer at the University of Exeter, explores religions through the accounts they give of the flaws and failings of human nature. Are faiths best understood as prescriptions for ailing...

The Right Reverend James Jones, former Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, explores our moral and spiritual instincts, our need to love and our spontaneous expressions of reverence.

This term’s theme for REtoday is: ‘What’s the problem?’ We interviewed award winning comic Al Murray, who noticed that at least eleven different religions and philosophies say humanity would be better for...

Here Ed Pawson, Assistant to the Chair of NATRE (the National Association of Teachers of RE), explores why religious literacy has never been more important, and how it is being thwarted by a lack of teacher confidence....

RE is often valued by teachers and pupils for the ‘big questions’ it addresses. The place of ‘big ideas’ in the subject goes beyond what each particular religion has to say, and in some ways makes RE a subject...

The Shi’a represent 10–15 per cent of Muslims worldwide. They are the majority in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain, and significant minorities in Afghanistan, India/Pakistan, Lebanon, the north-eastern part of Saudi Arabia,...

Every morning straight after the register is taken, the children are taken out to experience a ‘nature walk’. Gerry Winnall teaches in Bolton. Her fresh idea for wise learning with her 5-6-year-olds will challenge...

Living as we do in a scientific age, how should we go about trying to convince young people, and others for that matter, to take the idea of God seriously? The view that science and religion are implacably opposed to...

Should a baker be prosecuted for refusing to ice a pro-gay message onto a cake? Peter Tatchell will enable your students to weigh up arguments between religious freedom and gay rights. Read the article and discuss the...

Education that makes a world of difference Dr Jerry Pattengale takes a view of British RE’s contribution to understanding noble causes – from an American perspective. On 11 September 2001, I visited the National...

From our own correspondent, David Lambourn Erehwyna, Thursday There was an air of excitement and a sense of new-found freedom throughout the campus of the community college here today – as there is most days. It was...

Professor Linda Woodhead researches the sociology of religion, and has collaborated with Rt Hon Charles Clarke to propose RE reforms. She spoke to the NATRE ‘RE: Reviving and Thriving’ North of England conference in...

Robin Richardson wants you to think about whether we should engage with the nasty devils of British values or not. His article articulates three voices from inside your head. All three are probably worth listening to! My...

Jean Vanier is a Catholic philosopher, writer, and religious and moral leader (he’s not a priest). He founded the major international organisation L’Arche, which advocates community living for people with learning...