Last Wednesday 12th July, I led Godly Play taster sessions at the RE Teachers' Summer School, which took place at the Betania Centre in Ciudad Real. The school was organized by ERE (Enseñanza Religiosa Evangélica) - the government-approved group in charge of training and placing teachers in state schools for protestant RE. Twenty teachers took part, representing churches and schools from various regions in Spain.Within my time constraints, I was able to present two stories: the Great Family (Abraham & Sarah's faith journey), and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. The discussion which followed each presentation focussed on the possible use of Godly Play in schools as an alternative method of teaching RE. Reference was made to The National Society's Godly Play Schools' Project in the UK.
There was also a lively discussion regarding the place of religious iconography in conservative protestant circles, as Godly Play makes much of symbols, wooden figures and Anglican liturgy.
Here are a few photos of the event.
During the free response time that took place after the Abraham and Sarah story, one of the participants went in search of 'altars' from various parts of our Godly Play classroom. He then completed his collection by adding his Spanish ID and photo - as another of God's altars!Here's some feedback from a few of the participants at the seminar:
- "I have really enjoyed this workshop - in my opinion this method would be great for the over 5s."
- "Thanks for the presentation and the way you have shared with us."
- "It has been a very interesting and innovative workshop - it has sparked off many ideas for our teaching practice, especially that of school RE."
