ABSTRACT
The topic was well planned, covering a variety of areas of the curriculum and involving a range of learning experiences. There was a strong emphasis on child centred learning methods — individual research, group discussion and planning — and the written and art work on Islam and the other areas covered by the topic was of a very high standard. During the seventies Goldman's ideas were developed and adapted to a situation in which the world's major religions became the content of the subject and the development of 'understanding' of religion, not nurture into Christianity, became the aim. Hampshire County Council issued guidelines for topic work which also stressed tighter planning and structuring using a skills and activities framework. Integrated topic work can offer a means whereby religious education can make a meaningful contribution to children's education and be part of the mainstream of the educational process in the era of the National Curriculum.
