LCS Seminar Series -- Dr Janet Orchard (University of Bristol) " The Dialogical Classroom: Developing New Teachers’ Understanding of Religiously and Culturally Diverse Settings"

Abstract

This paper considers the extent to which one promising approach to teachers’ pre-service professional preparation piloted in England, ‘Philosophy for Teachers’ (P4T), might be applied specifically to pre-service teacher education in religious education (RE). P4T is adapted from the idea of “P4C” (Philosophy for Children) and promotes learning through dialogue within a community of fellow enquirers, a ‘‘community of practice’’ (Orchard et al 2016). Comprising new teachers, education students, teacher educators and philosophers, P4T has enabled new teachers to think ethically about dilemmas they face, based on their early classroom experiences.

Biography

Janet Orchard is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Education of University of Bristol. She is a philosopher of education, a member of the Executive of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) and a member of the Editorial Board of its topical pamphlet series, ‘IMPACT’. She takes a particular interest in the relationship between philosophy of education and teacher education. She has recently co-authored a paper concerned with the contribution of research to teachers' professional learning from a philosophical perspective commissioned by the BERA/RSA Inquiry into Teacher Education.  She also co-edited 'Learning Teaching from Experience' (2014, Bloomsbury) with Viv Ellis.

Her teaching subject is RE and she is responsible for the Religious Education subject strand on the Secondary PGCE. Professional associations she belongs to specifically concerned with RE include: NATRE (the National Association of Religious Education) and AULRE (the  Association of University Lecturers in Religion and Education). She project managed the RE Subject Review for England initiated by the Religious Educational Council for England and Wales (REC) from June 2012- September 2013. She has an ongoing research interest in the Changing Nature of ITE in RE in both primary and secondary phases and with that expertise in mind she was co-opted onto the NATRE Executive in 2015. She is currently engaged in researching the contribution which RE makes to promoting good community relations.