“I am inspired! This session has given me ways to open up discussions with the children and ways to explore different views. I intend to ensure that this way of exploring these topics runs throughout the school lives of our children.” Feedback from a teacher
Teachers have enormous influence on the ways young people learn to think about their big questions, challenges and opportunities, and how they can approach them. We love to help teachers consider how they can help their students engage positively with the important interactions of science, religious faith, worldviews and other ways of knowing.
We understand how busy the life of a teacher can be, so we have designed our sessions to be short, engaging and rich in content, with a strong focus on practical implementation. For time-efficiency and ease of access (including internationally), they are often held online, but in-person options are also available. 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.).
CPD 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, in some cases for a small fee, via our ‘resources for educators’ section – although we highly recommend their use after joining us for a training session to discuss the ideas presented.)
Past topics have included:
- How can science and religion help with teaching RE? – for secondary RE teachers
- What is the nature of science, and how can it be taught? – for secondary science teachers and/or primary teachers
- How can RE help with questions raised in teaching science? – for primary school teachers and leaders
- How combining perspectives from both science and faith can help tackle big issues. – for primary school leaders
Upcoming opportunities:
The below opportunities are all online, from 4:00-5:15pm, and include teaching resources which are reviewed during the session.
- 24th September 2024: Session for secondary RE teachers, discussing: how science and religion help with teaching RE. Sign up: here. Teaching resources: Racism, Climate change, Big Bang
- 12th November 2024: Session for secondary RE teachers, discussing: how science and religion help with teaching RE. Sign up: here. Teaching resources: How to read Genesis, Bioethics, Ways of Knowing
- 14th November 2024: Session for primary school teachers and leaders, discussing: how RE can help with teaching science. Sign up: here. Teaching resources: Climate change, Racism, Priority Spending
If there are no events listed here, we’d love to encourage you to get in touch and register your interest.
Feedback:
“The quality, eloquence and humility, made this one of the best courses ever.” Teacher
“This makes sense, I wish we had thought of this before, it would be so great for other head teachers to hear these links presented so well, perhaps to value RE more.” Head teacher
I’m really happy I came! The clear links with the national curriculum whilst providing ways for cross-curricular learning were brilliant!” Teacher
What do training sessions cost?
We are aware that available budgets vary wildly, and it is very important to us that cost should not be prohibitive to any school or young person. At the same time, in order for us to be able to continue to run our programme, it is necessary for us to charge fees for training in order to cover travel and accommodation expenses and other event costs.
Our costs vary depending on the particular kind of event(s) requested, the number of session leaders required, venue hire/catering costs, and the distance travelled. ‘Starting costs’ for teacher CPD sessions are around £50 per person, but ‘final costs’ will be influenced by specific event requirements.
Once we have established the kind of event that might work best, we can discuss the cost of running the event in greater depth, and any concessionary rates that might be required in order to ensure that our sessions remain accessible for all.
