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To help you celebrate the end of the longest term of the year, to get you in the festive spirit, to shine a beacon to parents, particularly mothers, as we focus on the amazing story of Mary, the mother of Jesus and the central role she plays in the Christmas story, I bring you tidings of great joy!
This last episode of the season, and of 2024, is a spotlight on two RE teachers as they talk about juggling motherhood with their careers. Naila Missous, and Gemma Brown. They are connected through the amazing MTPT Project - The UK’s charity for parent-teachers. It provides support and entitlements for pregnant and expectant staff. And check out the festive name of its founder, Emma Sheppard (so much festive joy). Emma, also joined us to tell us why she made the journey from English Teacher to wanting to support parent teachers.
The conversation not only includes information about the project and how it supported Naila and Gemma, and what needs to happen in the political sphere to support parents in education, but also how we can include the role of mothers into our curriculums, and where we see the role of mothers in scriptures.
As you can imagine, it is an empowering and uplifting chat.

https://www.mtpt.org.uk/

To all my listeners' my seasonal message for you is from Mary's song because all teachers, but specifically parents are often so humble and they need to be lifted up;

He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.

I hope this episode lifts you up.

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In a move towards multidisciplinary RE, I wonder if you are stuck on how to teach through a social sciences lens - particularly through a psychological lens. Maybe you are not sure what the psychology of religion is, or how to incorporate it into your lessons. Or maybe you have started to explore but have become overwhelmed. Dr Carissa Sharp is an associate professor of Psychology of Religion from The University of Birmingham and she came on to the podcast to guide us through how to do this.
For example, is this a psychological question – “Does God exist?” – and if not, how do we turn it into one?
For the answer and for much more, listen to this episode.
The links for this episodes are below;

Get in touch with Dr Carissa Sharp
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/tr/sharp-carissa
https://crosstrainingpsychologyandtheology.com/
https://crosstrainingpsychologyandtheology.com/resources/resources-for-re-teachers/

When Children Draw Gods by PY Brandt
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-94429-2

Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and Belonging: The Big Four Religious Dimensions and Cultural Variation by Vassilis Saroglou
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022022111412267#:~:text=Believing%2C%20Bonding%2C%20Behaving%2C%20and,Cultural%20Variation%20%2D%20Vassilis%20Saroglou%2C%202011

Experimenting with Religion by Jonathan Jong
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/experimenting-with-religion-9780190875541?cc=us&lang=en&

Cambridge Elements
https://www.cambridge.org/core/browse-subjects/psychology/psychology-of-religion

Lambi Scale RE Today resource
https://www.natre.org.uk/resources/termly-mailing/bqic-secondary-challenging-knowledge-in-re/studying-god/8-using-psychology-to-investigate-ideas-of-god/

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If any of you want to look at how you can teach the complex socio political tensions between the Abrahamic faiths, or are teaching about interfaith relations, or maybe you want to draw out a feminist lens in your classroom, then please draw on the amazing research and services offered by the Woolf Institute.

A link to all the elements we spoke about are below;
www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/community-engagement/education

• In-Person and Online Visits to School
• Living in Harmony: Resources and Visits for Secondary Schools
• Gender in Religious Experience: Resources and Visits for Secondary Schools
• RE-Framing Education about Beliefs and Practices in SchoolsValuing Diversity: A Guide for Secondary School Teachers

To access these resources, simply email: publicengagement@woolf.cam.ac.uk

We also see how well aligned the worldviews approach is with the interfaith dialogue values.

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