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BPRI122
Religious Education in the Primary Classroom
Religious Education is an adventurous field to be explored by Primary teachers. This module intends to instil in Primary teachers the urge to assimilate, love, possess and own the subject content in a way that they can’t refrain from passing on the validity of the subject to future generations. The Primary teacher of all years must acquire the right knowledge, skills, attitudes and competences to transmit the love for
the subject using the appropriate pedagogical and methodological methods. These, in turn, should lead the teacher to have a clear picture of each student’s achievement. Thus, participants should be given sound knowledge of the subject content and should be trained to apply it according to the needs and abilities of the students whom they teach. They should also be given the opportunity to expand their
knowledge of the fields in question. As future Primary teachers, participants should be given the opportunity to explore ways in which they can embed RE as part of the formation delivered during the Primary Sector years of the students’ education.
By the end of this programme, participants should be able to:
a. Make Religious Education engaging, reachable and accessible to all learners;
b. devise and formulate ways and means to help students develop their cognitive and non-cognitive
aspects for learning to take place;
c. enhance ways and means to relate and apply the subject content of Religious Education to the
experiences of his/her students and their worldview.
d. adapt the Religious Education content of the year he/she teaches to the different levels of abilities
and potentials, and the different social backgrounds of his/her students.
e. create resources in a way that embedded teaching is experienced and its benefits are strongly
appreciated by the learner.
f. create a scheme of work and lessons which cater for the different abilities,
potentials, and social backgrounds of his/her students
g. employ a suitable pedagogy for teaching RE in the Maltese context; whereby, learning is facilitate
d through the different resources created along the learning process.
a. develop knowledge of Religious Education in the Maltese Primary Sector and identify the strengths
and weaknesses of the Learning Outcomes Curriculum;
b. identify the development and formulation of ways and means of how the RE subject content can
be passed on through 21st century pedagogy;
c. comprehend the different methods of assessment and their corresponding purposes, which cater
for both the summative and the formative assessments, which complement the learning process.
d. compare and contrast the differences and commonalities between both the present curriculum a
nd the Learning Outcomes curriculum through knowledge of the subject matter;
The learner will be able to:
a. formulate ways and means through which the subject content of RE is reflected in everyday
practices of Christian life;
b. develop new insights in order for the participant to be able to answer his/her students’ human,
moral and spiritual questions in a way to help and encourage them acquire a holistic and inclusive
perspective of the world around them, and respect for all adherents of all World Religions;
c. create innovative ways and means by which, interlinking of subjects including RE, can take place
through the cross-curricular themes, as presented in the National Curriculum Framework;
d. derive and sustain arguments as corresponding to the subject content at hand, about the
effectiveness of the various modes of assessment, reflecting the needs and the potentials of the
students.
e. demonstrate the use of various pedagogic approaches and methodologies and apply them to the
various social and cultural backgrounds encountered in class;
f. formulate new skills developing an understanding of what 21st century pedagogy is based on;
g. compare and contrast the effectiveness of the various modes of
assessment in RE learning process according to the needs and potential of the students;
h. evaluate the learning process to implement informed changes in pedagogy, choice of resources, a
nd mode of assessment.
This module will be assessed through: Practical Assignment and Tasks.
Core Reading List
1. Benedict 16, Pope, (2007), Jesus of Nazareth. Bloomsbury Publishing, London.
2. Barnes, L.P. ed., (2011). Debates in religious education. Routledge.
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church. (1995). New York, United States: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group Inc.
4. Cavalletti, S., (2002). The Religious Potential of the Child, 6 to 12 Years Old. Liturgy Training
Publications.
5. Erricker, C., Lowndes, J. and Bellchambers, E., (2010). Primary Religious Education–A New
Approach: Conceptual Enquiry in Primary RE. Routledge.
6. Fullan,M. and Langworthy,M. (January 2014). A Rich Sea. How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learnin
g. London: Pearson.
7. Grimmitt, M., (2000). Constructivist pedagogies of religious education project: Re-thinking
knowledge, teaching and learning in religious education. Pedagogies of religious education, pp.189-
207.
8. Grudem, W. (2000). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. London: Inter-varsity
Press.
9. Learning Outcomes Framework, (2015). Religion. [online] Available at:
http://www.schoolslearningoutcomes.edu.mt/en/dashboard [Accessed 4 January 2018].
10. Scott, C. L. (2015). Cynthia Luna Scott. The Future of Learning 3: What kind of pedagogies for the
21st century? UNESCO Education Research and Foresight, Paris. [ERF Working Papers Series, No.
15].
11. Niculescu,R.M. and Norel,M., Religious education an important dimension of human’s education.
Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 93 (2013), pp. 338 – 342.
Supplementary Reading List
1. Davies, G. (2004). Religious Education in the Primary School. School of Education. [online] Bangor:
University of Wales. Available at: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/addysg/publications/Trafodion4s.pdf.
[Accessed 4 January 2018]
2. Fancourt, N. – Teaching about Chrisitanity in religious education: a review of research, [online]
University of Oxford. Available at:http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2011/10/Teaching-about-Christianity-in-religious-education.pdf [Accessed 4
January 2018]
The Institute for Education is a Further and Higher Education Institution with Licence number 2016-006
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