At the meetings of the board members of the EFTRE board have been offering seminars in the host country of the meeting. These will be free of charge to students, teachers, teacher trainers and academics who may be interested to see how, "things are done" in other country's RE classrooms and seminar halls. Seminars have so far taken place in:

• Tourhout [Belgium] - October 2008
• London [United Kingdom] - March 2009
• Helsinki [Finland] - November 2009
• Vienna [Austria] - November 2010

A number of people have given seminars and these are available to download from the members section of the website. Membership may be via your organisation or personal membership - for more details please contact us.

Paul Hopkins (UK): RE across Europe [in English]

Paul introduced the idea of RE across Europe as a complex model developed in each country according to their own religious, educational, political, geographical and historical background and explored the idea from the works of Hull, Schreiner and Schweitzer that there is a possibility of an European RE rooted in the principle of the Toledo Guidlines. If you would like a copy of this presentation please contact Paul

Paul Hopkins (UK): New technologies for exciting RE [in English]

In his seminar students will look at some criteria for making judgements about the use of internet resources, at some of the resources that can be found on-line at some of the ways of using technologies more creatively in the teaching of religion and at ways in which the technology can be used in assessment. He will look at how RE students can become film-makers as a core activity in learning about religions and religion. If you would like a copy of this presentation please contact Paul

Marit Svare (Norway)
Religiöse Feste als Ausdruck des Glaubens und der Kultur [auf Deutsche or English]

In Norwegen sind etwa 80% Mitglied einer christlichen Glaubensgemeinde, aber nur wenige gehen regelmässig zum Gottesdienst. Trotzdem sind christiliche Feste - und besonderes Weihnacht - sehr wichtig in der norwegischen Kultur. In diesem workshop arbeidten wir mit dem Thema Weinhacht in der Spannungsfeld zwischen Glauben und Kultur.

This session will consider the most important films to use when teaching RE. Then using a range of film to stimulate a discussion related to sources, topics and the theological questions raised. The session will also consider the special consideration that needs to be taken when making a film of a holy text. The Key Question for this session is "What are the most important things to consider when choosing films to teach the Christian gospel?"

Lesley Prior is a Religious Education (RE) Advisor and Lecturer. For many years, she has offered advice, help and support to RE teachers working in schools in the London Borough of Hounslow. Lesley has also lectured on RE in a number of colleges and universities and is currently teaching teachers on the Secondary teacher training course in RE at Roehampton University. She is recognised as one of the key figures in the UK involved in training teachers of RE.

In her seminar, students will learn to identify different types of thinking skills, explore their generic characteristics and evaluate some of the ways in which they are used in RE. There will be an opportunity to participate in some workshop activities.

The book Lesley used, "The mountains of Tibet: A child's journey through living and dying" can be found on Amazon at the following link

In this interactive workshop I will give a selected overview of artefacts and symbols that can promote creative and critical thinking in relation to religious topics, spirituality and citizen education nowadays. We will then try to find answers to the following methodological questions:

• What kind of vocabulary / grammar do we need to decode religious art or the religious dimension in art?
• Which didactic tools can we use in the classroom to work with masterpieces within an intercultural and interreligious context?

Norman Richardson (UK: N.Ireland): Teaching RE in a Religiously Divided Context  [in English]

Drawing on experiences of teaching R.E. in the religiously divided and increasingly ethnically diverse region of Northern Ireland, this seminar will offer suggestions for how to approach such work with children and young people. The session will include experience of some practical, active-learning strategies which should be relevant in a range of different contexts.

Elisabeth Faber (DK) is an upper secondary school teacher. She teaches RE and History and is a student adviser. She has been a member of the board of the danish organization for RE-teachers in the upper secondary school for the last 7 years. She has arranged a study tour for RE-teachers to Japan in the fall of 2008.

Japanese Buddhism is a fascinating but for many students foreign religious subject. In the workshop we discussed why it is important to teach unfamiliar religions and how to approach teaching an unfamiliar religion. Do we choose a different approach as when we teach e.g. about Christianity? Shall we look for the exotic, for similarities or for both?

How to introduce an unfamiliar religion was discussed and an example of how to construct a course in Japanese Buddhism was shown. Examples from Zen- and Shinbuddhism was used in the workshop.