Graeme Nixon What factors have led to the emergence of philosophy in Scottish secondary school Religious Education? Structure 1.The policy and literature

Graeme Nixon

What factors have led to the emergence of philosophy in Scottish secondary school

Religious Education?

Structure1.The policy and literature background2.Emergent hypotheses3.National Survey data 4.Key informant data5.Conclusions6. Further research?

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1. The policy and literature background

Wider reading on:• Theories of curricular change• Social theoretical stances• Secularisation literature and data• Theories of educational change

EARLI August 2008 G Nixon (University of Aberdeen)

Religious Education in Scotland

The ‘Millar Report’ (1972) – an attempt to address the “malaise of religious education” (p6)

“if they (the pupils) are not presented with a searching and frank examination of ideas, they assume that this is a topic which does not deserve serious attention.” (p55)

“The fundamental quality which is sought in a teacher of RE is a conviction that the questions to which religious and moral beliefs are a response are of crucial importance and that children must be given help to reach their own conclusions and make their own commitments with as much insight and responsibility as possible.” (p69)

- the “personal quest” of pupils (p80)

Millar’s Report also speaks repeatedly of a vision of the subject that encourages “consistency” and “rigour” in pupil thinking


SCCORE Bulletins 1 (1978) & 2 (1981); The “Personal Quest” Evolves….

The curriculum should include not only discussion of fundamental questions but also “secular philosophy” (Bulletin 1, p14)

The Aim or RE is “to enable pupils to develop a consistent set of beliefs” and “to test them in the light of reason and experience and the evidence of the great traditions.” (Bulletin 2, p3)

Pupils should be able to:‘evaluate’ a belief/belief system in terms of its “internal coherence”, “adequacy as an exploratory system”, “self consistency” , “consistency with other knowledge, beliefs and convictions” and “ability to meet objections”. (Bulletin 2, p12)


5-14 Strand and Targets Congruence with Philosophy?*

Ultimate Questions:• develop confidence and ability to express their own (ultimate) questions (Level A)• recognise that religion is essentially about ultimate questions and that there are different points of view (Level C)• be able to listen to the views of others and express their own with growing articulateness (Level D)• understand that ultimate questions can only be answered by statements of belief (Level E)

METAPHYSICS – “having to do with the features of ultimate reality”

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION – “analyses of certain concepts or tenets central to monotheistic religions”EPISTEMOLOGY – “concerned with the nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope and general basis.”

Relationships and Moral Values: • Recognise situations involving moral conflict, show awareness of alternative viewpoints and be able to offer a personal opinion, backed by reasons (Level E)

MORAL PHILOSOPHY – “critical questions about the very idea of moral conduct, about what morality is and why it should exist”

The Natural World:•understand that religious stories have a different function from scientific explanations, in relation to the mystery and purpose of existence (Level E)

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE – “justification and objectivity of scientific knowledge” AESTHETICS – “discussion of beauty and allied notions”

*definitions from The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995)


Philosophy as it is taught at 5 Scottish Universities:

“Philosophy tries to find answers to some of the deepest questions about ourselves as human beings and the world that we live in - questions which most thinking people have always asked.”

“The emphasis, in teaching and assessment, is always more on the ability to argue than on the conclusions. This ability to argue is not only expressed in the ability to present positive arguments for one's own position but also in the ability to consider fairly but critically arguments for other positions.”

“Using reasoned argument to straighten out your own world view.”

“Everyone has a world view, a head-full of conscious or unconscious assumptions and beliefs about what the world is like. But not everyone takes the time to straighten out or rationally evaluate their own world view.”


“It is the approach to these questions as much the questions themselves that characterises philosophical inquiry. Whatever answer is proposed, it must be backed up by careful argument. The end result is not necessarily certainty about the answers to questions, but a deeper appreciation of the issues at hand.”

“....it (Philosophy) seeks to understand how all the other domains of human knowledge and culture fit together, and how, in the most general terms, they connect to reality.”

“Philosophy seeks to answer fundamental questions that other disciplines take for granted: Do we really know anything or is life just a massive delusion? Is there just one truth about the world, or are there different truths for different people? Are we genuinely free, or just puppets programmed by impersonal forces?”

http://www.external.stir.ac.uk/index.php

http://www.gla.ac.uk/


LEVEL DATE PHILOSOPHICAL CONTENT

‘O’ Grade 1982 ‘Issues of Belief’ = Philosophy of Religion and Epistemology‘Issues of Morality’ = Moral Philosophy

Higher 1985 &

1992

‘Christianity: Critiques and Challenges’ = Philosophy of Science, the Marxist and Humanist ‘critiques’ of Christianity

‘S’ Grade 1989 ‘Issues of Belief’ = Philosophy of Religion and Epistemology‘Issues of Morality’ = Moral Philosophy

SCOTVECS 1990 6 Philosophy Short courses ranging from introductory to Moral Philosophy

Short Courses 1990 ‘Issues of Belief’ and 3 courses on Values/Ethics = Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology and Moral Philosophy

CSYS 1990 ‘Religion and Reason’ = Epistemology

Higher Still (RMPS)

1999 &

2004

‘Morality in the Modern World’ (include 4 optional moral issues= Moral Philosophy, Aristotle, Virtue Ethics.‘Language, Philosophy and Religion’ = EpistemologyChristianity: Belief and Science = Philosophy of Science, Epistemology

Intermediates 1999 ‘Metaphysics’ ‘Issues of Belief’ = Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics‘Morality in the Modern World’ = Moral Philosophy

Adv Higher 1999 ‘Philosophy of Religion’ ‘Bioethics’

Philosophy 1999 Intermediate 2, Higher and Advanced Higher (792 candidates 2006)

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Literature on educational policyKey ideas:• Mythologies and traditions within Scottish education• Education as carrier of culture• Politicisation of education post devolution?• Classical and consultative models of educational change• The educational ‘leadership class’?• Move toward democratic, constructivist educational pedagogy

Literature on developments in REKey ideas:• International comparisons and trends• RE has changed to reflect a pluralistic, increasingly non-religious social reality• Three stages in development of RE (1. mono-religous 2. multi-religious 3. dialectical)• Tendency to reject the phenomenological approach• The Scottish personal search approach

Literature on social changeKey ideas• Postmodernity and its challenges• Secularisation and secularism• The completion of the ‘enlightenment project’

1. The policy and literature background

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2. Emergent hypotheses

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3. National Survey data

Data Streams (i)126 questionnaire responses from RE departments (33% of all secondary schools)

(ii) 17 key informant interviews:• 6 principal teachers• 5 initial teacher education institute lecturers• 2 professors of philosophy• 1 professor of history• 1 professor of sociology• 1 professor of education• 1 HMIE


Increasingly Philosophical content:S1/2 – 18.25%S3/4 – 66.47%

Decrease in units about religion:S1/2 – 67.55%S3/4 – 18.40%

Stage Number

of Units

or

Courses

Religion Charity Personal

Search

Ethics,

Moral

Phil

Phil Other

S1/2 710 479 –

67.46%

5 – 0.07% 36 –

5.07%

78 –

10.98%

52 –

7.32%

60 –

8.54%

S3/4 367 68 –

18.52%

0 0 191 –

52.04%

53 –

14.44%

56 –

15.25%

Q1 RE Provision?

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Question 2(a) – What is the subject’s title in your department?

Number of valid responses 125

Significance of title(s)?• correlation with ‘successful’ departments?• geographical significance ?

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Question 2(b) – what reasons are given for the departmental name?

Number of valid responses - 133

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Question 3 (a) Is philosophy introduced to pupils?

Number of valid responses – 126

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Q3 (b) How/when is Philosophy introduced?


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Q3 If philosophy is not introduced, why not?


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Q4 How do Pupils Respond?


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Q5 If you offer philosophy as opposed to Higher in S5/6 what are the reasons for this?


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Q6 – Why has philosophy emerged nationally as part of RME?


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Q7 Any Other Comments?


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Key Informant interviewee data:

Summary of results

Areas consonant with national survey:1.RE and Philosophy are cognate (8)

“If RME teachers are doing Personal Search, Philosophy of Religion and Beliefs they are already doing Philosophy.”

(PT 3)

2.RE has become philosophical in face of social change (17)

“Traditional forms of alignment are no longer so prevalent. Now, one privileges a rationally informed consent. It’s looking at on what basis is consent produced and in a sociological sense schools are producing that glue that holds things together.” (ITEL4)

3.Philosophy has emerged as part of educational change (5)

“Thinking skills became prevalent in the 1970’s and 80’s and one of the features of it was the idea that philosophy could be used as a means of teaching thinking skills” (Prof of Education)

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4. Philosophy has emerged as a result of the beliefs of teachers (4)

“I personally think the tariff for entry into religious education should be higher, that people need more religious studies/theology. I’m not threatened by philosophy and I’m not one to downgrade philosophy, but I think religion’s very complex. I think understanding religion is very difficult, but I think teaching religion requires a sophisticated understanding, on different levels, and requires understanding of religion in different ways. I think a deeper level of understanding at degree level would assist people greatly. It’s a personal opinion. Other people may disagree with me. I think it’s interesting that we have a range of views across the faculties of education. Other people will support my view. Yet again, other people will say no. There is at least one institution that will take graduates with only philosophy. “ (ITEL1)

5. Expressions of opposition and caution (6)

“I’m a bit suspicious when people say religion and philosophy are so cognate largely because religion in the first place has been defined in abstract philosophical terms. We tend to mobilise towards Euro-American assumptions about philosophy and about religion…. There is a sense in which we are not very good at dealing with the affective dimensions and we may lose this if we only think analytically. There is a danger and we need forms of philosophy that acknowledge the wider affective dimensions. We have neglected this because of the dominance of Cartesian philosophy. Maybe we need to think again? But in a culture where assessment is so valued it is hard to find a place for the affective and the kinds of philosophy that have emerged reflect an analytic tradition because of this.” (ITEL4)

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6. Philosophy is more prevalent in society (2):

Philosopher 1 discussed the burgeoning number of popular books about Philosophy as “an indicator of a desire for something that encourages thinking.” He discussed how there is a “genuine appetite for Philosophy”

7. All areas of the curriculum have become philosophical (6):

“I think we do need to throw up the discussion about philosophical skills and about philosophy. Does it necessarily belong to religious education? You know, it had a long partnership with religious education, but philosophy, if you look to the continent, has a huge link with literature. It’s had a huge link with science, had a huge link to anthropology. We are actually more limited here than they would be in other parts of the world and maybe there’s a discussion there, about, should we be drawing out links between philosophy and other curricular areas or certainly through Curriculum for Excellence.” (ITEL 1)

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Other views that emerged during the interviews:

1.Philosophy widens the curriculum (2)

“Senior management at the school has been highly enthusiastic. Philosophy has widened the curriculum and continued the school career of certain pupils.” (PT1)

2.Personal recollections of the policy process (4)

“Right from the start there was no question of changing the education Act Scotland 1962. Our job was to find some kind of compromise that would change the highly unsatisfactory situation about religious education in schools without involving any legislation. The reason, of course, was that none of the political parties would touch it. We were anxious to get something that wouldn’t be too radical, that would come up with something that was (and this was certainly my attitude – I think it was the attitude of Prof Millar the chair) that if had come up with something too radical the churches would have opposed it. “ (Prof of Education)

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3. Views of the policy process (10)

“There are still people with influence, both in universities and those areas of the civil service that matter, which would be the Scottish Executive and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate, who still support a religious education that has a strong emphasis on religion. “ ITEL1)

“But in all of that I wonder have far the university lecturers were empowered and how far they were working to a preconceived template and the more that we discuss this, the more elusive this is going to be. Put it in context Graeme, who are the meaning makers for Scottish Education? Who are the drivers, can we name individuals, identify those people who really were behind Curriculum for Excellence? I can’t come up with those names and nor can you. “ (ITEL1)

“All the previous documents; Millar, SCCORE had representatives from various parts of the educational world including TEI’s, denominations and the people outside the educational world. I think that would have been much better. I’m really staggered that it’s left in the hands of a tiny coterie of people. I can’t believe in the educational vision there and that’s got to just lend itself to problems and pitfalls.” (ITEL3)

What’s ending up happening is that we have folk that are really enthusiastic about their certificate work and elements of that certificate work has begun to appear further down the school along with the same assessment demands and criteria. I think that it’s a long time, since 5-14, since we have really looked at what happens in terms of a programme of (core) RME.” (HMIE)

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4. Philosophy is part of a Scottish tradition (3)

“There may be a connection with a wider Scottish tradition in which Philosophy has always played a large part as being a key part of people’s degrees.” (ITEL 4)

5. Philosophy has emerged as part of a rejection of a Phenomenological approach (2)

“I think it may be a reaction to a Phenomenological approach. Learning facts about religions doesn’t interest pupils. Philosophy is a response to the fact that pupils don’t want to know stuff.” (PT 5)

6. The influence of comparative religion (7)

“I think one of the most interesting things about Buddhism is that it is non-theistic (to a great extent anyway) and therefore the traditional concepts associated with religion are questioned. Therefore one can have a philosophy of life and a set of ethical values that are not underpinned by belief in God. I think when we lay that beside the more traditional Semitic religions you therefore have the idea that you can have just as fulfilling and interesting a life developing as a human being without necessarily accepting the (religious) assumptions that western society has traditionally had.” (PT 6)

7. The influence of the study of morality (4)

“When RE became RME the need for philosophy became more acute.” (prof of education)

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5. Conclusions?

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6. Further Research and areas for discussion?

Primary school RE?

Qualifications required for RE teaching?

Consideration of CfE development?

Need for a consistent name? Is RE/RME disingenuous?

Ongoing monitoring of developments?

Dissemination to the RE profession and policy makers

Investigating other curricular areas for similar patterns

Further international comparison

Does RE secularise pupils?

Should there be a move towards a more ethnographic RE?

What are the beliefs of the RE profession?

Leadership of the RE profession?

Investigation of the extent to which teachers interact with educational research and policy developments.

Documents

Graeme Nixon What factors have led to the emergence of philosophy in Scottish secondary school Religious Education? Structure 1.The policy and literature