Lat Blaylock, RE Today Adviser and NATRE Executive Member, shares about using poetry as a form of expressing the spiritual. Lat has a unique gift of helping children and young people ask the big questions in life and helping them explore their own beliefs at the same time as giving them a reference point from Christianity.

Wayne Dixon is what you would call a veteran schools worker and all round great guy. Back in October last year I asked Wayne a few questions about how he got into doing work in schools and what’s most important to him. Here’s what he had to say…

Lillie Jenkins is the Chaplaincy Director at the Luton Churches Education Trust. Here she reviews for us the latest course available from the ever brilliant Mark Roques and Urban Saints.

Want to help your young people improve their critical thinking skills, challenge the world’s standards and explore the effects of a living faith? Well, a new course from Urban Saints and Mark Roques (everyone’s favourite philosopher), will soon help you to do just that.

Ruth Stacey is Deputy Director at the Luton Churches Education Trust. She has not only been working with young people over her last 10 years with the trust, but also helping support and guide the team in their work in schools. Here Ruth reviews ‘Just Walk With Me’ by Jude Simpson.

Just Walk With

We’ve been working for a while on trying to figure out what skills you might need to do schoolswork....it’s an incredibly varied role that can see a day start with public speaking in a school assembly and end supporting a student one to one on a complex family situation. Here’s our first go (note: it’s a work in progress!). We want to develop a self assessment tool so you can explore where you training and development needs might be, but in the meantime here are the 18 competencies we’ve come up with. Comments, additions and advice welcome.

In this article, Mark Roques and Arthur Jones challenge the secular worldview. “Traditional ways of doing School’s Work rarely subject secular perspectives to radical challenge.  This is a great shame. Too often Christians do not engage with the unseen and unspoken doctrines of secular worldviews.  We believe that effective engagement with secularism must include such critiques.”

Mark Roques (storyteller, speaker, WYSOCS tutor) joins with Arthur Jones (senior WYSOCS tutor, author and teacher), to write about their belief that effective engagement with young people today must include the stories of culture-shaping Christians.  It’s an insightful, creative and dynamic approach to schools work, and you can read all about it and download the pdf here.

Chris Curtis offers some thoughts on developing formal competencies and qualifications for schools workers.

The original Schools Curriculum Assessment Authority’s (SCAA) guidance paper on spirituality in schools. Even though SCAA has now been superseded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, this still remains a key document defining spirituality within schools.

John Stephenson, Head of Field Development (Northern Manager) for Scripture Union, explores one of the key issues faced by Christians visiting schools.

The non-statutory national framework for religious education prepared by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and published in 2004.

The essential ten books covering a huge range of resources and information for anyone involved in Christian schoolswork. 

Ruth Wills talks about her experiences using music with primary school children to explore spirituality.

Ruth Wills writes about running RE days for primary pupils that engage with spiritual and Christian themes.

Nick Shepherd, a schools worker for many years, submitted this thesis as part of a Master Degree at King’s College, London in 2004. It remains the most comprehensive analysis of the theology of schoolswork to date.

Chris Curtis’ original article in Youthwork magazine in 2005 that provoked huge debate and discussion on the aims of schools work.

A follow up article to ‘The death of schoolswork’ published in Youthwork magazine in 2007.

We produced this discussion starter for schools workers for a conference in 2006. Here it is updated and available for you to use.

A guide to the different types of school and curriculum requirements in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.