‘Back to the Future’? Curriculum Development through Pedagogical Inquiry Professor Vivienne Baumfield School of Education University of Glasgow

Who knows what, why and how?

Teachers need to be active in two knowledge building communities: with their students building an understanding of the world; with researchers and other practitioners building a working knowledge of teaching and learning. (Bereiter, 2002)

The central problem is finding a way to keep theory and practice in a mutual and fortifying interaction.

teacher researcher policy maker Making a difference Context specific Low complexity Long term across contexts

policy researchpractice

Achieving Synopsis Discovering shared intent Finding space Taking action Building understanding ‘working the dialectic’

Psychopedagogy embraces theoretical principles from psychology and the practical application of those principles in teaching with the central aim of enhancing learning, and its affective context. Stones, 1978

Curriculum Development through the testing of intelligent proposals in action in the classroom Stenhouse, 1975

‘State of the Nation’ addresses MasterClass in RE: transforming Teaching and Learning by Liam Gearon Does RE Have a Future? Pedagogical and Policy prospects by Chater and Erricker Does RE Work? a multi-dimensional investigation by Conroy et al.

MasterClass in RE Recent RE pedagogy…has been shaped less by religious traditions than by the disciplines which have emerged to interpret them. The emergent, paradigm shifting pedagogies of RE have added complexity where simplicity of approach would have sufficed, tangential theory added before students have grasped the rudiments of a religious tradition, or its interdisciplinary complexities, and above all added political agendas before even the most basic understanding of political-theological context.

Does RE Have a Future? Our proposed subject is not RE; it goes beyond learning about and learning from; it is not philosophy, nor does it conform to the rules of philosophy for children. It is more about the grammar of insight than its vocabulary; it is unambiguously for the sake of the world, not for the religions; it offers the chance to make knowledge and change.

Does RE Work? Tracing trajectories from intention through enactment to impact From the global to the particular The broken middle

Footprints on practice Relationship between educational research, policy and practice is not one of application but of co-operation and co-ordination All 3 are practices in their own right Need fine-grained analysis of what leaves footprints on practice

What are the benefits? Deeper understanding of what is happening in their classroom through a holistic approach that recognises the role of feelings, thoughts and actions Integration of research, policy and practice the promotion of ‘self-sustaining, generative change’ (Franke et al, 1998) positive impact on the learning of the pupils in their classrooms (Baumfield and Butterworth, 2005).

Closing the gap Developing an inquiry stance Powerful pedagogical strategies Positive dissonance Tolerance of ambiguity Becoming a community of inquiry

…it is not enough that teachers’ work should be studied: they need to study it for themselves. What we need is a Different view of research which begins with our own work and which is founded in curiosity and a desire to understand; which is stable, not fleeting, systematic in the sense of being sustained by a strategy. (Stenhouse, 1995 p.1)

Bereiter, C (2002) Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Chater, M. and Erricker, C Does Religious Education Have a Future? Pedagogical and Policy Prospects. Abingdon: Routledge. Conroy, J.C. et al Does Religious Education Work? A Multi- dimensional Investigation. London & New York: Bloomsbury. Dewey, J (1990) The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago, University of Chicago Press Gearon, L Masterclass in Religious Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning. London: Bloomsbury. Stenhouse, L (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London, Heinemann Stenhouse, L., & Rudduck, J. (1985). Research as a basis for teaching: Readings from the work of Lawrence Stenhouse. London, Heinemann. Stones, E (1978) Psychopedagogy: theory and practice in teaching British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 4 (2):1-19