Finding a moral homeground: appropriately critical religious education and transmission of spiritual values

Values-inspired issues remain an important part of the British school curriculum. Avoiding moral relativism while fostering enthusiasm for spiritual values and applying them to non-curricular learning such as school ethos or children's home lives are challenges where spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development might benefit from leadership by critical religious education (RE). Whether the school's model of spirituality is that of an individual spiritual tradition (schools of a particular religious character) or universal pluralistic religiosity (schools of plural religious character), the pedagogy of RE thought capable of leading SMSC development would be the dialogical approach with examples of successful implementation described by Gates, Ipgrave and Skeie. Marton's phenomenography, is thought to provide a valuable framework to allow the teacher to be appropriately critical in the transmission of spiritual values in schools of a particular religious character as evidenced by Hella's work in Lutheran schools

The Professionalisation of Non-Denominational Religious Education in England: politics, organisation and knowledge

ArticleIn 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 (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 the Institute of Christian Education at Home and Abroad, which became the principal body offering professional development provision for RI/RE teachers for some fifty 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

Re-defining the ‘contact zone’: Translation, transformation and the space in-between

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Intellect via the DOI in this record.This article explores the space ‘in-between’ in intercultural arts practice. Drawing on my engagement as an academic participant in the ArtsCross/Danscross project, I unpack Mary Louise Pratt’s term ‘contact zone’. Pratt defined contact zones as ‘social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other’ (Pratt 1991: 4) and in exploring the processes that took place at Beijing Dance Academy and The Place, London in 2012 and 2013, both in the rehearsal studio and in the seminar room, I re-define the idea of the ‘contact zone’. Drawing on theories of translation and pragmatist philosophy as well as ideas from performer training and Chinese aesthetics and etymology, I move towards a more nuanced understanding of the ‘in-between’ as a productive space both for the creation of new artistic works and as a strategy for intercultural working practices

Distilling principles – an investigation of the role of consciousness in butoh training

This essay provides a personal and critical approach to the Japanese contemporary performance expression of butoh through an investigation of the role of physical consciousness in contemporary performance training. Butoh is presented here as a performing entity containing its own existential movement aesthetic as well as reflecting social, political and cultural debates which surround the body in performance. In aligning butoh to certain initiatives within contemporary western dance theatre pedagogy, the article considers the shift from a range of contemporary form-based movement techniques which can be copied and accurately replicated in the body of the student, towards a conscious expression of movement that is cultivated out of a dialogue existing between internalised sensibilities and externalised movement forms. In comparing the author's own performance training experiences in Decroux Mime technique and contemporary dance with those in butoh, this paper aims to locate the distinct relationship between physical and aesthetic consciousness in the interface between butoh training and performance practice