“I’m just British—normal British”: Exploring Teachers’ and Pupils’ Conceptualisations of Religion(s) and Religious Belonging

Abstract

This article seeks to foreground the voices of primary school teachers and children-often silenced in research-and explore how they understand religion(s) and religious belonging. The findings draw on qualitative data investigating the narratives of teachers and pupils from five primary community schools in the West Midlands (England). The research shows that religious traditions in contemporary Religious Education classes still tend to be constructed as un-diverse, impermeable, monolithic wholes as teachers rely on the dominant World Religions Paradigm. As religions as lived tend to be ignored, children find it difficult to situate themselves within debates and conversations pertaining to religion(s) and religious diversity and consequently tend to speak about 'others' and imagined 'them'. As a result, most children believe that RE is learning about the 'Other' and tend to construct 'world religions' as un-British. The article concludes that, overall, RE fails to challenge static representations of religion(s) and rigid categorisations and that the subject ought to offer alternative representations of religious beliefs and practices by foregrounding the lived realities of children and religious communities.

Religion and Worldviews: The Way Forward?

“…Research shows that this is already an issue, as teachers feel more comfortable teaching about 'world religions' and worldviews 'which adhere to their own sense of a "good life", such as the golden rule, but ignor[e] aspects of religion(s) with which they disagree' (Flanagan, 2020, 12-13). Benoit's (2020) research also shows that teachers are more likely to focus on religious and non-religious philosophical convictions that promote a 'good life', and avoid 'destructive spiritualities '. 5 By emphasising lived experiences and seeking 'to understand how worldview works in human life', the CoRE report's 'proposed worldview paradigm seeks to replace the current world religions paradigm' (Cooling et al, 2020, 39).…”

“…The WRP has been the object of criticismespecially from post-colonial scholarsfor being entrenched in Western Christianity (Smith, 1964;Cox, 2016;Masuzawa, 2005). A number of ethnographic studies have also shown that when RE is taught through the lens of the WRP, the subject often leads to restrictive and normative discursive constructions of reified "world religions", and fails to equip learners with the tools to navigate our diverse societies (Benoit, 2020;. The CoRE report agrees with this critique:…”

“…While over fifty schools responded to the consultation launched by the commissioners of the CoRE report, and pupils were invited to share their views on RE, they have not been actively involved in decision-making, and have not yet contributed to curriculum development. Pupils, however, have shown on many occasions that they have relevant and important contributions to make when it comes to discussing the role and place of religion in education (Benoit, 2020;Hemming, 2011;Shillitoe and Strhan, 2020;Smith, 2005;Strhan and Shillitoe, 2019).…”