This article reconceptualises school teachers and pupils respectively as 'pedagogical bricoleurs' and 'bricolage researchers' who utilise a multiplicity of theories, concepts, methodologies and pedagogies in teaching and/or researching. This reconceptualization is based on a coalescence of generic curricular and pedagogical principles promoting dialogic, critical and enquiry-based learning. Innovative proposals for reconceptualising the aims, contents and methods of multi-faith Religious Education in English statemaintained schools without a religious affiliation are described, so as to provide an instance of and occasion for the implications of these theories and concepts of learning. With the aim of initiating pupils into the communities of academic enquiry concerned with theology and religious studies, the 'RE-searchers approach' to multi-faith Religious Education in primary schools (5-11 year olds) is cited as a highly innovative means of converting these curricular and pedagogical principles and proposals into practical classroom procedures that are characterised by multi-, inter-and supra-disciplinarity; notions of eclecticism, emergence, flexibility and plurality; and theoretical and conceptual complexity, contestation and context-dependence.
In responding to previous articles in this journal by Rachel Cope and Julian Stern, and using an example of classroom practice, this article promotes a form of multi-faith Religious Education in which primary school pupils (5-11 year olds) are re-conceived as joint researchers working alongside their teachers, through processes of imaginative and empathetic dialogue, to investigate the effectiveness of different methodologies and methods of studying religion(s). This pedagogical strategy seeks to teach pupils the disciplinary knowledge and skills associated with the communities of academic practice concerned with theological and religious studies, and more specifically to initiate them into the hermeneutical discourses which underlie theological and religious research and teaching. Moreover, it is argued that some of the suggested practices could be applied to the study of spirituality in any context and contribute to the spiritual development of participants.
Teaching pupils how to study is one of the pressing problems of teaching. A very little observation of students at work shows that they are working, in many cases, to little advantage, and by "rule-of-thumb" methods. What is needed is some "scientific management" as a result of which we could give students the best methods of work. Could we instal efficient methods of study, we could no doubt lessen materially our percentage of failure and elimination from school. The investigation given herewith was undertaken with the idea of finding out some facts in regard to the habits and methods of study of high-school students. It was thought that if our teachers knew more concretely how their pupils were studying, they would be able to use this knowledge in bringing about better methods of study. It must be admitted, of course, that teachers are somewhat at sea themselves as to the best method of study. They, too, have done their studying by an intuitive method, and they are not able to make it objective for the use of others. It is evident, then, that much work is needed before we can help students effectively.This investigation is open, of course, to the criticism of the questionnaire method. One must make allowance for the subjective nature of the answers and for questions of mere opinion. For instance, in question 12, students may have been influenced by the question to give the desired answer. However, even here it is evident that about one-eighth of the students have no idea of study except the attempt to absorb bodily the whole subject. Indeed, it has been the experience of the writer in working with students who fail, that a great many of them try to remember everything in the lesson regardless of value or relative importance. Again in question 8, as to the length of time spent on the lessons, the answers undoubtedly allow more rather than less than the time 478
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