In some, but not all parts of the sector, primary and secondary phases might as well be on different planets. While there is much excellent work going on, it's not the default. I think there are a number of aspects to transition that need further attention.

There is a joke about two men in a bar. One says to his friend, ‘I’ve taught my dog to speak French.’ ‘Really?’ says his mate, ‘let’s hear him then.’ ‘I said I taught him, I didn’t say he’d learnt it’ comes the response.

Planning is critical and it is fundamental in providing the structure and architecture for pupils’ learning. Results are better when teachers are given time to plan together on a scheme.

The money that is wasted on photocopying. And that’s before we get to pritt sticks to stick the photocopies into books. We need to stop and have a word with ourselves. Why are we putting paper onto paper?

In our efforts to make things accessible to pupils we have sometimes made things too easy. This effort to make things accessible has led to the atomisation of materials offered to pupils.

The Commission on RE (CORE)’s report made the case for religious education to have a national entitlement, along the same lines as the national curriculum subjects.

‘Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.’ Immanuel Kant

There are three things I would like to contribute to the debate on knowledge in religious education: the first is that knowledge facts need to be underpinned by concepts and that these need to be taught explicitly; the second is that knowledge should be taught primarily through sacred texts, iconography, art and music and the third is that knowledge needs to reside in and be protected within the discipline, otherwise we end up with a ‘cardboard’ curriculum.

However, we cannot just keep adding more and more to our work schedules, otherwise we will go under. But it takes bravery and discipline to ask ourselves, do we really need this? What would happen if we got rid of it? And yet if we want to create the time and space to focus on the important work, we need to roll up our sleeves and do some metaphorical cleaning out of the attics.

We need to take stories more seriously. Because stories are enjoyable, we have a tendency to underestimate their power. Great stories are important for their own sake. However, great stories can do some heavy lifting for us.

The curriculum: it’s top of everyone’s agenda right now. And that’s a good thing because the quality of what is offered to pupils is worth thinking about, reading about and talking about

If the purpose of the new curriculum is that pupils show know things in depth then this is hard to do if they are presented with lots of information without an organising structure.