Theory and practice

Juliet Lyal Juliet Lyal has recently retired from a very successful career in the classroom but many of you will be familiar with her valuable work with NATRE and recently as a Commissioner for RE. Here Juliet reflects...

The relationship between science and religion has always been a contentious and fascinating one leading to questions such as ‘Can religion and science co-exist successfully in the classroom?’ and ‘How can we, as...

On my travels as an external examiner of secondary PGCE RE courses I very occasionally get responses from trainees (and sometimes their mentors) that they can’t see the point of having to write masters-level...

It has long been recognised in the world of RE that primary trainee teachers have insufficient input (in terms of time allocated) in RE. Just knowing and understanding something of the subject matter of religious...

Whatever vision the Commission on RE comes up with for the future of RE, all will be fine words without skilled teachers to realise it with their pupils. Since the demise of the RE centres and local-authority RE...

In writing this article, I wanted to try to sum up my – certainly personal – perspective on the recent history of RE in England. It is not always easy for teachers working in classrooms to observe and integrate...

There is a long tradition in English RE – though this is not confined to RE – of exploring important issues as loss, death and bereavement. Here, Judith Wester talks about her own journey – on both sides of the...

Amidst the busy-ness and strains of their working life, teachers of RE will perhaps rarely pause to reflect on their place either within an ongoing historical and educational process or within a European context. The...

Have you sometimes felt that traditional – including biblical – stories have been ‘tamed’ through historical retelling? If so, adopting a hermeneutical approach could lead to some interesting and arresting...

The lack of clear understanding of the aims of RE has, many have suggested, had a detrimental effect on RE. Yet, while not denying this, Mark Plater – drawing from a recent survey of SACRE members’ views –...

Over the past decade, we have asked a number of people who have made a significant contribution to RE over their professional lives to write a retrospective. In such a piece, as Helen Harrison wonderfully illustrates, we...

The issues touched upon by both the so-called ‘Trojan Horse’ affair and the adoption and advocacy by some of the term ‘British values’ raises the most profound issues relating to education, politics, ethics,...

Most of us teach about religious traditions with a degree of trepidation: there is so much to reveal and yet so many pitfalls, real or imagined. So, we have decided to ask experts across the range of religious...

Some of the most poignant pieces of writing that we have carried in this journal (and its predecessor, REsource) have been the result of inviting individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the field to...

Within current RE, the place of new religious movements (NRM) remains a moot point. Based on a very interesting piece of research on students’ attitudes towards RE, Ronan Head comes to his own conclusion about the...

There are clearly many models upon which a school interfaith forum can be based. We are grateful to Barbara Usher for outlining how such a forum began and developed in her own secondary school – Coopers’ Company...

The RE Council’s Review of RE in England, which took place in 2012, led to wide involvement and then, when its report was published, a wide range of responses. In this critique, Dilwyn Hunt is adamant that, in the new...

The Religious Education Council of England and Wales has been at the forefront of much recent RE-related activity. But what is the Council, when was it founded and how does it go about its work? We are grateful to...

At least since the inception of Ofsted in the early 1990s, there has been much talk about the need to promote children’s ‘spiritual development’. But what does this mean? We are grateful to Kate Adams for...

The status, age and multi-layered nature of the Bible have always made it challenging to teach in an open, exploratory way in the classroom. A collaborative research project between the University of Exeter and the Bible...