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Research Summary

This is a summary review of a very large and influential European research project on religion and education – Religion in Education. A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries?’ or REDCo. The project involved specialist researchers from Germany, Holland, England, France, Norway, Russia, Spain and Estonia and ran from 2006-2009. It focused on the role of RE in European societies, especially how it might help promote dialogue between religions, in the context of citizenship education, based on Robert Jackson’s interpretive approach to RE. The article gives the background, research methodology and findings of the project; the findings especially are of relevance and use to RE teachers, helping to define and defend RE’s purpose in contemporary society and point towards the forms of teaching that serve it.

Researcher

Wolfram Weisse

Research Institution

University of Hamburg

What is this about?

• What was the REDCo project (2006-2009)?
• What were its research methodologies?
• What were its findings?
• How do they help to clarify the purpose of RE in contemporary Europe, including the UK, and what do they suggest about the forms of teaching that enable RE to fulfil its purpose?

What was done?

This article is a summary review of a major 3-year project investigating RE through a range of methods (questionnaire, interview, analysis of video-recorded lessons, etc.) in 8 European countries.

Main findings and outputs

• Religion needs renewed attention within European education systems, in relation to promoting dialogue and handling or reducing conflict.
• A multinational study enables comparison and highlights potentials, as do mixed research methods: participant observation, semi‐structured interviews, questionnaires (qualitative and quantitative) and videoing of RE lessons were all used. Students in the 14‐ to 16‐year age group were studied in all the countries.
• Their views and experiences of RE were established (positive and negative).
• From the project’s detailed findings (e.g. over 8000 pupil questionnaires were analysed), recommendations for RE were brought out. These follow:
  Education should promote active rather than passive tolerance, i.e. getting young people from different cultural and religious backgrounds to actually engage and work together.
  Religious diversity needs to be actively valued, at school and university level.
  Both religious and non-religious world-views should be included.
  These changes will not be possible without professional teacher education.
• For school students still in the process of forming their opinions, encounters with people of different religions and philosophies can be an important step towards:
  Respecting others’ views, despite disagreements.
  Understanding how different cultures and religions can be expressed in different ways by different people.
  Helping to prevent the misuse of religion to generate political conflict.
  School students believe this form of RE to be desirable and possible; and they see school, rather than the family or peer group, as the place where it should happen.

Relevance to RE

This summary review is helpful to teachers in presenting evidence on the purpose of RE in society, as young people see it, or wish for. It is based on extensive expert research, and can be referred to by RE teachers when explaining and defending the subject’s importance in the curriculum, to parents or colleagues, for instance. For more detailed analysis of RE teaching within the REDCo project, readers are advised to consult individual REDCo studies, e.g. Marie von der Lippe’s research in Norway, which we have reported separately under the title: Talking about religion and diversity.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The findings have strong generalisability, having resulted from an international investigation characterised by high breadth and depth and including the UK. The data are about a decade ago at the time of writing and re-investigation would be useful.

Find out more

Reflections on the REDCo project, British Journal of Religious Education 33.2 pages 111-125 (published online 18 February 2011), 10.1080/01416200.2011.543589

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01416200.2011.543589

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

In the early days of non-confessional, multi-faith RE in the UK, there was close collaboration between religious studies academics, teacher educators and teachers. These conversations should be picked back up, say the authors, and they aim to start the process. They go through some recent developments in university religious studies and spell out some possible implications for RE. These implications are that RE should take an anti-essentialist approach to religions (by stressing diversity within and between religions), take into account local and global contexts, recognise that society is complex and changing, focus on real people and seldom-heard voices and criticise dominant views (e.g.patriarchal or colonialist). The research offers RE teachers and other RE professionals a lot to consider, particularly in relation to whether the picture of religion and religions offered to pupils is accurate and fair.

Researchers

Denise Cush & Catherine Robinson

Research Institution

Bath Spa University

What is this about?

• What can university religious studies contribute to school RE, through a conversation between the two
• In particular, how can recent developments within university religious studies be taken on board by RE teachers and other professionals, to help ensure that religion and religions are presented to pupils in a fair and accurate way?
• In regard to the latter question, specific recommendations are made: that RE should take an anti-essentialist approach to religions (by stressing diversity within and between religions), take into account local and global contexts, recognise that society is complex and changing, focus on real people and seldom-heard voices and criticise dominant views (e.g.patriarchal or colonialist).

What was done?

This is a research essay, reviewing developments in religious studies and religion via literature, and identifying links to RE curriculum and teaching, with an emphasis on how these should be developed so as to reflect the field appropriately.

Main findings and outputs

• The authors stress that they do not wish to cascade knowledge ‘down’ to teachers – the model sought is a partnership.
• Ethnographic approaches in religious studies have much to offer RE, emphasising lived, contemporary, people-centred accounts of religion.
• So do Feminist approaches, by challenging accepted accounts of religion or religions, uncovering abuses, requiring that resources be checked for gender equality, and giving confidence to pupils to voice their own experiences and views of religion.
• Queer theory has directed attention to how religions define and evaluate sex, gender and sexuality. Teachers can adapt this, given the need for respect for people whatever their gender or sexual identities.
• Postcolonial theory contributes the skill of describing religions through indigenous voices and indigenous concepts – learning not to see different religions as exotic or in need of comparison with Christianity, but able to speak for themselves.
• In the UK the religious landscape is changing all the time and becoming plural in different ways, e.g. there are increasing numbers of people with hybrid spirituality that draws on several religious traditions. Non-religious world-views and new religious movements also have to be taken into account. Some religious or spiritual communities are transnational.

Relevance to RE

The article offers a stimulating, potentially very useful set of curricular and pedagogical checks: does teaching include lived, contemporary, people-centred accounts of religion? Are resources and teaching sensitive to the needs for balanced, equal representation by gender and sexuality? Are religions and their members allowed to speak for themselves? Do curriculum and pedagogy reflect different kinds of plurality, e.g. people whose spirituality draws on several religious traditions?

Generalisability and potential limitations

The article does not present data that can be generalisable, or not, as such; its contribution is to focus on an important issue (the relationship between religious studies and RE) and to identify useful, challenging questions for consideration and debate, amongst RE professionals in general.

Find out more

Developments in religious studies: towards a dialogue with religious education British Journal of Religious Education 36.1 pages 4-17 (published online 11 September 2013)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01416200.2013.830960

Research Summary

This article draws on research carried out in 24 UK schools over a three year period. It looks over problems with defining how teachers in general can be seen as professionals, then it considers the theme of teacher professionalism in RE specifically. It shows how RE teachers are often confused about what being a professional RE teacher means. Is it about passing on faith? Is it about making sure that pupils meet examination targets? Why have many RE teachers reached for philosophy as a way to boost their professional esteem? The article argues that a genuine focus on religious literacy and the ability to help pupils gain in religious literacy are the true characteristics of RE teacher professionalism, but failure to grasp this has meant that RE teacher professionalism is in decline.

Researcher

James C. Conroy

Research Institution

University of Glasgow

What is this about?

• What is professionalism in RE teaching?
• What does it mean for a teacher to be professional?
• What does it mean for a teacher of RE to be professional?
• How does professionalism in RE relate to religious faith?
• How does professionalism in RE relate to the preparation of pupils for examinations?
• Why have many RE teachers turned to philosophy as a way to boost their professional esteem?
• How can a focus on religious literacy restore professionalism to RE teaching?

What was done?

The researcher went through the data of a large research project on RE in the UK, bringing out examples that relate to the issue of RE teacher professionalism. The original project used a combination of different research methods. They included observation in schools, focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, expert seminars, reconstruction of classroom events through theatre, conference feedback, teacher-led research, textbook and teaching materials analysis and examination papers analysis.

Main findings and outputs

• Teacher professionalism is harder to define than e.g. professionalism in law or medicine, because it is less clear what teachers need to know and be able to do.
• Teachers seem less able to have control over their conditions of work and practices. They work in a command and control culture.
• RE teachers struggle with further complications, e.g. the interest of religious groups in their work and general lack of clarity over what RE is for. Pupils expect them to have an identity in relation to religion, so it can be hard to separate their personal and professional identities.
• Some RE teachers try to shape a professional identity by embracing ‘accountability’ and concentrating on pupil ‘performance’. Examinations represent an unhealthy obsession and much time and energy are spent in rehearsing students to give model answers according to set formulae.
• This means that RE’s knowledge base shrinks, and with it teachers’ professionalism.
• It can also mean that issues of truth are not debated and RE becomes in effect a matter of different ‘opinions’.
• The use of non-specialist teachers can add to these problems.
• Where there is a professional approach, it is based on religious literacy – viewing knowledge of religion as professional knowledge, and equipping learners with it as professional practice. Such teachers ask students to consider religious interpretation, symbolism and ritual, but rarely seem to focus on theology.

Relevance to RE

• On policy, the nature and scope of RE’s content should be identified. It needs to be stressed that RE’s content has educational value and is not intended to form lists of key points for examinations.
• On curriculum, the RE curriculum should aim to provide learners with knowledge and understanding of religion, including opportunities to debate issues of truth in the light of their studies. This is not the same as a philosophy and ethics approach, though it may overlap.
• On pedagogy, shrinkage of RE’s knowledge base for purposes of examination rehearsal should be avoided.
• On teacher development, RE teachers should have or gain broad knowledge of religious traditions. They should develop the ability to teach this content to learners in an engaging way, relating it to learners’ likely or actual questions including questions over truth.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The findings are presented through a fairly small number of examples from the project, but the author reports that such examples were numerous. They are consistent with other research and with a great deal of educational opinion. The article does not go into how the main recommendation could be put into practice (that is, how religious literacy could be put at the centre of RE teacher’s professional work, or how the obsession with examination training could be overcome).

Find out more

Religious Education and religious literacy – a professional aspiration?, British Journal of Religious Education 38.2 pages 163-176 (published online 6 April 2016).

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01416200.2016.1139891

Research Summary

This research is a case study of an inner city state school that for a decade (1940s–
1950s) attracted the interest of many educationalists, policy makers, researchers, artists and various press and film media. The school concerned was Steward Street school in Birmingham, where successive headteachers placed creativity and spirituality at the centre of education. The researchers argue that if new, positive educational practices are to be developed, cases of experimental or idealistic schools from the past or present need to be studied. Teachers and others should look at these critically, but they may be inspired by them. Studies of ‘different’ schools should open up questions about what is currently assumed to be ‘good’ in education. These schools need to be understood as complex – their stories can be told in different ways, from different perspectives – but they might offer signs of how education can be improved today. Steward Street school became a beacon for those who believed in the transformative power of the arts. The material will be of interest to RE teachers or any teachers seeking to build child-centred, creative pedagogies in order to encourage learners’ creativity, independence or aesthetic development, or who are simply interested in doing things ‘differently’.

Researchers

Catherine Burke & Ian Grosvenor

Research Institution

University of Cambridge & University of Birmingham

What is this about?

• This is about Steward Street school, an infant and primary school in inner Birmingham and how it became a cause celébre during the 1940s and 1950s.
• The success of the school was associated with two radical headteachers, Arthur Rushington Stone and Ken Scott, who placed creative arts (Stone) and later spirituality (Scott) – rather than reading, writing and arithmetic – at the heart of pupils’ experience of school.
• The ‘experiment’ inspired various educationalists for decades. Its story can be told from different points of view, but might still inspire teachers and others today. The school was surrounded by factories, smoke and post-war urban decay, but the staff were determined that children should be nurtured through experiences of beauty. Other radical measures, such as the removal of all forms of punishment, were added as the ‘experiment’ developed.
• The ‘experiment’ lasted for about a decade, failing to survive Scott’s departure and the pressure caused by the 11 plus examination from 1945 onwards.

What was done?

The researchers analysed all of the available documents pertaining to Steward Street school: school log books, admission registers, a punishment book, a pamphlet written about the school by Stone for the Ministry of Education, Birmingham LEA records and examples from international literature on creative arts-based education that had influenced practice at the school.

Main findings and outputs

• Stone was appointed headteacher in 1940. He shared an educational philosophy with the then Senior Staff Inspector for Primary Education, Louis Christian Schiller, according to which children were inherently creative and their creativity inclined towards beauty.
• Children should be encouraged to paint, build, make and dance: these needs were innate, teachers should simply structure and channel them.
• In 1941, there were 7 visits to the school to observe its approach; by 1948 this had increased to 247 (HMI, universities, Birmingham LEA, the BBC, various teachers, the Ministry of Education).
• Scott succeeded Stone In 1945. Seeking to build on Stone’s legacy, Scott introduced various policy changes, aiming to emphasise children’s spiritual development primarily. He sought to take away fears of failure, punishment, and freedom; to study children’s behaviour and home life; to use the energy of arts-based learning in pursuit of the more general ‘business of learning’, e.g. by using movement to teach arithmetic; he removed all forms of punishment and setting or comparison between pupils, in order to improve their self-esteem. He introduced school Games and provision for those with special needs. Assemblies were conducted by children (though he gave an address); no piece of art was displayed until six months after its execution. Academic achievement increased and pupils’ efforts appeared to intensify (they wrote booklets of stories, gave lectures, held debates, and contributed to school policy through class councils).
• Steward Street’s ‘story’ can offer ‘signs’ of how radical educational experiments could be possible today.

Relevance to RE

The story of Steward Street could offer inspiration to RE departments or teachers who aim to do something radical, different and imaginative in the service of children’s learning and well-being. Many RE departments make use of creative arts approaches to RE – painting, drama, etc. – which could be extended and developed. Ways could be sought to increase pupils’ choice over activities and their responsibility for organising their own learning, at levels appropriate to their ages and abilities. In relation to the removal of the fears of failure and freedom, some ungraded, unassessed work could be introduced into the curriculum. Departmental setting policies could be re-assessed.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a study of one particular school, based on the belief that in-depth consideration of particular schools can raise interesting educational possibilities, especially if those schools are ‘different’.

Find out more

The Steward Street School experiment: a critical case study of possibilities, British Educational Research Journal 39. 1 pages 148–165 (published online 10 January 2013), DOI: 10.1080/01411926.2011.615386

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/01411926.2011.615386/abstract