She’s back! A firm favourite on the Festival of Learning line up! Sarah Blair has delivered sessions at both the 2024 and 2025 Festivals of Learning. Sarah is also the creator of our popular RMPS in the News blog posts. We are very excited that Sarah is back sharing good Read more
One powerful way to increase footfall in Religious, Moral, and Philosophical Studies (RMPS) departments is by offering extracurricular clubs, such as an Ethics Cup Debate Club. Here’s why these clubs are not only beneficial for students but also help elevate the presence and impact of the department. They create a dynamic environment for students to explore complex ethical issues, expand knowledge beyond the classroom, and build a sense of community, ultimately attracting a diverse group of students and ensuring enhanced visibility for the department.
November is a CLPL Bumper Month! We have 3 wonderful professional learning opportunities for our STARME members. You can sign up to attend them at the links below. If you are not yet a member of STARME it’s free to join here – Membership. We have a whole host of Read more
At a recent Festival of Learning, Ollie Bray, the strategic director at Education Scotland, delivered a keynote address on the Curriculum Review Cycle and its specific implications for Religious and Moral Education (RME). He emphasized that RME’s position as one of the eight distinct curricular areas is secure and it will not be merged into other faculties like social subjects or humanities. Bray highlighted the unique and vital role RME plays in challenging students to think critically, engage with complex debates, and navigate unfamiliar intellectual contexts. The keynote served as a strong reaffirmation of RME’s importance in developing critically aware young people, noting that RME teachers have been actively involved in the curriculum review consultation process since May 2023.
Two years before the release of ‘Adolescence’, and around the time we started hearing about someone called Andrew Tait, our department planned a series of BGE lessons with the aim of helping our pupils to become better thinkers. We wanted our pupils to see that, in an increasingly polarised world, settling for easy answers is often a mistake. Two years later, this unit is receiving top feedback from S4 pupils and even increasing our SQA course uptake. This session will look at the process of planning the unit, its content, and will share details of how to access the lessons and documentary clips used.
Our existing S1 course focused on “feeding facts” and testing memory, so I designed two new units: a first which broke critical thinking down into 5 BGE-friendly basic questions (with tie-ins to the signposting language of senior-phase analysis) and a second which applied and assessed these skills with respect to 7 world faiths. An innovative method for classifying religions was developed.
My session will focus on the premise that teaching philosophy would enhance Religious Education (RERC). Critical discussion of various philosophers’ ideas and the understanding of the philosophical method of thinking contribute to an enriched understanding of religious beliefs. My presentation will address the following points: – Why is Philosophy indispensable Read more