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 an Associate Professor at The Kings’ University in Edmonton, AB in the Faculty of Education, teaching courses in social studies education, curriculum planning, and classroom management. I also teach a unique course offered by King’s, called Religion in the Classroom. The course prepares new teachers to teach in religiously diverse public schools. Pre-service teachers learn about various religions, the manner in which religious and non-religious worldviews are present in society and influence both students and teachers in the classroom, and how to teach about religions and secularisms in ways that respect the legal parameters established in various court rulings.

I am just wrapping up 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 Religion in the Classroom (described above) for pre-service teachers, while they are on practicum and then two 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.

For my “Religion and social studies in Alberta public schools” research project we gathered teacher resources for teaching about religion at: Teachingaboutreligion.wordpress.com/

Details about my publications with CCRL are listed here: https://ccrl-clrc.ca/work/our-research-publications/

To learn more about my ongoing research, publications, conference contributions, and awards, please visit: https://www.kingsu.ca/about-us/staff-directory/contact_id/3605