Why is RE important?
– It helps students recognise that there is culture and diversity outside their local community
– It celebrates that this world is unique
– RE will develop an understanding that we should be tolerant of other people’s beliefs.
– It allows students to investigate world and social issues such as prejudice and discrimination, capital punishment and euthanasia
– It strongly supports literacy and helps develop argumentative writing and to justify opinions.
– It helps develop discussion skills and confidence in debates on topical issues
– RE improves evaluation skills needed for other areas of the curriculum, while supporting cross curricular themes such as – the environment
– It provides a spiritual connection – difficult topics such as life after death and suffering are fundamental in a student’s education
– It can help form political ideas on areas such as Brexit / Immigration and the UK Abortion law
– It builds an awareness of the value of each person and ideas of how we should respect others
– It discusses moral guidance and people who live outside the law
– It allows students to realise that people can have different beliefs and that we should celebrate that people are unique
– RE allows students to look at the lives of people who have changed the world: Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi