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Religious education

Religious Education, Philosophy and Ethics

Religious Education (RE) creates opportunities for personal reflection as well as deepening knowledge and understanding of the world around us and, ultimately, developing the key skill of empathy. Religious Education contributes to students’ education by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. In RE students learn about religious and non-religious world views to discover, explore, and consider different answers to these questions.

Students learn to interpret, analyse, evaluate, and critically respond to the claims that religious and non-religious world views make, as well as express their insights and agree or disagree respectfully. Teaching, therefore, equips learners with knowledge and understanding of what is meant by the terms 'religion' and 'world view', as well as knowledge and understanding of a range of religious and non-religious world views.

RE offers opportunities for personal reflection and pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development as it encourages them to examine the significance of their learning in relation to themselves and others. It enables students to explore their own beliefs - religious or not, ideas, feelings, experiences, and values in the light of what they learn. RE encourages empathy and respect and enables learners to develop their own sense of identity and belonging, all whilst promoting respect and tolerance of different beliefs, values, and ideas.

Ultimately, RE enables positive participation in our society due to its diverse religious and non-religious world views. The course gives pupils an informed understanding of political, social, and moral issues that they will need to face as they grow up in an increasingly globalised world. Pupils learn to positively deal with controversial issues, to manage strongly held differences of belief and to challenge stereotypes and prejudice.

Curriculum information

Year  

Autumn  

Spring  

Summer 

  • Why are some people religious? 
  • Where did the universe come from? Arguments for the existence of God. 
  • Christian beliefs  

 

  • What do Sikhs believe about the nature of God? 
  • What do Muslims believe? 

 

  • Why do people suffer? Including the Problem of Evil and Suffering. 
  • Is there life after death? 

 

  • What does it mean to live as a Muslim or Sikh in Britain today? 

 

  • Prejudice and Discrimination 
  • Do religions bring conflict or harmony? 

 

  • What does justice mean? 
  • How do believers follow their religion? 

 

  • How do you make moral decisions? 
  • What are the origins of the universe and human responsibility? 

 

  • Why is Social Justice important? 
  • What are the rights and wrongs of medical ethics? 

 

  • How have attitudes to marriage and the nature of family life changed? 

 

KS4 option 

Year 10 

  • Christian Beliefs 
  • Ethical Issue: Religion and Life 

 

  • Christian Practices 
  • Ethical Issue: Relationships and Families 
  • Buddhist Beliefs 
  • Ethical Issue: Peace and Conflict 

 

KS4 option 

Year 11 

  • Buddhist Practices 
  • Ethical Issue: Crime and Punishment 
  • Revision 

 

  •  Revision 

KS4 Core 

Year 10 

  • What makes us human? 
  • Harm no living thing? 
  • How does the media portray religion? 

KS4 Core 

Year 11 

  • Prejudice and discrimination
  • Contentious issues 
  • Conflict

 

Religious Education is an interesting and enjoyable subject; it teaches you about life and equality within everyone's religions, helping us interpret people and understand their religion without judgment.
Year 10 student