Collaboratory 2026 Research Placement Project
Key Details
Project Title: Teaching Religion in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire: Culturally-Sensitive Resources for Inclusive Classrooms
Deadline:11:59pm Sunday 04 January 2026
Host University: University of Nottingham
Start date: Monday 06 April 2026
Funding offer: Tax-free bursary of £2,000 (paid monthly, in arrears).
Working hours: Part-time (14 hrs per week).
Working style: Primarily in-person at host university. Flexible working supported. Working pattern to be agreed between successful candidate and lead supervisor.
Project Supervisors
- Lead Supervisor: Dr Tim Hutchings (University of Nottingham)
- Academic Co-Supervisor: Dr Michael Keenan (Nottingham Trent University)
- Community Supervisor: Sally MacDonald (Nottinghamshire Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education – SACRE)
About The Project
This placement will support the delivery of an exciting new Religious Education syllabus in primary and secondary schools across Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire. The successful candidate will use interviews, focus groups and site visits to explore the diverse religions and worldviews of our region. Using this research, they will develop culturally sensitive, locally specific teaching resources that centre real people and their communities.
Religious Education is a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools in England and Wales but has no national curriculum. Instead, each local authority develops a Locally Agreed Syllabus for use in the schools it maintains. This unique system of local governance gives each part of the country the freedom to tell its own stories in its own way.
A good syllabus invites schools to explore the religious and nonreligious diversity of their local communities in academically rigorous, culturally sensitive ways. As Ofsted has argued, “At its best, RE can help pupils to make sense of a complex world” (2024). In practice, RE teaching often falls short of these ambitions (Ofsted 2023). Pressures of time and finance prevent many local authorities from investing in high-quality resources or training. Schools also face geographical challenges: for example, schools in the city of Nottingham can easily arrange visits to a local mosque, while schools in north Nottinghamshire might have much further to travel. The quality and content of RE varies enormously between regions, and teachers without the right resources can struggle to accurately and sensitively represent the diverse worldviews they are expected to cover (RE Council 2023). For a pupil, seeing their own community or religion misrepresented in the classroom can be damaging to their sense of belonging and their engagement with education (Insight UK 2021).
The local authorities of Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire collaborate on a shared syllabus titled “Religious Education for All” (2021). This is being currently revised with the help of an expert advisory panel (including both the community partner for this project, Sally McDonald, and one of the academic co-supervisors, Dr Tim Hutchings). The new syllabus will be ready in Spring 2026, just before the start of the Collaboratory Placement Scheme. Exciting new units are being designed, including new material for the teaching of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Humanism. This project placement
will help support the launch of the new syllabus, promoting inclusive education that truly represents the communities of our region.
Project Aims
The project’s aims are:
- To develop new teaching resources for primary and secondary classrooms based on these stories, to be used as part of the new syllabus.
- To compare the new Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Locally Agreed Syllabus with the syllabi offered in other regions of the Midlands
- To work with teachers to develop understanding of how the “religion and worldviews” approach can be implemented as part of the new syllabus to research the real stories of some of the religious and nonreligious communities in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
What will the successful candidate be doing?
The successful candidate will:
- Undertake a short comparative literature review of locally agreed syllabus documents from the East Midlands area.
- Lead a focus group of teachers to discuss their experiences of the religion and worldviews approach to RE, including any concerns they have regarding its implementation in the new syllabus.
- Use interviews and focus groups to research the stories of at least two religion or worldview communities in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
- Use these interviews as the basis for teaching resources designed to support at least some of the new units of the 2026 Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Locally Agreed Syllabus
The supervisory team will work with the successful candidate to identify suitable religion or worldview communities. The new resources could include video interviews, video tours, posters or lesson plans. This collaborative approach will ensure that the new resources target important areas of the syllabus while also supporting the interests and expertise of the successful candidate.
Core Competencies
Category | Competencies | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) |
Comprehension and evaluation | Strong understanding of the project and its subject matter. | A / I |
Analytical, researcher mindset with keen attention to detail. | A / I | |
Communicate complex concepts with clarity and precision. | A / I | |
Able to identify connections, patterns, gaps, and irregularities in information/data. | I | |
Able to interpret data/information confidently with logic and empathy to derive meaning. | I | |
Social and emotional | Demonstrable experience of responding effectively to changing contexts, information and demands. | A |
Ability to persevere in the face of challenges/failures and to remain constructive in developing solutions. | A | |
Demonstrable passion for learning with clear drive and curiosity to undertake this specific research project. | A / I | |
Strong desire to make a positive community impact through the research. | A / I | |
Willingness to think deeply about complex concepts and engage with academic ideas and theory. | A / I | |
Preparedness and potential for success | Experience of working, collaborating and communicating effectively with different stakeholders. | A |
High level of self-motivation and ability to work with minimal guidance. | A / I | |
Strong organisational and time-management skills with the ability to balance and prioritise multiple tasks. | A / I | |
Able to identify the technical, personal, or professional skills required for a task and take action to develop these. | A / I | |
Community Context | Appreciation/understanding of the importance of community insight and experience in the generation of new knowledge. | A / I |
Awareness/understanding of the broader societal context related to the subject matter of the project. | A / I |
Project-Specific Competencies
| Essential | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) | Desirable | Assessed: Application (A), Interview (I) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews across Nottingham(shire) communities. | A / I | Experience of the teaching of Religious Education at either primary or secondary level | A / I |
| Ability to engage in a professional, compassionate and empathetic manner with individuals from diverse communities. | A / I | Experience of the academic study of theology and religion or related disciplines | A / I |
| Experience of developing teaching resources for classroom use | A / I |
References for Further Reading
- Insight UK (15 January, 2021). A Report on the State of Hinduism in Religious Education in UK Schools. Available at: https://insightuk.org/hinduism-in-re/
- Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council (2021). Religious Education for All: The Agreed Syllabus for Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire, Intentions, Implementation and Impact, 2021-2026. Available at: https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/nottinghamshire-standing-advisory-council-for-religious-education-sacre
- Ofsted (2023). The Annual Report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2022/23. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-annual-report-202223-education-childrens-services-andskills/the-annual-report-of-his-majestys-chief-inspector-of-education-childrens-services-and-skills-202223
- Ofsted (2024). Deep and Meaningful? The Religious Education Subject Report. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/subject-report-series-religious-education/deep-and-meaningful-the-religiouseducation-subject-report
- RE Council of England and Wales (2023). It’s About the Standard, Not the Stuff – National Content Standard. Available at: https://religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk/2023/10/its-about-the-standard-not-the-stuff-national-content-standard/