Future Proofing RE

From someone who spends a lot of time writing and thinking about RE, the subject is going through a renascence right now and there is lot to consider in how we can future proof our planning for the subject and applying best practice.

Firstly, we have the exciting prospect of the first ever RE National Curriculum that will be part of the 2028 national curriculum. An RE National Curriculum was recommended in the Curriculum and Assessment Review. Dr Vanessa Ogden has led on this, with NATRE supporting the Teachers Reference Group (TRG). At the time of writing this article, the draft of this is due to be published in September 2026. The draft RE national curriculum has been written by two very experienced RE practitioners and the content that has been shared looks very exciting. I was a member of the TRG and am very excited by what I have seen and what this means for RE into the future.

Then, there is the maturing pedagogy of Religion & Worldviews to consider and what this means for curriculum planning. 

Religion & Worldviews

While not yet universally adopted, Religion & Worldviews is now a common approach to teaching RE and seen in many Locally Agreed Syllabuses and Academy Trust curriculums. There are a few different strands to this approach which each need consideration and planning for in our curriculums.

Firstly, there is the shift in mindset and starting point. Religions are explored in parallel and in comparison, rather in isolation. A key question is posed, such as “What does it mean to be good?” and then students will explore how religions may try to answer this questions. Developing and planning for this type of learning means looking for connections and common themes and delving deeply into the subject matter. There is also the legally confirmed place of non-religious worldviews within RE to consider too.

This depth of learning is reflected in the academic disciplines (sometimes called lenses) used to frame learning. Initially, three disciplines were given in R&W: theology (or questions about believing); philosophy (or questions about ideas) and a broad catch-all title of “human and social sciences” or sometimes just “social sciences” (for questions about the lived experience). Some SACREs and providers have now broadened these three headings to include specific social sciences like sociology and psychology. Some have also including Science or Scientific Enquiry to better understand the ideas of non-religious worldviews too. This means that the same question or content can be revisited but with a different focus. For instance, we could explore features and architecture of places of worship and how they reflect the theology of their religions. We can then explore them again as sociologist, thinking about their functions within the societies they are part of. Same content, different focuses.

Learning more, with less

A key theme that is seen in best practice, is learning more from less content. Finding the breadth of a religion or religions through the depth of study in a few areas. I think of this like digging a hole: by nature of digging deeper you must widen the hole and cover more ground over time rather than starting off broad. Learning about a religion as a living, breathing entity that is a tapestry of concepts rather than following lots of unconnected threads in isolation. This means we can follow the best practice of exploring two religions in parallel rather than jumping between different religions and in isolation to each other.

There are various ways to approach the parallel learning, and all have their place. It could be within one lesson, such as comparing similarities between two religion’s festivals of light. Or via doing the same lesson “twice”, repeating the lesson structure and but for a second religion. Or across a unit, with the first half of the unit for one religion and then repeating the same 3 or 6 lessons for the second worldview.

How many religions should we explore per year or key stage? In general, two with a non-religious worldview explored as well when appropriate. We need to be mindful of legislation when choosing these two religions, which means that one of these two will most often be Christianity. Many schools keep the partner religion the same for at least 2 years, often exploring Judaism in KS1; Islam in Years 3 and 4; with a Dharmic religion in Year 5 and 6. The Dharmic religions are often explored later due to the starker contrast with the Abrahamic faiths but there is no reason why they could not be explored earlier. There are not usually rules about which faith is explored at which age, but, do check your Locally Agreed Syllabus.

While I have only spoken about the “Big 6” world religions so far, it is best practice to add in learning around all sorts of other religious and non-religious worldviews too. This is to build an awareness of the breadth of human faiths and enrich the planning. For instance, when discussing animal welfare, Veganism is an interesting non-religious identity to explore. Or, when discuss initiation into a faith, Wicca offers a counterpoint as children do not automatically join their parents’ faith unlike other religions.  

Checking coverage

I recently helped audit and update Norfolk’s Locally Agreed Syllabus. As part of this process, I applied the work of Ann Taves and her 6 Big Questions to check the content and coverage of our Syllabus. Her model poses six questions that all religions and non-religious worldviews help their followers to answer about the world. This helped us check our thinking and pose audit questions such as: Do we have too many theology units? Have we focused enough on the path through life a religion gives for their followers? Are non-religious worldviews given opportunities for coverage?

Having a model or framework like this is brilliant for checking your curriculum for blind spots. You could even use a simple tick list grind to double check that each academic disciplines and a variety of (but not too many) religions are being explored.  

Final thoughts

Best practice in any subject is always a changing landscape. New trends can wither or, like Religion & Worldviews, evolve and become best practice through years of development and shaping. Organisations such as NATRE and the RE Council are great places to keep track of what is best practice.