Element 1: Making sense of beliefs

Identifying and making sense of religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.

Pupils can: 

• identify core beliefs and concepts studied and give a simple description of what they mean
• give examples of how stories show what people believe (e.g. the meaning behind a festival)
• give clear, simple accounts of what stories and other texts mean to believers

 

Element 2: Understanding the impact

Examining how and why people put their beliefs into practice in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.

Pupils can: 

• give examples of how people use stories, texts and teachings to guide their beliefs and actions
• give examples of ways in which believers put their beliefs into practice

 

Element 3: Making connections

Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Pupils can:

• think, talk and ask questions about whether the ideas they have been studying, have something to say to them
• give a good reason for the views they have and the connections they make

Element 1: Making sense of beliefs

Identifying and making sense of religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.

Pupils can: 

• identify and describe the core beliefs and concepts studied
• make clear links between texts/sources of authority and the core concepts studied
• offer informed suggestions about what texts/sources of authority can mean and give examples of what these sources mean to believers

 

Element 2: Understanding the impact

Examining how and why people put their beliefs into practice in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.

Pupils can: 

• make simple links between stories, teachings and concepts studied and how people live, individually and in communities
• describe how people show their beliefs in how they worship and in the way they live
• identify some differences in how people put their beliefs into practice

 

Element 3: Making connections

Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Pupils can:

• make links between some of the beliefs and practices studied and life in the world today, expressing some ideas of their own clearly
• raise important questions and suggest answers about how far the beliefs and practices studied might make a difference to how pupils think and live
• give good reasons for the views they have and the connections they make

Element 1: Making sense of beliefs

Identifying and making sense of religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.

Pupils can: 

• identify and explain the core beliefs and concepts studied, using examples from texts/sources of authority in religions
• describe examples of ways in which people use texts/sources of authority to make sense of core beliefs and concepts
• give meanings for texts/sources of authority studied, comparing these ideas with some ways in which believers interpret texts/sources of authority

 

Element 2: Understanding the impact

Examining how and why people put their beliefs into practice in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.

Pupils can: 

• make clear connections between what people believe and how they live, individually and in communities
• using evidence and examples, show how and why people put their beliefs into practice in different ways, e.g. in different communities, denominations or cultures

 

Element 3: Making connections

Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Pupils can:

• make connections between the beliefs and practices studied, evaluating and explaining their importance to different people (e.g. believers and atheists)
• reflect on and articulate lessons people might gain from the beliefs/practices studied, including their own responses, recognising that others may think differently
• consider and weigh up how ideas studied in this unit relate to their own experiences and experiences of the world today, developing insights of their own and giving good reasons for the views they have and the connections they make

In 2018, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC) published the report from the independent Commission on RE (CoRE), the result of a two-year consultation, which sets out a vision for a change in RE to a ‘religion and worldviews’ approach.

This approach means enabling all pupils to become open-minded, critical participants of public discourse, who make academically informed judgements about important matters of religion, belief and practice which shape the global landscape. It is a subject for all pupils, whatever their own family background and personal worldviews.

 

 

'Worldview' describes the way in which a person encounters, interprets, understands and engages the world.'

 

• This encompasses a persons beliefs, attitudes, identities, assumptions, intentions, values, hopes and ways of being in the world.
• It effects and is affected by a persons thoughts, emotions, experiences, encounters, desires, commitments, actions and reactions; much of this is individual, but much is shared. People are into islands.
• A persons world view will be influenced by their context in terms of time, place, language, sex, gender, the communities that surround them, ethnicity, nationality, economics, history, class, access to political power etc. (Some contextual influences will be obvious and recognised; some will not.)
• It will change as a person grows and faces new experiences, encounters new people and situations, and engages in learning new knowledge. (Some changes may be conscious and deliberate and some may not.)