Articles about RE
This article is for paying subscribers Leading and inspiring Religion and Worldviews Education: an inspiring summer conference
Alastair Ross is director of Pennine Learning and is RE adviser to several areas in the north of England. He was a secondary RE head of department.
This article is for paying subscribers Ofsted appoints new Acting Subject Lead for RE
Hazel Henson HMI was appointed as Acting Subject Lead for RE in March 2023. In this interview, she talks to Deborah Weston about the role, her career journey and her love of RE.
This article is for paying subscribers Katie Freeman writes from the NATRE Chair
May I start by saying, ‘Welcome back.’ I hope that you all had a restful summer break with family and friends and are now ready for the start of the new school year. I love the beginning of the autumn term; there...
This article is for paying subscribers RE as poetry
How often do you get that magical, prickles-up-the-back-of-your-neck feeling when attending a training day? I have been to good training, useful training, so-so training, ‘I’m falling asleep’ training,...
This article is for paying subscribers Knowledge, suspicion and faith
"Earlier this year, I went to Professor Anthony Thiselton’s funeral. From 1978, he taught me about hermeneutics, philosophy and biblical study, and I was so fortunate to know a man of such genius in these...
This article is for paying subscribers Reviews
The current discussions about the nature of ‘worldviews’ in relation to the RE curriculum will, I suspect, continue for a long time. Indeed, it is a very interesting and encouraging conversation, suggesting that...
This article is for paying subscribers Thinking about substantive knowledge in two primary school contexts
Knowledge’, ‘research’ and ‘substantive’ are just three of the many ‘Tier 3’ words on the lips of those within the RE/religion and worldviews community currently. Here, two educators, both working in the...
This article is for paying subscribers Promoting epistemic literacy: knowledge and the case for tackling epistemic injustice as an aim for RE
"Jo Fraser-Pearce is Associate Professor (Teaching) at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London. Jo has ten years’ experience teaching RE in maintained secondary schools in and around...
This article is for paying subscribers What do we really mean by ‘personal knowledge’?
As teachers and researchers, we have explored the development of a religion and worldviews approach in theory and in practice. Here we bring together our shared reflections on the idea of ‘personal knowledge’ and...
This article is for paying subscribers What next for RE? Some thoughts from After Religious Education
"Is RE really so terrible? A ‘tepid version of cultural studies where religion is transformed into a calendar of funny festivals, lighting candles and distinctive headgear … [taught by] teachers from other...
This article is for paying subscribers Knowledge in RE
Welcome to the start of a new academic year and with it our second special issue of ProfessionalREflection, this time focusing on the topical issue of knowledge in RE. As before, this issue is special in having been...
This article is for paying subscribers Top Ten Tips for introducing diversity and the messiness of worldviews into the primary classroom
"Understanding your own interpretation of worldviews is an essential starting point. This can be done through reading. We have found the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust’s short courses a good starting point, both the...
This article is for paying subscribers The Buddha bauble for your Christmas tree. What next?
Lat Blaylock shares some ideas about kitsch RE, messy inter-religious artefacts and the flux and flow of beliefs in our contemporary world and RE classrooms.
This article is for paying subscribers The Messiness of Understanding
‘Belief’, ‘faith’ and ‘religion’ – three words we use interchangeably as RE teachers to try and explain key ideas and concepts. But are they the same? Are we encouraging messy understanding?"
This article is for paying subscribers Dealing with diversity: practical tips for primary and secondary RE
In 2018, the Commission on RE (CoRE) released its final report after a year-long investigation into the teaching of RE. The report made many recommendations, one of which was approaching the teaching of RE through the...
This article is for paying subscribers Decolonising the curriculum, decolonising RE
Louisa Jane Smith is host of The RE Podcast, a teacher of RE with 21 years’ experience, a head of PSHE, a mother and a ‘film geek!’ Here she shares her practical and sometimes challenging reflections on...
This article is for paying subscribers 6 Tips for making the most of philosophical discussion in RE
Following on from Peter Vardy’s insightful reflections on the benefits to children of engaging with philosophy, Angela Hill offers some practical tips to teachers wanting to make discussion in RE more...
This article is for paying subscribers The Philosophers’ Daughters
Peter Vardy is a theologian, philosopher and author well known for his RS conferences in UK schools. He was Vice-Principal of Heythrop College, a Jesuit college in London, from 1999 to 2011. His remarkable ability to...
This article is for paying subscribers Making sense of the census
James Holt, Associate Professor of Religious Education at the University of Chester, explores the complexities behind the headlines on religion from the 2021 Census, and reflects on the implications for teachers and...
The wonderful web
It is with excitement, humility, and, if I’m honest, a little trepidation, that I introduce myself as the new Editor of REtoday and present to you this inaugural issue. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude go to the...