Blog
How to write your own unit of learning
The units of learning based on Big Ideas for RE are probably quite different from anything you have worked with previously. A central principle is the flexibility of the units and indeed the whole programme. See also 'Develop your own "Big Ideas for RE" curriculum'...
The ‘essential’ guide to Big Ideas for RE
How to navigate the Big Ideas for RE website as an RE Curriculum Developer. The main purpose of the website is to provide a guide for those developing the RE curriculum. Many teachers head straight over to the Exemplars to access the detailed...
Big Ideas and the RE Council’s National Statement of Entitlement
The Big Ideas Project and the Commission on RE (CoRE) set up by the REC (Religious Education Council of England and Wales) both began in 2016 and arose from similar concerns about the present situation of and future prospects for the school subject, religious...
Glossary of Key Terms
Big Ideas ‘Big Ideas’ is a technical term proposed by Wiggins and McTighe (2005) to refer to the main overarching ideas that students need to understand in order to grasp a subject in the school curriculum in a way which is transferable to life beyond the...
What is a ‘Worldview’?
What do people mean when they talk about worldviews? The Report from the Commission on RE in England, set up by the REC (Religious Education Council of England and Wales), in 2018 recommended that we rename the subject Religious Education (RE) ‘Religion and...
Non-religious and Secular Worldviews
Non-religious Researchers have asked people what they mean when they say they are ‘non-religious’. The answers are quite variable. Often, they are rejecting religious beliefs such as belief in God, reincarnation, or anything beyond the evidence of the senses and...
What is ‘religion’?
The Commission on RE (2018) recommended changing the name of the school subject ‘Religious Education’ in England to ‘Religion and Worldviews’. The word ‘Religion’ is in the singular to indicate the need to examine the concept of religion, and to delineate...
The Big Ideas Development Team
The Big Ideas for RE were developed under the direction of Dr Barbara Wintersgill in collaboration with (in alphabetical order): Alan Brine Denise Cush Dave Francis Rob Freathy Felicity Henchley James Holt Julian Stern Janet Orchard Michael J. Reiss Linda Rudge Joy...
FAQs on using the exemplar units
Do I have to teach all the exemplar units? As the name indicates, these units are examples so no, you don’t have to teach any of them. However, we would advise you to begin teaching Big Ideas through at least one of the preprepared units. That way you are more...
The Big Ideas Exemplars Writing Team
The Exemplars for the Big Ideas for RE Project were produced by an expert team of teachers and advisers, working with our core editors. CONTRIBUTORS: Sarah Bareau Maddy Bloomfield Stacey Burman Kate Christopher Denise Cush Roxy Fearns Dave...
