Weaving Religion, Values and Ethics into a thematic approach

Go to:

• Context
• Why did you choose this focus?
• What changes did you make?
• What was the impact of the changes?
• What influenced you?
• Top three takeaways

St John the Baptist is a Voluntary Aided Church in Wales school in Penymynydd with approximately 100 full time pupils. We have 4 mixed aged classes. This area of Flintshire is not diverse.

The focus of this project was to weave Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) thematically into topics to ensure that RVE was not just taught as a stand-alone subject but that it becomes an integral part of our curriculum. There was also a focus on a pluralistic approach so that our children could explore a range of faiths in a critical and objective way.

Staff felt that the teaching of RVE was not given the same status as other areas of the curriculum. Due to the lack of diversity within our area, the teaching of a range of faiths and beliefs is essential to ensure that we are enabling our children to become ethical and informed citizens of the world.

My own personal experiences have very much led to my interest and passion for RVE. As a committed Christian, married to man of Muslim descent, I have experienced negativity towards our relationship and Muslims in general, first-hand. This has driven me to focus on improving the teaching of RVE to ensure that our pupils grow up being accepting and understanding towards people who are different to themselves and embrace and celebrate the diverse world that we live in.

The main change made was that we would look at RVE at the beginning of the planning stage and look how the topic could evolve around the RVE elements as opposed to finding ways to fit RVE into a pre-planned topic.

The first topic this academic year was ‘Dyma fi’. Within this we looked at what influences our identity. This allowed the pupils to really think about who they are and why. We then looked at the influence religion or non-religious beliefs can have on your identity. We looked at a range of faiths and non-religious philosophical convictions.

We explored census data from our area and Wales as a whole and discussed how religious affiliation had changed over time. We discovered that the number of Christians has decreased, whereas those stating a non-religious philosophical conviction, such as Humanism, has increased. The need to include a range of beliefs was vital in order to reflect today’s society.

Following on from this the pupils created their own ‘Rules for Life’ to guide them to be good citizens in line with the Four Purposes.

This topic allowed the exploration of elements of three of the sub-lenses. We looked at Identity and Belonging and who they are. Within Authority and Influence we looked at what influences us to be who we are.

Finally within Values and Ethics, we explored the values that are important to them and the influence they have on the citizens we are.

The biggest impact has been on the approaches used within the classroom. In the past, we would have taught from a solely Christian perspective and then possibly compared the ideas with another religion. Through this project, we have taught concepts such as Creation, through a variety of religious and non-religious beliefs and allowed the pupils to explore their own thoughts and beliefs and express these in more creative ways.

Using RVE as the starting point for a topic has also ensured that greater emphasis is given to the subject and therefore the pupils learning and thinking has much deeper and worthwhile. This was evident in the ‘Rules for Life’ they created for themselves. Some were clearly rooted in a religious basis whereas others were more varied, but all showed a deep understanding of who they are and how they can treat others kindly.

Through the whole staff training I delivered in September, the staff feel more confident to teach RVE and this has resulted in a wealth of activities being taught in all classes which are much more pluralistic, objective and critical. This in turn, influences the beliefs and opinions of our pupils who themselves are becoming more confident to question ideas and beliefs and explore their own beliefs in a safe and secure learning environment.

This approach to the project was very much based on the discussions and research occurring at the RVE Network Meetings with the Church in Wales. These meetings enhanced my understanding of RVE and provided an opportunity to share good practice with other professionals. My enhanced confidence regarding RVE and its content has then allowed me to impart my knowledge to the staff at my school which has in turn led to a higher level of teaching of RVE across the school.

Resources such as Understanding Humanism proved vital in developing the subject knowledge of staff regarding this area.

The approach was also influenced through Chapter 6 : The rise of World views’ by Alan Brine and Mark Chater in book entitled ‘Reforming RE’.

1. The importance of teaching a pluralistic curriculum to reflect the world we live in
2. The use of RVE as the starting focus of a topic and to build other subjects around it leads to a much richer learning experience
3. The need to teach a pluralistic approach within areas of limited diversity is vitally important to open our learners’ eyes to the differences within our communities and the world, and to celebrate these