In an effort to explain what the incarnation of Christ means the unit then focuses on Jesus’ birth. It specifies that a picture or a video of Jesus’ birth should be shown and contrasted with the beliefs contained in John’s prologue. The birth narrative in Luke’s gospel is then used and the students are asked to identify key Christian ideas about Jesus in the story from their work on John’s prologue. If this was to be a more realistic portrayal of the birth narratives and the controversies connected to them, why is Matthew’s gospel not referred to? The students are then asked to carry out a survey to find our why the Christian story is still important to Christians, and what they do at Christmas to celebrate the story. This, and the follow up work, address the meaning of Christmas for Christians, which has the potential to challenge the students’ conception of Christmas and to distinguish the religious from the commercial secular aspects of it today. The author was recently made aware of just how important this is, even in a secondary school, when a student asked, after watching an episode of The Simpsons, whether it was true that Christmas celebrates the birth of Santa.
The unit also concentrates on the relationship between God’s love for humanity, as seen in the incarnation, and the love that Christians believe they should demonstrate to the rest of the world. It is interesting the unit does not link to ideas of forgiveness or reconciliation at this point, both of which are key Christian beliefs in relation to the incarnation of Christ. The unit recommends that stories are studied in which Christ showed love in his life and teachings, and how they inspire social action in religious people today. Examples are given of organisations and individuals who could be studied and through this the students should realise the importance of Christ and how he inspires believers today. Another key belief on which the unit focuses is the concept of salvation, and it suggest that a speaker is invited to talk to the students. From the author’s own experience the students do tend to learn a lot from such ventures, but the choir of speaker is problematic. How can you avoid stereotypes, or should you? The issue of salvation is a very controversial area that people have fought and died over, so how can you make sure the students have a realistic impression of the Christian faith represented to them? To illustrate this point Davies and Drury (1997) state:
“Although they [different denominations] all agree that this [salvation] depends upon the grace of God, churches differ in how they think grace works. The Catholic tradition stresses the sacraments; from baptism through to the last rites, the grace of God is passed to people through the sacraments of the Church administered by the priests. Protestants emphasize the inner workings of the spirit in relation to the teaching and the preaching of the Bible and the conversion of the individual, while the Greek Orthodox traditions emphasize the resurrection power of Christ to bring all people to share in God’s life and nature” (p.84).
In the notes it suggests that more then one individual should be invited would give an opportunity to invite representatives from different denominations to expose the students to more than one viewpoint.
What does the Resurrection of Jesus mean for Christians today?
This unit seems to be a natural progression from unit 8A as it is not just an investigation of Easter but of what the Easter stories and the key Christian concepts of Jesus’ resurrection and forgiveness mean, and how they have significance for Christians today. The unit states in the ‘About the unit’ section:
“This unit looks at the ways in which Christians today find meanings, hopes and challenges in the New Testament Gospel accounts and stories of Jesus, particularly those associated with Easter and the Resurrection. The unit encourages pupils to examine and reflect on other sources of human meaning, challenge and hope in the light of their study of elements of the Christian traditions, and so facilitates learning from religion”(QCA).
In this unit the students are exposed to two versions of the Easter story in Mark 16 and Luke 24. Students are encouraged to compare and contrast the details in the two stories, although it does not address why there are differences between the gospel accounts. The syllabus then focuses on the resurrection of Christ and why Christians believe this happened. The students are asked to think about what might have happened to Jesus’ body, and this gives the students’ the impression that religious education is a discipline in which all truth claims are evaluated. The present Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, is an ardent believer in the truth of the resurrection but in a recent interview was asked how the resurrection should be taught in schools and replied “We should always try to equip students to go through the sources themselves. We need to expose young people to all the arguments” (Radio Times, 2004, p33). Students, he argues, should be taught about all the possible alternatives.
In the second lesson entitled What does Resurrection mean? students are asked to “research meanings Christians find in the stories of the ‘risen Jesus’ today” by discussing concepts such as “hope and the presence of Christ”. However, this does not go on to deal with any controversies on the nature of the resurrection within Christianity. Cooling (1996) argues that belief in the resurrection is a fundamental Christian belief (p.175), and the official line of the Church of England, a belief in the physical resurrection of Christ, is crucial to someone calling themselves a Christian even though there have been heated debates over whether the resurrection is literally or metaphorically true since the enlightenment. Some Christians even argue that the resurrection should not be interpreted in a literal sense; instead they might that argue when the disciples said Jesus had risen from the dead they were saying his sprit lived on with them. Indeed, David Jenkins, a former Bishop of Durham, caused a huge row in the 1980s by casting doubt over the virgin birth and the resurrection, and in 2002 a poll carried out by Christian Research found that over one third of the Church of England clergy doubted or rejected the resurrection (Channel 4, 2004, p.2). Wright argued for the historical reality of the resurrection in his recent documentary Witness: Resurrection, and the author feels it would be worthwhile exposing the students to suitable elements of his arguments, as well as those who oppose the resurrection to avoid any false impressions. When dealing with the resurrection, merely dealing with the question of what happened to Jesus’ body is not to engage the students in the controversies of what resurrection giving them an unrealistic impression of this aspect of the Christian faith.
The unit also addresses the question of what the resurrection means for Christians today, what they believe about life after death, hope and destiny of humanity. The use of art and music is encouraged here, and students are encouraged to identify Christian beliefs and meanings in these media. Students are also given the impression that life after death is important for Christians at this point. The final lesson in this section addresses how Christians might celebrate Easter in a range of different communities to avoid a narrow homogeneous view.
Where are we going? Rites of passage
This unit not only covers how Christianity responds to special occasions in human life but also Islam and Judaism. It makes use of popular piety with which students should be familiar such as baptism, confirmation and funerals. This unit was chosen as it has Christian elements which are also covered in the author’s units of work and as such would provide a useful contrast.
The impressions of Christianity that the student are given are not particularly unrealistic as they refer to more than one denomination. The units first focus on Baptism is not unrealistic, as it is acknowledged as one of the most fundamental Christian rites of passage which nearly all Christian groups practice as the basis of their membership (Davies & Drury, 1997, pp.180-181). At the beginning of the section entitled What do Christians do when a baby is born? it suggests students “watch a video of a Christian baptism service eg Roman Catholic, Church of England, Methodist” (QCA, p.1). On its own this would be an inadequate portrayal of how Christians introduce their children to their faith, but a little later the unit also advises that the students “study what happens at a dedication service, eg the Baptist, Evangelical or house church” and that a comparison is made between baptism and dedication is made in a tabular form, so that students can draw out the differences in beliefs between the two. To improve, this unit could also have included a look at the Orthodox immersion of infants, and why this is practised as opposed to sprinkling. Opportunity could also be made for able students to study the differences between Anglican and Roman Catholic Baptism although this may prove too confusing and be left for inclusion in the GCSE syllabus. The students are also asked to study ‘what is required from the parents and godparents’ in the baptism service and to think about what it mean to take these vows seriously, but it does not specify that students should be challenged about their own beliefs on baptism, or christening as they refer to it, or whether it is appropriate for non-believing parents to have their children baptised. If this is not dealt with explicitly, the students could be left with the impression that baptism is merely a welcoming ceremony disregarding its religious implications. The next section, covering explicitly Christian material, is entitled Why are some adult Christians baptised or confirmed? And it gives a fairly representative view of Christianity dealing with adult baptism and confirmation. Opportunities are also given for the students to assess the beliefs that underpin these two ceremonies. It is suggested that students could visit a Baptist or Evangelical church to watch a baptism service, or visit a church to watch a Confirmation which, if possible, would be a great way for the students to gain a realistic impression of the Christian faith and the way in which adults can mark their commitment formally. The last section in this unit, handling explicitly with Christian material, is entitled What is a Christian funeral for? Here the students are asked to refer to two biblical passages which discuss the after life and death. It also asks the students to watch a video on a funeral although it does not specify a denomination. It could be argued that many students in year 9 would not be emotionally mature enough to deal with talking about death and funerals and any questions of showing differing methods would therefore be a little inappropriate. Death and funerals fit into the ‘rites of passage’ theme but are they appropriate at this time? More perhaps could be made of the birth and growing up which are more relevant to the students at this time. This section emphasises belief as opposed to practice as the written task is for the students to design a “little book” on Christian beliefs about the after life, although it does suggest that research could be made into how humanists conduct funerals and contrast them with the Christian material. There are no opportunities made for students to reflect on differing Christian beliefs on the after life.
Overall the QCA units do give a realistic impression of the Christian faith suitable for students of the lower secondary school age group, although on occasion the units could involve themselves more with the controversies of the Christian faith.
To what extent are these units linked to shared human experience and what opportunities are provided for pupils to reflect upon their own patterns of belief? ‘Shared human experience’ refers to material used in lessons that is “concerned with experiences that are widely shared” (Read, Rudge, Teece & Howarth, 1986, p.18) and ‘own patterns of belief’ refers to material which relates to the experiences of the students. The Westhill Project believes that the units of work in RE should draw on human experience. Human experience, according to the project, are those experiences which all human beings have, such as those connected to the question of “what it means to be human” such as destiny, love, death and relationships (ibid p.20). Religious education should be about how faiths respond to those shared questions of human experience, and links made to the personal experiences of the students themselves. The aim of religious education suggested by the Westhill Project is to help the “children mature in relation to their own patterns of beliefs and behaviours through exploring religious beliefs and practices and related human experiences” (ibid p.1). For the Westhill Project, planning should start from human experience which means the 2000 units of work would not be viewed favourably this is not their ethos. They begin and end with an emphasis on content which draws on aspects of human experience and occasionally the personal perspectives of the students themselves. In contrast, the Stapleford Project believes in the importance of using concepts in teaching of Christianity. This, it states, preserves the self-understanding of the faith and its beliefs so that teachers and students cannot make it up themselves. The Stapleford Project also stresses the importance of making parallels between the Christian beliefs and the students experiences (Grimmitt, 2000, p.41). In this respect the 2000 units do try to teach Christianity using concepts, such as resurrection and incarnation but they little effort to relate them to the experiences of the students. Another project called The Religion in the service of the child (Birmingham University) advocates that there is no need to prepare the students or create bridges between the experiences of the student and the religious material presented to them. In the same way, the QCA units include a lot of material which relies on the students taking away ‘gifts’ from the work without connecting the material to their own experiences (Grimmitt, 2000, p.37). However, the project was mainly for primary school children and the material suggested for use included the lives of children in different faith communities and religious artefacts. The QCA units of work rely on the exploration of beliefs and not, on the whole, on concrete objects such as religious artefacts. To ask the students to take away ‘gifts’ from the QCA units of work with no effort to relate it to their lives is perhaps asking a little too much.
In the ‘About the Unit’ section in the What does Jesus’ Incarnation mean for Christians today? no mention is made of what students could get out of the unit personally. This emphasises the unit’s focus on content, however in the ‘Expectations’ section it does state that students will “express their own values and commitments’ and will ‘reflect on questions about the purpose of human existence”. The question is whether this unit fulfils these expectations? As the unit’s prime concern is with knowledge, or phenomenology, and not the personal knowledge of the students, there is little effort to include specific experiences to elicit such information. The unit draws on human experience as the ideas of salvation and sin draw on the concept of destiny but no attempt is made to highlight alternative views of human destiny (nor is it pointed out that these are human elements that we all share) and, except for the section on love, students are not encouraged explicitly to reflect upon their own patterns of belief in this area.
In the unit entitled What does the Resurrection of Jesus mean for Christians today? it states in the Expectations section that most students will be able to “identify other people’s beliefs and express their own views, explaining their reasons; express their own values and commitments, and relate their insights to their study of Christianity; explain why they agree or disagree with the views about life after death”. Again this unit links to many areas of human experience, such as destiny and life after death, but no explicit effort is made to link these areas to the experiences of the students themselves.
In the ‘About this unit’ section of Where are we going? Rites of passage it refers to the students examining the concept of commitment and reflecting on their own commitments and the ‘Expectations’ section states that most students should be able to “articulate their own views clearly and weigh up those of others, giving clear reasons for their conclusions; reflect on what it means to believe and be committed to a faith, and reflect on their own beliefs and experiences on the light of this”. Elements of human experience are indeed drawn upon and it seems to be a starting point as it focuses on birth, commitment and death. The students are asked to think about why some religious people might want to mark the birth of a baby with a religious ceremony, but no mention is made of the difficulties and joys of parenthood which, for many of the students, would make it much more realistic. Out of the three units this one is much more student focused as it asks for them to draw on their personal experiences more frequently than any of the others examined. However, in the death element of this unit no opportunities are given for the students to respond personally.
The three units from the author’s school are a year 7 scheme of work called Who was Jesus?, a year 8 unit called Why is Easter significant for Christians? and a year 9 scheme of work called Growing up and ceremonies of commitment. All three units are similar to the 2000 units of work as they are content led, however, more effort is made to relate the content to human experience and the personal experiences of the students, when appropriate, as this is seen as being important. Unlike the QCA units the author’s units of work are more content led, not because content is more important, but because it is not always possible to connect the material to the lives of the students and any attempt to do so would be artificial. From the author’s experience the use of VAK (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) and any associated resource material is also the key to making an RE lesson stimulating for the students, and these units reflect this concern more than the QCA examples. There is also too much use of the Bible which comes out relatively regularly which the author feels would reinforce some of the stereotypes many of the students have about RE. The Bible should feature in any RE SOW but getting the students to read straight out of a Bible in the author’s opinion only reinforces stereotypes about the nature of RE. Instead more use should be made (depending on the year group, ability and situation) of simplified story book versions, comic strips, newspaper versions, role play and video.
Who was Jesus? is a systematic look at the birth, live and teachings of Jesus. Like the QCA units, Christian concepts such as incarnation and Messiahship are explored. The unit goes further to explore why Jesus’ teachings were challenging for the authorities of the time, and how they might be challenging for people and the students today. This unit is better than the QCA units in the way, for example, it looks at the evidence for Jesus’ existence and pictures of Christ from differing cultures, both of which provide a challenge for many of the students. Time is also taken to look at some of the key parables and miracles which demand a response from the students.
Why is Easter significant for Christians? again draws on key religious beliefs and events such as the crucifixion and the resurrection. The unit is preferable to the QCA examples as opportunities are given for the students to empathise with the crucifixion and resurrection through academic and creative activities. It draws on human experience and students’ own experiences particularly by thinking about key Christian concepts such as new life, forgiveness, love and sacrifice and asking them to think of what these words mean to them. Attempts are made to refer to other explanations of the resurrection and contrast them with the views of the Bishop of Durham that it was a physical reality.
Unlike the previous units but like the QCA unit, Growing up and ceremonies of commitment uses the experiences of students as a starting point, but unlike the QCA unit ‘Death’ is not looked at here as this is left to year 11. The author’s units do draw on the experience of the students but in many other ways as they need some work to make them more stimulating through the use of VAK. In this respect, the QCA units can be seen to be no better or worse than the author’s units.
To conclude, QCA claims that its schemes of work for RE “provide a stimulating basis for schools planning their RE curriculum” and that they should also “improve standards across the curriculum as there are links in all schemes of work to inclusion, literacy objectives and thinking skills (QCA, 2000, p. 3). In the author’s opinion the QCA units do “provide a stimulating basis” for RE but they do little more than provide a basis. In the hands of some teachers it could remain a fact gathering exercise that does draw on human experience but does little to involve the students personally. If this is so important then the QCA units of work should suggest ways in which this can be done. Indeed, an OFSTED report issued in 1994 comments that standards were higher in RE when the material students were studying was linked to their experiences and one wonders just how successful these units of works would be as they are not explicitly linked in this manner (OFSTED cited in Cooling, 1994, p. 13). In its favour the standards required by the QCA units are challenging, and although this is a good thing, as many able students would find this stimulating, there is no mention of how to make many of the activities suggested accessible for the less able, and any units of work issued by the QCA should differentiate. Indeed, in the author’s experience, many of the activities suggested would fail to engage the majority of students, for “a subject which does not make intellectual, personal and emotional demands (Day, 1986, cited in Cooling, 2000, p.155) is unlikely either to hold students’ interest or to contribute to their educational growth” (Cooling, 2000, p.155).
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