Category Archives: Blog
Reposting Every child deserves an opportunity at school to discover the language for making sense of their world
By Dr Robert A Bowie First posted here: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/nicer/every-child-deserves-an-opportunity-at-school-to-discover-the-language-for-making-sense-of-their-world/ The Final Report of the Commission on Religious Education, which was established in 2016 to review the legal, educational and policy frameworks for Religious Education (RE) has now been published. This is … Continue reading
Reposting “A moment in English Religious Education history”
A reposting of the blog I wrote recently on my university blog site The final report of the Commission for Religious Education is about to be published. The independent commission was established by the Religious Education Council, the lead organisation and … Continue reading
The quality of public debate in Religious Education – 8 questions
Should Religious Education (RE) debates begin with a generosity of spirit toward the contributors who may argue for quite opposing and diverse visions and conceptions of the subject? What makes someone who feels so strongly about a particular conception … Continue reading
Is it time for religious education to recognise religion is a bit quantum? An irreverent bit of Friday morning writing
These days, if you are a secondary RE teacher doing GCSE, your language of learning will be filled with notions like ‘logical chains of reason” and a lot of stuff about what good evaluation looks like. This is a product … Continue reading
Doing RE Hermeneutically – Learning to become interpreters of religion
Doing RE Hermeneutically – Learning to become interpreters of religion Dr Robert A. Bowie bob.bowie@canterbury.ac.uk (Published in REToday, Autumn 2016, Vol. 34. No 1,Birmingham: RE Today, pp.60-62) This is an old piece I wrote a couple of years ago but I … Continue reading
WHAT CONSTITUTES EVIDENCE, REASONABLE REASON, AND THE VALUES OF EVALUATION IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
In GCSE Religious Studies exams, students are often asked to debate questions. The kind of question follows a rough formula: ‘If God were loving, there would be no suffering in the world.’ Evaluate this statement. In your answer you should: refer … Continue reading
4Bs: Belonging, being, believing, behaving
4Bs: Belonging, being, believing, behaving The conversation around religion and non-religion, belief and non-belief, theism and atheism sometimes treat these terms as interchangeable. I don’t think they are. Religion / non religion is about participation in and commitment to organised communities … Continue reading
In Religious Education, is our approach to diversity too focussed on the ‘positions reached’ and not enough on the ‘ways of knowing’ that led people there?
In Religious Education we often focus on trying to ensure we cover different positions both between and within traditions. But there is another ‘diversity’ that is related to religious ways of knowing, not just positions held. So you could approach … Continue reading
Speaking truth to authority, conscience and getting your retaliation in first.
I asked my students to write a short reflection on ethics or values from their early years that they hold on to or think about now. Then I thought I would have a go at my own attempt at it … Continue reading
Religious Education and the subject’s title
One of the questions raised by the Commission for RE is about the possible change in subject title. Maybe RE is old fashioned and we need something like Philosophy, Ethics and Belief. I am agnostic to the value of subject … Continue reading