Teachers

- Head of RE, The Ridgeway School, Plympton, Devon I have a degree in Religious Studies with Applied Social Studies. I knew that I wanted to be an RS teacher but wasn't ready to do the PGCE straight away. As a result I spent a couple of years working for PGL (an outdoor education company), eventually becoming a Guest Care Manager. I then headed off to Magaluf to become a holiday rep before starting my PGCE at Liverpool Hope University where Joy Schmack is the tutor. I really enjoyed the course, even though it was very hard work, and it cemented my belief that RS is one of the most important subjects within the curriculum, and that it can make a huge difference to student's lives. I spent 3 years teaching at Great Sankey High School in Warrington, where alongside teaching RS I became the co-ordinator for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. I also mentored an NQT and assisted on an LEA inset on the use of ICT in RS. I moved to Ridgeway School in Plympton (on the outskirts of Plymouth) to become the Key Stage 3 RS Co-ordinator and recently I've been promoted to Head of Religious Studies. I still feel that RS is the most important subject in the curriculum and when it is taught well, students can get an enormous amount out of the subject. I'll always remember my second GCSE group at Great Sankey, who taught me a lot about how students think about ultimate questions and how the world works (so to speak). Their lessons were definitely an eye opener on student thinking about God, Life and the Universe, and I always think back to them if I need reminding of why I teach RS!

RE teacher, Bassaleg School, Newport, WalesI always knew that I wanted to be a teacher - being a bossy older sister and following in the family footsteps. As a pupil, I attended Ysgol Gymraeg Glantaf, in Cardiff and then read RE at Trinity College, Carmarthen. There, my passion for the subject grew so much that I knew I wanted to specialise in teaching it at Secondary Level. I first began teaching in 2000 at a Welsh medium school in Cwmbran, but for the past five years I have taught at Bassaleg School in Newport. I am very proud of my school and of the very successful department of which I am second in command! What I love most about teaching RE is that each lesson is completely different to the next. Pupils respond in very different ways and come up with wonderfully insightful comments and reactions. I thoroughly enjoy being able to use a variety of teaching strategies to enthuse and engage pupils in learning. RE enables all pupils to achieve at their own rate, and in their own way as everybody is catered for! From History buffs to logical investigations - the arts/ drama / music and designing your own place of worship - each pupil can thrive in RE when often they are restricted in other areas. Life is never dull! Currently, in my spare time, I am studying for a masters degree in Management and Leadership. I have been marking GCSE Short course RS exam papers on behalf of the WJEC, and before the end of term, I will be in charge of arranging three Curriculum Enrichment visits - a whole year cohort visit to places of worship in Cardiff in KS3, a GCSE class visit to a Mosque, a Baptist Church and a RC Church and my most exciting visit to Rome next October with 32 pupils in KS4. In addition to this, I usually take pupils to see a production of Joseph, or Jesus Christ Superstar annually; an A Level Ethics Lecture by Dr Peter Vardy at Carmarthen, am heavily involved in arranging motivational and inspirational 6th form RE days and have many local contacts who regularly contribute to lessons and special assemblies. I believe that to promote RE, it is imperative to get involved in school events, arrange visits and engage with people from the local area as all this helps to raise the awareness of RE and makes pupils realize that RE is definitely relevant, purposeful and exciting. Teaching itself is an ever developing journey, with new ideas, techniques and technology to trial. I never ever get bored with my job and always find myself looking forward to Monday mornings! If you fancy a career in which you are constantly being challenged, encouraged and exploring new ideas, then this is the job for you.

Head of RE, Tile Hill Wood School & Language College, Coventry I have been teaching Religious Education since 1998. Teaching is my second career, and I can honestly say, it is the best career move I have made. I left my job in IT to start a family and I decided to do my teacher training when my eldest child started school. I was thrilled to be accepted onto the PGCE course at Warwick University. It was very hard work, but very fulfilling, as I trained with people of all ages and backgrounds. In both my placement schools, I had excellent training and mentoring. I have been in my current post for 4 years as Head of Department, leading learning and developing new entrants to the profession. My first degree was in Religious Studies at University of Newcastle upon Tyne. I've always had an interest in religions even though I'm not a practising member of any faith. Religious Education has an important part to play in helping young people to understand themselves and the world they live in. One of the things I like to emphasise in RE is the way religions are practised today and their role in the search for meaning and direction in the confusion of daily life. I hope to provide my students with an opportunity to think, to explore and express their personal views. I really enjoy teaching because I'm continually learning from the students and being made to think by their responses.

RE Teacher, The Roseland School, Cornwall<br><br>RE must be one of the hardest subjects to teach in the whole curriculum! How do you address the great issues of our secular society which has become increasingly apathetic towards spiritual matters?<br><br>RE though is a great challenge to these problems and seeks to provide knowledge, understanding and reflection of the issues concerning the increasingly multicultural society in which we live. It seeks answers - but doesn't always get them - to ultimate questions - where we come from; where are we going?<br><br>I feel privileged to be teaching RE. I enjoy it and as I have taught many subjects I can say that RE is the one subject that brings out spirituality and the ability to question ourselves. Teaching RE allows me to be creative and individual in my teaching style, and to be sensitive yet humorous in the same lesson.<br><br>RE allows my students to see how religions can eradicate prejudice and discrimination. I hope my pupils learn tolerance towards others and respect for their opinions.<br><br>One student told me that she wanted to become a lawyer and said that RE enabled her to perceive how other people view the world and how they back up their values with evidence. I'm learning all the time from my students!

Peter Withey aged 22 RE teacher, Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton From a very young age I have been highly interested in discovering the answers to some of life's biggest questions. My search for answers made me focus on my education as I thought it would help me to get answers to all I wanted to know. I always had a lot of respect for my teachers and wanted to push myself in every way possible. I had a great love for Religious Education and History although my greatest admiration was in Maths and Science. I wished that I could one day work for NASA and work with some ground breaking discoveries. Upon choosing my A Levels I picked Maths, Physics, Computing and Christian Theology. Christian Theology was the subject I had a lot of joy in. I loved it so much that I decided that after doing a degree in Astrophysics I would return to the subject to learn more. One of the major influences on my love for the subject was my A Level teacher. He inspired me through his great depth in knowledge and sheer enthusiasm for the subject. Not only did he know so much about the subject but he presented it all in an enjoyable fashion with humour. He also made sure that the subject was a challenging both on an academic level and a level of developing one's own personal theories and beliefs. I went to university to do a degree in astrophysics. Unfortunately the course deemed too heavy. I left my degree and decided to change to a Christian Theology and Religious Studies degree. My theory was that I could change my hobby into a career. One of my A Level teachers asked me to take some of her A Level classes to find out whether I enjoyed teaching. I loved every minute of it. I was helping the students both develop on an academic level and hopefully to get them to question their own beliefs and discover their own personal truths. I am now on my PGCE course for Secondary Teaching and I am thrilled with how well it is going.

Sonja Ruuth aged 26 - NQT RE teacher, Kingsbury High School, Brent.I have always been interested in learning about different religions and cultures. After I finished high school in Finland I wanted to go and experience a foreign culture. Try my own wings I guess! That is why I ended up studying for a degree in Religious Studies in London. After I graduated from university I did not have a clue what I wanted to do. Part of me was thinking of going back to Finland where I could have spent the rest of my young adult life cross-country skiing, drinking vodkas and having saunas. However, I was very settled in London after 4 years and I ended up working at a famous Charles Worthington salon. That was lots of fun with a beautiful salon, famous clients and glamorous staff-parties. Although, after a few years I felt like I was going nowhere with my life. I did like my job, don't get me wrong, but it was not demanding enough. I felt that I needed to do something more! Get closer to the life's ultimate questions maybe! I had dreams about becoming a teacher but I was not 100% comfortable doing it in a foreign country and not using my mother tongue. But, after I spoke to a friend, who is a teacher herself, she really encouraged me to apply. Another friend of mine at the time was just finishing her PGCE and she also wanted me to have a go. I did not really know what teaching would involve but I was convinced that London would be the place to train. Obviously, I have a lot of respect for the education system in Finland, but I felt that to get the most out of teaching RE, London as an exciting and diverse capital would be my place. It seems to be that I have made the right decision. I am very much enjoying teaching in London schools and the city offers so much for students and teachers, both at school and at university. Maybe one day I will find some answers to my ultimate questions when teaching others…. or maybe just more questions!

Head of RE and Citizenship Coordinator, Cranford Community College, Hounslow, Many years ago I dabbled in ‘interfaith'. I gave talks at the International Interfaith Centre, Oxford; was part of the Next Generation at the Parliament of World Religions in Cape Town and had the honour of meeting the Dalai Lama; joined the executive of the World Congress of Faiths; helped organise the ‘Faith in Action' programme at the Sacred Space at the Rio+10 UN Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg, and even attended the Millennium Summit of Religious Leaders at the United Nations. I also dabbled in human rights. I attended the Hague Appeal for Peace, made presentations to the Working Groups on Minorities and handed in a 200+ page report to the Working Group on Transnational Corporations at the United Nations in Geneva, briefly headed the NGO Media Forum at the 2nd Prepcom and addressed the whole assembly in that role, and led the delegation that lobbied and drafted paragraph 67 of the Declaration Against Racism in 2001. Something was becoming clearer to me. In the interfaith world, people were crying out for youth involvement; in the human rights world, for human rights education. Education seemed the key to unlocking the potential of the future. However, what kind of education? I applied for a History PGCE since this was my favourite subject at school - 'O' level RE had not even been an option. However, I quickly realised that the nature of the History curriculum post-National Curriculum had turned History into a different subject than the one that I had loved. I, therefore, moved into my 'passion zone' of Religious Education and Citizenship. I think that students increasingly are turning to these subjects as they inform them about the real world. What matters is globalisation, global cultures and doubt. In uncertain times, young people need to develop particular skills in order to thrive. They develop core skills - intellectual rigour, empathy and action skills. Learning to sift and evaluate information and argument is a crucial skill in our information rich world. Whereas empathy in History is linked to understanding the rational perspectives of others, in RS I believe that it is also highly personal. It is about recognising and valuing our own feelings and perspectives. By becoming aware of them, we are freer to change them and adapt our behaviour to an uncertain environment. Religions are successful organisations and the reasons for their success can provide insight into how young people can also influence the world around them.