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Research Summary

This article provides a reconstruction of the processes leading to the formation of the widely influential Birmingham Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction (1975). This is contextualised within one of the most significant periods in the history of race relations in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss how this syllabus, and other landmark reforms in religious education (RE) in English schools from the late 1960s, responded to ethnic diversity by promoting supposedly culturally pluralist, multi-faith approaches to RE.

Researchers

Prof Stephen Parker & Prof Rob Freathy

Research Institution

University of Worcester

What is this about?

The research inquired into the multiple causes of a crucial moment of curriculum change in religious education. Given the stated importance of this particular syllabus to English RE history, it seemed important to us to understand how it came about.

What was done?

The research utilised historical methodologies to reconstruct a moment in curriculum history.

Main findings and outputs

• That the history of the subject can help us to understand the nature and purpose of RE in the present.
• That curriculum change in RE is often highly controversial, and sometimes bound up with notions of national and religious identity.
• That RE is often seen by policy-makers as a vehicle for social cohesion.
• That the influences upon developments in RE are multiple.

Relevance to RE

As background to a masters level study of RE policy, or to get to grips with how RE came to be as it is.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The paper needs to be read in conjunction with other related work by the authors to contextualise this important period in the recent history of the subject.

Find out more

Parker, S.G., Freathy, R.J.K. (2012) Ethnic diversity, Christian hegemony and the emergence of multi-faith religious education in the 1970s, History of Education: journal of the History of Education Society, 41: 3, 381–404.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760X.2011.620013

Research Summary

The project sought to trace the practice of Religious Education from official policy pronouncements, through professional interpretation, into classroom practice. Spanning secondary schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, faith schools and non-faith schools, the researchers drew on perspectives from theology, philosophy and anthropology to understand the purpose and practice of RE for students and teachers. The researchers carried out focus groups with policymakers and experts, ethnographic observation in classrooms in 24 schools across the UK, textbook and policy document analysis, and a survey of Year 11/S4 pupils in order to understand the definitions teachers and students gave of good RE, and the reasons for studying it.

The project uncovered confusion as to the aims of RE, with the subject often being over-burdened with expectations beyond the substantive study of religions. These included contribution to faith nurture, collective worship, multi-cultural understanding, anti-racist education, discussion of contemporary ethical issues, critical thinking skills, social, civic, sex and relationships education. In addition, RE was often expected to deliver good results in high status tests (GCSE and Standard Grade) in significantly less classroom time than was given to similar subjects such as History. Teachers were often keen to present RE as a rigorous subject in the academic humanities, alongside History and Geography, while a majority of pupils saw the subject as more akin to Citizenship and PSHE.

Researchers

Professor James Conroy, Dr David Lundie, Professor Robert Davis, Dr Philip Barnes, Professor Tony Gallagher, Professor Vivienne Baumfield, Dr Nicole Bourque & Dr Kevin Lowden

Research Institution

University of Glasgow

What is this about?

The project was structured around three fundamental questions:

1. what are the stated policy intentions for RE in schools?
2. how are these intentions enacted through the pedagogical practices of teachers in classrooms?
3. what is the impact of RE on students and how is this evaluated?

What was done?

An ‘hourglass’ model was used to understand RE from policy into practice. At the top of the hourglass, at its widest point, are the ‘blizzard’ of policies, aims, interests and pedagogical models proposed by various stakeholders in the RE field – government, faith groups, academic and practitioner bodies. The hourglass narrows toward classroom enactment, and widens again when considering the diverse impacts of RE practice among pupils, faith communities and wider society.

Textual analysis was used to trace the influence of national policies on the textbooks, exam syllabuses, Agreed Syllabuses and other resources used in the classroom.

Ethnographic observations were carried out in 24 schools across Scotland, England (including several in Greater London) and Northern Ireland. Ethnographers spent a minimum of 10 days in each school, with a focus on students in the 14-16 age group (Year 10/11 in England, S3/4 in Scotland). In addition to observing lessons, researchers carried out student focus groups, teacher focus groups, analysis of student workbooks and visual displays, and the shadowing of a student through their school day, to understand RE’s similarities and distinctiveness relative to the wider curriculum.

Analysis of ethnographic fieldnotes focused on 9 key themes:

1. The role of examinations in setting the aims and content of RE
2. The fit between teacher, pupil and school values in the RE classroom
3. The level of resource and support given to RE
4. The language and treatment of immanence and transcendence, touching on pupils’ levels of religious experience and religious literacy
5. The level of intellectual challenge offered by RE
6. The frequency and practices of engagement with texts, including pedagogical and sacred texts, in the RE classroom
7. The impact of teachers’ pedagogical style on the experience and perceived aims of RE
8. The role and approach to multi-cultural awareness in the RE classroom
9. The implicit and explicit truth claims made about religions in the RE classroom.

A practitioner enquiry strand encouraged teachers in participating schools to carry out their own small-scale action research projects linked to the aims of the overall project.

A survey of students in participating schools was carried out in 2011, and students from some participating schools were invited to a forum theatre performance in which we elicited feedback on our interpretation of the findings by playing out fictionalised vignettes from the research data.

Main findings and outputs

Despite the confusion that exists about the meaning and purpose of the subject, the researchers concluded that it is meaningful to talk about RE as a single subject across faith and non-faith schools.

The examination syllabus has enormous power to drive, and also to distort, the meaning and purpose of the subject.

Religious education often stands in a counter-cultural position within schools, requiring a pedagogical openness which is uncommon in other academic subjects at qualification level.

Relevance to RE

The research points to a need for a shared sense of meaning in the RE classroom, an understanding not just of particular doctrines, practices or concepts in a religion, but of what it would be for the believer to find meaning in such concepts.

Teachers who demonstrated a ‘committed openness’, steering a course between dogmatic commitment and undifferentiated relativism, were best able to introduce students to these concepts in a way that did not distort students’ own beliefs and world views.

Headteacher support was acknowledged as vital to the provision of good RE, including adequate resourcing, specialist teachers and curriculum time.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research project deliberately sought out schools which were confident of their RE provision, so cannot make any claim to be representative of RE across the UK. Nonetheless, even in schools which identified themselves as examples of good practice, there were significant challenges faced by RE.

Some elements of the research fieldwork, carried out in 2008-2010, may be dated, coming before widespread academisation, the 2013 REC Curriculum Framework and the revised GCSE and A-Level standards.

Find out more

Conroy, J C, Lundie, D et al. (2013) Does Religious Education Work? A multi-dimensional investigation. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

http://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/does-religious-education-work-by-prof-c-conroy.pdf

Research Summary

The idea of the ‘accomplished teacher’ has emerged in educational policy, in various countries. It is a term designed to capture the dispositions and skills of highly practised professionals. ‘Accomplishment’ is connected with life-long, or career-long, professional learning, which is concerned with continual self-development. This paper focuses on ideas of ‘accomplishment’ held by a group of early-career teachers undertaking a masters certificate in professional enquiry. These ideas, and their relation to the masters course, emerge through the teachers’ talk with one another. Through the ‘small stories’ they tell of their work, their identities as accomplished teachers, and their desire for career-long professional learning, are built. The researchers ask: how far can ‘accomplishment’ be developed through masters-level study? Does the policy emphasis on ‘accomplishment’ relate to the teachers’ stories? The research could be of use and interest to RE teachers and to all teachers who are interested in the possibility of using further academic study to enhance their professional development.

Researchers

Cate Watson & Valerie Drew

Research Institution

University of Stirling

What is this about?

This research focuses on the Scottish system. The questions addressed are: how is ‘accomplishment’ understood by early-career teachers; to what extent can ‘accomplishment’ be fostered through intellectual engagement at masters-level; and how does the policy of ‘accomplishment’ relate to the teachers’ stories?

What was done?

The research involved a cohort of 19 early career teachers undertaking a Masters level Certificate in Professional Enquiry. The teachers were formed into four groups each with three or four members and were asked to discuss the question: ‘In what ways has undertaking the postgraduate certificate in professional enquiry contributed to your development as an accomplished teacher?’ The discussions lasted around one hour and were audio recorded and later listened to, transcribed, and analysed by the authors independently.

Main findings and outputs

• Professional reflection was identified as an important element of accomplishment. For some of the respondents, it was best done collegially, e.g. in departmental discussions. Why do we do this this way? Might there be a better way to do it? How can we improve? What is the purpose of education and within that, what is the purpose of what we are doing?
• Professional values became more important to the teachers as a result of the course. They became more likely to view situations in school in moral terms.
• The role of the university was to give the teachers the space to discuss, deliberate and form an identity as ‘accomplished’. Often they contrasted themselves with colleagues seen as unreflective and not open to change and development.
• The masters-level, ‘critical’ nature of the course – involving reflecting on and asking questions about one’s own teaching and experience in school – enabled this level of deliberation.
• The teachers saw accomplishment as a matter of career-long learning. They desired to be accomplished teachers, identified with this policy, and brought the object of the policy into being within their own context and work. They had their own stories of growth, which were part of their understanding of professionalism.

Relevance to RE

What is striking about this article is the focus on teachers’ accounts of professional reflection and how important it is to professional development. RE and other teachers can certainly take a lead from the article in trying to make space for collegial, critical discussion about what they should be trying to achieve, educationally, and how they can continue to improve their efforts to do so. The article’s emphasis on continuing professional development is very welcome. What is missing is pedagogy (descriptions of what accomplished teachers do in the classroom) – but this is an important question for colleagues to take up and discuss themselves.

Where to start? See Hans-Ulrich Grunder (The image of teachers: the perception of others as impulses for the professionalisation of teaching, British Journal of Religious Education 38.2 pages 159-60): ‘ good teachers . . .are able to design and deliver instruction that enables students to acquire relevant content based on effective teaching and learning processes in an atmosphere conducive to learning. Good teachers organise, prepare and guide. They utilise a variety of teaching methods, they . . . utilise curricula, educational psychology and appropriate methods of instruction taking their students’ own learning biography into account. ‘

Generalisability and potential limitations

Whilst the findings do not provide a generalisable definition of an accomplished teacher and how to become one, or go into any detail about pedagogy, they illustrate some important processes, such as reflection, critical conversation and identification with positive professional values.

Find out more

Teachers’ desire for career-long learning: becoming ‘accomplished’—and masterly, British Educational Research Journal 41.3 pages 448-461 (published online 20 June 2014), 10.1002/berj.3149

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3149/abstract

Research Summary

The book Signposts – Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education (Jackson 2014) is a summary of Council of Europe initiatives on the dimension of religions and non-religious convictions within intercultural education, written by Professor Robert Jackson to help implementation of Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec (2008) 12 in the member countries. Signposts is structured around responses to a questionnaire sent to the ministries of education in the 47 member states, asking respondents to identify difficulties anticipated for policymakers and practitioners in implementing the 2008 recommendation in their own national setting, The book is structured around these issues and informed by examples from research and good practice. This article gives details of Signposts before concentrating on a partner project at The European Wergeland Centre (EWC) in Oslo, transforming Signposts into a teacher training module. It outlines the module, giving safe space as an example of the themes covered. The material is of interest to RE teachers and teacher educators, providing an introduction to resources intended to be used in either university-based or school-based teacher training.

Researcher

Kevin O’Grady

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

• What is the background to the book Signposts, and what are the book’s key themes?
• How is the Signposts teacher training module organised, and how is it intended to be used?
• What do Signposts and the teacher training module have to say about the issue of safe space, as an example of one of the issues covered?
• Where can Signposts and the teacher training module be obtained?

What was done?

The article is an introductory summary of Signposts and the related teacher training module, written by one of the consultants on the EWC teacher training project.

Main findings and outputs

• Signposts’ themes grow out of Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec (2008): understanding of cultural diversity must include attention to the role of religions and non-religious convictions in society. The book addresses potential difficulties identified by education ministries in the 47 member states.
• The form of education advocated is distinct from faith nurture, and concerned with understanding of plurality, though complementary with faith nurture. Attitudes and competences are involved: e.g. challenging racism, fostering tolerance.
• Seven themes are identified: terminology associated with teaching about religions and non-religious convictions, didactics, safe space, religions in the media, non-religious convictions, human rights and linking schools to communities.
• The EWC teacher training module team includes colleagues from Albania, Greece, Norway, Sweden and the UK. In the module, Signposts chapters are summarised into key points, links to other Council of Europe themes – e.g. Competences for Democratic Culture – and personal and professional implications for teachers.
• Following each chapter summary, follow-up activities are presented, enabling trainers to help teachers to reflect on their practice and improve their pedagogy.
• The module is suitable for university-based or school-based teacher training. All sections could be used, or some selected to address particular needs.
• Safe space is an example of an issue covered, referring to an inclusive classroom atmosphere where young people discuss their views openly together. Activities include practice writing to parents in preparation to teach their children about a controversial issue, considering classroom ground rules and analysing examples of pupil speech.

Relevance to RE

The Signposts and Signposts teacher training programme taken as a whole is designed with the clear aims of helping teachers to teach about religions and non-religious worldviews and helping teacher educators to prepare teachers for this task. The article reported here gives initial information about the programme. Interested teachers and teacher educators are advised to download the documents from the links provided below.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The article is a presentation and discussion of some research-based professional development resources for RE teachers and teacher educators, which should be of general interest and use. Again, Signposts is structured around potential problems in implementing Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec (2008), identified by education ministries across the 47 Council of Europe member states, indicating that there is a very broad basis for focusing on the issues chosen.

Find out more

Kevin O’Grady, Signposts: guidance from the Council of Europe on the dimension of religions and non-religious convictions in intercultural education, SO-didaktik (2017; 56-60), also available for free download at https://issuu.com/so-didaktik/docs/so-didaktik_nr4_2017

Robert Jackson, (2014) Signposts – Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education, Strasbourg (Council of Europe Publishing), also available for free download at http://ru.theewc.org/Content/Biblioteka/COE-Steering-documents/Recommendations/Signposts-Policy-and-practice-for-teaching-about-religions-and-non-religious-world-views-in-intercultural-education

The Signposts teacher training module is available for free download at https://theewc.org/resources/signposts-teacher-training-module-teaching-about-religions-and-non-religious-world-views-in-intercultural-education/

A blog piece by Ana Perona-Fjelstad, Angelos Vallianatos and Kevin O’Grady about the Signposts teacher training module is now available at https://www.reonline.org.uk/professional-development/the-signposts-teacher-training-module/

Research Summary

This is a report of a doctoral study on the motivation of 12–14‐year‐old religious education pupils in England. The study involved four action research cycles of teaching a topic, asking pupils about their learning experiences and building their views in to plans for the next topic. At the close, key factors for pupil motivation were identified: dialogue with difference, existential and ethical interest and personal significance. The research is of very direct relevance to RE pedagogy and gives recommendations for RE pedagogy in its conclusions, as well as remarks on how action research can be used as a teacher development methodology.

Researchers

Kevin O’Grady

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

• According to the pupils themselves, what motivates them to engage and learn in RE? A class of 31 12-14-year old pupils were studied, over a period of about 18 months.
• Once we know what pupils say is motivating about learning in RE, what can we do with these data? The research developed by planning subsequent teaching topics in the light of what pupils had said, then collecting further data from them, so that factors in their motivation were identified over time and pedagogy strengthened over time.
• Various factors building pupil motivation were identified and described: dialogue with difference, existential and ethical interest and personal significance.
• The research gives evidence about good RE pedagogy, and also suggests that action research is an appropriate and useful way for RE teachers to build good pedagogy.

What was done?

The action research methodology involved teaching a topic, observing levels of pupil motivation during lessons and keeping notes on these, getting pupils to complete questionnaires at the close of each topic and interviewing them in groups about the questionnaire responses.

Main findings and outputs

• Topic 1 was Islam, peace and surrender. The key motivation factor emerging was dialogue, with other students (the class was about one third Muslim) or with Islamic beliefs in abstract. It meant an equal emphasis between attention to religious education content and pupils’ responses and reflections.
• Topic 2 was interfaith relations, reconciliation and peace. The central motivation factor was identified as existential interest: pupils valued the chance to focus on important human life situations and their meanings.
• Topic 3 was Inspiration, Hajj and Passover. The key motivation factor was personal significance. Students had found the idea of inspiration to be less interesting than what had developed in their discussions around the idea of commitment, in religious life and in their own lives.
• Topic 4 was Hinduism and Creation. The most motivating factors were investigating different views of the universe (i.e. Hindu and scientific) and ethical beliefs (i.e. karma).
• Overall, at the close, aspects of learning in RE most likely to motivate pupils were summarised and a recommendation made: that RE should be a dialogue with difference, aimed at building existential and ethical interest and personal significance for pupils.
• The action research methodology was effective in generating the above recommendation from pupils’ actual words. It was not found to be a neat or objective process: pupils never distinguished between their learning in lessons and their discussions during group interviews, and though the research was intended to investigate their motivation, it evidently increased it.

Relevance to RE

There are two main ways in which RE teachers can use this research. The first way is through its findings; they can prepare topics and lessons for their pupils which provide plenty of opportunities for dialogues with those of different beliefs, for reflecting upon big questions and issues of right and wrong and for thinking about what matters to pupils personally (noting that all this was done by matching content from religions to these concerns). For more details of what was taught in the lessons and how it was taught, readers are recommended to read the original article. The second way is through the study’s methodology; they can carry out similar investigations with pupils of their own. These can be small-scale to begin with (the research reported above had its origins in a shorter masters project).

Generalisability and potential limitations

The data arise from a particular context, a multi-cultural, lower secondary school classroom in Sheffield. The author takes the following position regarding their generalisability: a classroom in a different location, or with a different kind of class, presents a comparable context. Thus, the data might be used as starting points for improving pedagogy in a new setting, but it is up to the teacher to act as a researcher and re-investigate them.

Find out more

‘How far down can you go? Can you get reincarnated as a floorboard?’ Religious education pedagogy, pupil motivation and teacher intelligence, Educational Action Research 16.3 pages 361-376 (published online 28 August 2008), 10.1080/09650790802260315

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650790802260315

Research Summary

This is a detailed study of a large, successful team in a Swedish upper secondary school, working with young people on alternative pathways who have not met eligibility requirements for other programmes. It asks: what kinds of co-operation make this team successful? It identifies and reports on three kinds of co-operation, between staff, between staff and students and between staff and local workplaces or institutions. In addition, it identifies the actions on which the co-operative practice of the team are based, and their character. The importance of recognition is emphasised. The findings should be of interest and use to RE or other teachers building or working in teams, e.g. departments, cross-departmental groups or local subject associations.

Researchers

Ingrid Henning Loeb

Research Institution

University of Gothenberg, Sweden

What is this about?

• How do you build a successful, effective teaching team?
• What kinds of co-operation are needed? E.g. between staff, between staff and students and between staff and outside agencies, families or community groups?
• What kinds of actions help a teaching team to be successful?
• What kinds of character should these actions have – in particular, what is the significance of recognition (of members’ or partners’ work, or contribution to the team)?
• A large, succcessful team in a Swedish upper secondary school is studied at length and in detail.

What was done?

Field studies were conducted over a five-year period, and involved participating in and observing various team activities, observing lessons, shadowing and interviewing team members, following emails around the team, etc.

Main findings and outputs

• There are 60 students on the team’s courses. The team numbers 16: teachers (one with the role of head), a counsellor, a coach, two youth leaders. The team has evolved since 2000 to meet the students’ needs.
• Staff co-operate in a wide range of ways: formal (very focused) and informal meetings, social events, co-teaching (e.g. one teacher on whole class teaching whilst another gives individual support), annual 1-2 day evaluation sessions, distributed leadership (individuals assuming different team responsibilities).
• Students report strong staff care and commitment. Recruitment to the courses is very careful – care is taken to ensure suitability. All students have an individual supervisor with who he or she meets for 15-20 minutes each week. Students are encouraged to focus on their strengths and goals. There are a variety of extra, non-academic activities, and a social gathering for the last half-hour of every Friday.
• The coach organises a full programme of workplace experience with local employers. There are active partnerships with parents, other local schools and community organisations and schools in other countries.
• Very positive routine actions have been embedded into the team’s work over time. High levels of trust have been built in all directions by continuously expressing recognition of the value of the contributions made by team members and out-of-school partners. People feel that their work earns them respect and the chance to help to direct the team’s work. All of this makes the team’s success sustainable.

Relevance to RE

This is relevant to teacher development, which always takes place in teams of one kind or another, even if the teacher is a one-person RE department. The team researched were successful because they had identified the values of care, collaboration and community partnership as the ideal bases of their work and had developed routine actions to enact those values. Roles and responsibilities were well defined and – most importantly – confidence and self-esteem were high because contributions were recognised as valuable. Highlighting community partnership: the team connected their practice to students’ future ‘real worlds’ – they did so in relation to employment, but RE departments can do so in relation to community awareness and citizenship; an annual programme of visits and visitors is made more manageable through routine repetition (and partnerships are strengthened through routine contact).

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a very detailed study of one department, and whilst it can be pointed out that different departments can be successful in different ways and base their success on different things, it should nevertheless invite reflection by teachers responsible for or working in teams, e.g. on the crucial importance of recognising colleagues’ work and contributions, or community partnerships.

Find out more

Zooming in on the partnership of a successful teaching team: examining cooperation, action and recognition, Educational Action Research 24.3 pages 387-403, 10.1080/09650792.2016.1185377

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2016.1185377

Research Summary

This paper reports an examination of the well-being of early career secondary school teachers in England. It focuses on their working lives, well-being, sense of control and response to professional demands. It looks at data generated by four separate studies between 2005 and 2013, during which period teachers’ work was subject to unparalleled external regulation. The authors examine the extent to which the well-being of early career teachers can be explained by self-determination theory, according to which, well-being is enhanced when psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are satisfied. The findings suggest that satisfaction of these three basic psychological needs is needed by early career teachers, but that there are also other factors to take into account, including developing resilience and enjoying teaching a subject. The authors provide a useful checklist for those supporting early career teachers: in this way, the research will be useful to heads of RE and to other leaders in schools.

Researchers

Andrew J. Hobson & Bronwen Maxwell

Research Institution

University of Brighton

What is this about?

• Teacher well-being is a very important factor in teacher effectiveness and teacher retention, but the research on it is underdeveloped.
• There is a particular dearth of research on newly qualified and recently qualified teachers’ well-being, including the effect of performance demands on their well-being.
• The researchers set out to address these gaps and to test the relevance of self-determination theory to the issue of the well-being of early career teachers. Self-determination theory includes the idea that well-being is enhanced when psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are satisfied.
• The researchers then go on to examine various other factors that may have an impact, e.g. developing resilience, enjoying teaching a subject, professional support and work-life balance.

What was done?

This is a secondary analysis of data from four previous studies. Those studies were of early stage teacher induction, recruitment, retention, performance, mentoring and coaching. The data were re-analysed according to whether factors from self-determination theory had influenced the early stage teachers’ experience or whether other factors counted.

Main findings and outputs

• Nearly all participants (41 out of 43; 95%) indicated that the quality of their work relationships (relatedness) had a positive and/or negative influence on their well-being as teachers, while most participants (35 out of 43; 81%) also indicated that their perceptions of their own competence did so. Autonomy was a much less important factor though some teachers indicated that their well-being was diminished by having too little control over their teaching.
• ‘Relatedness’ was the single most prominent factor for well-being: including positive relationships with students (both in the classroom and via extracurricular activities)and with colleagues, notably through collegiality and collaborative working; with mentors, line managers and in friendship networks.
• Preceived competence included classroom or behaviour management, subject knowledge and pedagogy, lesson planning, time and workload management, examination success or a combination of factors such as these.
• Amongst other factors influencing well-being positively or negatively, professional support (for induction, continuing professional development or well-being itself) was that most commonly raised.
• Assertiveness, optimism and resilience appear to be important for the maintenance of well-being.
• Lack of space precludes including the whole checklist here (readers are encouraged to consult the original article), but it is a set of questions such as:
  Do early career teachers have colleagues who are tasked with overseeing and supporting their well-being? E.g. do they have a mentor, with whom they may speak openly, in confidence, about matters which may concern them? Do they receive appropriate recognition for their work? Etc.

Relevance to RE

Heads of RE, or other RE colleagues responsible for support, induction, mentoring or coaching of colleagues in the early stages of their careers should find the research – and especially the checklist that forms part of the conclusion – to be of real practical value.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The four studies re-analysed had a fairly small number of participants (43) but the research identifies some very useful general guidelines for professional practice

Find out more

Supporting and inhibiting the well-being of early career secondary school teachers: Extending self-determination theory, British Educational Research Journal 43.1 pages 168-191 (published online 26 December 2016), 10.1002/berj.3261

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3261/full

Research Summary

Aims for the curriculum often do not get realised in practice. This is because they contain values and principles that do not get built into the practice of teaching. Currently teaching emphasises outcomes, but aims for the curriculum such as ‘independent learning’ or ‘learning with understanding’ refer to aspects of the learning process, not to outcomes. Teachers often embrace them without knowing how to build them into their practice. But this paper gives examples of how values and principles can be built into curriculum design, forming a basis for practical teaching experiments by teachers. The teachers wished to transform their teaching into the practice of virtue. Action research was the methodology used. The article has relevance to RE and to RE teachers. RE has (rightly) ambitious curricular aims e.g. developing knowledge and understanding of religious traditions, enabling pupils’ personal development, enhancing pupils’ critical skills and dispositions, all of which require attention to the quality of classroom processes and the development of teacher virtues.

Researcher

John Elliott

Research Institution

University of East Anglia

What is this about?

• This is about different views or types of the curriculum (outcomes-led, focusing on attainment, targets, etc.) and process-led (focusing on the provision of an intrinsically worthwhile experience for learners in the classroom).
• The argument is that a process-led curriculum is needed for educational aims, values and principles (e.g. independent learning, learning with understanding) to be put into practice.
• To do so, teachers need to work out forms of action that realise those aims, values or principles – it makes teaching into a form of research (action research).
• Examples of relevant teacher research projects are presented and, in one case in particular, the teacher ‘virtues’ (values leading to actions) found to be important are explained.

What was done?

This is a research essay, including analysis of different views of the curriculum and teachers’ work.
It presents arguments and examples in favour of a process-led curriculum in which teachers work as action researchers. It explains how some of the action research projects mentioned revealed the virtues (or, kinds of disposition and action) that teachers develop in order to bring quality to educational processes.

Main findings and outputs

• A process-led curriculum is seen as better suited to put curricular principles into practice. They need to be realised in particular forms of action. Their meaning in practice can then be clarified through experiment and reflection.
• This is a form of practical philosophy (related to Aristotle’s phronesis) consisting in learning to do something well rather than simply making a product. It requires virtues (not simply inclinations to do good, but ways to do so in specific circumstances). In teaching, the good is to engage pupils with content in an educationally worthwhile manner.
• Various examples of such ethical frameworks for teachings are discussed. All involve action research, a form of teaching argued to be indispensable to teachers if they want to participate in worthwhile educational change, rather than delivering changes planned beyond the world of the classroom or the school (e.g. policy aims to make the outcomes of education more predictable).
• This form of action research is becoming harder to carry out.
• However, reflection on classroom practice can still generate educational theory about which teacher actions are worthwhile. E.g. a study in Hong Kong explored why some teachers engaged students more than others Five virtues were identified:
• Teachers should teach content that is of enduring human significance; teachers should make knowledge open to question; teachers should present not just knowledge but how it was created; teachers should test out educational theories in their classrooms; this is how schools should develop their curricula.

Relevance to RE

RE has deep, ambitious educational aims that cannot be encapsulated into outcomes – aims relating to young people’s personal development are not easily measurable, for instance. RE has to take seriously the need to provide an intrinsically worthwhile educational experience and identify the teacher actions that make one likely for pupils. The five virtues identified above offer very good points of departure. Which features of religions are of enduring human significance? How can we make sure that pupils always have opportunities to question? Where do religious beliefs, values and practices originate (where, when, how and why did they arise)? What gains are made or questions raised when lessons modelled on different theories of RE (e.g. interpretive approach, religious literacy or philosophical approach, etc.) are taught? How can we make sure that our answers to these questions feed into our future curriculum development?

Generalisability and potential limitations

The article’s findings have potential generalisability to any teaching situation. However, it is in the nature of action research data that they should be continually re-investigated in different settings – they can give useful starting points to teachers to investigate their own practices.

Find out more

Educational action research as the quest for virtue in teaching Educational Action Research 23.1 pages 4-21 (published online 28 November 2014)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2014.994017