Focus on Disability.

  • According to the Equality Act 2010, a person has a disability if s/he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on that person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

(EHRC, 2011)

Disability is a very broad topic especially in relation to inclusion and equality. Many years ago, people with disabilities would have been treated horribly like they were freaks or weird. However, nowadays disabilities are so common, whether small or large, than people are treated more fairly and are  huge part of society. Although, I’m not saying there is no bias or discrimination to people with disabilities in 2017, there definitely will be but the world is evolving and people are much more open minded than they used to be.

Even after our lecture, tutorial and independent study there are still some aspects of focussing on disability that I am unsure of. Such as different types of disabilities (especially small, not noticeable ones) and the impact they have on people and society other than just large disabilities. I hope to do some wider reading on these and help improve my knowledge.

Inclusion and Equality.

After today’s lecture on Inclusion and Equality, my eyes have been opened to the world we live in today.  Using the wider reading provided, I feel like that helped tie up any lose ends in my head that I had about this subject.

We live in a place where the Equality Act had to be produced and put into action but it wasn’t obvious enough to just be a decent human being and treat everyone equally.  However, this act helps tackle discrimination and avoid anyone being left out or treated unfairly in the workplace. Similar projects have also been put into practise in schools, like ‘the buddy system’. This allows children to have a ‘buddy’ to help and assist them so no one in excluded or treated differently.

The impact of inclusion and equality on our society, is that people can now go to work or school and not be afraid to be treated differently because they possess one of the nine characteristics that the Equality Act aims to protect [age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation]. This is a huge step to the way things used to be in the past where people could treat people who were ‘different’ however they wanted with no repercussions or consequences.

Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched’ Spirituality

Throughout today’s lecture, tutorial and independent study; I have learned about unchurched spirituality and religion and social issues.

Unchurched Spirituality:                                                                                                                                  Unchurched spirituality are forms of spirituality not associated with organised religions. This sort of belief has gained ground over the years whilst organised religion has declined.  There are many characteristics and criticisms of unchurched spirituality which allow it to be studied and compared with organised religion.

I think I understand the main concepts of unchurched spirituality, what it means and the affect it has on society and culture. I will probably have to do some more reading and research on it to fully comprehend the criticisms and the importance of it in order to successfully convey the information to others or begin to teach it.

Religion and Social Issues                                                                                                      Before this lecture, I was aware of some of the social issues surrounding religion from the news or reading things online. However, after today’s lecture and tutorial; I have a greater understanding on the impact of religion and the social issues that it causes.  Religion is such a diverse topic with everyone possessing different opinions and beliefs that it make sit so difficult to pinpoint an exact problem or an exact meaning as everyone’s beliefs are so varied and different. Like I mentioned previously, although I know have a greater understanding of Religion, Culture and Unchurched Spirituality, I would need to undertake wider research and reading if I was to have to teach this to pupils as it is not a subject I am particularly familiar with myself.

Religion, Society and Diversity

diversity

As a result of today’s lecture, tutorial and independent task – I feel like I have been thrown head first into a whole new world. Having not experienced any Religious Education since primary school, I feel today has helped me understand more aboutreligious diversity and the opportunities and challenges it presents to a society.

After today, I now understand that religion can be split into 3 types (as a social institution) – established religion, sects and cults. When exploring cults, I felt the Jim Jones video really helped me to understand the difference between a cult and established religion.

I am only beginning to understand the work done by anthropologists – such as Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) and M.F.C Bourdillon (1990) – towards the functions of religion. I found this quite confusing to start with but after the independent task where I researched Bronislaw Malinowski in further detail. I am keen to carry out this task with Durkheim and Bourdillon to gain a greater understanding as well as doing some wider reading.

Although I don’t have many of my own opinions when it comes to religion, as I am not a religious person myself, I feel today’s lecture will help me as a teacher when relaying information to children about religion. It has given me more of a background and has allowed
me to expand my views on religion and diversity in society, which will help me when teaching children from different cultural backgrounds and who have different beliefs.

Reflections on Placement

Strength

An area of strength I felt I demonstrated during my placement week was interacting with teachers and pupils and showing initiative. It was highlighted in my mentors report that I communicated very confidently with all staff and pupils. I believe that I took instruction well and displayed a high-level of initiative when taking groups in a class for a specific task.

Area of Most Progress

My confidence came up leaps and bounds during my week on placement. I sometimes struggle to make small talk with strangers, especially older people but during my placement week I managed to overcome this. The teachers were all lovely and made it so much easier for me to interact and gave me confidence to be able to teach and interact with the pupils, especially older classes.

Area Requiring Progress

An area that still requires progress would have to be learning to use language appropriate to the children and age group I am working with. I found it quite difficult to understand which words were more suitable for P3 and which for P5, for example. Often, the children were a bit confused when I clearly used words too advanced for their level.

Action Plan

In order to work on this, I would like to spend more time with younger children to understand what vocabulary is too advanced and what words suit them well. I also intend to extend my academic reading in order to aid me with this and improve my knowledge.

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