Interesting point. Speaking to hundreds of teachers, faith-leaders, politicians… and young people themselves, has taught me that people outside the RE bubble conceive of religious literacy quite differently from a number of vocal people within it. to access this course and hundreds of other short courses for a year.
Why Religion Matters: Religious Literacy, Culture and Diversity. and . Knowing that someone has religious beliefs or practices can then be the start of an open-ended conversation, rather than an invitation to make assumptions – either positive or negative. You can update your preferences and unsubscribe at any time. For me, increasing religious literacy which is primarily (though not only) a set of skills supporting an attitude of humility, respect and curiosity, should be the primary aim of Religious Education. Start this course for Free to use, quality assured, comprehensive coverage of religion and worldviews. I think it largely depends on the ability and perspective of the teacher. From children to adults, the notion of identity and religion is a fluid concept. Religious literacy encompasses all aspects of human culture and behaviour in one. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below. The presidential nominee of a major political party actively promotes offensive religious tropes and encourages religious. 15 Great Principles Shared by All Religions. That’s a biggie: navigate slightly away from singing praises of us all being the same with different names. This is where the literacy takes place. One of the principles of religious teaching is that religions are internally diverse. Week 1 introduces the idea of why religion and religious literacy matters. Sign up to our newsletter and we'll send fresh new courses and special offers direct to your inbox, once a week. That we have a passionate and able body of RE teachers is not in doubt. At the risk of being labelled a dinosaur, upsetting people who are wedded to the idea that rigour consists in memorising lists of facts and being trolled for saying what I really think… I see that religious literacy primarily as a set of skills and not as a body of knowledge – although quite obviously no skill can be developed in a vacuum.
In doing so we are not telling them what to think or do (any more than the Literacy teacher tells students how to communicate with their parents at home), we are just providing them with the skills they need to start to understand one religion, which is the gateway to understanding any number of others and, when taught well, an inspiration to do so as well. I've been researching the fascinating interplay between religion and wider society for over twenty years. It can be a daunting space: this symbol is associated with what religion, this mantra belongs to whom and ‘celebrating’ in school without being disingenuous. This website uses cookies in order to offer you the most relevant information. upgrade In 2011 33.2 million people reported being Christian and only 14.1 million having no religion in the census. for extra benefits, or buy RE should teach students to communicate effectively in the language of one tradition that is appropriate to them, their school and the expertise of the available teacher(s), give them as many opportunities to explore aspects of other traditions as resources allow, and never ever fail to recognise that the chance to reflect on why it all matters to them personally, to their society, to the world and the future of humanity is why kids come back through the classroom door. Get vital skills and training in everything from Parkinson’s disease to nutrition, with our online healthcare courses. Meet and hear stories from humanists around the world. What does it mean to lead a humanist life? Please accept cookies for optimal performance. Even if none of this were true, even if we had a surplus of fantastically trained teachers, enormous budgets, masses of time, well-stocked cupboards and a ringing endorsement from OfSTED, I would argue that even if young people do know a lot about the practice of Buddhism and Bah’ai, can recognize a Kippah, list the Gurus and get an A* (or 9) in a GCSE paper, it doesn’t guarantee that they are religiously literate in the sense that many people would wish them to be. Identify and describe the the principles of 'religious literacy', Reflect on the boundaries between religion and culture, Evaluate the extent to which religion inspires ways of life including ethics, social activism and extremism, Apply the principles of 'religious literacy' to case studies, Develop confidence in interacting with those who have different beliefs and practices, Access to this course for as long as it’s on FutureLearn, Access to this course’s tests as well as a print and digital Certificate of Achievement once you’re eligible, A printable digital Certificate of Achievement on all short courses once you’re eligible, The freedom to keep access to any course you've achieved a digital Certificate of Achievement on, for as long as the course exists on FutureLearn, The flexibility to complete your choice of short courses in your own time within the year, Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020, European University Institute (EUI) & GREASE Project Consortium, hundreds of other FutureLearn short courses.
Carry on browsing if you're happy with this, or read our cookies policy for more information. I don’t think RE starting from a secular humanism position would be helpful as there is a large, local group of SH who are anti-religion, anti-theist. We can harm young peoples’ religious literacy by ignoring skills in the interests of ramming multiple lists of facts into the curriculum in the interests of political or professional ideology… and Religious Literacy really matters (for all the reasons listed in the ODIHR Toledo Guiding Principles 2007 and several more I can think of). It sounds fiddly, with curious minds who pose another question in response to the question, but perspective broadening starts with the teachers, the assistants and the children in a whole school setting.
My somewhat provocative suggestion that maybe secular humanism should be our main focus of study if we are going to major on one belief tradition is because it is arguable that secular humanism is the dominant mode of thinking of our society.
I think we need more views. This sets up with the skills to fully understand one faith (? Today, following the widespread and sometimes deliberate misunderstanding, systematic abuse and consequent demise of AO2 and following more than a decade of trying to convince the world that we are a credible academic subject alongside History and Geography (while simultaneously claiming to deliver higher grades in half the time a year early), RE teachers often understand Religious Literacy just in terms of young people knowing about the major religions, either those which are the biggest players on the world stage – Christianity and Islam – or those which are represented locally which, depending on the area of the UK, might be Hinduism and Sikhism or Humanism and Judaism. Beyond making the difficult decision about which religions to study, in which forms, according to which description and in which aspects – and getting dragged into the debate about Agreed Syllabii, Frameworks, National Curricula and the place of SACREs – the obvious problem with trying to deliver Religious Literacy by this definition in RE Classrooms in general is that however focused the curriculum, however effective the teaching, the sheer volume of knowledge about any single religion is huge and each tiny “fact” is open for debate.
Teacher-training should focus on helping teachers to understand the bigger purpose of what they are doing, supporting them in developing the unique and sophisticated pedagogical skills and attitudes demanded of RE specialists and above all, making them aware of the need for constant professional development – whether in terms of wide reading, further study, travel or inter-faith work – and modelling the skills and attitude they try to cultivate in their students. Religions seek for relationships: be it between creators and their servers, festivals and even places of worship are there to bring people together. Develop confidence in interacting with those who have different beliefs and practices . From personal experiences to the places we hold in society, I find it hard to shelve the subject of RE as a standalone concept.