National Institute for Christian Education Research (NICER)
Bob Bowie
554
NICER/Theos Think Tank Report event on Wednesday 21 October 2020, 7:30-9pm
Are you enthusiastic about the quality and status of Religious Education (RE)? Do you recognise its academic credibility in the curriculum? Do you welcome or have concerns regarding the current thinking on reinvigorating the subject? Are you intrigued by a worldview paradigm shift for RE and how it may look when applied to classroom practice?
A New Paradigm
Trevor Cooling, with co-operation from Bob Bowie and Farid Panjwani, maintains that a new worldview paradigm in RE is needed. In September 2018, the Commission on Religious Education, (CoRE) published a significant report recommending a worldview approach to RE in acknowledgement that everyone has a worldview, a lens through which our observation of the world is interpreted and lived. While many in field of RE positively embraced this recommended shift, others resisted it. Cooling maintains that the notion of worldview offers exciting new possibilities; an approach that is both academically rigorous and meaningful for all pupils.
A Transformational Experience
Despite some misinterpreting the recommendations of CoRE as simply adding more content to the study of RE, Cooling’s report suggests a different interpretation which not only highlights the importance of hermeneutics (the art of interpretation) but also reviews some recent resources. The worldview paradigm will not create a one-size-fits-all model for RE. Rather, what is sought is a variety of approaches that put critical, wise and reflexive interpreters at its heart. The RE classroom must be a place where pupils are immersed in a multi-disciplinary experience. Above all, and at its best, RE in the worldview paradigm will be a transformational experience.
Reserve your free place at this event via the following link:
Information on how to access the Zoom event will be sent upon registration.
