First published by the Guardian on 20 February 2013 “A high culture is the self-consciousness of a society”, Roger Scruton wrote last year in the Guardian. “It contains the works of art, literature, scholarship and philosophy that establish a shared frame of reference among educated people.” As a teacher, the last part of this statement interested me…
First published on the Guardian website on 22 August 2012 Despite being an atheist who reasons the world is over four billion years old, I enjoy teaching the opposite idea that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The idea of creation, and the myths and theories associated with creationism, offer a myriad…
First published in the Guardian on Monday 30th July 2012 Having just taught a series of religious education lessons called ‘Religion – Do we have a choice?’, I decided to re-read a chapter in Richard Dawkin’s http://richarddawkins.net/ book The God Delusion entitled Childhood, Abuse and the Escape from Religion. As on my first reading, I was…
First published in the Guardian on 21st June 2012 As a religious studies teacher, I feel that empathy is an essential skill for all students. Learning to empathise will better equip students to interpret the experiences of others, especially when others’ attitudes, beliefs and ways of thinking are alien to their own. It also allows…
The impact of religion on the contemporaneity world is obvious Published in the Guardian 6th September 2011 The coming school year holds uncertainties for the role of religious education in schools in England and Wales. In July the Department for Education announced that RE will definitely be left out of the English baccalaureate (EBacc), despite concern from the education select committee, the National…
Goffs School Religious Studies Blog 