ABSTRACT
Introduction In this book we have presented ways in which religious education has moved forward and can improve in its attention to children’s development, how that is related to effective learning and the development of capacities and skills, and how it can be understood as an integral and necessary aspect of the development of young people in a democratic society. Sixty-six years ago, in 1944, the Education Act, commonly known as the Butler Act, was introduced. Since then the world has changed in signifi cant and unpredictable ways. When you review the provision for religious education it introduced at that time it bears no comparison to what is in place today and, we might predict, what is in place today is as unlikely to be relevant to what is required in 50 years from now. Therefore, how do we plan forward for relevant provision? Whilst prediction is likely to be unreliable we can suggest what might be a way of planning for the futures of children today such that they inherit something that they can then change to their advantage. What might that planning look like?
