Teaching the Bible well in schools

Many of the children in our classrooms haven’t heard a Bible story before. What an opportunity this is! As Christians we know that Bible stories aren’t boring. They are full of adventure, there are battles and miracles and emotional rollercoasters, there are great rescues and unexpected endings. These stories are engaging and exciting, especially to children hearing them for the first time.

You, as teachers, know how to make a lesson engaging and interesting. You’ll agree with me when I say that we need to be enthusiastic and interested, both in the story and in the children’s thoughts and opinions. To allow children to engage with the Bible we need to teach it well, finding ways for children to actively explore the story as they wonder and reflect and delve deeper into the story for themselves. We need to show them the links to their world, this might be to values revealed in the story or simply to the history and geography of the story. Finally, we need to create a space for them to share their thoughts, experiences and beliefs.

If we know this, what is stopping us doing it? Perhaps we are concerned of being accused of proselytizing, of overstepping the boundaries and of pushing our beliefs onto the children. However we can be confident in the place of Bible stories and RE in the curriculum. We are required to teach them! We are required to create a space for children to explore their beliefs and spirituality. By using lesson plans with clear links to the curriculum we can be confident (and can easily show others if asked) in our teaching content. Secondly, we can be confident in the educational value of RE. It's important for all children to develop an understanding of and respect for others’ beliefs. And thirdly, by ‘framing’ our lessons from the start we will be confident we aren’t overstepping the boundaries.  

Of course, another reason we may not teach Bible stories the way we want to is a lack of resource. Scottish teachers told us they were struggling to find resources to teach Christianity. They don’t know Bible stories well enough to teach them with confidence.  As Christian teachers we know the stories but perhaps lack the time to create the lesson plans and resources we would like to. The Must Know Bible Stories resources, produced by the Scottish Bible Society, are designed to meet these needs. The resources are jam packed with ideas. You can use the lesson plans as they are or use the activity suggestions as a ‘jumping off point’ for your own ideas. The resources are clearly linked to the curriculum, promote space for individual reflection as well as plenty of discussion and each of our lesson plan series starts with an introduction that frames the lesson and immediately gets the children thinking and discussing together.

The Must Know Bible Stories Resources are designed to be easy for teachers to use and fun for the children to experience. The last thing we want is for children to associate Bible stories with being bored. We want to leave them wanting to hear another one. If you’re sequencing pictures from the story in groups, the resources might suggest starting the activity with a relay race to collect the pictures or to take the activity outside and add the extra challenge of pegging the pictures to trees and not letting them blow away. The story scripts included help you act out the story with your class, you’ll find yourself laughing together at the facial expressions and funny acting the children naturally include as they take part. As well as active and fun learning ideas, the resources have a focus on activities designed to encourage the children to discuss and reflect on the beliefs and values found in the stories and lots of ideas to link the learning across the curriculum.

As Christian teachers we have a vital role to play in our schools. By teaching RE well we are modelling its value and potential to the rest of the teaching staff. We can show it isn't boring, that it’s not just something to squeeze in and tick off but it’s fun, interesting to teach and incredibly important for all children. Passing on the link to the Must Know Bible Stories resources is an easy way to encourage more staff to share Bible stories in the school.

The Must Know Bible Stories resources, produced by the Scottish Bible Society specifically for nursery and primary schools, are free to download and use and contain lesson plans packed with active learning ideas, outdoor learning ideas and for early years lots of play-based learning suggestions. They also include an Introduction to the Bible story and the Christian belief found in it, ideas to embed the story across the wider curriculum, PowerPoints which bring the stories to life with beautiful images, and Story Trails which are an easy and fun way to take your RME teaching outdoors.

Find the resources here: https://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/resources/schools

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Sue Thomson

Educational Resources Consultant

Scottish Bible Society