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Research

Signposts – guidance for RE teachers from the Council of Europe, and a related teacher training module

Kevin O'Grady

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/

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