By Ruth Peacock
An anxiety about religion in society is feeding a negative perception of religious education in schools that has led to lack of timetabling, specialist teachers and resourcing.
Yet parents, teachers and community groups, surveyed in an 18-month research project, have a real warmth towards the subject as a means of fostering social cohesion and allowing the potential for reflecting on moral and ethical frameworks.
The tension was discovered and analysed in the report, Promoting the Exploration of Religion and Worldviews in Schools: Fostering Coherency and Diversity, produced by Inform, the Faith and Belief Forum and the Open University.
One of its authors, Dr Suzanne Newcombe, told a Religion Media Centre online briefing that the report explored a new way of approaching the subject that would change the conversation about religion and provide a framework for its study reflecting the society of this century rather than 1944, when the last model was created.
This could be captured by reconceptualising RE as “religion and worldviews” — RW. She said the new title describes how religion is found in society today. Everyone has a unique history, major religious traditions inform ethical frameworks, despite falling levels of affiliation; and those identifying with established religious traditions have diverse views and different lives.
The move to change the name and focus of RE to RW has been rumbling for years. In 2018, the idea was rejected by Damien Hinds, then the education secretary, as diluting the subject. But the change is still being championed.
Michael Wilcockson, of the Independent Schools Religious Studies Association, said the new title was confusing. He thought it came from a secularising humanist faction, like a cuckoo trying to get into the nest, reducing religious ideas and theological thinking as being less significant.
Religious studies, he said, should be about the sense of the other, something greater than an individual, not just of merely being human. His association wanted a clear distinction between theology, religion and philosophy taught in their own right with academic rigour.
Dr Tim Hutchings, admissions tutor at Nottingham University’s theology and religious studies department, said the subject at university was multidisciplinary, rich and contemporary, including a range of studies from ancient texts to new religious movements, languages, art, anthropology and social science.
Atheism and non-religion had been part of this academic area for 40 years, so the cuckoo was already in the nest. If students were to study this wide-ranging subject at degree level, why not introduce this approach earlier on, he asked.
The religion and worldviews proposal made clear this is subject of relevance to all — everyone had a worldview, he said.
At present, RE is not on the national curriculum but its content is decided locally by standing advisory councils of RE, taking into account the diversity of communities.
Dr Stephen Pett, a national RE adviser, said it was a subject that dealt with all aspects of human experience, but the wide variety in interpretation of its goals and content showed that more clarity was needed.
There was a perceived need, the report said, for RE to teach knowledge about religions. This was essential, the briefing was told, for young people going into the world of work in a diverse and global society.
Amardeep Bassey, a journalist and trainer, said it was incredibly important for entry-level reporters to know basic facts about many faiths. It gave confidence to go into communities without feeling out of your depth, and to be able to analyse and critique stories. His concern was that many students had only studied Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but wider knowledge was required.
Frank Cranmer, a lawyer specialising in religion, said religious issues could crop up in any practice and a sensitivity to the range of religion was required. For example, dealing with trusts and wills and succession required at least a nodding acquaintance with Sharia, Islamic law.
Apart from clarifying the curriculum, the crucial problem, Tim Hutchings said, was the lack of resourcing for RE in schools. The new approach would make clear that this was a subject relevant to everyone.
Asked why concerns were not being addressed, Carrie Alderton, head of programmes and impact at the Faith and Belief Forum, said a central issue was the action of local authorities, citing a report that said 53 per cent of them did not use any funds to support RE in schools, whereas the government recommended 2 per cent of the central services schools budget should be set aside.
One recommendation from the report was to include community groups more in creating local resources. The Faith and Belief Forum runs “encountering faith and belief” workshops in schools and trains volunteers to speak about how their religion permeates their lives. It was absolutely not about proselytising but about developing understanding on how people navigate moral decisions and life choices.
The report suggests the next steps are addressing the lack of teachers, resources and support for RE in schools; engaging communities and enabling a wider conversation, especially with parents, on the nature of religious education in schools.
Dr Newcombe said a free OpenLearn course has been developed by the Open University to promote the provision of high-quality teaching of religion and worldviews in schools.
The Religious Education Council is continuing a three-year project to set out a clear definition of religion and worldviews and will run three pilot programmes with specially produced resources. This could lead to a handbook for the new approach.
View the briefing on our YouTube channel here
