Book review: Teaching virtue: the contribution of religious education

This is Professor Brian Gates' review of the book 'Teaching virtue: the contribution of religious education' edited by Marius Felderhof and Penny Thompson, London, Bloomsbury, 2014. The book discusses the 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for religious education. This is a book of great promise and mixed results. It rests on the ambitions of the 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for RE but its outcomes do not really match up to these. Conceptually, it is well organised. Part One, Orientations, comprises four chapters setting out the theoretical orientations to support a positive association between Religious and Moral Education. Part Two, Dispositions, provides individual reflections on eight of the 24 ‘dispositions’ (listed 23) which the Syllabus identifies as common concerns agreed by the leaders of the faith communities which make up the rich diversity of the City of Birmingham’s population. These are being: honest, compassionate, just, courageous, hopeful, temperate, wise and faithful. Part Three, Exemplars, is a compilation of curriculum suggestions based on this theme. There is also an Appendix which outlines a Birmingham RE Survey for reviewing the impact of RE in schools.