Feature
Jackie Watson On Religious Education
About this feature
In this episode of Community Chest, Dominik welcomes Jackie Watson, an expert from UEA's School of Education, to discuss religious education in the UK. They examine the lack of a national curriculum for RE, the inclusion of humanism and secular resources like Star Trek, and the personal challenges of maintaining a secular identity while teaching the subject.
Dominik welcomes Jackie Watson, an expert on religious education from UEA's School of Education, to the Community Chest programme. They discuss the structure of RE in the UK, noting it is a compulsory subject that lacks a national curriculum, though a 2004 framework recommended including humanism. Watson explains the shift toward multi-faith teaching since the 1980s and the use of secular resources, including the British Humanist Association's materials and Star Trek as a humanist Bible. The conversation also covers personal beliefs, with both Dominik and Watson identifying as atheists, and the challenges of teaching RE while maintaining a secular identity.
Topics
- The structure and legal requirements of RE (syllabuses, frameworks, and GCSEs).
- The inclusion of atheism and secular philosophies in religious education (RE).
- Personal beliefs and the distinction between faith, doubt, and atheism.
- The challenges of teaching religious education as an atheist.
Participants
- Dominik
- Jackie Watson
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I mean, it has always been. People don't often realise this. It's always been a compulsory subject. It is a compulsory subject on the curriculum, but it doesn't have a national curriculum. But is compulsory, and everybody is supposed to do it. But.
To the parents' evenings, they didn't realise what religious education was like these days because they were brought up as I was with RE that was basically teaching you about Christian scripture and that was it. But particularly since the 1980s, religious education is multi-faith.
It's only actually, to be honest, it's only just recently that I've come out as an atheist to come out of the closet. So as a teacher, I got very used to just not answering questions about what my own beliefs were, but I feel that's a terrible situation. You should be.