Duane Bell

- degree in Sociology with theology and Religious Studies from Liverpool Hope University. RE basically passed me by in secondary school. The focus on what religions believe and teach bored me as it was never made particularly relevant to me. The teachers of the subject seemed even less interested than I was at times. So when I picked Theology and Religious Studies at university, it was essentially because it I was the closest degree to philosophy that I could get on to. I picked Sociology as a combined subject and this proved crucial in my decision to continue as a PhD student, studying the use of religion in popular culture. Whilst working on the PhD, I spent two years teaching Theology and RS to first year undergraduates. This was genuinely life-changing. I chose to continue teaching, rather than studying and RE was the natural choice of subject given my educational background. It was important to my decision that GCSE syllabi emphasise social issues and religious responses as this allows me to utilize my sociological mind to raise social issues and my RE mind to work alongside this.