Over the last term or so I have been teaching rather a lot about dichotomies. These dichotomies are found throughout education- for example, the Traditional and Progressive approaches to teachings; or maybe the knowledge and skills debate. There are many more in Religious Education that I will explore in greater detail in this post. What … More Dichotomies and Religious Education
We probably all recognise a caricature of RE lessons which revolves around tasks that keep children’s attention but don’t seem to stretch. We have all, perhaps, taught some of those lessons- and one important caveat is that each of learning experiences that we use that might in one lesson be incredibly valuable, but we need … More Challenge in RE
This post originally appeared as part of the Email a Believer blog at RE Online Sometimes I look at the world and am really encouraged by the love that people share with each other. Other times, I become disheartened because people don’t show that love, and potentially show or articulate hate. There are so many … More Shared humanity
Recently I have been putting together some thoughts about power dynamics in majority-minority relationships. A major area of my research at work at the moment is the representation and visibility of minority religions in the Religious Education classroom and curricula. In this case, the six major religions of the world (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism … More Power dynamics and the minority voice
I’ve realised something this week. Professionally, I’m very hard to satisfy! This isn’t a reflection on others- it is the way I feel about myself- I never seem to be satisfied with my accomplishments. In my professional life my lack of satisfaction is sometimes very debilitating. I have spoken elsewhere about how I live my … More Learning to love yourself
I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams WB Yeats Every year with my Secondary PGCE students we discuss the use of objects within the RE classroom. As a way in to the discussion we read Roger Homan’s article from the British Journal of Religious Education in … More How should we use religious objects in the classroom?
In my last blog post I discussed some of the issues surrounding a five year GCSE. This spurred me to explore some aspects of assessment. A fuller discussion can be found in Religious Education in the Secondary School When I first started teaching my Head teacher told me: “R.E. teachers should stop moaning about assessment … More Assessment: one size fits all?
I have been involved in different ways in the development of the new GCSE for Religious Studies and, in many ways, see it as a step forward in building religious literacy but also helping pupils make links between beliefs, teaching and practices. I think it is a way to meet the aims of RE which … More A Five Year GCSE- really?
What do I mean by this title? Essentially, those who ‘own’ something get to determine the rules and the acceptable boundaries of use. For example, in sport there are numerous national and international bodies that are recognised as the authority and any change to rules or procedures has to go through them. To extend the … More Who owns a religion?
CSARs has recently posted the video of the paper I gave at the 4th annual Conference last year (http://csarsg.org.uk/4th-annual-recovery-from-addiction-conference-2015/)
