RE-searchers in MOVe

“The RE-searchers approach” is a pedagogy for teaching Religion(s) and Worldview(s) in school, developed by Giles and Rob Freathy (University of Exeter). A main idea is that, as the nature of Religion(s) and Worldview(s) are contested, and the nature of Religion(s) and Worldview(s) education in Schools is often contested, pupils should be given the opportunity to explore religion(s) and worldview(s) as contested. This can be done through different pedagogical approaches, and with different ontological and epistemological horizons. The RE-searchers methodology includes four possible ways of approaching religion(s) and worldview(s), developed into characters (Ask-it-all Ava, Have-a-go Hugo, See-the-story Suzie and Debate-it-all Derek), which can help students in their studies. In the project “MOVe” (“menneske og verden”), this has been adjusted to and tried out in a Norwegian school, in a project aiming to aid pupils’ ability to use subject knowledge across the curriculum, between KRLE and Civics education, in order to achieve “deep learning”. In this open forum we explore this methodology in a workshop with teacher educators, to engage with and discuss the methodology, including whether and how it represents “Big Ideas” for Religion(s) and Worldview(s) Education. Oddrun M. H. Bråten will open the forum (5 min). Giles Freathy will make an initial presentation of the RE-searchers methodology (15 min). This will be followed by a presentation by Bjarte Mongstad and Gunvor Wendel, who will share from their experiences of using it (15 minutes). There will then be a 55 minutes workshop, organised by the three teachers (Bjarte, Gunvor and Giles). This will culminate in a summing up of experiences and a general discussion (10 minutes), as to how this might be considered a ‘Big Idea’ for Religion(s) and Worldview(s) Education, or in education in general, across the curriculum.