1. Induction | Vision and Values
Learn Teach Lead RE
Key Stage 3 Presentation
Using Dialogue to Explore Nuance and Complexity in Understanding Religious and Non-religious Belief and Practice
Induction | Vision and Values
A Project of the Tony Blair Institute

2. Religion, belief, identity
These are messy things
In the west we are good at compartmentalising but for most people in the world belief, identity (even national identity), culture – it’s all interwoven.
As an RE teacher I used to be very aware of not presenting different religions as monolithic, static, non-evolving. I was lucky enough to hear Professor Diane More speak about this recently (if not heard of her, read some of her work – she’s wonderful)… she has things to say about religious literacy that we at GG wholly agree with: religions are internally diverse, religions evolve and change, religion and culture are interwoven.

3. Religions are internally diverse
Aside from the obvious formal differences within traditions represented by differing sects or there are differences within sects or expressions because religious communities function in different social/political contexts.  One example is the debate regarding the roles of women in Islam.  The following assertions are also commonly repeated: “Buddhists are nonviolent”, “Christians oppose abortion”, “religion and science are incompatible”, etc.  All of these comments represent particular theological assertions as opposed to factual claims representing the tradition itself.

4. Religions Evolve and Change
An example is that of the practice of slavery which has been both justified and vilified by all three monotheistic traditions in differing social and historical contexts. In a more specific example, the Southern Baptist convention in the United States passed a series of resolutions in the 1970s supporting the moral legitimacy of abortion and reversed those resolutions in 2003.

5. Religion and Culture
Religions are collections of ideas, practices, values, and stories that are all embedded in cultures and not separable from them. Just as religion cannot be understood in isolation from its cultural (including political) contexts, it is impossible to understand culture without considering its religious dimensions. In the same way that race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic class are always factors in cultural interpretation and understanding, so too is religion.

6. This is just a taste of some of the faiths and beliefs represented in our dialogues. But with over XXX students connected for dialogue about their lives, faiths, beliefs and cultures over the last 8 + years, this is not an exhaustive list.

7. What is Generation Global?

8. 2800 Videoconferences 30+ Countries 250,000+ Students 2700 Schools
Generation Global
8 Years of a Global School
Dialogue Programme
250,000+ Students
30+ Countries
2700 Schools
Teachers trained
2800 Videoconferences
2000+ Downloads of resources in 6 months.
9380 Average monthly visits to Online Community

9. The Generation Global Community
Geographical distribution –
Most of our schools are in South Asia (indo / Pak / Bangla) and in the ME – Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Israel.

10. Essentials of Dialogue
Resources
Essentials of Dialogue
External, public version live in February
Refined and simplified version of classroom resource
Growing endorsement including UNESCO, UK Dept of Education, Club de Madrid
US Endorsements
To get to this place for dialogue students need to learn skills of dialogue. Just because your students can speak does not mean that they can dialogue. There are specific skills and attitudes, including a degree of introspection, that needs to be done in preparation…

11. Essentials of Dialogue
HIGHLIGHTS
GENERATION GLOBAL
Essentials of Dialogue

12. Essentials of Dialogue
Skills of Dialogue
Speaking honestly, openly and personally.
Listening deeply and actively to what people are saying.
Asking good questions that encourage people to tell their stories in more depth and reinforce understanding.
Disagreeing respectfully with others.
Thinking critically; analysing what you hear.
Reflecting upon your experience.
Speaking in dialogue is obviously important – but we often need to practice the particular ways of speaking that are most helpful for others to understand us.

13. Essentials of Dialogue
The Art of Questioning
“An estimated 40% of all questions that people utter are actually statements in disguise. Another 40% are really judgments in disguise.” William Issacs

14. Essentials of Dialogue
Components of Identity

15. Essentials of Dialogue
Components of Identity
One thing I love about being __________ is:
One thing that is hard about being __________ is:
One thing that I want others to know about being __________ is:
One thing that I never want to hear again about being __________ is:

16. Measure of Dialogical Open-Mindedness
MDOM
Tolerance of ambiguity
Self confidence in the face of difference
Knowledge and experience of difference
Just world
Learning environment
Tolerance of Ambiguity: Accepting that there is not always a correct answer to every question. Can students tolerate views which are different to their own without becoming defensive or angry?
Self confidence in the face of difference: Do students seek out difference? Do they avoid engagement with those who hold different beliefs and viewpoints?
Just World Hypothesis: Well researched and prob not new to them… related to religiosity. Do people get what they deserve in life? If something bad happens then there is a need to blame others, if a victim of injustice then someone or somebody is to blame, that is external to God’s will, even the enemy of God’s will.
Learning Environment: How well do teachers create environments where students feel safe to develop these skills and attitudes?
Also looked at Knowledge and Understadning of Difference...

17. Impact
Change in Measure of ‘Dialogical Open Mindedness’ comparing programme and control groups.
Remember that these are in the same schools. Involved 89 schools across 15 countries. Over 5000 individuals involved.
Also, these are the sorts of schools where they have volunteered to do GenG – so already bought in to some extent, we can assume, to open mindedness. What is happening elsewhere?

18. Impact
‘This research study showed that being part of the programme had a positive impact on students’ open mindedness and attitudes to others; further, corpus linguistics analysis of students’ reflections provides unequivocal evidence of the programme producing a significant shift towards increased open-mindedness.’

19. How Generation Global Can Support Your RE
Make your classroom more dialogic. Use Essentials of Dialogue to support your teaching. Make space for dialogue and discussion about contentious issues like extremism, using our Difficult Dialogue toolkit and briefing notes. Join the Generation Global programme and have your students engage in dialogue with their peers on faith, values, communities and a host of other topics.