Professor Robert Davis
- Professor of Religious and Cultural Education (People, Place & Social Change)
telephone:
01413303468
email:
Robert.Davis@glasgow.ac.uk
R575c Floor 5, St Andrew's Building, Glasgow G3 6NH
Research interests
Biography
I am Professor of Religious and Cultural Education in the School of Education within the College of Social Sciences.
I am active in Initial Teacher Education (MEduc Primary, MA in Religious and Philosophical Education and PGDE Primary and Secondary), CPD and Postgraduate Teaching and Research supervision, including Masters, PhD and EdD programmes. A large proportion of my work is in research and publishing.
I am also the Editor of Journal of Philosophy of Education (2010-)
Research interests
I have taught, written and broadcast nationally and internationally on religion, postsecularism, literature, music, folklore, education, history of education, sectarianism, childhood studies, environmental education and the development of Catholic education in Scotland and beyond. Teacher education remains central to my interests, encouraging a wider exploration of professional values and professional formation more generally. I served on the National Partnership Group (NPG) for the implementation of Teaching Scotland's Future––the Donaldson Report on the reform of Teacher Education in Scotland as well as its successor body, the National Implementation Board (NIB) and the Shadow Board of the new Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL). I was Convener of the Scottish Teacher Education Committee (STEC) and was also a member of the Education Committee, Council and Executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
I am currently engaged in, or have just completed, a number of significant publications projects with a range of colleagues in areas such as the effectiveness of Religious Education, the cultural history of early childhood, the origins of industrial schooling and Scottish children's literature.
Research collaborations
- British Council/PESGB Seminar Series: Literature, Philosophy and Politics, 2016-17
- Educational Theory Summer Institute: The Future of the Humanities, Urbana-Champaign, July 2014
- University of Wuppertal Post-secularism network, 2013
- KK Leuven Philosophy and History of Education Research Network, 2012-
- Educational Theory Summer Institute: Government Intervention in Family Life, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, July 2009.
- AHRC Seminar Series, Institute of Education, London: Changing Discourses of the Parent-Child Relationship, 2008-2009.
- Visiting Professor, Norwegian Teachers Academy (NLA), Bergen, 2009.
- Visiting Professor, University of Malmo, 2005
- Visiting Lecturer, St Patrick's College, Dublin, 2002, 2005.
- Co-Chair: The Ring Goes Ever On: 50th Anniversary Conference on The Lord of the Rings, Birmingham, 2005
- Co-Chair: Reasons of the Heart: Myth, Meaning and Education, Edinburgh, 2004
- 1999-2002: Signs of Change: Christianity and the Arts, 1000-2000. An International ERC Network Collaboration led by the University of Copenhagen (100K)
Grants
Grants and awards
- Religion and Society Programme: An Analysis of the Aims, Practices & Models of Effectiveness in Religious Education across the UK
Economic and Social Research Council/Arts and Humanities Research Council
Co-Investigator
2007-2010 - Global Citizenship in Intial Teacher Education
Department for International Development
Co-Investigator
2002-2005 - Unit for Global Citizenship in Teacher Education
Department for International Development
Co-Investigator
2005-2008 - Child Protection Training in Scottish Schools
Scottish Executive Education Department
Co-Investigator
2001-2004 (60K)
Supervision
Research Supervision
I welcome applications for masters and doctoral study on many aspects of religion, culture and education––including comparative religion; contemporary religious movements; Catholic education; Religious Education and catechesis; myth, religion and history; religion and literature; children's literature; music and culture; perceptions of childhood; education and critical theory; post-secular philosophy; religion and violence; globalisation and citizenship; postliberalism.
I have recently successfully supervised PhD/EdD dissertations on
- Liturgy and Catechesis (J.Smith)
- Conceptions of Childhood in Children's Fantasy Literature (K. McGavock)
- The Faith Formation of Catholic Teachers (R.Coll)
- National Identity in Scottish Children's Fiction (M. Farrell)
- Policy Formation and the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland (A. Britton; EdD diss)
- Comparative Study of Religious Education in Scotland and Malawi (Y. Matemba)
- The Effectiveness of Religious Education in the United Kingdom (D. Lundie)
- Religious Education and Catechesis (L. Franchi)
- Hospitality to the Other in Faith-based Schools (D. McGovern)
- Alchemy and the The Metaphysics of Quality in the Writings of Robert Pirsig (A. McManus)
- Pastoral Approaches to Critical Pedagogy (P. Petrie)
I am currently supervising dissertations in
- Theory in TESOL Education
- Early Years Practitioners' Perceptions of Gender
- A New Rationale for Catholic Religious Education
- Scottish Further Education Institutions and Education for Sustainability
Recent PhD and EdD Examination
- K. O'Brien (Dublin) Education for Citizenship in an Irish Primary School
- F. McCutcheon (Dublin) School Leadership and Professional Practice
- David Lines (Auckland) The Work of Music: Nietzsche and Heidegger
- Yusuke Uno (Edinburgh) Comparative Study of Japanese and Scots Gaelic Lullabies
- Christopher Nicholson (Northampton) The Enduring Wound: Trauma in the Poetry and Prose of Robert Graves
- Emanuel, Thomas Karl
The Tale We've Fallen Into - O'Toole, Dominic
Fr Edward Douglas CSsR 1819 - 1898 - Palenski, Ted
Digital Citizenship: Data Ethics in the Classroom and Beyond - Walsh, Gary
Does social justice require a ‘socially just’ citizenry
Additional information
Consultancy and Knowledge Transfer
I ran a highly successful annual CPD Programme on Leadership in Catholic Schools, 2000-2010
CEC-SEED Joint Working Party on Faith and Teaching, 2001-2003
Welsh National Opera Programme Essay for the James Macmillan/Michael Symmons Roberts opera, The Sacrifice, 2007
186 Media, The Write Kit, a Creative Writing resource for secondary schools (2004-2006). Winner of the Content 360 Competition, MIP-TV in Cannes, 2007.
Member of the Development Team, and script and concept consultant, for the BBC Children’s Television programme Tweenies, produced by Tell-Tale Productions (1999-2001).
Academic and professional body membership
I am Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education
I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Beliefs and Values
I am a member of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.
I am a member of the Association for Moral Education.
I am a member of the British Association for Romantic Studies
I am a member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature
I am a member of the International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture