Daniel Dennis

Biography

Daniel is the Principal Lecturer in Education at the University of Cumbria, taking leadership responsibility for all Secondary PGCE programmes.

Beginning his career in education as a teacher of religion and philosophy, Daniel has a keen interest in dialogic approaches to teaching religious difference and complex philosophical concepts. This interest led him to teach undergraduate philosophy of education, as well as mentor trainee teachers of religious education, at the University of Cambridge.

Daniel has also been a researcher at Ofsted, working on government funded projects that include the implementation of equality legislation in schools with a faith foundation as well as studies into teacher well-being.

Most recently, Daniel was the Head of Teaching and Learning at a specialist land-based further education college in which the cows and sheep often outnumbered his students! He taught professionals in the land-based sector to become teachers, enabling them to help prepare young people to lead innovation in the UK agrifood sectors.

Daniel is always interested in opportunities to collaborate, and supervise research, in the fields of religious education, dialogic education and teacher education. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to him.

Qualifications and memberships

PhD in Education, University of Cambridge (continuing)

MEd in Educational Research, University of Cambridge (2016)

PGCert in Theology, University of London (2015)

PGCE in Religious Education, University of Cambridge (2014)

BA Hons in Theology, University of Exeter (2013)

Academic and research interests

• Teacher education;
• Religious and philosophical literacy;
• Dialogic education;
• Educational governance

Publications

Dennis, D.J., “Dialogic Learning in Online Environments: a Case Study of British A-Level Philosophy Students”, presentation and poster session at American Canadian Conference for Education at McGill University and Ryerson University, Toronto. June 2017.

Dennis, D.J., “The Epistemic Crisis in Religious Education: an Online Perspective”, presentation at International Academic Forum, Asian Conference for Education, Kobe, Japan. October 2017.

Dennis, D.J., “The Internet: an explosion of Dialogic Space” in Innovative Practice in Religious Education, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Faculty of Education, Cambridge University, 2017).

Dennis, D.J., “Teaching Plato through Play-dou” in The Times Educational Supplement, March 2016.

Dennis, D.J., “A critical investigation into the use of texts to encourage meaningful dialogue in Religious Education” in The Journal of Trainee Teacher Educational Research, Vol. 6 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015).

Dennis, D.J., “Wikipedia as a teaching tool” in The Times Educational Supplement, September 2015.

Dennis, D.J., “Talking Beyond Vygotsky” in Innovative Practice in Religious Education, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Faculty of Education, Cambridge University, 2014).

 

Recent external roles

External Examiner, Buckinghamshire New University (Present)

External Examiner, Cardiff Metropolitain University (Present)

External Panel Member, University Centre Farnborough (2022)

External Moderator, University of Roehampton (2021)

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