Valuing Teaching and Learning about sacred artefacts from the World’s major religions in Higher Education

This innovative and collaborative National Forum one day seminar proposes a dialogical framework involving educational, cultural and religious experts as they explore the role of religious artefacts in creative teaching and learning environments. For this event Mary Immaculate College would partner with the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin City Interfaith Forum and the MidWest Interfaith Network to ensure that educators could explore the opportunities and challenges of using religious artefacts in HEIs and in a range of educational contexts. With input from the NCCA, religious thinkers and leaders, academics and museum educators, this one day seminar would encourage educators to explore the relevance and potency of pedagogies using sacred artefacts for creative and effective teaching and learning in diverse educational contexts (from primary to third level). To enable as many educators and members of faith communities as possible to access this event, keynote presentations will be live-streamed and recorded. A resource of on-line pedagogies drawing on sacred artefacts in the Chester Beatty Collection will be made freely available for educators on the CB website after this event.

Focus of the event

• To explore learner-centred methodologies for active learning (in HEIs and primary/post-primary ITE programmes) through handling sacred objects
• To understand the importance of sacred objects in the lives of believers from the major world’s religions through first-hand testimonies
• To dialogue with educators about the opportunities and challenges involved in creatively exploring sacred objects in learning environments
• To inform professional practice on ways the Chester Beatty on-line and in-house collections can scaffold learners’ understandings of belief diverse communities
• To foster open, respectful critical engagement with sacred traditions in contemporary Ireland
• To generate innovative materials to enhance pedagogies for teaching and learning about religions and beliefs.
• To build a network of faith members and educators for on-going collaboration and educational debate about sacred traditions and museum-based collections in Ireland.

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