Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

I'm Mr. Robertson and I am delighted to be learning with you today.

I love RE.

Today, we are continuing with our unit with a big question, worldviews, how is our country and community changing? And in this lesson, we're going to be focusing on the UK and looking at the census and what it tells us about world views.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe what census information can tell us about world views in the UK.

This lesson has five key words.

I'm going to say the key word first and then I'm gonna ask you to say it back to me.

So our first key word is worldview.

Fantastic.

Our second key word is census.

Amazing.

Next, we have data.

Brilliant.

Reliable.

Amazing.

And finally, survey.

Excellent.

You said those words really well.

Let's quickly check what they mean.

So a worldview is the way people see, interpret, and inhabit the world.

A census is a national survey held every 10 years in the UK.

Data is information that can be collected and analysed.

Reliable is information that can used with confidence.

And a survey is a method of collecting data by asking questions through a form.

We're gonna be using all of those keywords today and I'm sure by the end of it, you'll know exactly how to use them all.

So our lesson today on the census and worldviews in the UK has three parts.

Our first part, what is the census? Our second part, what does the census say about worldviews? And thirdly, how have worldviews changed over time? Right then, let's get our thinking caps on and be ready with the first learning cycle.

Now this lesson today is using a social science lens to examine our RE question.

Alex is gonna help us understand what we mean by social science in religious education.

He says, "Social scientists are interested in how people live and how contexts like where they live or when they lived affects this.

We can better understand people's worldviews by looking at photographs and analysing data.

We can survey or interview people to find out more about their worldview." Those are the sorts of tools we're going to be looking at today.

So in this lesson, we will examine data about religion and beliefs in the world and consider how their context affects this.

So let's start.

Izzy and Jacob are talking about surveys.

Izzy said, "My mum had to fill in a survey last week.

She had to answer some questions about her health so her doctors could think about what services they were offering." And Jacob says, "I like to do the RSPB Garden Birdwatch every year.

We watch our garden for an hour, then enter how the many birds we see on a survey form.

It helps people understand how many birds there are in the UK." I wonder if you've ever filled out a survey.

Maybe like Izzy, one of your parents had to do one.

Or maybe you've been involved in a project or someone's wanted to find out what you think about something.

I'd be really interested to know what kind of surveys you've taken part in.

So let's think a little bit more about surveys, shall we? So a survey is a way of collecting data.

And data is information that could be collected to help build up a picture of something.

All sorts of information is data.

It might be where you live.

It might be the sports team that you follow.

It might be the sort of pets you own.

It might be the food you eat.

All of that information that we can collect is called data.

And it's really useful because the more data we have, the more we understand something.

In RE, social scientists are interested in data as it helps them better understand religion and worldviews today.

That makes sense, doesn't it? If we really want to understand what people believe and what they think, we need to find out more information about them.

And a survey is a really useful way to collect data.

People can either fill in a paper or nowadays, often it's an online form, which is then analysed for information.

And again, you may have seen your parents, people you know, adults filling in surveys, and you may even have filled one in yourself.

Let's just check our understanding about this then.

I'm gonna read two sentences and there's some missing words and I'd like you to think what are the missing words.

Our first sentence is this: Information that can be collected is known as? And our second sentence is this is: A.

is way of collecting information by asking questions on a form.

I bet you were really just shouting out those answers, weren't you? Well, pauses the video, say them, off you go.

Oh, I could hear some great answers there.

Okay, let's look at it again.

So information that could be collected is known as data.

Well done if you got that! And a survey is a way of collecting information by asking questions on a form.

Brilliant work, social scientists, if you got that right.

So social scientists need surveys to be reliable for their data to be useful.

This word reliable is really, really important.

Izzy's gonna help us explain it.

Izzy says, "Reliable means that enough people have been asked so that the results do not show the opinions of a few people." Let's think about what Izzy's saying there.

So she's saying there needs to be a certain amount of people being asked.

Because if I just did a survey and only asked two or three people, it wouldn't be very reliable.

Jacob says, "I wanted to find out the most popular pet in the UK.

So 10 of my friends filled in a survey.

The data told me eight people liked cat best.

So now I know that cats are the most popular pet in the UK." Well, Jacob, well done for having a go at doing a survey.

That's brilliant! Let's have a little think about what he's saying though.

Was Jacob's survey reliable? Why do you think that? This might be a great opportunity to pause the video and have a little discussion if you've got someone with you about this, or just think for yourself.

What's Jacob saying? Is that survey reliable? Okay, it's not very reliable.

Sorry, Jacob, but actually eight people, it's great you asked eight people, but that's not really gonna tell us about everybody in the UK, is it? Eight people's brilliant.

It tells us that lots of people like cats best, but actually 10 of your friends filling in a survey isn't many.

We need a lot more people if we wanna find out how many, what's the most popular pet in the UK.

10 people would be quite good if it was people in your class, but it'd be even better to find out what the whole of your class thought.

So let's think about the census 'cause we're gonna be using that today.

The census is a survey that happens every 10 years in England and Wales.

It asks people questions about their lives, like their age and where they live, their family size and health, their job, education.

And the government uses this information to plan things like schools, hospitals, and transport.

It's a really, really useful survey.

Let's just check our understanding about the census then.

So how many years is the census taken? Is it taken every 10 years, every year, or every five years? Pause the video, social scientists, and have a go.

Excellent thinking.

It's 10 years, isn't it? It would be amazing to get that information every year, but the census is a huge task to get over 60, 70 million people filling it in.

And then of course, it's got to be analysed.

So that's why it happens every 10 years.

Well done if you got that right.

97% of the population of England and Wales completed the census.

Scotland, by the way, has its own census, which is done at a slightly different time and so information is collected there as well.

But the census we are talking about is about England and Wales.

So that's nearly 60 million people.

This means the census is an extremely reliable source of data for social scientists.

Because if 97% of people filled it in, that means we've got masses of information.

Okay, we've learned a lot about the census.

I'd like you to have a go at this task with me.

Izzy and Lucas are thinking about why the census is a reliable source of data.

Izzy says, "The census is reliable because it surveys millions of people, over 60 million in England and Wales.

It happens every 10 years and collects accurate data." Jacob says, "The census is reliable because it collects data every year.

Everyone fills it in, so it's 100% accurate." Okay, Izzy and Jacob are both saying stuff and information about the census, thinking about why it's a reliable source of data.

Who do you agree with? Who's more accurate there in their description of the census? And also I'd like you to tell why.

Why do you agree with them? Right, social scientist, let's start thinking about data and reliability.

Off you go.

Oh, I've heard some brilliant things here.

Thank you very much for taking part in all of this.

Excellent thinking.

So who did we agree with, Izzy or Lucas? Well, both Izzy and Lucas understood that the census is a reliable source of data.

So that's great because they both understood that.

However, Lucas did make a mistake because he said the survey took place yearly, whereas actually Izzy was correct because the survey took place every 10 years.

Lucas thought it was 100% of people who filled it in, but actually it was 97% of people who filled it in.

So Lucas, not quite right.

Izzy, absolutely brilliant.

So social scientists, if you managed to write an answer or say an answer, something similar to that, you've done brilliantly well.

So you've learned something about the census already.

Fantastic.

Okay, in our next learning cycle, we're going to be answering this question: What does the census say about worldviews? So interestingly, since 2001, the census has asked people this question: What is your religion? Before 2001, that information wasn't collected, but since 2001, and that means there's been three censuses since then, it has asked that question.

Now the religion question are one of the few questions that's voluntary.

So that means you don't have to fill it in because the government's decided that that information, you might not want to share what your religion is and so you don't have to fill it in.

However, 94% of people did answer it in 2021, so actually that's brilliant because we've got loads and loads of great data.

Do you think that means that the data is reliable? I think what that word reliable meant, can we rely on this census data? Well, yeah, I think we can rely on it because if 94% of people filled it in, that's nearly everybody filled it in, and so it does mean we've got some reliable data about religion and beliefs.

So here is some of that data.

These are the results for the 2021 census question, what is your religion? If you look carefully at the information on your screen, we can see going down vertically, we've got different worldviews.

People had to say whether they were Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, et cetera.

The number on the X axis is the percentage of people who identify with that religion and worldview.

So going along horizontally, you can see up from nought and 50 is the highest.

And so those bars going horizontally tell us what percentage of people said they identified with that religion or worldview.

Okay, so you've had an idea about it.

What do you notice about the data? I'm gonna give you some time to ponder this.

So you might want to pause the video and talk to the people around you or think for yourself.

As social scientists, we are really interesting in looking at patterns.

So you might want to notice what the biggest bar was and who that belonged to.

You might want to notice the smallest one.

You might want to notice anything that interested you.

Pause the video and have a think.

Does anything surprise you? Let's think a little bit about what that data is showing us there.

So 46.

2% of people identified as Christian.

And we can see the Christian bar, it's the second one down, it's the largest bar.

It goes nearly all the way across.

So 46.

2% of people identified as, which means that Christians form the majority worldview in England and Wales.

Majority is another word for the largest.

Izzy's saying, "Nearly half of people in England and Wales identify as Christian." So well done, Izzy.

She's rounding up that percentage of 46.

And so we've learned that already, haven't we? Nearly half of people in England and Wales identify as Christian in 2021.

Okay, let's see if we can interpret some more of this data.

Here's the image again of the graph from the census.

And my question is this, which religious worldview is the second largest in the UK according to this census data? So remember, we are looking for a religious worldview here.

Which is the second largest? Is it A, Sikh; B, Hindu; or C, Muslim? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, social scientist.

It's Muslim, isn't it? And we know it's Muslim because Muslim has got the largest bar compared to Hindu, which is 1.

7, and Sikh, which is 0.

9.

Muslims make up 6.

5% of the population.

Let's continue with our analysis here.

So the majority of people in England and Wales have a religious worldview.

This means they identify with particular religions and call themselves Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, or follow another religion.

And we know that because when we look at the bar graph, we can see that Christians make up 46.

2%, so that's already nearly half.

And when we add together all the other religions with Muslims at 6.

5, Hindus at 1.

7, we get to most of the people in this graph.

So most people in Britain have a religious worldview.

We can also notice something else interesting.

37.

2% of people identified as no religion.

This is over a third of people in England and Wales.

And you can see we're pointing to the bar near the bottom which said no religion.

37.

2% of people ticked that in the box.

Jacob says, "I think these are people with a non-religious worldview." And he's absolutely right.

So no religion is our very broad area.

It might mean people who are humanist, people who are atheist, but people who have a non-religious worldview, which means that their worldview is not centred on belief in a God.

Okay, true or false about the data we've looked at so far.

True or false? The majority of people in England and Wales have a non-religious worldview.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's false, isn't it? But why is it false? Well, it's false because the majority of the people in England have a religious worldview.

They may be Christian or Muslim, for example.

37.

2% identify with a non-religious worldview.

So about 1/3 of people have a non-religious worldview, which means the rest, which is nearly 2/3 of people, have a religious worldview, which is the majority of people in England and Wales.

Well done, social scientists, if you've got that correct.

Okay, we've got another task now.

And again, we're going to be using the data, the graph from the census to think about worldviews.

I'd like you to use the census data that we've been looking at and I'd like you to answer these following questions please.

What question did the census ask about religion? What is the majority worldview and how do you know? Remember the word majority is another word for the largest.

I'd like you to write two statements about Hindus and Muslims using the data.

In other words, can you tell me something about the percentage of people that belong to that worldview? And finally, I'd like you to answer this question: What do we know about non-religious world views? Think about the information on the graph and what we've learned.

How could we answer that question? Right, social scientists, you're doing some brilliant social science here because you're going to be analysing some of this data.

Pause the video, and I'm really looking to seeing what you come up with.

Okay, I can see some brilliant work going on there, some amazing analysis.

So let's have a look at some of the answers.

Okay, so what question did the census ask about religion? It'd ask the question, what is your religion? And then people would answer it.

What is the majority worldview and how do you know? The majority worldview is Christian? And you might put, "I know this because it is 46.

2%, which is the largest data." So that most people who answered the question said they were Christian.

I asked you to make two statements about Hindus and Muslims using their data.

And you may have said something like this: "6.

5% of people in England and Wales are Muslim and 1.

5% of people are Hindu." So well done if you've managed to read the graph and find that information.

And finally I asked, what do we know about non-religious worldviews? You might have said something like, "37.

2% of people in England and Wales have a non-religious worldview." And we know that because 37.

2% of people ticked the no religion box, which means they have a non-religious world view.

I am so impressed, social scientists, if you've managed to correctly analyse that data.

Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Brilliant work.

For our final part of this lesson, we're going to answer this question: How have worldviews changed over time? Okay, so Izzy and Lucas are thinking about the census and the worldviews and about what they've been learning today.

Izzy says, "It would be interesting to compare the 2021 census results with those in 2011.

I wonder if the religion and worldviews data would be different." And Jacob says, "I think it would be different.

I think there would be a change in the numbers of people identifying with different worldviews." Really interesting thoughts there, Jacob.

What do you think about this? And what predictions would you make about the data? I'd like you to ponder this.

I'd like you to pause the video, maybe talk to some people around you.

We know what the results were for the 2021 census, but what do you think they were like 10 years before? Would they be different? How might they be different? Pause the video and have a think.

Wow, some amazing ideas there, everyone.

Yeah, I can really see that you're thinking about this.

Shall we find out about what happened? Okay, we've got a different graph here.

This one is a little bit more complicated than the last one, but you know what, social scientists? I know how well you did last time and I'm confident you'll find this really, really straightforward as well.

Okay, so this graph shows the religion and worldviews data from the census in 2021.

That's the green bar.

That's the bar we've already looked at.

So that's the information we already know.

And then it shows the data from 2011, and that's the blue bar.

I wonder what do you notice? Look at the green bar and the blue bar.

Remember the blue bar is the older data and the green is the newer.

What's similar and what's different? Again, you might wanna pause the video, talk to the people around you, or have a think for yourself.

What's similar? What's different? Hey, I can really hear you noticing this.

It's great to hear that conversation.

It's great to hear you thinking.

Okay, Izzy started to do some thinking about this.

She says, "Christians made up the majority of people in 2021 and 2011." She's right, isn't she? Because if I look at the bar there, I can see that in 2021, it was 46.

2, we knew that already, but in 2011, it was 59% of people said they were Christian.

Jacob says, "That's true, but there are 13% fewer Christians in England and Wales in 2021 than in 2011.

Christianity has declined." Now when we say declined, that means it's got smaller.

So Jacob is saying there are fewer Christians in England and Wales now than there were in 2011.

And he's right, isn't he? Because we can see the blue bar was 59%, and the green bar, the newer bar is 46.

2.

So it's declined.

There are less and it's 13%.

So that's quite a big drop, isn't it, over 10 years.

Izzy's doing some more thinking.

She says, "There are more people in England and Wales with a non-religious worldview." So remember, non-religious worldview are people who would tick the no religion box.

And Jacob says, "Yes.

In 2011, 25% of people answered no religion.

In 2021, it was a 37.

2%.

That is an increase of 12%." So yes, that's the other big change we can see on this graph, can't we? We can see that the blue information for no religion, 25.

2, and then in 2021, it's 37.

2, which is an increase of 12%.

So we've seen a decline of Christianity and an increase of people saying they have no religion.

Right, I want you to have a go at reading some of this data for yourselves.

And we're going to focus on the Muslim population.

I'm asking you the question, has the Muslim population increased, that means got bigger, or decreased, got smaller since 2011? You need to look down the bar until you find the word Muslim and have a look.

Okay, gonna give you a little bit of time for this.

Pause the video.

Have a think.

Well done, social scientists.

Yeah, so you can see the blue arrow pointing to the bar.

The number of Muslims in England and Wales have increased from 4.

9% to 6.

5% of the population.

So the Muslim population has increased.

Well done, social scientists, if you got that correct.

Izzy's saying, "What's happened to other religious world worldviews?" Hmm, good question, Izzy.

Let's have a look, shall we? You are looking at that data as well.

Let's see what Jacob says.

Let's see if we agree with him.

Jacob says, "There's been small increases in Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs.

Numbers of Jews have remained the same." We can see he's right, can't we? Because Sikhs were 0.

8% in 2011 and they've gone up to 0.

9%.

And Hindus were 1.

5% in 2011 and now they've got 1.

7%.

So they've moved up a little bit as well.

And the Jewish population has stayed around the same at about 0.

5% of the population.

So we can see that some religious worldviews have increased, Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims, and some religious worldviews like Christianity has decreased.

What is the census show us about worldviews over time? Does it show us A, that everyone in England and Wales has the same worldview? Does it show us B, that some worldviews have increased and others have decreased? Or is it C, that all worldviews have declined? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, social scientist.

It's B, isn't it? We've seen some worldviews increase, like Muslims and no religion, and others have decreased, like Christianity.

So we've got a bit of change there.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, we're going to look at our final task today.

We're gonna use the information on the graph that we've been looking at, which shows us the census data for 2011 and 2021.

Izzy says, "Religion and worldviews have not changed in England and Wales from 2021 to 2011." So I'd like you to think of that.

Is Izzy correct? Has the data stayed the same? Is the data in 2011, that's the blue bar, is it the same as the data in 2021? That's the green bar.

I'd like you to use this data to prove your answer.

You might want to write some short sentences.

You might want to choose a couple of examples.

Maybe two or three examples would be really, really good.

Okay, social scientists, let's think about like social scientists.

We're going to use that data.

We're gonna analyse it.

I'm going to explain whether Izzy is correct or not.

Off you go.

Hmm.

Is Izzy correct? Using the data, let's find out.

Izzy's not correct, is she? She's not correct.

Worldviews in the UK have not stayed the same from 2011 to 2021.

You might have said something like, "There's been a 13% decline in the number of Christians." Remember that largest bar going from 59 down again? You might have said, "There's been a 12% increase in people with non-religious worldviews." People who tick the no religion box.

The number of Muslims has increased from 4.

9% to 6.

5%.

So that's an increase.

And there's been increases in the number of Buddhist, Hindus, and Sikhs in England and Wales.

Well done, social scientists, if you manage to explain something like that to show that there's been change over time.

Brilliant thinking.

Okay, let's sum up what we've learned today.

So we've learned that the census is a reliable survey that happens every 10 years in England and Wales, and it gathers data about religion and worldviews.

We've learned that according to the census survey, the largest worldview in the UK is Christianity.

We've learned we can use census data to compare change over time.

There are more Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists in England and Wales than in 2011.

And the number of people with a non-religious worldview has increased.

You've been brilliant, social scientists, and I'm looking forward to our next lesson together.

See you soon.