Dr Robert Bowie

National Teaching Fellow 2011 Robert Bowie leads secondary religious education courses and teaches the values and human rights education course, which he developed for the Education Studies degree. His interest in the study of religion began during his time at Warwick University with its multi-religious chaplaincy. Lancaster University's reputation for its distinctive inter-disciplinary approach to Religious Studies beckoned and encouraged him to teach in Muslim and Buddhist countries, fuelling his curiosity for all religions. He returned to train as a secondary RE teacher at St Mary's University College in Strawberry Hill. Whilst teaching ethics in Kent Robert became fascinated with different approaches to teaching ethical theories and issues. He pursues this interest through the education of RE teachers and undergraduate ethics students; he loves the fact it grabs their imagination. One PCGE student said: "Bob is a really inspiring tutor, enthusiastic and thought provoking. His passion for RE rubs off on us student teachers and I hope that, because of this, we too can deliver RE in an equally passionate manner." Robert's key to bringing the best out in his students is to nurture their ideas and encourage them to think and reflect on real life issues. He developed an approach which gives continuous supportive feedback through multi-staged assignments. He is a pioneer in the RE field for contributions to websites and online resources, supporting the learning of students, teachers and teacher educators. He devised approaches to teaching ethics at higher and secondary education levels with a series of best selling ethics books. Robert's research into human rights education focuses on the influence of beliefs and values in human rights teaching and the concept of dignity. An education research group leader at Canterbury, he also promotes research into RE teaching and learning as co-convenor of the religious and moral education SIG for the British Education Research Association and was recently elected Vice-Chair of the Association of University Lecturers in Religion and Education UK. He successfully completed his doctorate and graduates in November 2011.