Theory and practice

There has always been (and never more so than in today’s climate) the urgent need for accessible professional development for teachers in order to provide them with greater knowledge, deeper understanding and growing...

In May 2016, a substantial resource for teaching about Christianity was launched. Understanding Christianity: Text Impact Connections is currently being introduced to schools all over the UK. This fascinating article...

Sylvia Collins-Mayo,Kingston University London Current discussions about the nature of religious education are increasingly stressing the need for young people to understand religion(s) from a number of different...

The role of ‘pedagogy’ is a much discussed issue in RE, with sometimes fierce debate about what counts or does not count as pedagogy. In this article, an experienced RE teacher identifies a number of pedagogies that,...

This is why what children see and hear from us in school needs to be respectful dialogue between people whose beliefs are different. It also allows for discussion and a space for listening. This is what well-taught RE...

In some recent discussions the place of SACREs in RE has often featured, with opinions ranging from ‘abolish them’ to ‘give them more powers’. Here a vastly experienced RE adviser and SACRE member shares her...

Richard Is it possible that one of the reasons that RE has been marginalised or treated as a ‘soft’ subject is because at the heart of debates about the subject there resides an unresolved knowledge problem? We are...

Young people in our schools are growing up in an increasingly complex globalised world, despite the attempts of some prominent political figures to reverse this. Given such a context, it is important that our students...

Even for teachers who have acquired specialised knowledge about religions, teaching about particular traditions can be daunting: I don’t think I know enough. What happens if I get things ‘wrong’? Am I up to...

Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty -- a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to teach RE to some of the most complex learners within our school system? After ten years of working in secondary schools, teaching GCSE and A level RS, Tracy Edwards...

A common practice in schools is to group pupils by ability, often giving groups non-hierarchical names or labels. Despite this, pupils have a pretty good idea what their label means and this can lead to pupils’...

Mindfulness is currently very popular in the western world. Indeed, it is recommended on the NHS Choices website. Type ‘mindfulness for children’ into Amazon and a variety of books and resources appear. Most RE...

Part 2: belonging and behaving Doctor Jenny Berglund is an Associate Professor at the department of the Study of Religions, Södertörn University, Stockholm, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Warwick Religions...

One of the greatest challenges facing the current Commission on Religious Education is the question about the nature of the subject. Does it really matter what we call it? Historically, what we call RE has had a...

Professor Vivienne Baumfield is Director of Research in the Graduate School of Education at Exeter University. Her research focuses on the role of inquiry in teachers’ learning and promotes collaborative...

In a period of financial constraint and, seemingly, diminishing interest from politicians in funding RE, our profession is increasingly grateful to the Farmington Institute for funding Farmington Fellowships. This allows...

some points to bear in mind Regular readers of Professional REflection will be familiar with our occasional series focusing on things to bear in mind when teaching … Here Denise Cush, who has been writing and teaching...

It is frequently claimed that RE has a vital role in establishing social cohesion. But does it? How do/can we know? Here Kate Christopher, Janet Orchard and Amanda Williams describe their Shared Space project, informed...

A response to the RE Commission’s Interim Report Jonathan Doney In the last edition of REtoday, we published a variety of views on the Interim Report from the Commission on Religious Education. In this response,...