Current Role

• September 2009- Present University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester

Associate Professor of Religious Education (Aug 2019-)

Senior Lecturer/ Subject Leader Religious Education (Sept 2009-Aug 2019)

Programme Leader Church Universities’ Certificate (Postgraduate and Undergraduate) 

Secondary PGCE Programmes Leader (July 2013- July 15)

 

 Research

There are three main strands to my research:

1. Religious Education/ Religion and Education. The current emphasis of this strand focuses around the interface between a person’s beliefs and their practice as a teacher. A research project to investigate teachers’ views and how recognition of the value of an individual’s beliefs can enhance classroom practice is in the early stages of development. This is an unexplored area and uses the desirability of an ethos of school to construct the desirability of a teacher’s ethos. Papers and articles in this area of research discuss the place of New Religious Movements in RE; the role of a teacher’s beliefs in their classroom practice and numerous book reviews. Religious Education in the Secondary School: An Introduction to teaching, learning and the world religions has been published.
2. Religion and the arts. The reflection of both the author’s and reader’s religious beliefs in literature is the main focus of this element of research. Much work has been carried out on various authors and their religious beliefs reflected in their writing. My research tends to focus on fantasy literature and authors such as Tolkien, Lewis, and Orson Scott Card. However, a relatively undeveloped area of research centres on the interface between the reader and literature. As such I am exploring how a reader’s beliefs can be developed and enhanced through an engagement with fantasy literature. I have presented papers surrounding Tolkien’s religious beliefs, religion in the writings of Orson Scott Card and participated in panel discussions about the same topics. .
3. Systematic theology mainly focussing on Mormon theology and inter-faith dialogue. My PhD thesis developed a utilised Christian theology to construct a systematic theology of various elements of Mormon theology: Christology, Pneumatology and Eschatology. These three areas remain a focus of research and have been extended to include other aspects of Mormon doctrine and theology. Papers and articles in this research area have included setting ground rules for inter-faith dialogue; the place of the Holy Ghost in LDS theology, and the interface between Mormon faith and scholarship. Towards a Latter-day Saint Theology of Religions is to be published this year by Greg Kofford Books.

I have supervised to completion MA Research students specialising in:

• Church School Leadership and Governance (passed with High Distinction)
• Religious Education and the Arts (passed with High Distinction)
• The concept of belonging in the Secondary School
• The objections to faith schools and the way forward in the 21^st Century

I currently supervise research students in the Master’s in Education Dissertation Module in the areas of:

• Creativity in Religious Education

I welcome research students in the areas of:

• Religious Education
• Spirituality and Education
• Inter-faith dialogue
• Church and faith based education
• Religion and Fantasy Literature
• Mormon theology and history

Teaching

PGCE

• PR0012 Professional Practice in Secondary Schools

• PR0013 Subject Specialism (Secondary) Religious Education

• PR7101 The Nature and Purpose of Learning and Teaching

• PR7102 Understanding the Curriculum and its Development

• PR7103 The Nature and Purpose of Assessment

• PR 0017 Foundation Subjects Primary Education

• PR0017 Foundation Subjects Early Years Education

 

MAEd

• CD 7042 Religious Education and the Arts

• CD7043 Spirituality and the Classroom

• CD7034/5 Dissertation

• CD 7303 Creativity MA Research Design

 Undergraduate (Faculty of Education)

• PR5708 Humanities: Religious Education in the Primary School

• PR5724 Developing practice in PE and RE in the Primary School

• PR5726 Contemporary Issues in the Foundation Subjects and Religious Education

• CPD Module: Religious Education and the Secondary School

• CPD Module: Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development across the school

All RE modules include exploration of pedagogy, assessment, age specific material and approaches, examination demands, and elements of subject knowledge in the areas of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Philosophy of religion, Ethics, and New Religious Movements.

 Other Leadership Roles

• Subject Leader for Religious Education in the Faculty of Education and Children’s Services (including Module leadership of all RE modules)

• Module Leadership of PR0012 Professional Practice; PR0013 Subject Specialism (Secondary)

• Education lead for the Church School’s Certificate provision

External Examining

Sept 2015- Sept 2019    PGCE Secondary RE Manchester Metropolitan University

Sept 2012- Sept 2016     PGCE Secondary, Bishop Grosseteste University College

Sept 2011- Sept 2015     MA Education Research, University of Central Lancashire