How I plan for and use primary specific pedagogy in my curriculum

When thinking about the pedagogical approach to take for an RE lesson I am always aware that younger children have less life experience to draw on and are still developing their reading and writing skills. They also have a inherent curiosity about the world, which can be harnessed in RE lessons.

I find stories an powerful way to support children’s learning and plan for them not just when teaching stories from sacred texts but also when introducing artefacts and places of worship as I find they bring the teaching alive for the children. An example of this would be to tell a story about how a Muslim child receives a gift of tasbih (prayer beads) from a relative who has recently returned from Makkah (Mecca). I also seek out stories that include children who are visibly members of a particular faith, such as The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad, which I would suggest as a class story, in order to develop children’s understanding of how faith impacts on a child’s whole life. This can then be drawn on in future RE lessons.

When planning for children to share their learning, I put an emphasis on speaking and listening. This gives children a chance to practise using new vocabulary, make links to previous learning, link what they have to say to what others have said and share their developing ideas without being limited by their writing abilities. This also has the advantage of teachers being able to hear and misconceptions and correct them at the time. I suggest the use of post-its for children to record key points when recording is appropriate. As children’s writing abilities develop some more extended writing is planned in when appropriate.

For children in EYFS and Year 1 we make use of persona dolls so the children can ‘meet’ a child and learn about their faith and how they and their family live this out. The children link the persona doll to the stories and the artefacts as they ‘belong’ to them and this helps them to develop the foundations for future learning.