Margie Patrick, Ph.D., Subject Matter Expert (Inclusion of religion and worldview in school curriculum)
After teaching high school social studies for 12 years, I left secondary teaching to pursue a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Waterloo. I am now a Professor in the Faculty of Education at The Kings’ University in Edmonton, AB, teaching courses in social studies education, curriculum planning, and classroom management. I also teach a unique course titled Teaching in Religiously Diverse Classrooms in which pre-service teachers learn about various religions, discuss how religious and non-religious worldviews are present in society and influence both students and teachers in the classroom, and learn how to teach about religions and secularisms in ways that respect individuals, communities, and the legal parameters.
My research studies religion in public life. For instance, I had a research project titled “Religion and social studies in Alberta public schools.” Funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, this research involved interviews with secondary social studies teachers in a large urban school district in Alberta, asking how they teach about religion. The project also included observations of several of these teachers as they taught about religion. A current project investigates the efficacy of the course Teaching in Religiously Diverse Classrooms (described above) for pre-service teachers, while they are on practicum and then three years into their teaching careers.
Involved with CCRL since the fall of 2018, I value the work done by the organization and its committed team members. I believe in the CCRL mission of promoting “the public understanding of religious, non-religious, and spiritual perspectives and communities across Canada” and deeply appreciate the collaborative nature of the work.
I have contributed to the Civic Literacy Youth Network and Spirituality among Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (funded by the Red Leaf Foundation) projects. Some of my publications are linked and available on CCRL’s publication list, available here.