Edexcel GCSE Religion & Media

Image courtesy of The Guardian

Firstly, I think religion and the media is fascinating. I always do some really good work on Islamophobia with Y9 for example. However I also feel it is done quite badly on the Edexcel GCSE RS course. It is also an area where teachers are often looking for inspiration...

Background Reading

• Why are we watching Shrek? by Robert Orme - "RE teachers should not have to pretend that there are important religious insights to be gained from spending lessons watching Shrek, Finding Nemo and Bend it like Beckham."
• DVD RE by Dawn Cox - A more general overview of why we use DVDs but also highlights some of the problems.

At the end of the day, for the next two years, we still need to teach it.

This year I have left the media content to the end, in the hope that by doing a distinct 'Religion and the Media' unit, I can cover it a little better. The four areas to cover are:

• How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.
• How an issue arising from matter of life and death has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.
• How an issue arising from matter of marriage and the family has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.
• How an issue arising from religion and community cohesion has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.

The debate of what media to use comes up frequently on Twitter and Save RE, so I thought it would be valuable to collect some data on what RE teachers are using...

If it is not possible to use the embedded form, please click here: http://tiny.cc/religionmedia - and share widely!

The important bit... see the results here: http://tiny.cc/viewreligionmedia (if you want to be added as an editor to help keep it tidy, please email me at TalkingDonkeyRE@gmail.com)