Learning about religion

Religious Education

Secondary

A look at the educational work of two Madrasahs in Birmingham

A look at the teaching and learning in two Madrasahs in Birmingham; the Zawiya Madrasah, located in an Islamic centre, and Madrasah Salafiyah, based in a more traditional mosque setting. All over the UK, 200,000 Muslim students attend a Madrasah after school each day where they learn and discuss the practices of their religion. On average the children spend two hours at Madrasah focusing on learning to read and write Arabic, and Islamic studies. Madrasah teachers endeavour to link the curriculum to children's needs and interests. They also employ storytelling, group work and other strategies to make learning at the end of a long day at mainstream school as enjoyable as possible. Staff, pupils and parents talk about the importance Madrasah education has for them, as well as its relevance in the 21st century.

Islamic Education - My Other School is a Madrasah

 Year 6 pupils learn the rules and responsibilities of RE 

In this programme Lynne Broadbent and Shaun Burns present a motivational project about rules and responsibility, devised for Year 6 RE pupils as they begin secondary school. Lynne has worked with both primary and secondary teachers in Lewisham, south London to make sure RE learning doesn't take a dip during this major change in pupils' lives. Lynne describes the challenges they faced in designing the scheme of work, whilst Shaun takes us on a whistlestop tour of the project's content, before they both discuss how they can take the project further. In the project, pupils learn about rules and responsibilities in the different world religions and secular society, and develop their own creeds for living their lives. The project fulfils both of the attainment targets for RE: learning about religions and learning from religions.

KS2/3 RE - Rules and Responsibilities

Year 6 RE pupils learn about symbols and symbolism

In this programme, Year 6 pupils learn about symbols and symbolism in both religion and their own lives before completing an activity to form the basis of their Year 7 RE. The pupils of Easington Colliery Primary School create their own 'memorial' book, which covers symbols and symbolism in religion, their home life and their primary school life. They take the books with them when they start at Easington Community School, to help with their learning in Year 7. This programme is partly a learning activity about symbols in religion, and partly an inspiration piece for pupils to create their own symbolism project to help bridge the gap between primary and secondary school.

KS2/3 RE - Symbols and Symbolism

Four young Hindus discuss their views on Hinduism and God

In this programme, four young Hindus share their understanding of what their religion means to them. They quiz four Hindu experts, including Jay Lakhani from the Hindu council of Brent, on the four pathways to God, reflecting on which pathway best suits their personalities. The issues covered in this programme relate to the religious beliefs and practices element of the national curriculum and provide a useful introduction to Hindu beliefs and practices.

KS3 RE - Hindu Spiritual Pathways

 A new approach to teaching Year 9 pupils about Hinduism 

In this programme, RE teacher Laura Morris introduces Hinduism to Year 9 pupils using the resource programme Hindu Spiritual Pathways. Laura's lesson involves learning grids and class discussion, starting off her lesson with an analogy, capturing the interest of the class with a quiz and linking this later to the different approaches to God. RE advisor Beth Stockley, developer of the scheme, visits Laura at Kingsbury High School to analyse the lesson and discuss how future lessons could move the learning forward. The aim of this scheme is to show teachers a method that makes it easier to teach spirituality to pupils in a less abstract and more understandable approach.

KS3 RE - Hinduism and Spirituality - A Lesson

Tips on communicating complicated religious concepts to Year 7s

How do you communicate complicated concepts like sacrifice and martyrdom to Year 7 students? Teacher Kathryn Kane takes an unconventional approach. In all religions, blood has special significance. Kathryn uses it as an entry point, since her students enjoy the "gore factor". The class research on the physical properties of blood on the internet leads into a discussion of the material worth of the physical parts of their bodies. As a result, Kathryn's students soon understand the priceless nature of human life and the concept of sacrifice. She introduces them to the Muslim stories of Ibrahim and Isma'il, which are new to most of the class and links these to the more widely-known stories of Abraham and Isaac. This programme: <ul><li>Uses a range of engaging techniques, including games</li> <li>Explores Muslim stories to develop empathy and understanding</li> <li>Promotes discussion and understanding about concept of sacrifice </li></ul>

KS3 RE - Sacrifice and Islam

An imaginative Year 7 lesson using role-play to inspire empathy

An imaginative Year 7 lesson on the concept of sacrifice and the Sikh story of Guru Tegh Bahadur, using role-play to help students gain a deeper understanding and insight. They begin by reading about the Guru, his character and values. Once they have gained a basic knowledge of the story, the pupils are then asked to think empathetically about the key players. The class is divided into small groups, with each group acting out a short scene from the story, ending with a tableau of a climatic moment. In the second part of the lesson, four pupils are chosen to play the key figures of the story while others devise, write and then pitch a range of questions to them. This "hot-seating" shows the progression in both knowledge and understanding that pupils can make through the lesson. Key points: <ul><li>Use role play to explore the nature of sacrifice and matyrdom</li> <li>Lively group discussions demonstrating pupils' understanding of sacrifice</li> <li>Comparison with other religions and common threads</li></ul>

KS3 RE - Sacrifice and Sikhism

A class concentrate on different aspects of Christianity

Mulberry School for Girls is a large inner-city non-faith school whose intake is largely Bengali Muslim. The GCSE long and short course results in RE are well above the national average. Anne Fayter is one of the joint heads of department and in Christian Ethics: Attitudes to Other Faiths, she uses a dynamic and strongly visual learning technique to develop understanding of a range of Christian perspectives regarding attitudes to other faiths. The lesson activity runs as follows: <ul> <li> Working in groups, the KS4 students are given a Christian definition of inclusivism, exclusivism or pluralism </li> <li> Each group converts the text into a simple diagram </li> <li> Changing into different groups, the students use their diagrams to explain the different perspectives </li> <li> By the end of the class, every student should have a good understanding of all three stand points and most will recognise the religious and philosophical reasons that underlie these perspectives </li> <li> Students will also have three simple diagrams in their books providing an efficient GCSE revision tool </li> </ul>

KS3/4 RE - Christian Ethics: Attitudes to Other Faiths

A head of RE teaches Buddhism to Muslim pupils

Find out how an RE teacher approaches the study of Buddhism with a Year 8 class of mainly Muslim pupils. Azam Ali is head of RE at Challenge College in Bradford where most of the students are Muslim. The majority of his students don't have an issue with learning about other faiths but occasionally students ask why they can't just learn about Islam. As a Muslim himself, Azam reminds his Islamic students that their religion is about racial harmony, social harmony, learning about other ideas and cultures and learning about other faiths. However, Azam knows how important it is to ensure no student is excluded because of his or her faith and so, when teaching his class about Buddhism, is aware of the sensitivities some Muslims could have. Amongst other things, Azam realises some students could have issues with drawing images of the Buddha, particularly when in Islam idol worship is considered to be a very grave sin. He knows that some students might feel that they may be doing something that's wrong.

KS3/4 RE - Teaching RE to Muslim Students: Studying Buddhism

Tackling potentially challenging topics with Muslim pupils

Mick Walker, head of RE at Nab Wood School, teaches a lesson exploring Muslim attitudes to issues of peace and conflict. The school serves a diverse population in the Bradford area and most students are Muslim. Mick firmly believes that schools shouldn't avoid controversial areas of the curriculum as students need to be given the opportunity to articulate their concerns, their anxieties, their fears and their worries in school. Mick's lesson objectives centre around: <ul> <li>the exploration of how the media represents Muslims and Islam</li> <li>a balanced understanding of what Muslims mean by the term Jihad</li> <li>the examination of when Muslims should fight and what the conditions would be for a just war within Islam</li>

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

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> Secondary Religious Education

> Learning about religion