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ABSTRACT
Disagreements about how Christianity should be taught in state-funded school RE have a long history. In this article we take England as a case study and examine the debates that have arisen about the legitimacy of a theologically based pedagogy following the publication of Understanding Christianity, a resource inspired by recent developments in academic theological hermeneutics. We particularly focus on the question whether or not pupils should be treated as insiders or outsiders. Drawing on Anthony Thiselton’s notion of responsible hermeneutics, we argue that this offers a robust model for an academically rigorous approach to teaching Christianity in schools that enables pupils to be both insiders and outsiders in the hermeneutical process. We then illustrate how Understanding Christianity has attempted to embody this aspiration.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. http://www.reonline.org.uk/news/alans-blog-thinking-theologically-in-re-part-1-alan-brine/ accessed on 14 December 2017.
2. http://www.reonline.org.uk/news/alans-blog-thinking-theologically-in-re-part-2-alan-brine/ accessed on 14 December 2017.
3. http://www.reonline.org.uk/news/alans-blog-the-opt-out-clause-and-the-demon-of-confessionalism/ accessed on 14 December 2017.
4. In England, community schools will be fortunate to have an hour a week to teach RE, with most agreed syllabuses notionally giving Christianity around half of the RE time available. While Church of England schools are encouraged to have up to 10% of curriculum time on RE, and to teach Christianity for up to 66% of their RE time, selection of content needs to take into account the fact that in the majority of schools there will be eighteen hours a year, at best, for teaching and learning about Christianity.
5. Understanding Christianity comprises 31 units of work for teachers of 4-14s, with teaching and learning strategies, classroom resources, knowledge ‘building blocks’, age-related outcomes, and specially commissioned artwork to connect core concepts with the wider salvation narrative. Following research on the best methods of effective training (Coe Citation2013), primary teachers receive the materials along with around 15 h of continuing professional development, sustained over at least two terms. This gives primary teachers the chance to interweave training sessions with trialling in their schools, feeding back progress and resolving problems en route.
6. The implications of this approach for the wider RE curriculum are under consideration. A study of Hinduism or of secular humanism could not retain the same emphasis on a specific written text, and the Qur’an may not be used in the same way in the classroom, perhaps. However, if ‘text’ is used, as it is by Gadamer(Citation2013) and others, to apply beyond the written word to any object of study encountered by the pupil, the pupil’s participation in the process of examining, interpreting and understanding the object of study, within the hermeneutical circle described in this paper, has potential application beyond the study of Christianity in RE.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Stephen Pett
Stephen Pett is a national RE adviser for RE Today Services. He edits RE Today’s series of secondary curriculum books, acts as adviser to three UK local authorities, and supports teachers through training and resource development.
Trevor Cooling
Trevor Cooling is Professor of Christian Education at Canterbury Christ Church University and Chair of the RE Council of England and Wales.
