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‘Ah, now I see!’ Why the metaphors we use for ‘understanding’ in RE matter

In this article Karen Walshe shares with us the fruits of her recent research into the use of metaphors when people talk of understanding. This has significant importance for RE as much of the subject’s literature...

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A pedagogy of belonging for RE

In this reflective piece David Aldridge poses some very interesting questions and possibilities regarding what really counts as teachers’ subject knowledge within the context of understanding something about the...

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From unconscious incompetence…? A personal journey to understanding spiritual development

The requirement that all education contributes to children’s and young people’s spiritual development, as well as RE’s particular role in this, continues to fascinate. In this article, Georgia Prescott tells

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A landscape of distinct practices: teaching a deeper Buddhism

How does a teacher engage with a religious tradition so that it can be presented in an engaging manner yet with accuracy and authenticity? Here, Rae Hancock talks through some of the issues that she has had to work...

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Welcoming poetry into RE

The image of students of RE as ethnographers was presented by Eleanor Nesbitt in the journal REsource some years ago. Now, eight years on, she presents the image of students of RE as potential (if not actual)...

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The place of knowledge in RE

Under the previous Secretary of State for Education’s watch, the role of acquiring knowledge in education has received high profile. Here, drawing on the experience of working on a succession of Cornish agreed...

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Passing through the mirror: making time and space for reflection and reflexivity

What better way could there be of beginning the Professional REflection section of the new-style REtoday than with an article exploring the nature – indeed, the necessity – of reflection itself?

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Dialogue with difference in primary schools

This research was undertaken by Dr Anne Margaret Moseley at the WRERU and was sponsored by Culham St Gabriel’s and the Hockerill Foundation. www.storytent.online As you are probably tired of hearing me say, one of main...
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What have we learned from the first time through the new GCSE and A level?

The former Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, initiated the reform of GCSEs and A levels in February 2013 with the rationale of making the qualifications more ambitious and better preparing young people for...
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Reflections on The Way Forward: a neo-liberal future for RE in England?

Since the publication of the Commission on RE’s final report (CoRE 2018) in September 2018 there has been much spoken and written about the implications of the report for our subject. Much of this has been around the...
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Reviews

Having not received an anticipated review for this edition I decided (with the agreement of the esteemed Editor, of course) to share something of my own recent reading experiences.

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Young people’s mental health and well- ing, research and RE

Should RE be concerned with promoting the mental health and well-being of young people? Can RE contribute to this aim? Does research suggest any answers to these questions? The answer, according to Kevin O’Grady, is...

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Green eggs and Ham: how to change a curriculum

Most people think that the new Ofsted framework for inspecting schools with its emphasis on the quality of the curriculum is a good thing. Reportedly there have already been positives for RE in that if a school is not...

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Conversational RE: a hermeneutical approach

In this article Antony Luby draws on the benefits of his PhD studies to provide us with an interesting aspect of dialogue in the classroom through a hermeneutical approach (see Stephen Pett’s definition below) using...

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The truth is two-eyed: reflections on being Christian and practising Zen

It is with great pleasure that we are able to publish this article from Christopher Collingwood, who is not only Chancellor of York Minster but an authorised Zen teacher. He has what has been referred to as ‘dual...

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Using research to help students remember at GCSE

With the ‘new GCSE’ requiring students to know significantly more subject knowledge, some teachers are anxious about how they will enable students to learn it. Not only has Dawn Cox provided some practical means in...
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Reflections on the progress of developing religiously literate citizens in England

Religious literacy is an important topic and one that has been given considerable attention in recent years. It is, however, an imprecise term depending as it does on the hugely contested concept of religion. Here Paul...
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Big Ideas for Religious Education by Barbara Wintersgill

A review article by Lat Blaylock, Editor, REtoday This slim but significant book, published in October 2017 (and available for free at bit.ly/2I9tTYW), about how RE curriculum decisions should be made has already had an...
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Where do you stand? Insider and outsider views on religion in RE

In January 2017, Stephen Pett, National RE Adviser with RE Today Services, gave a keynote address at the Strictly RE conference. This is a version of that address. Introduction In relation to the title question, this...
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What change in vision has there been between old and new GCSE specifications?

This article by Joe Eden, who is a head of RE and Philosophy in Reading, is a summary of work done for his dissertation submitted in September 2018 as part of an MA in Religious Education at the Institute of...