In an age where our emerging global society is increasingly visual, Teaching with Art for History and Religious Education invites a fresh approach to the use of artwork and other visual materials when teaching about religion, history and the stories of art. Visual sources can be illuminating, paradoxical, subversive and disruptive; they can stimulate new ways of thinking about how we understand the past, faith and belief, and what this means for us in the present.
Drawing on new research and practice in schools, museums, galleries and public spaces, the book explores generative ways that visual sources are experienced by young people and educators, as routes for investigating contested pasts, truth claims and traditions, or as provocations and protest. Running through the book is an exploration of theory and practice for using art in education and its potential for prompting interdisciplinary approaches to both RE and history. A ‘manifesto for using art in the curriculum’ offers principles for how art can act as a key pivot for student learning, and a section on the ethics of teaching with images guides teachers through tricky conversations. Ultimately, the book invites educators to use visual sources with young people not as mere adjuncts to text, but as unique, rich, complex, engaging and distinct forms of knowledge in their own right.