There is now a general consensus that the purpose of RE is about religious literacy. In relation to this we are defining this more specifically as: Helping children and young people hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and belief.
In order to fulfil this purpose we are advocating that RE needs to provide a balance between three disciplines. These are:
- Theology
- Philosophy
- Human/Social Sciences
We envisage this is a means of structuring an RE curriculum in primary and secondary education that enables teachers to fulfil the stated purpose, i.e. to produce pupils who are religiously literate.
This structure will provide the architectural plan within which a range of RE content, pedagogies and resources can develop religiously literate pupils.
You can find out about this approach in this short film.
A balanced curriculum, is like a three-legged stool
Conversations are often best had sitting down! Particularly the hard ones…
A three legged stool provides a useful analogy.
The easiest way to create balance is to have a three legged chair or stool.
Three legs provide a stable equilibrium because mathematically three points determine a plane.
Holding the three disciplines in balance is key.
One should not dominate the other.