Knowledge and religious education: a metalogue

Elton-Chalcraft, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3064-7249 , Cooling, Trevor, Hand, Michael and Hannam, Patricia (2025) Knowledge and religious education: a metalogue. British Journal of Religious Education .

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Abstract

This article explores differing scholarly views on the relationship between knowledge and Religious Education (RE) within a British context. Using a metalogue methodology—a structured, reflective dialogue—the perspectives of three scholars are presented facilitated by a fourth scholar. The method preserves individual voices while fostering interactive debate. The discussion includes - disagreements on the nature and definition of knowledge and concerns over limited pedagogical vocabulary. There was a shared dislike of rote learning and the "transmission" model of education, advocating instead for intellectual engagement, virtue ethics, and existential inquiry. The metalogue revealed differing views on whether RE uniquely holds responsibility for teaching ethical and existential themes, or if this should be interdisciplinary. Concerns about teacher education, lack of conceptual clarity, and the erosion of academic RE spaces in the UK, were raised, thereby impacting ideological and pedagogical development. Despite disagreements, the scholars valued the metalogue as a respectful and productive format for dialogue, and agreed it could be used as model for classroom debate. Further implications include - more focussed discussion and agreement on policy direction for RE goals, pedagogical innovation focused on scholarly curiosity and better teacher education that supports deeper educational purpose beyond knowledge delivery.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	British Journal of Religious Education
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN:	1740-7931
Departments:	Institute of Education > Non-Initial Teacher Education Learning Education and Development (LED)
Additional Information:	Professor Sally Elton-Chalcraft, PhD, Professor of Social Justice in Education, and Director of the Learning Education and Development Research Centre, University of Cumbria, UK. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	06 Oct 2025 08:55
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2025 09:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/9026

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