Jonathan Doney

Pedagogical Bricoleurs and Bricolage Researchers: The case of Religious Education

ABSTRACT This article reconceptualises school teachers and pupils respectively as ‘pedagogical bricoleurs’ and ‘bricolage researchers’ who utilise a multiplicity of theories, concepts, methodologies and pedagogies in teaching and/or researching. This reconceptualisation is based on a coalescence of generic curricular and pedagogical principles promoting dialogic, critical and enquiry-based learning. Innovative proposals for reconceptualising the aims, contents and methods of multi-faith Religious Education in English state-maintained schools without a religious affiliation are described, so as to provide an instance of and occasion for the implications of these theories and concepts of learning. With the aim of initiating pupils into the communities of academic enquiry concerned with theology and religious studies, the ‘RE-searchers approach’ to multi-faith Religious Education in primary schools (5–11 year olds) is cited as a highly innovative means of converting these curricular and pedagogical principles and proposals into practical classroom procedures. These procedures are characterised by multi-, inter- and supra-disciplinarity; notions of eclecticism, emergence, flexibility and plurality; and theoretical and conceptual complexity, contestation and context-dependence.

Creating metacognitive environments in primary school RE classrooms

Recent reports on Religious Education (RE) in England and Wales highlight the need for guidance on pedagogy and learning. The RE-flect project addressed this by promoting the creation of metacognitively oriented learning environments in primary school RE classrooms. Six primary school teachers and 160 pupils (eight to 10 years of age) took part in the second year of this two year project. Meta-thinking, worldview and resources zones were created in each classroom. Attainment in RE and pupil perceptions of the learning environment were measured. Data from classroom observations, Worldview Profiles (WVP), and pupil and teacher interviews were analysed qualitatively. Results show an overall increase in attainment; a positive change in pupil perceptions of the learning environment; and the ability of pupils to reflect on and articulate their worldviews. Implications for RE curricular and pedagogy are discussed.

Enriching the Historiography of Religious Education: Insights from Oral Life History.

Abstract This article seeks to exemplify the extent to which oral life history research can enrich existing historiographies of English Religious Education (RE). Findings are reported from interviews undertaken with a sample of key informants involved in designing and/or implementing significant curriculum changes in RE in the 1960s and 1970s. The interviews provided insights into personal narratives and biographies that have been marginal to, or excluded from, the historical record. Thematic analysis of the oral life histories opened a window into the world of RE, specifically in relation to professional identity and practice, curriculum development and professional organisations, thereby exposing the operational dynamics of RE at an (inter-)personal and organisational level. The findings are framed by a series of methodological reflections. Overall, oral life histories are shown to be capable of revealing that which was previously hidden and which can be confirmed and contrasted with knowledge gleaned from primary documentary sources.

The Professionalisation of Non-Denominational Religious Education in England: Politics, Organisation and Knowledge

Abstract In response to contemporary concerns, and using neglected primary sources, this article explores the professionalisation of teachers of Religious Education (RI/RE) in non-denominational, state-maintained schools in England. It does so from the launch of Religion in Education (1934) and the Institute for Christian Education at Home and Abroad (ICE) (1935) to the founding of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (1973) and the British Journal of Religious Education (1978). Professionalisation is defined as a collective historical process in terms of three inter-related concepts: (1) professional self-organisation and professional politics; (2) professional knowledge; and (3) initial and continuing professional development. The article sketches the history of non-denominational religious education prior to the focus period, to contextualise the emergence of the professionalising processes under scrutiny. Professional self-organisation and professional politics are explored by reconstructing the origins and history of ICE, which became the principal body offering professional development provision for RI/RE teachers for some 50 years. Professional knowledge is discussed in relation to the content of Religion in Education which was oriented around Christian Idealism and interdenominational networking. Changes in journal name in the 1960s and 1970s reflected uncertainties about the orientation of the subject and shifts in understanding over the nature and character of professional knowledge. The article also explores a particular case of resistance, in the late 1960s, to the prevailing consensus surrounding the nature and purpose of RI/RE, and the representativeness and authority of the pre-eminent professional body of the time. In conclusion, the article examines some implications which may be drawn from this history for the prospects and problems of the professionalisation of RE today.

Religious education at schools in Europe part 2: Western Europe

people as having no real voice, being unable (in Dawkins’ view) to hold an authentic religious or non-religious life-stance (Dawkins 2006). What makes for liberal education is not just the education ‘provided to’ children, but their own practice in – participation in – the school community, including their own opposition to that community. Reimagining Liberal Education does far more than might be expected. Its very specific recommendations of intelligent spirituality, a pedagogy of difference, liberal communitarianism, and epistemological transcendent pragmatism, are presented within the traditions of philosophy in general and educational philosophy in particular – making for an excellent primer in the philosophy of schooling. Arguments are persistent and cumulative – valuable for readers (like myself) who do not spend all their lives in philosophy libraries. The origin of much of the writing in articles could have made the book repetitive, but this is rare: each of the ‘articles’ has been rewritten and edited to make for a comprehensive account. Alexander is kind to his readers, writing clearly and non-technically as far as is possible with such complex material. Perhaps it will make those promoting a simple, rights-based, rational-secular, view of schooling, or those who measure ‘what works’ or what is ‘effective’, think a little more carefully about what they mean. I am sure it will give a little more argumentative strength to those who retain liberal tendencies whilst recognising fundamental – not just fundamentalist – differences between people and between religious and non-religious ways of living.

On the Edge: (Auto)biography and Pedagogical Theories on Religious Education

ing. How this Jewish language would have resonated with the social and symbolic universe of Paul’s non-Jewish addressees is a question not considered in this study at all and certainly requires further research. But overall this is a clearly written and well structured and argued contribution to Pauline scholarship in general and to the understanding of Paul and his letters as firmly part of Jewish tradition.

Politics, professionals and practitioners

As guest editors for this special issue of History of Education we are delighted to be able to introduce a range of specially selected articles based on the theme of ‘Politics, Professionals and Practitioners’. This theme provided the focus for the annual conference of the History of Education Society, held at the Southgate Hotel, Exeter, 22–24 November 2013. The conference attracted considerable interest, with over 60 delegates attending from across the world, including Spain, Italy, the USA, Canada and Australia, and with a total of 46 presentations of papers. In developing the central theme for the conference we were particularly inspired by a much earlier annual conference of December 1972, hosted by the History of Education Society at the Royal Ford Hall of Didsbury College, Manchester, on the theme ‘Education and the Professions’. Historians of education then, as now, were very interested in the history of the professions – largely, though by no means exclusively, through the study of the teaching profession. An important book emerged from this conference that engaged with a number of prevailing issues associated with a study of the professions – definitions and meanings of professionalism, professionalisation, professional identity, professional status – as well as the crucial and embedded relationship between the professions and the wider educational system, operating at primary, secondary, tertiary, further and higher levels. This work went on to inform subsequent research and theorising around ‘education and the professions’ in the field and clearly proved to be a useful catalyst. Since the early 1970s there has been a range of important historical studies examining different dimensions of the nature of professionalism and education. These include, for example, a focus on the emergence of the professions in the modern age, gender and the professions, educational politics and the idea of professionalism, the relationship between the professions and the modern political economy, social class, and personal and professional identities of education professionals, particularly teachers.