Worldviews: overarching concept, discrete body of knowledge or paradigmatic tool?

Abstract

The term ‘worldviews’ is employed across disciplinary boundaries, yet with no agreed definition it may actually obscure rather than clarify meaning. The use of the term has grown in frequency, particularly in Religious Education (RE) in England, since the Commission on RE’s final report (2018), which recommended changing the name of RE to ‘Religion and worldviews’. Response to the report has been mixed. Some fear that an introduction of worldviews may lead to a dilution of RE and overburden an already overstretched teaching profession; others welcome a meaningful study of non-religious worldviews which they view as more pertinent in the current growth of ‘nones’ (Nones’ term used for those who adhere to ‘no faith’, see Woodhead (J Br Acad 4:245–261, 2016)) in England. Teaching worldviews raises questions of selection: are all worldviews equally appropriate for pupils to study and consistent with the aims of education? For example, is it appropriate for a 6 year old to study Hedonism or National Socialism? This paper problematizes the binary nature of the debate and interrogates the usage of the term 'worldviews'. Focusing on ‘institutional worldviews’ is questionable as the role of master narratives, embedded in these, lose currency. The ‘disintegration of master narratives’, (Riessman in Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2008, p. 17), has led to a rise in individuals creating their personal embodied worldviews, albeit subconsciously. Rather than consider worldviews as a discrete body of knowledge that imposes on an already overburdened curriculum, I propose that employing worldviews as an overarching concept, providing a type of paradigmatic analysis for RE, may lead to a greater and more profound understanding of religion(s).

An Opportunity for Expanding University-School Connections: Stakeholder Views of the Religion and Worldview Proposal

“…Perhaps a majority of academics with an interest in RE have taken the position that whilst worldviews is not the best term and the approach is not without problems, it is a significant step forward from the existing world religions paradigm and offers a 'new opportunity' (e.g. Chater 2020;Dossett 2019;Flanagan 2020;Freathy and John 2019). This is the position that we take.…”

Decolonising the teaching of Jesus in English primary schools

“…This article argues that a religion and worldviews approach should be used as a framework for teaching because this approach includes a wider diversity within and among religious and non-religious beliefs and values and helps teachers teach with greater depth and more understanding (Commission on Religious Education, 2018 , p. 6; Flanagan 2020 , p. 1). It will therefore begin to address the decolonising of the teaching about Jesus in a consistent way across the primary curriculum.…”

“…Viewing religion as one aspect of a personal worldview (Flanagan, 2020 , p. 4) allows the teacher to teach that the beliefs people have come from different sources; some from the religion a person follows and some from the context in which people currently live. The artwork that children are shown about Jesus, for example, will often reflect the dominant culture in the country the artist comes from as well as Christian messages that are consistent throughout the centuries, yet this is not always seen in teaching.…”

“…Research on decolonising the RE curriculum stresses the importance of “individuals deconstructing themselves and looking inward to the roots of their own identity” (Gearon et al, 2021 , p. 11) as a starting point. It therefore fits into the framework of a worldviews approach to teaching RE because that too emphasises a personal understanding of yourself before teaching religion (Flanagan, 2020 , p. 320). Applied to the teaching about Jesus, it involves considering the imagery used to teach about Jesus and recognising the dominant theme in European and American art of Jesus and others depicted as “light skinned Europeans” (Radford Ruether, 2012 , p. 102) and actively seeking to use imagery from a diverse range of sources to reflect diverse Christian communities.…”

“…Children need to see diversity within Christianity in the UK in the denominations, voices, faces, and communities that they see and hear, and this needs to be embedded throughout the teaching about Jesus rather than using additional lessons to show children artwork about Jesus from around the world. A worldviews framework for teaching RE that acknowledges the influence of colonisation on RE will help teachers to do this because one of its principal aims is to embrace diversity in and between religions and to see the connections between religions, rather than treating them as separate entities (Commission on Religious Education, 2018 , p. 6; Flanagan 2020 , p. 1). RE teaching must adopt a framework that embraces diversity and seeks historical and contemporary accuracy and look for ways to do this in the teaching about Jesus.…”