[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATORWhat is your view of the world? How do you see things? What makes you who you are? On what do you base your decisions? Why did you react like that? Do you believe in God or a higher power? Or do you see the world as a cocktail of chance and accident? Everyone has a worldview, whether religious or not. Each individual sees the world through a certain lens. It may be shaped by your upbringing, surroundings, or religion. And it can change as you move through life. Worldview can be both personal and organised. It is your attitudes and deeply held beliefs. It shapes how you live. It’s important to think about your own worldview. Where do you think truth lies? What about the worldviews of those around you? Do you understand them? They may not be as similar to yours as you expect. Or, perhaps, your worldviews will be more alike. Some people may feel that life is about success and improvement, being the best you can be. And some think it’s about helping the most vulnerable in society. Others may believe belonging to a group is vital for finding meaning, while another treasures belonging to the Earth in all its beauty. And still, most of us will not see the world through only one lens but rather through a blend of multiple visions. In an increasingly pluralistic society, understanding the world around us means realising that there is no neutral perspective. Nobody stands nowhere. Do you know where you stand? And why? [MUSIC PLAYING] This film was designed to illustrate the importance of the idea that ‘nobody stands nowhere’. Exploring in a sensitive and evidence-based way where we and others ‘stand’ is the fundamental reframing of Religious Education recommended by the Religion and Worldview proposal.As Professor Trevor Cooling explains, because everyone has a worldview, the ‘risk that certain views will be allowed irresponsibly to influence education is a risk for everyone – not just those with a religious affiliation – and we therefore need to ask what responsible influence looks like in education, rather than trying to exclude the influence of worldviews altogether’ (Cooling et al., 2020). Attention to religious and non-religious worldviews is a rich and valuable access point for understanding the complexity of navigating moral and social choices in our complex society. As is illustrated well in the animation, ‘where we stand’ is fluid and changing both for individuals and organisations. Understanding how this process works in our own lives and in the social world cannot be simplified into a list of facts to be memorised. Good RE teaches us how to bring parts of our identity which are deeply personal and influential into public discussion with our community. Our perspective – ‘where we stand’ – is brought into all our decisions whether they be personal, academic or professional. Religious Education is an opportunity to examine this fact head-on and learn how to negotiate ‘where we stand’ and ‘where does truth lie?’ in constructive dialogue with others who stand in different locations. In the next activity, you are going to consider further our own values, hopes and aspirations – and the roots of these life goals. You will do this through engaging with the metaphor of an ‘identity tree’. 2.1 Identity <?oxy_insert_start author="hrp44" timestamp="20220414T161253+0100"?>t<?oxy_insert_end?><?oxy_delete author="hrp44" timestamp="20220414T161253+0100" content="T"?>ree <?oxy_insert_start author="hrp44" timestamp="20220414T161716+0100"?>activity<?oxy_insert_end?><?oxy_delete author="hrp44" timestamp="20220414T161718+0100" content="exercise"?>An image of a large tree.An image of a large tree.You’ll now use an activity called the ‘identity tree’ to explore how Religion and Worldviews could be an important anchor for critically understanding why these subjects need to continue to be discussed in a facilitated way in schools. This activity was developed by the Faith and Belief Forum to explore how religious and non-religious beliefs and practices continue to shape our identities today (Faith and Belief Forum, 2022). Get out a piece of scrap paper or print out this worksheet (open the link in a new window or tab so you can easily return to the course) and start with labelling the leaves of the tree. Here are some questions to get you started – but you may want to use the leaves to label other important parts of who you are that are not mentioned. Which people are important to me?What are the places that are important to me?Which beliefs, values, ideas are important to me? What is my personality like? What do I do well and enjoy doing?What am I studying? What job do I want to do? What gender do I identify as? What is my sexuality? What groups do I belong to? What are my hopes for the future? An image of a tree and its roots.An image of a tree and its roots.Now consider where all these leaves originated – what are the roots of your identity? You can use the prompts below to label the roots which support your tree: My religion, beliefs, values come from…My personality comes from… My hobbies come from…My strength and skills come from…My appearance comes from…My dreams about the future come from…There will be some aspects of your identity that you have little choice about, these may be physical attributes like your ethnic and religious heritage, genetically determined attributes, as well as early experiences. Others may assume you have certain identities that you do not experience as part of ‘who you are’. Now that you’ve sketched out your own personal ‘identity tree’ here are some questions to consider: What has had the most influence shaping your identity?Was there anything that surprised you?Do you think your identity would be different if you:Were born into a different country? Were born into a different family?Were born into a different culture? Lived in a different city? Went to a different school? Had different friends? Would you have labelled this tree’s leaves and/or roots differently if you did this activity at a different time in your life? This activity illustrates how our identity is shaped by our history, culture, practices and life experiences. These influence and shape our ideas about right and wrong, how a person should behave and what beliefs and behaviour are unacceptable to us. This exploration does not need to erase the importance of religious identities, community and social context. Indeed understanding the origin and roots of our own values is an important starting point in engaging with groups and organisations who are coming from different perspectives. So what might the Religion and Worldviews proposal look like in practice? 3 The Religion and Worldviews proposalAn image of a Buddhist Monk.An image of a Buddhist Monk.When the statutory framework for providing universal, state-funded education in England and Wales was drafted in the nineteenth century, it was assumed that attention to children’s moral development was an essential component of schooling. Originally, this assumption was based in a predominantly Christian context. The situation became more complex in the later twentieth century as non-Christian people who were previously subjects of the British Empire immigrated to the United Kingdom. British people also increasingly found other things to do on Sunday mornings than attend church, even as they explored different kinds of spiritual and moral groundings.Today most people in England and Wales identify as ‘non religious’, but this does not mean that young people are uninterested in exploring their own values and moral framework both inside and outside the classroom (Curtis et al., 2019, p. 5 and Harvey et al., 2021b). In the global context, traditional religious beliefs remain vital motivating factors for making life choices. This makes it more, rather than less, important that Religion and Worldviews are a topic of explicit discussion in schools.3.1 What is being proposed?RE can provide a platform for students who come from a traditional religious background to share their experiences and communities, while it can also provide a much-needed framework for non-religious pupils to explore their moral and ethical beliefs and assumptions. The Religion and Worldviews proposal is a way to further these discussions of best practice in RE teaching and making the subject better understood and more effective. Proposed Religion and Worldviews national entitlement summaryPupils are entitled to be taught, by well qualified and resourced teachers, knowledge and understanding about:what religion is and worldviews are, and how they are studiedthe impact of religion and worldviews on individuals, communities and societiesthe diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews in societythe concepts, language and ways of knowing that help us organise and make sense of our knowledge and understanding of religion and worldviews; the human quest for meaning, so that they are prepared for life in a diverse world and have space to recognise, reflect on and take responsibility for the development of their own personal worldview.(NATRE, CoRE, RE: Today, n.d.)In this subject, pupils develop knowledge and understanding of religious and non-religious traditions, including their diversity and impact on individuals, communities and society. Pupils learn about the different ways in which people study these traditions, as well as building an awareness of and reflecting on their own personal worldview (Wright, 2022).The way RE operates in schools is open to a lot of local variation. This allows for local school leaders to reflect the diversity of religious and non-religious traditions in the local community. It can also mean that not all students are able to experience the benefits of high-quality RE teaching for their intellectual and personal benefit. Because it deals with the roots of our personal values and the subject of how we find meaning in our lives, good RE teaching cannot be simply replaced by what is covered in Citizenship or Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum. 4 An education for life and employmentA photograph of a group of medical professionals.A photograph of a group of medical professionals.The Religion and Worldviews proposal is a potential container for bringing forward discussions which can aid community cohesion, teaching productive dialogue across different beliefs and backgrounds. There is no need for complete coherence or agreement about the terms ‘religion’, ‘worldview’ or what should be taught within Religious Education. In fact, learning to work with contested concepts, and dialogue with people’s deeply held sense of identity, is one of the most important aspects of high-quality Religious Education. It also teaches skills that are in high demand in our twenty-first century economy. Activity 3Do you think that RE teaches important skills that will help students get jobs and have successful lives after school? Have a look at the following video – do any of the testimonials surprise you?