Isn’t it time for revolution, not evolution?

Some years ago, I used the analogy of rock strata and the need for an earthquake in religious education. At the time, I was writing about the confusion over the purpose of the subject and related pedagogies.

If one looks at rock strata, there are some smooth lines, some more prominent than others, all layered on top of each other, but in places a bit broken or mixed up. It is unclear where one layer begins and another ends. Like these rock strata, purposes and pedagogies for RE have become layered, broken and mixed up. It is not clear on what basis some pedagogies are founded and others practiced. These layers or pedagogies in some cases do not sit easily with one another, and some appear to be contradictory. To move forward, this bewildering layering of purpose and pedagogy needs to be understood and then challenged. To continue the analogy, some kind of earthquake is required to break up the pedagogical approaches of the past and begin again with new foundations.
(A Pedagogy of Embrace, Wright, 2018, p.69)

In 2018 I was calling for change; for the religious education community to be prepared to uproot its foundations. Last week I attended the AREIAC/AULRE conference hosted by the University of Exeter, and I was challenged again about the need for revolutionary change. In particular, the following provoked my thinking (names of presenters are in brackets):

• Current philosophies of (religious) education, as well as substantive and disciplinary knowledge do not champion worldviews which honour the earth (Kate Christopher)
• Curricula and pedagogies do not enable flourishing for all. Some are dehumanising and there is a need to ‘unlearn’(Alex Brown)
• Religion and worldview literacy is vital for freedom of religion or belief to flourish, yet this is not embedded in our curricula, pedagogies or systems (James Holt
• (Religious) education has become quite technical, and beginner teachers do not have a worldview of (religious) education (Aidan Gillespie)
• There is a significant lack of awareness of religion and worldview diversity in some schools (Anna Strahn)
• There are gaps between theory and practice in relation to democratic citizenship, especially with reference to religion and worldview literacy (Alex Unser)
• Positionality needs to be considered more deeply in relation to methods, as well as content (Rob Freathy)

A religion and worldviews approach can contribute to this change. If both substantive content and pedagogy are reimagined teachers can begin to address some of the challenges posed above. However, the questions raised, particularly in relation to equity, justice and inclusion are far more wide reaching. They require fundamental systemic change, not simply reimagining. They require revolution.

The conference last week reflected some of the messages I took away from a recent roundtable hosted by The Runneymede Trust. Here I heard about pupils self-censoring in relation to race and religion. I heard about children and young people, as well as teachers, feeling unsafe in relation to expressing their own identities. This is deeply troubling and demonstrates the enormity of lack of inclusion and equity in our education system.

I have written previously about inequity in relation to RE. RE is one small part of our system. However, we must start somewhere, and this is the space where I find myself. RE must become part of the solution, not part of the problem. The subject has the potential to be truly transformative. The pedagogy of embrace that I proposed provides part of the solution – creating spaces for pupils to flourish, enabling deep encounters, and encouraging pupils to listen for wisdom in community with one another (Wright, 2018). Alongside this, I will continue to advocate for equity and justice more widely in our education system, to ensure that all children and young people are able to flourish.

It is surely time for revolution….