The One That You Share with Your Religious Education Teachers

Sorry for the title, I was watching reruns of Friends last night!

To continue my series of ideas and resources to support linking subjects to careers learning, I decided to move on to RE, RS, whatever your school calls it, it’s a key part of the core curriculum. I’ve been delivering INSET on how to link subjects to careers for many years and I recall being “called out’ by a RE teacher who insisted that it wasn’t relevant as their students weren’t going to be Vicars and Imams. I’ll leave you to imagine how that conversation went!!! No, I won’t, I’ll set it out as a resource for you to pass on to RE teachers.

So to pass on the gist of the conversation here is a short blog outlining how RE connects to careers.

Religious Education provides a natural opportunity to include careers education within everyday teaching. Many of the skills developed in RE are highly valued in the workplace, including critical thinking, discussion, ethical decision making, empathy and communication.

Topics such as morality, justice, medical ethics and environmental responsibility connect directly to real careers. Students can explore how doctors make ethical decisions, how lawyers debate fairness, how social workers support vulnerable people and how charities respond to poverty and inequality.

These links help students understand that RE is not only about beliefs and philosophy. It also develops the ability to analyse complex issues and consider different viewpoints, skills that are essential across a wide range of professions.

Simple activities, discussions and case studies can help meet Gatsby Benchmark 4 by showing students how classroom learning relates to the working world. Careers education in RE does not need to be complicated. Even short starter activities can help young people see the relevance of their learning and broaden their understanding of future pathways.

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