Religious education, a matter of understanding? reflections on the final report of the Commission on Religious Education

ABSTRACT

In this article we offer reflections on the final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) that was published in England in 2018. We expose and problematise the prominent place of understanding in the report, not only as an educational method, but also the underlying world view of the report itself, a world view which we characterise as ‘hermeneuticism’. We raise educational, theological and political concerns about the particular approach taken in the report. We propose instead that religious education (RE) should be considered first of all in terms of what it means to live with a religious or non-religious orientation, conceived in existential terms rather than in terms of beliefs or practices or objectified world views. Educationally we show that what we term a non-hermeneutic way of viewing our humanity would open different possibilities for RE and its future.

KEYWORDS:

• Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) final report
• religious education (RE)
• hermeneutics
• hermeneuticism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We use the rather awkward term ‘hermeneuticism’ to distinguish it from hermeneutics. Our concern here is not with the role that understanding may or may not play in education – albeit that we have questions about that as well – but first of all with the underlying view of human beings, their place in and their relationships with the world. For a more detailed analysis and critique of ‘hermeneuticism’ in contemporary education see, for example, Biesta (2016).

2. An interesting ‘case’ for such an approach can be found in Enoch (2004), who builds on the work of Kenneth Burke; see also Rutten and Soetaert (2012) and, for a critical discussion, Biesta (2012).

3. Elsewhere in the report there is an awareness of this predicament, when it is stated that ‘some types of extremism … draw on particular religious and non-religious worldviews’ (28). But to suggest that those with extremist world views don’t understand what a world view is – see page 28, section 28 – is rather naïve, as one could also argue that those holding extremist world views, know rather well what a world view is, and what it is capable of.

4. On the idea that education and religion are forgotten dimensions of religious education see Hannam and Biesta (2019).

5. At this point we only refer to a number of significant alternatives within contemporary Western philosophy. There are, of course, also non-Western and older, pre-modern, accounts of the human being that differ significantly from hermeneuticism.

6. For a discussion of the educational implications of immanence and transcendence see Biesta (2017b).

7. For a detailed discussion of these dynamics and an argument for the need for education to be in, with and for the public sphere and public existence, see Hannam (2019).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patricia Hannam

Patricia Hannam (PhD Stirling University) is County Inspector Adviser for Religious Education, History and Philosophy, leading and advising on teaching and curriculum development in religious education and history. She has particular interest in the ideas of Arendt and Weil, and how schools and other educational contexts can be places where the thinking, speaking and action necessary for all to flourish, can happen. Her book Religious Education and the Public Sphere published with Routledge in 2018.

Gert Biesta

Gert Biesta is Professor of Education in the Department of Education at Brunel University London, UK, and NIVOZ Professor for Education at the University of Humanistic Studies, the Netherlands. In addition, he is visiting professor at NLA University College, Bergen, Norway, and the University of Agder, Norway. His work focuses on the theory of education, education policy, and the theory and philosophy of educational and social research. His most recent book, The Rediscovery of Teaching, was published with Routledge in 2017.