User:Hopkins MMI/Robert Jackson(RE Academic)

Robert Jackson is a British academic, author and editor. He is Professor of Religions and Education and Director of Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, based in the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick, UK. He also holds the post of Professor of Religious Diversity and Education at the European Wergeland Centre, Oslo.

Early life and education
He was born in Illkeston, Derbyshire in 1945, where he attended Hallcroft School and worked occasionally at Stanton Ironworks. He graduated with a BA in Theology from St David’s College, Lampeter in 1966, and trained to be a teacher at Cambridge University (1966-7), where he was also a member of Footlights and the Idle Hour Jazz Band. He taught a variety of subjects, including religious education and drama, at Nottingham High School before moving into teacher training and educational research. He held a Fellowship in World Religions and Education at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1974) took MA (Philosophy) and PhD (Arts Education) degrees at the University of Warwick, and was awarded a DLitt degree by the University of Wales, for his research on religions and education, in 2006. He was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) in 2010. He is author or editor of over 20 books and author of numerous academic articles and book chapters.

Interpretive approach
Jackson is especially known for developing the interpretive approach to religious education, for editing the British Journal of Religious Education for 15 years, for leading a team of empirical researchers in the field of religions and education and for his contributions to religious education and intercultural education in international institutions such as the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Jackson’s interpretive approach to religious education synthesised ideas from method and theory in social anthropology, including his own ethnographic research, with ideas from religious studies, philosophy and psychology. In contrast to the dominant phenomenological model of the 1970s, the interpretive approach utilises the concepts and experiences of learners in developing understanding of others’ meanings. The approach gives close critical attention to the ways in which religions and religious people are represented by both ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders’ (representation), to the techniques of interpreting others’ meanings (interpretation) and to the potential impact of studies of others on one’s own worldview (edification and reflexivity). The approach aims to promote social cohesion through countering stereotypes of religions, giving close attention to the internal diversity of religious traditions and to the benefits of religious and cultural diversity in society. These ideas were expounded in Jackson’s book Religious Education: An Interpretive Approach (1997) and have been refined and developed continuously by Jackson and his collaborators.

The early use of the interpretive approach led to a textbook series, The Warwick Religious Education Project, published by Heinemann in the 1990s. Subsequently, the approach has been applied and developed in various doctoral theses, in a Council of Europe project in intercultural education (2002-2008), in various national contexts, and latterly in a European Commission Framework 6 research project involving researchers from eight European countries (2006-2009), where the interpretive approach provided the theoretical and methodological stimulus for the project.

Editorship
Jackson edited Resource, the journal of the National Association for Teachers of Religious Education, for 17 years from 1978-1996. From 1996-2011 he edited the British Journal of Religious Education which became arguably the leading international journal reporting research in the field of religions and education. Jackson retired from the editorship of the BJRE in 2011, his last contribution being a special issue on the European Commission REDCo (Religion, Education, Dialogue, Conflict) project, published in March 2011. Jackson is also co-editor of the book series Religious Diversity and Education in Europe, published by Waxmann in Germany. Over 20 volumes have been published since 2006 reporting new research and theoretical discussion.

The Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit
In 1994 Jackson founded and became Director of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU), based in the newly formed Institute of Education at the University of Warwick. Since that time WRERU has become established as the hub of research activity in the field in the UK, and one of the leading centres of research on religions and education globally, gaining funding from UK research councils (AHRC and ESRC), the UK Government, the European Commission, various overseas governments and many charities. Topics of research range from ethnographic studies of children and young people from different religious backgrounds in the UK, the use of materials to teach about world religions in schools in relation to community cohesion (UK Government) , through international research on religion, education, dialogue and conflict to studies of children from mixed faith marriages (AHRC). In October 2009 WRERU began a major 3 year study of young people’s attitudes towards religious diversity across the UK, funded jointly by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council as part of their Religion and Society programme.

International work
Jackson has participated in the study of religious diversity in education across Europe, especially through his contributions to inter-governmental organisations. Jackson has contributed to various projects and initiatives within the Council of Europe. He took part in the Council of Europe’s first project on the religious dimension of intercultural education, initiated in 2002 (c.f. ref 16, Jackson 2007). He was a member of the team that drafted the Recommendation for the Committee of Ministers to member states on the dimension of religions and non-religious convictions within intercultural education. In 2006, he was invited to conduct a feasibility study for the Committee of Ministers concerning a possible European Centre for Citizenship Education, including human rights education and the dimension of religious diversity. The type of interdisciplinary Centre he recommended was established in Oslo in 2009 as the European Wergeland Centre. Jackson became honorary Professor of Religious Diversity and Education at the Centre.

Robert Jackson was a member of the drafting team of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s influential Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools. He spoke at their launch in Madrid in November 2007, and continues to contribute to their dissemination and discussion across the OSCE’s 56 participating states.

Jazz musician
Bob Jackson is a part-time jazz musician – trombone player and vocalist – and has led the Midlands-based band Spicy Jazz, featuring saxophonist Zoltan Sagi, for over 25 years, accompanying many leading British jazz soloists including the late Humphrey Lyttelton, who received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick in 1987.