Transcript Eclectic RE or integrated RE? Case studies in learning

Eclectic RE or integrated RE?
Case studies in learning method and learning practice
If pedagogy in RE is about the varied means by which people
take learning intentions into action (through planning,
teaching, motivating and assessing pupils) then...
• Instruction will always be an inadequate default for RE learning;
• Good pedagogy will be sensitive to learners’ needs (and therefore can learn
from [e.g.] multiple intelligence theory, learning styles research, other
disciplines);
• Good teaching will be informed by clear aims and objectives - of course!
These may be subtly shaded by the pedagogical processes in action.
• I will argue here that it is in the connections between the different
pedagogical approaches we use in RE that best practice may be discerned.
Each approach is incomplete without the gifts of some of the other
approaches.
• This is the practice of many excellent RE teachers, who are perhaps learning
intuitively from their situation of daily work with hundreds of pupils that
effective RE is unconfined by one research or practice model
• I will further argue that RE’s current needs are to spread good pedagogy
more widely and to encourage an integrated vision among good teachers,
so that learning without barriers is facilitated
In this interesting
example, 13 year
olds can express
their own current
ideas about God in
the light of their
learning about the
processes of
theology and
philosophy at a
simple level. Their
creative insight is
alert to different
cultural and social
contexts in which
religious enquiry
occurs.
Constructivist models of
learning: enabling
pupils to ‘make’ or
‘shape’ their own
worldview
Phenomenology: the
accurate and fair
understanding of
religion
Each school of
thought in RE implies
some particular
learning methods
Conceptual models of
RE’s aims: religious
literacy, critical realism
Spiritual development: the
intention to promote
personal relational
consciousness. Challenging
secular indoctrination
Human development;
RE that enables learning
from religion in the
fullest sense
Interpretive approaches
to RE: the reflexive
engagement of young
minds for edification
Learning the phenomena of religion
In this piece of work the
pupil – Holly, 12 – shows
simply a piece of learning
that comes from study of
sacred story in Buddhist
tradition. The work then
jumps to relate a point
about wider Buddhist
vision to her ideas about
greed – did the teacher
want more than facts?
In this interesting
example, Danny, 9,
has explored the
practice of the
festival of Sukkot.
His model of a
sukkah and his
description of the
festivities add up
to a good
understanding of
the meaning of
this festival. It’s a
wide kind of
‘phenomenological
RE’
In this piece of work
Dan, not a Muslim,
collects information
about the life of the
Prophet that might
be significant for
Muslim children. This
task asks for facts and
an editorial
judgement. We might
recognise AT1 work.
To become human: personal
development goals through RE
Grimmitt gives these accounts of the purposes of RE. To give pupils:
“the opportunity to acquire skills which enable them to use
their understanding of religion in the interpretation of their own
personal experiences.” (RE and Human Development, page 216,
1987).
“pupils should evaluate their understanding of self in religious
terms… the evaluative process of learning from religion(s) should
be fully integrated into how, within a secular educational
context, pupils are learning about religion in the first place.”
(Pedagogies, page 15, 2002)
“My soul painting depicts a hand stopping aspects of my personality getting
through: how I feel sometimes. It feels like I have to stop saying some of
the things I do and that I have to hold back what I really think or feel about
certain things. So, in a way, the hand represents public opinion or morals.
The darkness on the right is to show the aspects of my personality on that
side aren’t shown often. The one’s on the left are those I show often are in
the light. There is a space in the top right hand corner where the 2 sides
mix. It shows that sometimes you cannot hold back emotion.”
Spirituality at the heart of RE through
experiential learning methods
Religious
education
providesonopportunities
development
• discussing
and reflecting
key questionstoofpromote
meaningspiritual
and truth
such as the
origins of the universe, life after death, good and evil, beliefs about God and
through:
values such as justice, honesty and truth
• learning about and reflecting on important concepts, experiences and beliefs that
are at the heart of religious and other traditions and practices
• considering how beliefs and concepts in religion may be expressed through the
creative and expressive arts and related to the human and natural sciences,
thereby contributing to personal and communal identity
• considering how religions and other world views perceive the value of human
beings, and their relationships with one another, with the natural world, and with
God
• valuing relationships and developing a sense of belonging
• developing their own views and ideas on religious and spiritual issues.
National Framework, QCA, 2004
This piece of work comes
from a guided fantasy activity
in which learners imagine
having an opportunity to ask
one question of God / who
knows everything. They
receive a reply from an
ambiguous source in a letter
– does it come from ‘who
knows everything / God’
They imagine what the reply
might say.
The activity intends to model
the ambiguities of religious
or spiritual experience – but
in this example, a specific
expression of faith emerges
from the pupil.
Good RE?
Religious literacy: modest aims?
•
•
•
•
Concept cracking: a learning method
Skills of religious literacy: to be ‘religiate’
Questions focus: evaluating issues of meaning and truth
Increasing capacity to ‘handle truth claims’ (handling is what
we do with dogs isn’t it?)
• RE’s frontier with philosophy: building close + reasoned
connections
This interesting
example of work
from David, 13,
makes use of the
tools for learning
he is acquiring to
explore a range of
views about
questions of
origins.
Constructing human life: big goals
• RE has moved from being ‘owned’ within Christianity
to being multi-religiously ‘owned’, and including
[e.g.] Humanism
• Does the subject now need to take account of the
post-modern perspectives of the self that are
forming our next generation?
• Does that provide a model for RE’s function in
constructing the shifting kaleidoscope of worldview
or meaning making or self?
This interesting
piece of work from
Nadine, 12, is a
wide ranging
reflection on her
own identity, the
product of chosen
routes through her
learning about
Buddhist and
Christian responses
to questions of
identity and
belonging.
Interpretive skills for all learners
Reflexivity: the skills of open
hearted, broad minded
engagement with the religious
views and world views of others
in such a way that my own
perspective is challenged,
affirmed, criticised, evaluated.
Edification: the personal gift
that the learner acquires
through the encounter with
other minds and lives
(Note how she gets into the
process of RE from the content)
This work from a pupil
in year three is
characteristic of a fully
rounded interpretive
RE; developing the
language of RS with 8
year olds and exploring
sacred story, teaching
and belief, symbolism
and forms of
expression, the work
links
Enquiry: all the
tools in the
pedagogic toolbox
of the RE teacher
need to prompt
and promote
enquiry, ‘search
and discover’ as a
set of processes.
What would you
ask God?
Integrating the learning approaches of
RE for higher standards
Many teachers are unaware of the range of tools available, and
the skills they have and need
Teachers who are aware often attempt a synthesis, an eclectic
mix, driven by their sense of good learning
Arts education pedagogy is sharply contested: an interesting and
instructive parallel: we need to learn pedagogy in relation to
other subjects
‘no pedagogy in RE is rich enough to ignore the gifts other
approaches offer’ so what to do?
Proposals for better learning in the RE
classroom would include:
a research element, seeking to test rigorously the
impact of various methodologies / pedagogies on
pupils (well taught)
a more vigorous ‘green grass’ programme for training
and professional development for teachers
(as REC urges)
a range of pedagogic tools and approaches, each clearer
in its contribution to the overall aims of the subject than
ever before. Consensus around this.
Leila Abdullah, 9:
“This is my idea
about ‘where is
God?’ My family
goes to the
mosque to pray to
God, but Allah is
not just at the
mosque. In my
window, I have
made a picture of
churches and
temples from all
the different
religions. People
search for God in
lots of places.”