1st Edition
Mentoring Religious Education Teachers in the Secondary School A Practical Guide
This book helps mentors working with beginning teachers of religious education to develop their own mentoring skills and provides the essential guidance their mentee needs as they navigate the roller coaster of their first years in the classroom. Offering tried-and-tested strategies, it covers the knowledge, skills and understanding every mentor needs. Practical tools offered include approaches for developing subject knowledge and lesson planning, as well as guidance for the effective use of pre- and post-lesson discussion, observations and target setting to support beginning religious education teachers.
Together with analytical tools for self-evaluation, this book is a vital source of support and inspiration for all those involved in developing the next generation of outstanding religious education teachers. Key topics covered include the following:
- Models of mentoring
- Your knowledge, skills and understanding as a mentor
- Developing mentees' religious literacy through classroom practice
- Supporting the planning of effective and creative RE lessons
- Developing mentees' knowledge and skills in the RE curriculum
- Supporting the delivery and evaluation of lessons
- Observations and pre- and post-lesson discussions and regular mentoring meetings
- Helping new religious education teachers develop their professional practice
Filled with the key tools needed for the mentor’s individual development, this book offers an accessible guide to mentoring religious education teachers with ready-to-use strategies that support, inspire and elevate both mentors and beginning teachers alike.
List of tables
List of figures
List of tasks
List of contributors
Acknowledgement
Glossary
Introduction
Section 1 THE BIG PICTURE: MENTORING BEGINNING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Chapter 1 Models of Mentoring
Gill Golder, Alison Keyworth and Clare Shaw
Chapter 2 Subject-specific mentoring in Religious Education
Helen Sheehan
Chapter 3 The changing nature of the mentor-beginning teacher relationship: from modelling to co-enquirers
Sjay Patterson-Craven
Chapter 4 Understanding Yourself: Positionality and Mentoring
Helen Bromley and Summan Rasib
Chapter 5 A skills audit: your knowledge, skills and understanding as a mentor
Helen Sheehan
SECTION 2 THE COMPLEX PICTURE: RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND WORLDVIEWS
Chapter 6 What are we doing and how do we do it? A skills and knowledge audit for a multidisciplinary study
Kate Christopher
Chapter 7 Helping beginning teachers develop religious literacy through their classroom practice
Kathryn Wright
Chapter 8 Mentoring beginning RE teachers in Faith Schools
Mark Plater
Chapter 9 Developing beginning teachers’ understanding of knowledge and skills in the RE curriculum
James Holt
Chapter 10 Supporting beginning teachers to audit and develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in Religious Education
James Holt, Lara Harris and Lucy Rushforth
SECTION 3 THE PRACTICAL PICTURE: MENTORING BEGINNING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TEACHERS IN PRACTICE
Chapter 11 Helping beginning Religious Education teachers plan effective and creative lessons
Helen Sheehan and Sally Elton-Chalcraft
Chapter 12 Supporting the delivery and evaluation of lessons
Rebecca Davidge and Lisa Vickerage-Goddard
Chapter 13 Observing beginning Religious Education teachers’ lessons
Jane Savill and Alexis Stones
Chapter 14 Post-Observation Discussions and Target Setting
Helen Sheehan
Chapter 15 Supporting Beginning Teachers to teach GCSE and A Level Religious Studies
Rachel Jackson-Royal
Chapter 16 Supporting beginning Religious Education teachers in approaching controversial issues in the classroom
Abigail Maguire
Chapter 17 Helping beginning Religious Education teachers develop their professional practice
Paul Smalley
Index
Biography
Helen Sheehan is Course Leader for the Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Religious Education, and responsible for all humanities PGCE provision (RE, History, Geography, Citizenship & PSHE and Social Sciences) at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
