Programmes of Study: Ages 11-14
Click on the icons for the Topic-related Questions and Learning Objectives for each Big Idea
SUBJECT CONTENT in the Programme of Study Ages 11-14
Pupils should be taught about:
BI 1: Continuity, Change and Diversity
- the proportions of the world’s population who belong to religions and worldviews noting the limitations of such statistics
- important features of each religion / worldview being studied and how these features interrelate
- the importance of understanding each religion / worldview in relation to its historical and cultural setting
- important differences in beliefs, values and practices between religions / worldviews but also close connections between some of them for historical and cultural reasons
- how religions / worldviews tend to be made up of several smaller groups that usually share core beliefs and practices but also have many differences.
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BI 2: Words and Beyond
- texts that are believed by some to be divinely inspired or revealed
- ways in which people convey their beliefs, values, commitments and identities through the arts and other media
- how texts and works of art may be subject to different interpretations.
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BI 3: A Good Life
- different ways in which people apply moral teachings created a long time ago to issues in today’s world
- the different sources of moral guidance used in religions / worldviews
- different opinions on the consequences of our moral actions for ourselves and others.
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BI 4: Making Sense of Life’s Experiences
- what people might mean by ‘mystical’, ‘spiritual’, ‘religious’ or ‘peak’ experiences
- different meanings given to the ‘spiritual dimension of human beings’ including the denial of any such dimension
- how experience of religious rituals and other practices help some people make a connection with God or gods and with each other, or with what is most important to them
- the experiences of a few key people that are believed to have given them extraordinary insights into the nature of reality.
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BI 5: Influence and Power
- the influence of religions / worldviews in individual, local, national and global contexts
- how religions / worldviews may exert different levels of influence in different places and at different times.
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BI 6: The Big Picture
- what people might mean by terms such as ‘religion’, ‘religious’, ‘non-religious’, ‘secular’, ‘atheist’, ‘agnostic’
- the coherent accounts, sometimes called ‘grand narratives’, provided by many religions / worldviews to describe what the universe is like and why it is as it is
- how, for many religious people, the most important sources of their big picture of the world are their sacred texts, often believed to have been divinely inspired
- the many people who identify with narratives that deny the existence of any divine beings or predetermined purpose in life
- people who see no need for a grand narrative that explains everything, whether religious or not.
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[Source: BIIP2022, pp. 33-36]
To see programmes of study for individual key stages, click on one of the buttons below.
1. Continuity, Change and Diversity
(within and across traditions, through time and places)
2. Words and Beyond
(expression/interpretation through texts and creative arts)
3. A Good Life
(being a good person, living a good life, ethics)
4. Making Sense of Life’s Experiences
(life experience, religious experience, ritual)
5. Influence and Power
(social, cultural, political influences and interactions)
6. The Big Picture
(overall account of life/ universe / everything)