“Absolutely fantastic, the best University session I have had on the PGCE course since it began. Extremely insightful and a session all teachers should be taught” Trainee science teacher
Trainee teachers are in the wonderful position of preparing their minds and approaches for an entire career of positively influencing the way young people learn and approach life. We love to help those preparing to teach about science, religious faith and worldviews to consider the ways they can demonstrate exciting and valuable interaction between these important topics.
We have so far run sessions with primary, science and RE trainee teachers in PGCE programmes across 9 top Universities in the UK – including the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Exeter and University College London. These sessions highlight the importance, value and feasibility of cross-curricular exploration within the existing parameters of schools, helping to meet a number of pre-existing requirements (e.g. Ofsted, SIAMS, curriculum guidelines, etc.).
Sessions include presentation of relevant science-faith topics as well as opportunities to ask questions and learn from the experience of the Faraday team in communicating these subjects. All of our training has a strong focus on interactive activities and practical teaching ideas, with dedicated time for attendees to consider and plan how they might best integrate the presented ideas into their specific classroom contexts.
Specifically-designed teaching materials will be provided as part of the training, along with ongoing support from the Faraday team. (We’re delighted to share that these resources are now available, alongside other lesson plans, via our ‘resources for educators’ section – although we highly recommend their use after joining us for a training session to discuss the ideas presented.)
Training events are offered throughout the year, both online and in-person, and are specifically tailored for the particular interest group or setting.
Example topics/sessions:
- Sessions for trainee RE teachers: Exploring RE in the wider context with students. RE is a multi-disciplinary topic in-and-of itself, touching upon many disciplines, including scientific topics. These sessions introduce RE trainee teachers to the importance of understanding the different ways of knowing employed within the fields of science and religious studies, and letting this inform how students use knowledge from both disciplines to explore science-faith questions raised during RE classes.
- Sessions for trainee science teachers: Exploring science in the wider context with students. A recent research review by OFSTED highlights an important goal within the science curriculum: to help students better understand the nature of science – how it builds knowledge, it’s methods, power and limitations. A focus on this disciplinary wisdom also helps teachers meet OFQUAL requirements that ask students to consider the power, limits and broader implications of science. This focus on the nature of science plays an important role in preparing young people for their futures in an increasingly complex and technological age, where scientific knowledge forms part of a bigger picture, interacting with knowledge from other ways of knowing, including religion. These sessions offer resources, guidance and motivation for teaching the nature of science within busy timetables.
- Sessions for trainee primary teachers: Exploring how to integrate RE and science with children in the primary curriculum. Primary classes are inherently interdisciplinary educational spaces, particularly when compared with the more silo-ed structure children encounter in secondary school education. Primary teachers therefore have the valuable opportunity to equip children to engage with their big questions through not only learning about different disciplines, but also seeing how these different ideas and ways of knowing can collectively enhance their picture of the world. These training sessions offer resources, guidance and motivation to help primary teachers take full advantage of the interdisciplinary opportunities of the primary classroom – particularly when teaching topics relating to science and religious faith.
Upcoming opportunities:
- PGCE leaders/co-ordinators are encouraged to get in touch with our Training Lead to discuss potential visitor sessions.
Feedback:
“Absolutely brilliant. I cannot thank you enough for all that you have taught me. So valuable as a trainee teacher; has really made me reconsider my practice.” Trainee science teacher
“One of the best sessions I have had at University so far.” Trainee RE teacher
“[The speakers were] so enthusiastic, warm and inclusive, made a safe space where I felt comfortable to share my opinions and ideas.” Trainee science teacher
“I found the resources very interesting – ways you could integrate science and religion together blew my mind.” Trainee primary teacher
“Thank you for your superb workshop. The students learned so much with you and went on a huge learning curve that day. Thank you for taking the time for this enriching and transformative day.” RE PGCE course leader
What do training sessions cost?
We ask PGCE programmes to contribute to the running costs of the events where possible, but in the exceptional circumstances where funds are not available, we aim to cover the costs of events from grant funding and external donations, to ensure this training can be made available to all.
