School visits and talks
We provide speakers for schools from year 6 to year 13 (and higher education) - we make no charge for this.
Over the last 20+ years we have made hundreds of school visits (including to "Faith schools") and spoken to over ten thousand students. We have spoken to whole schools, whole year groups, individual classes or smaller subject groups.
We prefer to speak to class-sized groups and in some cases we have covered complete year groups, class-by-class, in a single day or spread over two or three weeks. We welcome adults (parents, other teachers) to attend our talks.
Our speakers are very well informed and, in many cases, are teachers or ex-teachers.
From a secondary school in east Derbyshire
"Mike covered the whole of our year 9, six classes, in a single day!
During the day the word got out and several of my colleagues sat at the back to listen in.
I know from comments at the time and afterwards that our students appreciated the talk and the chance to have their questions answered in the most open, straightforward and easy to understand way. Mike is a good teacher!"
We are happy to fit in with whatever schools would like:
- A presentation (30 minutes) on the Atheist Humanist world view followed by Q&A.
- As part of a "beliefs" day.
- As part of a panel discussion and/or Q&A.
- As part of teacher training in Universities.
- As part of staff training.
- As part of a discussion or debate for sixth forms etc.
- We have given talks about our views on abortion to years 10 and above.
- Whatever other format a school would like. Note: we do not offer assembly talks.
We make it clear at the beginning of our talks that students are free to agree with us or disagree with us - we merely present our personal beliefs.
By definition, an Atheist Humanist world view will challenge any students who hold strong religious views. We welcome their comments, we respect their points of view and we don't belittle them or attempt to browbeat them - though we may challenge them. Equally we welcome those who challenge our beliefs.
"Challenge" is a good thing, it is the spark that generates thought and meaningful intellectual engagement.
We are happy to visit schools for a chat prior to using our services for the first time.
Please contact us with any questions you may have or to arrange a speaker.
You may be interested in our article: "A young person's guide to god and religion".
Our view on life
This short video, narrated by Prof Alice Roberts, describes our Humanist philosophy.
Our views on religion in schools
There is no gene for religion - you are not born Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Judaist, Zoroastrian, etc.
Religion is a personal intellectual choice.
All young people have the right to make a free and informed choice about what to believe.
A free choice means one without undue external pressure.
An informed choice requires understanding a wide range of beliefs: religious and non-religious.
We would like children from all backgrounds to learn with one another and to understand one another. We support the work of the Accord Coalition.
For these reasons we cannot support faith schools whose sole purpose is to groom young children so they emerge with a single world view. If this isn't the case, why do we need faith schools at all? In reality faith school, particularly those run by the Catholic church and the Church of England, have failed in their job - most of those who emerge end up rejecting religion. Many DASH members attended faith schools which made them the atheists they are today - forcing ideas onto people is the best way to guarantee rebellion.
We support good religious education in schools, preferably as part of Philosophy and Ethics. We want young people to be informed about the choices available, we want them to understand the beliefs of others, to question everything, to be open minded and to think for themselves.
We support Philosophy For Children ("P4C") in schools. In fact we would go further - we think P4C is brilliant!
Religion, race, ethnicity, immigration and cohesion
Schools play a critical role in promoting social cohesion. Those that divide young people, on whatever grounds (wealth, religion, race), contribute to the fragmentation of society, a feeling of "we are right, they are wrong" and a failure to understand "the other". Failure to understand is a recipe for social disintegration and scapegoating - it is always "them" who are to blame for our social ills, not "us".
In 2001 the Home Secretary asked Prof Ted Cantle to produce a Community Cohesion Review ("The Cantle Report"). Some of its recommendations were adopted by government, others were not.
In 2023 Ted Cantle produced an update showing how things had changed (or not changed) since 2001. Parts of it make for very depressing reading as politicians of all parties continue to use religion, race, ethnicity and immigration to divide rather than unite society. Dog-whistle, knee-jerk and red-meat politics has replaced the need to promote a cohesive and harmonious society
Ted Cantle's latest report includes the two paragraphs below relating to schools:
"The physical separation of communities in schools, residential areas, workplaces and social and cultural spheres has not changed significantly over the last two decades. This means that many people have little real-life experience of the "other" and little ability to disconfirm prejudices or come to terms with change.
One of the most serious concerns over the last twenty years has been the way in which our formal education system has failed to adapt and ensure that all children have the critical thinking skills and resilience to resist fake news, challenge malign influences and disconfirm stereotypes about "others". This has become an even greater challenge given that younger people now gain much of their information and news from social media."
Philosophy For Children (P4C)
P4C is suitable for young people from year 1 to year 13 - and beyond in the case of colleges etc.
P4Cis not a one-off, it is a regular activity that promotes a "community of enquiry" within the classroom.
P4C promotes a sense of enquiry, questioning, reason, discussion and respect for different people's ideas. It encourages thinking, communications and is an inclusive activity because everyone's point of view is valued and respected.
We have taken part in P4C sessions with students and we have used it ourselves as part of in-service training for teachers.
P4C has no pre-determined content, it has no lesson plan (though it has a structure) and it has no short-term outcome. The teacher has no idea how things will turn out and becomes a facilitator during the process.
The typical structure of a P4C session is:
- The teacher provides a stimulus. It could be an object, a short story or an age-appropriate item from the news.
- The class is divided into groups to talk about the stimulus and come up with questions they would like the whole class to discuss.
- The teacher puts the questions on the board and the class votes on which should be discussed.
- The teacher then invites students to comment on the question under discussion.
- If the discussion of a specific question comes to a natural end the class moves on to the next question.
- During the session the teacher encourages good discussion by asking open-ended questions and drawing out the strengths and weaknesses of comments made.
- At the end of the session the teacher draws together the points that have been made and comments on how the discussion has gone.
If the discussion becomes too exciting (everyone wants to contribute ideas!) the teacher can introduce a speaker's "token". Children put their hands up if they wish to speak and the token is passed to the person who will speak next.
This also allows the teacher to promote a logical flow of discussion. For example, the token can be passed back to a previous speaker to allow them to respond to something said by someone else.
Over time P4C can produce fantastic results. It leads to students saying things such as:
- "What Emily said can't be true because, as John said, ...",
- "Brian is making an assumption when he says ..." ,
- "I think Wendy has forgotten ...",
- "I agree with most of what Amelia said but I disagree about ...".
These comments come from children in Primary School!
You can watch videos of P4C sessions here.
You can find out more about P4C, and watch more videos, here.