Religious education

If Dr. Billingsley was early on frustrated by her inability to create space for big questions in her science classroom, she was even more surprised to discover that her students behaved very differently in their religious education classes, which are part of the required curriculum in UK state-funded schools.

It was in religious education that she saw kids begin to wonder about themselves and the universe.

I was asked if I would mentor an RE, so a religious education teacher, out of my science lesson and into their religious education lesson.

They were like completely different people.

Suddenly, they could ask all those questions I wanted them to ask in my lesson.

In fact, they might be a little bit more sometimes like history questions, where we're relying on testimony, what people said they experienced.

In history, the way that we address that is we broaden out what we're willing to look at, so we also look at testimony.

Is that eligible? No, testimony is not eligible in the science classroom, but it would be eligible in the history classroom, and it would also be eligible in the RE classroom, or the religious education classroom.

I'd never taught secondary kids at all.

I'd never seen the RE programme and I'd never run a department.

And at that stage, there were 17 teachers teaching RE in the department.

And the principal, Paul Ferris, at the time said, well, look, we'll give you a go for a year and then see sort of how that works.

And I thought, oh, no, actually, look, I'm really enjoying teaching the kids that I've got at the moment.

And I wouldn't have had that conversation in my early years of teaching.

I would have seen it as a thing of disrespect and I would have gone down a particular line rather than seen it as an opportunity to engage.

So back then, Colin, the RE curriculum clearly wasn't serving those questions from those students about suffering, about evil, about a relationship with Christ.

[upbeat music] Welcome to the RE Podcast, the first dedicated RE podcast for students and teachers.

My name is Louisa Jane Smith, and this is the 250th episode of the RE Podcast.

And to plagiarize my friend Giles Goff from the God and Film Podcast, a lockdown project that's got completely out of hand.

I'm so humbled and grateful that I've been able to make 250 episodes, and I want to thank you, amazing listeners, for supporting me to achieve this.

Each episode, I ask my guests, "If you could wake up tomorrow and one thing was different about the world, what would it be?" And their answers range from the frivolous to the profound.

From vacuum cleaners that don't break, to waking up three hours later, to Miss World answers of world peace, and wanting more curiosity and openness in the world.

One thing I've noticed from listening back to all these answers is the importance of RE in making the world a better place.

So many of their answers ask for more ethical conduct, more critical thinking, and more wisdom.

It's practical tolerance.

What about religious education?

Church-run schools teach their religious traditions, but they also serve students from other backgrounds.

The government curriculum includes religious education, but it's generally inclusive rather than sectarian.

Parents can choose religious schools or secular schools.

The system accommodates different preferences.

And as some of you may know, because we've been following this closely, the government is expected to launch a consultation soon.

Following previous curriculum reviews and one that we're particularly interested in, of course, we're interested in all of them, but one is religious education.

It could be the biggest change to RE in tens of years, maybe 60 years or more.

Some real opportunities, but also real significant questions about what will happen to the study of RE later.

And the academic disciplines, where the people's questions around whether people's will continue to encounter Christianity and other religions accurately and seriously through disciplines such as theology and philosophy.

So if you care about RE in the place of our schools, do keep an eye out for that consultation.

There's also new statutory guidance that's come into force this September.

on relationships and sex education and also safeguarding guidance, keeping children safe in education.

I did RI.

It was called Religious Instruction.

Religious Instruction.

How did you get on with that? C.

A C?

Why are we vilifying the moneylenders in the temple? And he said, well, they took all the money off the poor people and charged them massive amounts of interest.

And I said, well, isn't that what banks do today when you get a mortgage? And he couldn't answer the question.

And my religious instruction teacher, who we called Holy Joe, because his name was Joe, you know, yeah.

Welcome

to the RE podcast, the first dedicated RE podcast for students and teachers.

My name is Louisa-Jane Smith and this is the RE podcast,

the podcast for those of you who think RE is boring, which it is, and I'll prove it to you.

Now, freedom of religion or belief is one of our fundamental rights as humans, and in this country it's protected by law and it should be both upheld and promoted in schools.

So this episode is not just about what happens in the RE classroom, but what happens in our schools more widely throughout our nation and throughout the world.

But what is it? What does it mean? How can we implement it successfully and positively? To help us answer these questions, I have Catherine Wright back on the podcast.

Catherine is the CEO of Cullum St Gabriel Trust, a charitable foundation which supports RE teachers in the classroom to provide a high quality education.