Non Religious Philosophical Convictions in the Primary Classroom

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• 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

Westwood Community Primary School, in Flintshire, is a primary school with approximately 230 pupils. 53% of pupils identify as having ‘no religion,’ 4% identify as believing in an ‘other religion’ and 22% identify as Christian.

The focus of the project was non-religious philosophical convictions. In order to deliver sessions with the inclusivity of non-religious philosophical convictions to the focus class and to lead professional development for colleagues to support them to integrate non-religious philosophical convictions into their teaching.

Following the initial meeting in Cardiff as part of the Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) Network, I contemplated what I could do that would be different and valuable to educators across Wales. I felt that teaching about other faiths was already taking place in my school however the non-religious element was something that needed to be explored and developed in line with the new curriculum. Also, through reading the Humanities guidance in the Curriculum for Wales, the phrase “non-religious philosophical convictions” came up many times, but I still felt that more information on what this meant was needed, especially to support colleagues whose specialism was not RVE. I also wanted to explore this area for my own professional development. Additionally, drawing upon the belief composition of our school, it was clear that there is the need to provide an education which caters for those who identify as ‘non religious’ as well as to cater for the belief demographic of Flintshire and the surrounding areas.

Initially I asked staff to complete a questionnaire focusing on what they knew already about non-religious philosophical convictions. Through discussions it was clear that knowledge was very limited, and staff were reluctant to respond as only three out of ten members of teaching staff handed in the questionnaire. Therefore, I concluded that staff needed help for them to teach effective RVE lessons confidently in their classrooms.

I planned and delivered an INSET training session. Following this the staff felt satisfied in their understanding of what a non-religious philosophical conviction was, and how they could incorporate it into their teaching. The staff were given information about some of the non-religious philosophical convictions that exist in the world today and were also given the opportunity to plan a topic, which incorporated non-religious philosophical convictions.

I then looked at implementing non-religious philosophical convictions in the classroom environment, which is something that had not taken place purposefully before. I taught the topic of Creation and focused on teaching four creation stories/theories: Christian, Islamic, Sikh and Scientific Theory. From this, the children then had to formulate their own creation story, whilst keeping one element of a story that they had already heard about in the previous session, but also thinking about how they could stop humanity from damaging the planet, addressing the Global Goals. This lesson was very open, and the children had the opportunity to devise their own stories in the written form, some chose to complete a story board, and some chose to draw pictures and develop a stop-frame animation. It was incredibly interesting as the teacher to see the views and beliefs of all involved and notice how each child took the activity in a different direction. The children also listened to each other’s ideas and were keen to listen to how the ideas on a simple topic of creation, could be so varied from one another.

After delivering the session to staff in school, I was provided with the opportunity to share the staff session with Church in Wales headteachers and Chairs of Governors. This was delivered in the Summer Term 2023 and the Autumn Term 2023 in Wrexham, Welshpool, St Asaph and Caernarfon.

The sessions varied in numbers of attendees and the responses given were different in each session. As I had done in the session for my school colleagues, I asked the question at the beginning of each session

“What comes to mind when someone mentions RVE?”

Whilst most of the responses given over the sessions focused on the expected responses such as “morals,” “ethics,” “values,” “religion,” “beliefs” and “community,” some responses given were things such as “panic,” “overwhelmed” and “workload.”

This indicated to me that RVE is an area of the Curriculum for Wales which is causing anxiety for staff.

The changes that were made affected teaching and learning. Teaching this in my own class allowed me the opportunities to observe the children sharing their own personal viewpoints on creation, whilst also being able to listen with empathy and understanding of the views of others. I changed the learning situation and placed it in the hands of the pupils. They had the opportunity to develop their own stories, using their knowledge and imaginations. The learning was pupil led which engaged learners and led to rich discussions.

Whilst delivering the session to headteachers and Chairs of Governors, I have encouraged them to question their perspective and thoughts on RVE, whilst also providing them with increased confidence. There remain concerns over understanding of some of the language in the curriculum guidance.

Through doing this research, I have come to understand that non-religious philosophical convictions are incredibly valuable to teaching and learning in Wales.

I was influenced by previous research that I had done for my undergraduate dissertation in 2017, which had the title “Is RE fit for purpose?” This included looking at REforREal which was a study that took place in 2015. This study demonstrated what the issues were in RE at that time, and whilst the study focused on the English context, it highlights the problems that could be taking place in RVE.

I have also been influenced through the text 'Reforming RE' particularly the chapter “Landscapes, real, and imagined"

1. Creating safe spaces in classrooms is an essential part of delivering good quality RVE sessions. This allows learners to inquire and discover new things about faiths and non-religious philosophical convictions
2. Non-religious philosophical convictions can be intertwined with religious beliefs, and therefore provide even more opportunity for discussion and inquiry in the classroom environment. This would allow for our pupils to be even more ethically informed citizens
3. Additional training and support is required by teachers across Wales to support the successful delivery of RVE