The Challenges of A-level RE

Abstract

It was a great honour to be asked to speak at the conference, and to contribute to this journal, and also, I felt, a great surprise. The surprise lies in the fact that, as a classroom teacher and head of department in a comprehensive school, I feel that I only have a very limited strategic vision for RE; I know what I know very well, but even as a member of a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), I don't really have the 'big vision' that I had thought was required to produce a paper like this. This is the origin of the 'trench' analogy that I refer to in my title. From my perspective, if you are involved in policy making?either through the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) or th e Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), then your view is like a satellite photograph of Europe; spanning an enormous area, the perfect position from which to make far-reaching strategic decisions. (This position does have the disadvantage that you are very long way indeed from whatever is actually happening on the ground!) If, on the other hand, you are a university academic, then your view is like that of the artillery observer flying over the battlefield; much more close up that the previous view; combining a fairly good awareness of what is happening on the ground with a good grasp of medium term strategy (you can see over the hills and forests that the troops on the ground can't). This view is not without its frustrations however; the observer will say 'Why can't A company reach that