‘Once in a career’ opportunity for RE leaders and teachers to help shape the future of the subject

09 March 2022

MEDIA RELEASE

‘Once in a career’ opportunity for RE leaders and teachers to help shape the future of the subject

The Religious Education Council (REC) is calling on the country’s most talented leaders in RE to participate in an influential project to help shape the future of RE in England and Wales.

Three grants of £10,000 are on offer to innovative and creative syllabus writers to help develop a toolkit of materials to be used in the classroom as part of a new and updated RE curriculum.

The funding comes after the Templeton World Charity Foundation Inc. provided a £150,000 grant to the REC in April 2021 to help take the ‘religion and worldviews’ vision for RE into the classroom. In its 2018 report, the Commission on RE recommended that the teaching of worldviews be adopted in order to reflect the fact that everyone has a worldview be that religious or non-religious.

The REC is now looking for educators who can get on board with this vision and help pupils develop the knowledge and academic skills required to understand the complex and unique nature of belief in the 21st century.

Professor Trevor Cooling, Chair of the REC, said: “This is an exciting, once in career opportunity for RE teachers to join us in designing a religious education curriculum for future generations. At its heart, the worldviews vision is about preparing pupils for life in a society where the nature of belief is changing, and equipping them with the academic skills to explain and reflect on their own worldviews.

“The Templeton grant has gone a long way towards helping us implement the Commission’s 2018 recommendations. We are now looking to use these funds to attract visionary educators to help translate this vision for RE into curriculum materials. We know there is already a wealth of talent in the RE community, including among Local Authority Advisers, academy subject leads and Teaching Hubs working in this area, and we are particularly eager to hear from them.”

All Expressions of Interest must be received by the Religious Education Council by Thursday 31st March. To find out more and submit an application visit https://bit.ly/REC0122