At TCS, the study of Religion and Worldviews is taught through thematic based enquiry approach, whereby ICT is used to as a tool to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, whilst a variety of teaching and learning strategies are deployed that are student centred designed to challenge and engage students.
The study of religion and worldviews will stimulate a genuine curiosity about our own positionality, beliefs, purpose, and connection in the world encouraging questioning, investigation, and critical thinking. It enables students to make sense of people, cultures and worldviews which create, influence, and mould the world we live in. Students develop a knowledge of beliefs and practices, an understanding of ways of expression, and a range of sources of authority. Through exposure to this knowledge, experiences and worldviews, students can formulate and strengthen their own worldview and personal convictions whilst developing skills in critical thinking and philosophically enquiry. Religion and worldviews are taught from a secular, non-religious viewpoint and plays a vital role in enhancing social cohesion and acceptance of others by celebrating our differences and what joins us together as humans.
Through their study of Religion and Worldviews, we aim to:
- Promote opportunities to ‘think like a philosopher’ by developing the ways in which students think about different worldviews,
- Introduce pupils to diverse understandings of the world presented by worldviews (religious and non-religious.
- Investigate the relationships between beliefs, teachings, forms of expression and lived experience.
- Consider questions of meaning, purpose, and truth, how these questions may be posed, addressed, and understood differently within disciplines and worldviews.
- Explore how their own worldview shapes their encounters with the world, and how their context, experiences and study can shape their worldview.
- Enable students with the tools to engage with critical thinking and philosophy discussions with purpose whilst also being able to express their own opinion and standpoint.
- Giving students the ability and confidence to challenge misconceptions, stereotypes and promote social cohesion
Through the curriculum design at Ks3, we hope that many students opt to continue with their study of Religion and Worldviews. For that reason, the concepts that underpin our Ks3 curriculum are taken from both the Eduqas GCSE and OCR A-level specification – facilitating the delivery of a 7-year learning journey for students. Furthermore, there is a greater emphasis on depth of study, as opposed to breadth resulting in four more thematic units being studied in each year group.
