RE Consult - Musings on Daniel's Friday questions

My thoughts on these questions - have been thinking some similar thoughts myself!

1.Seems to be some reluctance to teach about religion and belief. Are we embarrassed by it?

Embarrassment of belief?  I think there is some truth in this.  It's not new of course, but I think with the increased focus on P&E there have been ways that RE has been able to be justified as being relevant.  I find this odd because religion is everywhere!  I was often asked about changing the name of the subject over the years but I always said that the majority of the world's population are religious, how can it be irrelevant? With world events being as they are there are numerous ways to make connections, same goes for popular culture.  There is even something of a backlash going on against comedians who get cheap laughs ridiculing religion.  But this does lead to the next question...

2.  Some students we teach are not religious. This means they aren’t interested in studying religions and beliefs. Is this true?

The religious beliefs of the students is not of immediate relevance.  Think of parallels, do you have to be a Nazi to study the Second World War in History, or an animal to study Biology, or to travel to study Geography?  Ridiculous obviously.  However, even when we look to Art there has been a big push to include students who don't see themselves as artistic.  I would suggest you just need to be interested in two things - ideas and people.  Some of the best RE students are the most passionate atheists.

3.  That a focused study of religion involves lower level skills that belong in KS3 and not at GCSE or A-level. Is that right? 

Agreed this seems to be a thought.  It seems to be quite disrespectful of Theology.  Perhaps it depends upon the kind of degree the teacher has and their own experiences of the subject?  I've taught about 6 or 7 different A Level papers including a textual study of John and Patristic Theology! They are demanding, but it's not impossible to make them attractive to students.  Do English teachers have to justify studying texts at A Level?  

4.  That the popularity of courses will fall if we approach religion using a wider range of approaches. Do you agree?

The popularity of subjects is all down to how you market them and how you teach them - make both interesting and exciting then it works.  If you build it they will come.

5. That a focused study of religion and belief cannot be made interesting and engaging by skilled RE teachers. Do you agree?

Doesn't say much for teachers if they feel they can't do this, unless they don't believe it themselves?  Don't get me wrong, I love teaching Philosophy, I specialised in it at university, but I loved so much about my Theology degree and am thrilled when students have gone on to study Theology themselves.  If some of these changes happen I can tell you I will be right there happily leading training days on the richness of RE that covers not one university degree but at least two entirely distinct disciplines.  It might involve some hard work, but I think this subject is worth that.  Why should RE be easy?  

My view on REconsult - Celebrate the opportunity to give RE a REboot

Bethany Kelly (@imisschalk)