ABSTRACT
All children were asked the same questions and in the same order during the interviews with a view to obtaining information about the following issues: (1) Memory and comprehension of RE content (stories and religious words); (2) participation in and attitudes to school assemblies; and (3) judgements about whether RE is easy or hard. The interviews were tape recorded for accurate transcription and subsequent analysis. Data were analysed both statistically and qualitatively by providing children's verbatim responses as illustrations of the main patterns shown in tables and graphs. Main analyses revealed both similarities and differences across children's age and their school denomination. Whilst children's story recall and their understanding of religious words encountered in RE is limited, and many judge school RE to be hard, 6- and 7-year olds especially were able to articulate their experiences of RE learning and identify conceptual reasons for their limited story recall.
