Religious Education PGCE University of Manchester Neil Hopkin

Religious Education PGCE University of Manchester Neil Hopkin Headteacher Robin Hood Primary School Birmingham

Surely the Most Boring of All Subjects?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? n Clip of 3 characters by the riverside, being ‘saved’.

So where are you? you n How does the prospect of teaching RE make you feel? n What do you remember of your own RE lessons?

What do you remember of your own RE lessons? n n n Frankly, in primary school, nothing We drew candles and coloured them in. Often They were boring Our RE was done is assembly. It was always the same: Two hymns, a good b*ll*cking and a prayer to finish with The local priest came to do it. He was out of touch, old and irrelevant I can’t honestly tell you if it was RE or PSHE

How does the prospect of teaching RE make you feel? n n n It compromises what I think teaching and teachers should stand for… objectivity! It terrifies me. What if I offend someone? It is an irrelevance in the modern world and irritates me. It’s like sex ed. It should be done at home. It excites me. It’s a wonderful opportunity to show children a better way to live. I feel nothing. It is boring and is a necessary hurdle to gaining the holy grail of QTS and £££

What do you want to know? Facts about faiths? n Early Years RE? n “I’m an atheist get me out of here…!” n

What we will cover… Christianity n Islam n Judaism n Hinduism n Sikhism n Buddhism n

The Big Questions… n Clip from Bruce Almighty, arriving at ‘Omni Presents’

Pedagogies we will discuss… n n n Visual Literacy Philosophy for Children Thinking Skills and De Bono’s Thinking Hats Kagan’s Co-operative Learning Structures The Mantle of the Expert approach Using visitors and visits

Do’s and Don’t’s we will consider… Fanatical helpers n Handling artefacts n Dressing up n The Truth! n Intelligent Design and Creationism n Faith schools n

What is the goal? n The QCA non-statutory guidance for Religious Education n ‘Learning about…’ and ‘Learning from…’ religion

Learning From… n Clip from Everything is Illuminated, telling the story of respect for the Torah

A suggested model… n Stage 1: Learning about (what do they do? ) n Stage 2: Thinking about (what is similar in my life? ) n Stage 3: Learning from (why are these actions significant to me? ) n Stage 4: Learning to think from (how might my significances contrast to their significances? ) n Stage 5: Learning to think about: (why might they do what they do? )

Compare or contrast? n n Beware the dangers of comparative religion Be postmodern – just a little bit ¨ Fancy a read? n Daniel Dennett - Breaking the Spell n Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion n Alister Mc. Grath - The Dawkins Delusion n James Fowler - Stages of Faith Robert Coles - The Spiritual Life of Children Karl Rosengren et al - Imagining the Impossible

Search for the unique… n Clip from Nacho Libre, debating whether all wrestling is a sin

Be visually (and spiritually) literate Who is God, what is He/she/they like and how or why does believing in God affect people? n n n K-Pax O Brother Where Art Thou? Everything is Illuminated Bruce Almighty Nacho Libre

The fruits make it worth the journey… n Clip from K-Pax, initial meeting between Prot and Psychiatrist

Enjoy the course! and thanks for listening