You are here: Home > Religious Education in Schools   Go Back

Religious Education in Schools

The following is an extract from a letter Jonathan Marshall, the Plymouth RE Adviser and Director of the Centre, recently sent to all RE teachers in Plymouth, thanking them for all their work over this past academic year.

Thanks to many teachers and SACRE members in the RE community, and especially to Graham Langtree, the Devon RE Adviser, we have an excellent Agreed Syllabus - "Every Child Matters in RE" which provides the bones, the structure and framework for our teaching. And we have the "Ready to Go" - RE Handbook, which adds the flesh, the colour and textures, through the activities and guidelines.

But flesh and bones are not enough, life has to be breathed into the form, and that is where you come in! It is through your skills, expertise and commitment that our children and young people are really educated about and learn from RE.

The essence for me is this; RE enables young people to explore ways of living life; RE is about "the art of living."
This is why it is so essential within any school curriculum. It brings balance and reminds us all, teachers as well, of what matters most and what, ultimately, is worth doing.

You will know that I often quote Abraham Heschel, in fact, I frequently need to remind myself of what he said!

"Everything depends on the person who stands in the front of the classroom. What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but textpeople! It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that pupils read; the text that they will never forget. The teacher is a creator of the future of our people." 
 
Print Print