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Research Summary

The research arises out of the author’s wish to generate a deeper level of meaningful discussion between his RE pupils. The context is Roman Catholic RE: however, its guidelines include the need for respect for and dialogue with non-Roman Catholic pupils, many of whom are present and in daily contact with their Catholic peers. An action research experiment was designed and conducted, aimed at assessing increasing the amounts of cumulative talk and exploratory talk during dialogues between the two kinds of pupils. Cumulative talk involves building on what others say whilst exploratory talk involves engaging critically with it. A set of paired pupil dialogues on RE themes were set up. Certain teacher interventions (e.g. introducing the topic of religion and science) were found to improve the quality of talk. The findings should interest RE teachers, because they suggest that the quality of pupil discussion can improve when pupils have the opportunity for dialogues with those whose beliefs are different to theirs, also suggesting that some topics particularly suit this approach.

Researcher

Antony Luby

Research Institution

Aberdeen City Council Roman Catholic RE service

What is this about?

• How can quality talk be achieved, or improved, in the RE classroom?
• Specifically, how can levels of cumulative talk (building on what others say) and exploratory talk (engaging critically with it) be increased?
• What potential does inter-faith dialogue have, to promote critical reflection and deep learning?

What was done?

An action research experiment is reported. Paired dialogues between 20 Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic pupils were set up, exploring e.g. views on God or the beginning of the universe. The dialogues were analysed for levels of on-task, cumulative and exploratory talk, by both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The effects of teacher interventions (e.g. introducing new dialogue themes) were also measured.

Main findings and outputs

• Overall, a high level of on-task conversation was noted. In terms of the themes most likely to generate cumulative or exploratory talk, three were initially identified – religion and science, values and historical proof.
• Texts on religion and science and historical proof were now introduced into the dialogues. Do other dimensions exist? What evidence about Jesus’s life do we have? Cumulative talk now decreased, whilst exploratory talk increased.
• In a subsequent intervention, a videoclip on the Turin Shroud was provided as a stimulus for dialogue. Now, cumulative talk increased slightly whilst exploratory talk decreased.
• Despite these fluctuations, overall levels of cumulative and exploratory talk were satisfactory (55.8% of conversation time and 17.2% of conversation time respectively, at the close of the investigation) especially given exploratory talk’s reputation as hard to generate.
• A questionnaire administered following the dialogues found that a large majority of the pupils involved thought that the dialogical approach met the conditions of ‘deep learning’: seeing connections between ideas from different areas, overcoming difficulty, asking questions about what you hear or read, relating learning to previous learning, applying new ideas to real-life situations.
• Pupil quotations regarding the experience of dialogue:
  ‘A learning experience that enables you to see other people’s views and perspectives and ultimately how your beliefs compare.’
  ‘It’s very good for learning about the things that are difficult to get your head around; also it helps me accept others’ opinions and attitudes towards religion’.

Relevance to RE

The potential of dialogical approaches to motivate RE pupils and enrich discussion and understanding is well documented, and this study is a useful addition. RE teachers might learn from and adapt several of its features:

• Being prepared to look at gaps in one’s own practice, and to devise, try out and evaluate possible improvements. Initially, the author had been intrigued when dialogues between pupils with different views and backgrounds had ‘broken out’ accidentally, outside his lesson plan. Unexpected events can provide leads or hunches to follow.
• Trying out dialogical activities with pupils.
• Monitoring pupils’ levels of engagement and quality of conversation and looking for themes likely to engage or stretch them in future. In the author’s case, religion and science stimulated quality discussion and deep learning, perhaps because of the pupils’ opportunity to explore both big questions and difference.

Generalisability and potential limitations

During the conclusion to the article the author makes the following points:
‘Another limitation of this action research study is the small sample size of 20 pupils from one school. Therefore, any future study should increase the number of participants such that the analyses undertaken can have more robust statistical significance. Also, the sample should be across different types of secondary schools as the school used in this study can fairly be described as an academically high-attainment city comprehensive. Attention should be paid to schools of different types (e.g. faith, selective), with different locations (e.g. suburban, rural), and with different overall levels of attainment.’

Find out more

First-footing inter-faith dialogue, Educational Action Research 22.1 pages 57-71 (published online 11 December 2013), 10.1080/09650792.2013.854176

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2013.854176

Research Summary

The author shows how a ‘banking’ model (where content is ‘delivered’ efficiently to pupils who have scant personal involvement in it, in order to boost scores) is inappropriate for RE. He sets out to assess the value of RE in terms of their overall experience of the subject. 369 London teenagers are surveyed. Most are positive about RE (it builds respect and understanding); but non-religious pupils, Y10 pupils and boys are less positive. Questions are raised about how to engage these groups. Generally, participatory learning methods such as visits, debates and computer use boost motivation, and perhaps non-religious world views should be studied in RE. Teachers could look further into these ideas.

Researcher

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

• Young people’s attitudes to RE and how they can be improved.
• Differences between different groups regarding attitudes to RE, based on gender, religious practice or not and age.
• How participatory learning methods (visits, debates, computer use) build more moptivation than ‘banking’ practices (where knowledge is ‘delivered’ to pupils in pursuit of examination grades).
• Whether non-religious world-views should be studied in RE (in general, motivation is higher when pupils’ home backgrounds are affirmed).

What was done?

Questionnaires were completed by 369 young people – 237 boys and 132 girls – aged between 13 and 15 years, attending London schools.

Main findings and outputs

• A ‘banking’ model is inadequate for RE (content is ‘delivered’ efficiently to pupils who have scant personal involvement in it, in order to boost scores).
• Taking account of pupils’ background is favourable (e.g. if religions are presented in a way that they recognise from their own experience, their motivation increases).
• The value of RE needs to be assessed in terms of the overall quality of pupil experience.
• A questionnaire was designed to do this (see What was done, above): generally, RE was valued positively, 66% of pupils reporting that it aided respect for and understanding of different religions.
• But less than half agreed that RE helped them to understand their own religion and only two-fifths agreed that RE had taught them something new about their own religion.
• Girls broadly had more positive attitudes to RE. Year 9 pupils were significantly more positive than Year 10 pupils. Religious pupils were significantly more positive.
• Pupils expressed a more positive attitude to RE where a church had been visited, computers had been used, or there had been a classroom debate. None of the other classroom factors, including teaching style, made any significant difference.
• These activities can be classified as participatory as opposed to ‘banking’.
• Questions arise about how to build the motivation of non-religious pupils (perhaps their backgrounds should be affirmed and non-religious world-views studied) and why motivation in RE decreases over time. Further research is needed.

Relevance to RE

• Policy and curriculum documents, at different levels, should address the need for RE’s content to relate to pupils’ backgrounds and experiences.
• Regarding pedagogy, when presenting religions, teachers should aim to take pupils’ experiences of them into account (bearing in mind that this can be a sensitive process).
• The inclusion of non-religious worldviews in the RE curriculum should be considered, as a way of affirming the backgrounds and convictions of many students.
• Participatory methods of learning (e.g. visits, debates, computer use) may be developed by teachers in order to boost pupils’ motivation.
• Teachers could also monitor any decrease in pupil motivation over time in their own schools. If it is evident, what reasons do pupils give, and how can it be addressed?

Generalisability and potential limitations

Evidence is cited by the author to show that the research is reliable and valid.

Find out more

Measuring attitude towards RE: factoring pupil experience and home faith background into assessment, British Journal of Religious Education 34.2 pages 195-212 (published online 7 November 2011)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01416200.2011.623154

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

Young Jamaican-background men in Brixton, London use hip-hop as a way to express and confirm their commitment to Christianity. The style used is known as ‘gospel rap’. The research is based on interviews with 13 18–25-year-old second-generation Jamaican males in Brixton. The rich language about religious belief and God that they used surprised the researcher: they told him that they enjoyed writing and performing their own raps and allowed him to record them, at a stage when he had not yet asked them about religion or spirituality. He discusses their ‘gospel rap’ in relation to other research on popular music and religion. He sees hip-hop as part of an African-American musical tradition (spirituals, blues) where it is vitally important that lyrics relate authentically to real-life struggles. Music and religion both affect the body, by causing or including movement or gestures: sometimes repeated rituals such as prayer or fasting produce religious beliefs rather than vice versa, he argues. The research has clear potential to expand teachers’ understanding of Christianity and young people’s spirituality; and ‘gospel rap’ has the potential to be used as a classroom resource. (See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xElU5UBm4rk)

Researcher

Daniel Nilsson Dehanas

Research Institution

University of Kent in Canterbury

What is this about?

• Among young people in Brixton, London, hip-hop is the most popular style of music, also influencing fashion and life-styles in general.
• Often hip-hop would be seen as antithetical to Christian values, but this research is about how young second-generation Jamaican men use hip-hop to explore and express their Christian faith.
• The style is known as ‘gospel rap’. As well as being rich in its lyrics, describing how the young rappers find the strength in Christian faith to cope with sometimes harsh circumstances, it has a range of dance moves, beats, gestures, expressions that involve the body. The confidence needed to perform these strengthens religious beliefs.
• The article offers detailed quotations from ‘gospel rap’, for example this passage from p.302:

Don’t be wise in your own eyes
The devil is a liar
was my downfall
That’s the reason why we backslide
so be careful
Because he comes your way on a sly
roaming through the world
He’ll try to hook you so stay wise
Proverbs in the morning
Psalms in the night

• The researcher recognises that his findings are unusual, not only in relation to the portrayal of hip-hop as a Christian religious practice but (more generally) as a vivid example of how religious practice shapes religious belief, rather than vice versa.

What was done?

13 second-generation Jamaican men of 18-25 years old were interviewed. Examples of their gospel rap compositions were recorded as parts of some of the interviews.

Main findings and outputs

• The gospel rappers engage in much imaginative word-play when developing their lyrics. This attitude of freedom is prized, but does not apply to theological content, where a traditional reading is preferred. Explicit images or words are off-limits.
• The lyrics are made ‘real’ through their performance. Like Bible reading or prayer in ‘traditional’ forms of Christianity, rapping and ‘making moves’ at an open mic or other event imprints the meaning of the words on the body (and on those of the listeners, who participate physically).
• Usually, the ‘gospel rappers’ also have a background in traditional Christianity (e.g. church attendance) and their lyrics show a very detailed famiiarity with the Bible.
• The lyrics have to be grounded in the experience of life as a struggle. The struggle may be against racism or unemployment; but the devil is viewed as a real adversary, capable of leading one away from a righteous path. ‘Backsliding’ from the path might involve drug use or other distractions or dangers presented by street life.
• The ‘gospel rappers’ are active agents, structuring their own religious styles and beliefs. Their involvement in ‘gospel rap’ gives meaning to their everyday lives.
• ‘Gospel rap’ may be unconventional, but it is a vivid example of how bodily ritual or practice provides a basis for religious belief, rather than vice versa.

Relevance to RE

• There are various curricular and pedagogical uses of the research. ‘Gospel rap’ could be the focus of a cross-curricular RE, Music and English project, for instance.
• Within discrete RE, pupils could listen to examples of ‘gospel rap’ and draw out the meaning and importance of the lyrics and the bodily gestures for those participating. They could compare and contrast these to more ‘traditional’ forms of Christian ritual speech, singing and / or gesture. They could speculate about why and how ‘gospel rap’ has arisen.
• In general, teachers could make reference to ‘gospel rap’ in ensuring that Christianity is covered in a broad way that recognises its diversity; and in showing that religious practice and belief sometimes evolve as responses to different cultural forms.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Rather than being widely generalisable, this research is interesting and useful because it illustrates an unusual, thought-provoking aspect of religious practice and belief.

Find out more

Keepin ’ it Real: London Youth Hip Hop as an Authentic Performance of Belief, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 28:2, 295-308 (published online 22 April 2013)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2013.783340