Professor Denise Cush

 Emerita Professor 

Personal statement

I joined Bath Spa University (then Bath College of Higher Education) in 1986 after teaching Religious Studies and Religious Education for nine years at St. Mary’s RC Sixth-form College in Middlesbrough. Starting with a casual contract for one day a week for a term to help with RE teacher training, I ended up staying for 29 years, until retiring in 2015. I stayed at Bath Spa mainly because I was able to maintain a dual career in both Study of Religions and Religious Education, difficult at older universities, and because both these disciplines were innovative and cutting-edge at BSU.

My responsibilities at BSU were many and varied. I taught within Study of Religions and eventually became Head of Department, and Subject Leader for Religions, Philosophies and Ethics. I taught on both undergraduate and MA programmes, including leading modules on Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Contemporary Spiritualities (eg Paganism), and methodology courses, as well as minor contributions on Jain thought and on John Hick to philosophy modules. One unique feature of our Study of Religions programme was the compulsory one-week placement in a religious or worldview community, started in the 1970s, and for which my colleague Catherine Robinson and I created a website, the Living Religion Project, which received the Shap Award for outstanding contribution to Education in Religions in 2013.

Within Education Studies, I developed and taught a module on national and international perspectives on religion, culture and education, offered at UG and MA level, as well as leading and teaching on generalist and specialist RE modules within various primary ITT programmes such as the BEd and the primary PGCE. In 1991 I developed, led and taught on the PGCE Secondary RE ITT programme which is still running today. Over the years I developed and taught on various CPD courses in religious education for in-service primary and secondary teachers, at Certificate, Diploma, Degree and MA level.

Outside of my two disciplines, I was involved in various international projects such as ROMEO, an EU funded project on Teacher Education through English medium in Finland, Austria, Norway, Spain and Portugal, and TEMPUS (links with Eastern Europe). Together with membership of international organisations in my subjects, attendance at conferences, and external consultancy and examining such links enabled me to visit many different countries as part of my work at Bath Spa, including the USA, Mexico, Canada, Romania, Poland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Turkey, Japan and South Africa. These were amazing opportunities and enabled me to add an international dimension to teaching in Bath, as well as providing treasured memories, such as taking a student group to Romania for Orthodox Easter, attending the annual festival of a Zulu religious movement in South Africa, or staying in a Buddhist monastery on a sacred mountain in Japan.

I had a variety of school/faculty or university wide responsibilities and/or committee chairs/memberships over the years, including such varied things as Widening Participation, Area Safety Management, Equality and Diversity, Quality Management, Academic Board and the UCU Union.

I always tried to keep a balance between teaching, management/administrative roles and my own research, however, the students always came first, and the personal professorship awarded in 2003 was primarily (and unusually but suitably for a university with the strengths of BSU) on the basis of outstanding contribution to teaching, supported by achievements in research and management. Nevertheless, I kept up my own research in both religious education and Study of Religions, on topics from Buddhism in Britain to Teenage Witches, and from experiential learning to policy and curriculum development in religious education. My cv to date includes five books, five commissioned reports, over 70 journal articles or chapters in edited books and c.70 conference papers or invited research seminars.

I was awarded the post of Professor in Religions and Education (in addition to my personal chair) in 2013 and Emeritus Professor after my retirement. Since retiring in 2015, I have continued with research, writing, conference papers and involvement in various projects in religion and education.

Academic qualifications

• BA Theology, University of Oxford, 1975 (upgraded to MA, University of Oxford, 1979)
• PGCE RE/Science, Westminster College, Oxford, 1976
• MA (with Distinction) Religious Studies, University of Lancaster, 1977
• PhD (Religious Education), University of Warwick 2012
• Honorary Degree - Doctorate in Theology, University of Uppsala, 2016

Professional memberships

• Association of University Lecturers in Religion and Education (AULRE): Honorary Lifetime membership to recognise 'dedicated work in and for religious education, through both scholarship and leadership and work within and across the RE community networks, which constitute an outstanding and distinguished contribution to Religious Education'
• International Seminar on Religious Education and Values
• British Association for the Study of Religions
• British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group
• National Association for Teachers of RE
• UK Buddhist Studies Association
• European Forum for Teachers of Religious Education (rep. for AULRE)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (including as Chair of Academic Advisory Board for Philosophy and Religious Studies Subject Centre 2008-10)
• University and Colleges Union (retired member)

Other external roles

• Steering group for REC and TRS-UK joint project on the concept of ‘worldview(s)’ and its application to RE 2019-2021
• Commissioner - National Commission on Religious Education 2016-18
• International adviser for four-year project (2015-2019) funded by Swedish Research Council Teaching Religion in Late Modern Sweden – professionalism on the borders between public and private PI Anders Sjöborg
• Chair of the Association of University Lecturers in Religion and Education (2008-2011)
• Chair of the Academic Advisory Board for the HEA Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre (2008-2010)
• Representative for the Association of University Departments of Theology and Religious Studies on the Religious Education Council of England and Wales and its Qualifications subcommittee (2006-2015)
• Bath and North East Somerset Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (until 2015)
• Member of Commissioning Panel for the AHRB/ESRC Religions and Society Programme 2007
• Subject Specialist Reviewer, Theology and Religious Studies, Quality Assurance Agency, 2000 –2001
• Chair, Religious Studies Section of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (this was the main Professional Association for those teaching and researching in Religious Studies and/or Religious Education in the new university/college of HE sector) 1995-1998
• Member of SEAC Religious Studies Committee (1989-1991)
• Consultant for SEAC/SCAA/QCA scrutiny and comparability studies (procedures for maintaining quality and standards in national GCSE and A level examinations) (1989 -1991)
• Co-opted Member of Avon SACRE (Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education) 1987-1993
• External Assessor, International Baccalaureate Organisation 2004-2007
• Supervision of 17 Farmington Research Fellows
• Deputy Editor for the British Journal of Religious Education from 2011-2018, plus membership of editorial boards, and regular referee for, several other journals, especially Journal of Beliefs and Values

• External Examining UG/MA
  • Religion and Education, University of Huddersfield, 2011-2015
  • MA (distance learning) Religious Education, Warwick University 2004-2007
  • Religious Studies, Lancaster University 2002-2005
  • RS and RE, University of Hertfordshire 1998-2002
  • Religious Studies, Wolverhampton University 1990-1995

• External Examiner PhD and MPhil
  • University of Lampeter in July 2003
  • University of Warwick 2008 (2) 2009-10 (2)
  • University of Birmingham (MPhil) 2005
  • University of Helsinki, 2014
  • University of Uppsala, 2019