inspirational

Closing the Reading Gap in Religious Education

Why should we promote reading?

Reading is an essential element in all stages of education
Reading should be prioritised to allow access to the full curriculum offer
90% of vocabulary is encountered in reading, not day-to-day speech
Fiction does not give access to more academic vocabulary used for GCSE and beyond
Primary students learn to read, secondary students read to learn
Secondary children need to be reading books appropriate for their age (often not the case in secondary – particularly for boys)
In addition to teaching vocabulary explicitly, teachers need to model how expert readers read actively including monitoring their understanding, asking questions, making predictions and summarising (Rosenshine)

So how does a Religious Studies student read?

This is a vital question for teachers of religious studies/education yet it is rarely given any consideration in primary or secondary training.

Take the following example as given in ‘Closing the reading Gap’ by Alex Quigley.

“The third pillar of Islam is Zakah. This means giving alms (giving money to the poor). For Muslims who have enough savings it is compulsory to give 2.5 percent of those savings every year to help the poor. Many Muslims will work out how much they owe and give the money at the end of Ramadan.

By giving Zakah, Muslims are acknowledging that everything they own comes from God and belongs to him and they should use their wealth to remember God and give to those in need. It frees people from desire and teaches self-discipline and honesty.

Zakah literally means to purify or to cleanse. Muslims believe that giving Zakah helps to purify the soul, removing selfishness and greed.”

You will probably recognise that you are using your background knowledge about Islam (tier 3 vocabulary –subject-specific). You will also be using your understanding of words that are so familiar to us that we often do not notice pupils will not know them for example ‘compulsory’, ‘acknowledging’, ‘self-discipline’ (tier 2 vocabulary –academic vocabulary)

To read this single passage demands knowledge of the world or reading of text structures and word knowledge. If a teacher has not considered the teaching of reading, it can be hard to know whether pupils are understanding what has been read at all! To comprehend a text, you need to understand 95% of the words. An average text contains 300 words a page so that means 15 words may be unknown even if the gist of the text is understood.

We need to ask ourselves:

How ‘word conscious’ are we in our lessons?
Has tier 2 & 3 vocabulary been considered as part of a sequence in our schemes of learning and assessment?

So what practical strategies can we adopt?

1. Keyword vocabulary lists with quick quiz tests.

Key concept	Definition
Trinity	The Christian belief that there is One God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Nicene Creed	A Christian statement of faith primarily about the nature of God. Accepted by the majority of Christians
Creation	The Creation of the universe regarded as an act of God
Benevolent	All-loving
Omnipotent	All-powerful
Resurrection	The belief that Jesus rose from the dead after three days. The belief that the body stays in the grave until the end of the world when it is raised and judged
Atonement	The reconciliation of God and humanity accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ

2. Consider strategies for teaching tier 2 vocabulary

Teach synonyms

Required – have to, Tend – look after, Fortunate – lucky, Benevolent – kind

The ‘golden triangle’ of recognition, pronunciation and definition

Recognition – how is the word spelt? The ability to use phonics to decode new vocabulary and then to be able to reproduce the spelling makes a big difference.

Pronunciation – how is the word said? Making pupils say it aloud and use it in a sentence increases the likelihood they will remember it.

Definition – what does the word mean? It might sound obvious, but if you know the meaning of a word, you are much more likely to remember it.

Here is an example on an RS exam paper with a lack of understanding of tier 2 vocabulary

3.Explicitly modelling what expert readers do: activating prior knowledge, predicting, questioning, clarifying, summarising

4. Setting reading homework

At The Queen Katherine School, we have attempted to make reading routine by carefully planning it home works that link with the Scheme of Learning.

3,2,1 Readers are questioning, evaluating and connecting what they read. For example, three essential points to consider, connect and remember, two key vocabulary items to know, use and remember and one big idea to understand, explain and remember.

The resource ‘The Day’ is invaluable at supporting this.

https://theday.co.uk

5. Include more planned reading in the lessons

In consultation with our fabulous librarian, we have chosen short stories that complement our Schemes of Learning at KS3. Students will read a short excerpt in the first 5 mins of the lesson and as a class, we will discuss 3 planned questions based on the reading. These books are age-specific for our learners.

Conclusion

Alex Quigley makes the point, ‘it is important to view academic reading through a subject-specific lens in all phases of schooling.’

By paying attention to the disciplinary lenses used in RE we can best support our students to use subject-specific reading strategies alongside general reading strategies. However, does this open up another can of worms! What ‘different ways’ should religion and world views be studied? The Commission talks about Theology, Human and Social Science and Philosophy (Mark Chater Reforming RE Chapter 9) yet this does still remain contested. ‘See Disciplinary literacy in religious education: the role and relevance of reading https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01416200.2020.1754164

How does your school promote reading?

in the wider curriculum
in departments
in your classrooms

With thanks to Alex Quigley ‘Closing the Reading Gap’

Katherine France a Head of Faculty at The Queen Katherine School and North Regional Ambassador @KathFrance1975

10 steps to increase the presence of RE in your school

With RE curriculum time being squeezed in many schools, coupled with financial restraints, we as RE teachers must be increasingly intentional towards raising the profile of RE in our schools! Here are some top tips on how to increase the presence and gravitas of RE in your school, getting the much deserved attention our beloved subject needs.

Start with the pupils – Enable those who are passionate to support the subject by being ‘part’ of the RE department, e.g. pupil voice forums, contributing ideas to meetings, help with organising visitors, trips, displays or starting a Youth SACRE. Our colleagues over at RE Online have published a great blog on starting a youth SACRE which can hopefully give you some inspiration. You can also encourage ex-pupils who have taken RS related degrees at University to come back and speak to pupils about the merits of RE; sometimes its better coming from them, and enables open discussion encouraged by familiarity.
Find support and partnerships – There are so many high-quality courses to support RE teacher, both paid and unpaid. Additionally, you can make contact with a local NATRE group, schools in your local area or region and Universities to develop links. There are many different ways of developing your own subject knowledge through amazing websites such as Teach RE.
All pupils have an entitlement to RE – Find out about the legal requirements for compulsory for all pupils in state funded schools, including academies. It is also worth making your SLT and governors aware that RE is being scrutinised more under the new Ofsted framework; there are over 101 comments on RE from recent inspections, available for you to read.
Obtain funding – Do you have limited time or money to deliver the RE you want to? There are many different sources of funding for resources that RE teachers are unaware of. This is an exciting and detailed topic, which we have discussed on Teachers Talk before. Have another read if you’re looking to boost your RE budgets.
Complete a 360 review of the dept – The RE Quality Mark is one way of completing a 360 review of your RE department. To obtain the mark, your schools’ pupils fill in questionnaires. This could lead to changing schemes of work, developing pupils’ religious literacy skills, using more stories, encouraging deep learning and giving choice in homework/creative projects.
Emphasise how RE is relevant to the job market and the life-skills it provides. Projects such as the “Case studies” from RE Online will assist you to emphasise the academic rigour of the course, especially the careers it relates too.
Have a display of past success – Utilise public areas in your school to showcase pictures from RE trips, visits and quotes from current pupils and ex-pupils about the Universities they went to and the diversity of academic subjects they read. Case studies and success examples help individuals understand and materialise their potential.
Change hearts and minds. Explain to pupils what potential they have in the course and celebrate recent achievements. Speaking to parents, as well as sending emails and letters and a simple phone call can help challenge misconceptions of the subject. If you really want to open people’s hearts to RE, why not invite parents and governors on trips to see the fantastic knowledge and cultural capital that RE delivers?
Develop cross curricular links with other subjects – RE makes a significant contribution to SMSC, PSD and other subjects “… we know that a rigorous religious education acts as a Rosetta Stone between different subjects: unlocking our ability to make links and understand the great advances in science, politics, commerce, the arts and history.” Nick Gibb (Minister of State -2012). For schools with limited resources, time or budget provisioned for RE, combining Religious Education with cross-curricular activities can open new doors.
Use media to help promote the status of RE. Podcasts, websites and networking with other RE teachers will help to support one another as a community to help ‘Save RE’! Twitter is a great source of CPD with many RE teachers sharing advice, resources and ideas online. You could enter competitions, for essays or Spirited Arts, or complete an activity in Interfaith Week and invite the local press in. Not only does this grow your school’s presence in the community, it paints the school in a good light and increases the reputation, which every head and School Business manager will appreciate!

Written by Chris Giles, Regional ambassador for West Midlands. Follow Chris’ schools RE department on twitter at www.twitter.com/sbhsrs or his individual twitter at www.twitter.com/chris_giles_

“I just can’t help putting my hand up – REvitalising my career”

Hands up if you’re one of those people who just can’t help putting your hand up. I am one of those people, I never realised it was a leadership quality until I found myself leading. When opportunities come along, I just can’t help thinking – “oooh – I wonder how our school can get involved.” So much so, that my long-suffering team now audibly groan when I begin a sentence, “I‘ve been thinking…” or “I’ve been reading…” or “I’ve been talking to…”. In short, I can be deeply annoying – I refuse to apologise, things wouldn’t get done if people like me didn’t insist on putting our hands up.

A decade ago, having left a potentially lucrative (but dull), career in law to be a full-time mum, I accidentally became a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant in a three-form entry Primary school in Ipswich. I accidentally became RE lead; accidentally, I took on RE research projects; accidentally, I worked with local faith groups to develop multi-faith reflective story scripts; accidentally, I completed middle leadership courses; ran CPD; spoke at conferences; supported other RE leads. Before I knew it, I’d been leading RE for eight years, and we’d accidentally earned the Gold REQM. Of course, none of these things were accidents – it’s that ‘can’t help putting your hand up’ thing again!

However, even doers can get in a rut. About eighteen months ago, I was considering leaving education altogether. I’m sure this is something every educator has gone through from time to time. I’d been so busy doing things that I began to feel I had outgrown my space when I became a HLTA I’d thought maybe I’d do teacher training eventually. But I didn’t fall in love with teaching, I fell in love with teaching primary RE. If I joined a teacher training programme, I knew the chances were I’d eventually leave RE behind. It seemed that there was nowhere else for my career to grow. I began looking for a new (non-education) career.

At this opportune moment, I was extremely lucky to receive an email from Jan McGuire. Jan was a classroom teacher, curriculum lead for RE (for over 20 years), County Education Adviser and REQM Assessor. Jan is currently the Association of Religious Education Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants (AREIAC) Executive Secretary, REvitalise project Manager and works as a SACRE Local Authority RE Adviser and Independent Education Adviser for RE/ SMSC/ Controversial Issues/ EHWB. Jan invited me to take part in the AREIAC REvitalise pilot. Despite not being entirely clear about what the program was, I jumped at the opportunity to do something different. Finally, all that impulsive putting my hand up for things had put me on someone else’s radar. Early on in our sessions together, Jan told me of a person who had influenced her RE career in singling her out and supporting her development. I wonder how many of us have benefitted from the informal support of another professional? The education system is so special because of the generous people who give their time to develop other adults as well as children.

I soon learned that REvitalise is a personalised mentoring program specifically designed for emerging RE Leaders. ARIEAC realised how hard it was for RE leaders to traverse the gap between classroom practitioner and Adviser, what Richard Kueh calls, ‘professional hybrids’. Teacher agency beyond the classroom is vital in developing the RE visionaries of the future. Through the AREIAC and Culham St Gabriel’s funded project, Jan led a team of established RE Advisers and Consultants who mentored emerging RE leaders across the country. It wasn’t long before I realised just how lucky I was to be included.

Things began to change rapidly. Through Jan’s introduction, I became the Suffolk SACRE HLTA representative, immediately introducing me to another level of opportunities and contacts within the county. Through the mentoring sessions, Jan helped me to recognise my strengths and gave me the impetus and confidence to move forward, her project-writing support helped me structure my vision for multi-school development and express it in a way that caught the attention of our trust board. Jan’s encouragement led me to push our trust board to consider RE development as a priority, the board allocated funding for this development. The work we have been doing as a MAT of 21 primary and secondary schools over the last 18 months, is impacting thousands of children’s learning across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is also vital in supporting and developing RE leads and Head Teachers who no longer have access to Local Authority RE Advisers, even if we weren’t an Academy, these employed Advisers no longer exist in our area- this leaves a huge gap in access to expertise.

My personal growth and opportunities broadened. Without REvitalise mentoring support, I would never have been ready to apply for the post of NATRE East Anglian Regional Ambassador. Another role that, alongside working in school, has opened up so many new contacts and opportunities. I am reaching out to and connecting, hundreds of RE colleagues across our region, many of whom are, like me, the ones who just can’t help raising their hands when the next opportunity comes along. I see part of my role is to support the growth and potential in others, I’ve had a truly inspirational mentor in Jan McGuire- it’s time to pay it forward.

AREIAC, remains committed to developing the next leaders, change-makers, and champions of RE, and act as the conduit between the wider RE world and the classroom. AREIAC are looking to support the next RE leaders on their journey of development; using their AREIAC members’ academic expertise and specialisms and immense experience gathered in the RE classroom and through teaching the teachers of RE.

Could you be the next RE leader to join the programme?

To find out more about ARIEAC please visit: www.areiac.org.uk/

Written by Katie Gooch, Suffolk SACRE HLTA representative and NATRE RE ambassador for East Anglia @goochkt

Religious Education and Special Needs

In this month’s blog I am going to reflect on the time I have spent with special needs teachers looking at RE and share some ideas they have for making RE for children with special needs a hugely important and enjoyable subject.

In Hampshire I have been facilitating RE and special needs networks for some years now. The group meets once a term and consists of teachers from mainstream and special schools. They also email each other when they can’t meet and share ideas and experiences with each other. The teachers come from right across Hampshire, Southampton and the Isle of Wight and the mix is very helpful because planning and learning for RE can be shared and adjusted based on the experience of the group. This type of format can be used in RE network groups anywhere, as every teacher will have children with special needs in their class. I have learnt the benefit of taking 5 minutes in any network meeting to consider all the learning from the point of a child with special needs. As the number of children with special needs in mainstream schools is growing, many of you may face similar issues with planning and reaching those children who cannot always access lessons that easily.

In our Hampshire network, RE is based around concepts which form the key focus for teaching. Many syllabi in England have a similar approach and a clear focus, which is very important for special needs. Teachers have commented that real learning occurs when children begin by expressing their point of view or experience of a concept and then listening to the views of others, before learning about the concept from a religious or non-religious point of view. This is a very important approach, as many children with special needs are not always easily able to give their ideas or experiences, but if they can relate the learning to their own life they can often then go on to see the relevance in the learning from a religion. For example, during an RE unit on the concept of emotion in the Easter story a child with autism and attachment needs in my own class freely talked about his own feelings of sadness about being apart from his birth family. This was the only time in his 3 years at school that he had spoken about this in school. He went on to consider the concept in the Easter story with real insight and sensitivity. Other teachers in the group have similar stories. The subject itself and the freedom from writing and grammar outcomes (I appreciate these may well be picked up later in the lesson) can really help children with special needs express themselves in a profound, unique way.

Teachers say that the concepts that worked especially well in their RE were:

Belonging
Celebrating
Change
Precious
Remembering
Ritual
Specialness
Story
Symbol
Imagery

All of these are concepts that all children will have an experience of and therefore will be able to access the learning more easily. If teachers were using concepts that were far trickier in class, they went on to consider how to adjust their approach for those with special needs.

When planning RE, all the RE Managers identified the need to clarify the key learning for the children and to make it as interactive and sensory as possible. An example is through using sensory stories or puppets to narrate a story, rather than just reading from a book.

Successful learning always began with something based on the children’s own experiences and feelings.

This was identified by teachers as the key to the children’s understanding and without it, the rest of the information was not understood. The examples below from a School show the depth of the children’s thoughts on the concepts of Birth (made concrete by emphasising what happens on someone’s birthday) and Celebrating (again emphasising the actual experience of a celebration that the children have been too). This learning was then used to introduce learning about how Christians celebrate Jesus being born.

Another area the group commented upon was the importance of changing and adapting planning for children with special needs.

A special school shared an example of their Medium Term Planning for RE based on “Bread as a Symbol”. They changed their planning to meet the needs of their children by offering as many practical and sensory experiences as possible for the children to gain deeper understanding. For example, they made their own bread and considered how bread was used in their own families as well as acting out stories with bread in them. When they then considered how Jews used bread as a symbol, the learning was much more meaningful for them because of the practical actitvities used first.

Another special school was teaching about “Change in Christianity” and decided to adapt planning which told the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (which they felt might be hard for some children to understand) to the gospel story about Jesus calming the storm because children would be able to actually experience stormy weather (recreated through water and sound activities and making boats to sail in different waters on trays in the classroom) and then see the contrast with calm weather.

When you next meet as an RE network group or take part in NATRE’s monthly twitter chat #REChatUK online, take a few minutes to consider what the subject might be like for a child with special needs – does the approach need adapting? Can you make the learning more practical and how can children record their thoughts (for example through signs, speech, drama or music)? It will really help all the children in your class enjoy the RE and learn through fun. Enjoy the discussions!

Written by Justine Ball, Regional Ambassador for the South East. Justine Ball also works for Hampshire County Council as a Primary RE Inspector and Advisor. Find out more about Justine on her Ambassador profile page. You can follow her on Twitter on @justineballRE.