BA (Hons) Secondary Religious Education with QTS*
Interview Day
Appendix: Religious Education
specialism information
2017 entry
PLEASE READ THIS BOOKLET IN PREPARATION FOR THE INTERVIEW AND BRING IT WITH YOU ON THE DAY
* The recommendation for the award of qualified teacher status
Although any interview situation is a relatively formal process we would like to make your interview for the Secondary Undergraduate Religious Education programme as comfortable as possible so that you feel able to ask questions relating to the course at any stage. Above all, both you and the interview staff need to gain as much information as possible in order to be able to decide whether the undergraduate secondary programme and ultimately a career in Religious Education teaching are right for you.
The interview will be in five stages. The Religious Education Course Leader or other colleague leading the interview will explain what you need to do for each stage. The stages are:
1Outline of the Religious Education Course - This will take the form of a presentation incorporating a question and answer session that will provide you with an overview of the whole course. You will have the opportunity to engage in individual and group discussions
2.Reading task – you will be provided with a newspaper or journal article. The activity will complement the written task
3. Written exercise - The recent national review of teaching standards has placed a requirement on teacher training establishments to incorporate a written activity as part of the interview procedures. This will be used to look at this important aspect of your communication skills. You will be asked to respond to the reading task in a way which enables you to demonstrate an initial understanding of issues relating to teaching Religious Education.
4.Group Interview - A group of candidates are usually invited to each interview. For this part of the process you will be split into small groups and required to carry out a collaborative task. The task gives you a chance to experience the way we work in the curriculum studies sessions. It also provides an opportunity to show your teamwork, negotiation and communication skills.
5.Individual interview - Individual interviews of about 20 minutes will be conducted. You will be asked questions on the following topics:
- Your own interest in and knowledge of Religious Education
- Religious Education as a subject in the curriculum
- Issues connected to secondary practice
- Wider current issues in education
The reading/written tasks, group and individual interviews will allow opportunities for you to demonstrate your command of spoken and written Standard English.
In preparation for the interview, you are advised to find out about the Locally Agreed Syllabus for RE in your area. You should also try to keep abreast of wider educational news as this is a time of constant change- look at the education pages of websites such as the BBC, or newspapers like the Guardian, orTES. It is also important that you know what actually goes on in the secondary RE classrooms. If you have had no observation or similar experience, we strongly advise you to spend a day or more in an RE department of a secondary school before you come for interview; the more observation experience you have had, the stronger your application is likely to be.