RE teaching at Secondary

School Level in England:

Challenges
Angela Quartermaine
MA Hons (Edin), Mst (Oxon) PGCE, MA (Warw)
3rd Year Doctoral Candidate, WRERU
Email: a.quartermaine@warwick.ac.uk

Understanding the Challenges ...

RE Academic backdrop

RE teaching in England

Policy impact on Schools

Impact in the Classroom

Discussion

What is RE?
The Academic Backdrop
... In the English-speaking world
[religious studies] basically dates
from the 1960s, although before
then there were such fields as 'the
comparative study of religion', the
'history of religion', the 'sociology
of religion' and so on..."
Ninian Smart (1999:ix) Approaches to the Study of
Religions

What is RE?
The Academic Backdrop

Non-confessional, methodological agnosticism

Academic multi-disciplinary study of religious beliefs,
behaviours and institutions
Terminology: Religious Education or Religious
Studies or The Study of Religions ... or is a
completely different descriptive term required?

RE in English Schools: Historical Overview

1944 Education Act: Religious Instruction (RI)

1970s: RI began to include the teaching of world
religions and humanism, as well as phenomenology.
Non-confessional.
1988 Education Act: RI changed to RE

1990s: Experiential Approach (learning about/from

religion)
2004: National Framework for RE, covers the nonstatutory requirements for the subject

RE in English Schools:
Some considerations

Outside National Curriculum

Legal requirement

Locally 'agreed' syllabus

Parents / teacher rights to withdraw from RE

Hitting the Headlines

Showdown looming over cuts in
teacher training'
The Telegraph, January 2011

Archbishop: Omission of RE from

English Baccalaureate 'indefensible'

The Telegraph, March 2011

Gove [UK Education Minister] to send copy of King

James Bible to all English Schools The Guardian,
November 2011

Hitting the Headlines

Oct 2013: The Guardian

Over half of schools failing in

religious education, says Ofsted

BBC News, Oct 2013

RE in English Secondary Schools:

Impact of policy in classrooms

Subject status

Content

Time allocated

Limited number of specialist teachers

Relationship of statutory requirements to exams

Wider school issues: league tables etc.

Professional Experience:
Dealing with Pupil views
I'm not religious, so why should I study RE?
Why do we have to study X ?
I don't believe in that and I'm never
going to meet anyone from that
background!
Religions are just excuses for violence,
we shouldn't be studying them!

Main Challenges ...

Historical vs current subject trends

Methodological challenges: does methodological
agnosticism ensure respect for all?

Dynamic content: responsive to current issues

Appeasing all religious/non-religious groups?

Final Thoughts

Need to improve awareness of subject's aims

Can have a positive impact on pupils'
understanding of the world around them
The subject addresses a number of issues that
would otherwise be ignored in the curriculum

Questions and Discussion

Thank you!
Angela Quartermaine (WRERU)
a.quartermaine@warwick.ac.uk