Profile summary
I am a Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education and I specialise in religion and education, RE and Islam and education. I am the Director of Research for the Faculty. I teach on the EdD and supervise doctora students. I am currently researching how the Prevent Duty impacts on schools and the ways in which Islam is presented in resources and the wider curriculum.
Research and knowledge exchange
I am currently involved in a research project with Professor Cooling looking at the use of the What if Learning? In schools. Previously I have been the lead investigator in a number of projects, including:
- RE NET – 2002 – 2006. (£120, 000 – Funded by the TDA). The development of a resource bank in RE for teachers and teacher educators for the TTRB. I was the lead name on this project and the editor.
- Character Formation in Schools and the Education of Teachers. 2002 – 2004. (£ 42, 000 – Funded by The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation) A yearlong study between the way student teachers in two universities understood their role as moral educators in the context of Character Education.
- Christian student RE teacher’s objectivity and professionalism. 2007 - 2009 (£30, 000 – Funded by the Jerusalem Trust). A study of Christian students in three universities with a Christian foundation. I initiated and lead this two year project. The project aimed to explore and contrast the experiences of Christian students with their agnostic and atheist peers in relation to concepts of objectivity and professionalism.
- Career choices for male BME pupils in relation to the early Years. 2008 – 2009 (£ 17, 000 – Funded by the TDA). An investigation into the reasons black and Asian young men do not consider careers in primary and Early Years professions.
- Crime and Punishment; children’s understanding of the law and citizenship.( £12, 000 – Funded by Kent Police and The Children’s Society). This was a combined research and development project. It aimed to investigate the way children understood the function of the law and to develop materials that could support teachers in lessons about the law.
Teaching and subject expertise
Religious Education, Islam, the representation of religions in education. Faith, beliefs and values in education.
External activities
I founded and lead the Special Interest Group on Religious and Moral Education for the British Education Research Association.
I was invited to become a part of the Runnymede Trust Academic Forum in 2010 and I am a full member of the International Seminar for Religious and Values Education.
Publications and research outputs
Revell, L. And Bryan, H. (2018) Fundamental British Values in Educatio: Radicalisation, national identit and Britishness. Emerald Points.
Revell, L. Panjwan, F. Gholami, R and Diboll, M (eds). Education and Extremism’s: Rethinking liberal pedagogies in the contemporary world. Routledge.
Revell, L. 2012 Islam and Education: the manipulation and misrepresentation of a religion. Trentham.
Revell, L (forthcoming) Islam and liberal values: the limits of Orientalism in Parker, S and Freathy, R (Eds) Remembrance and History in Religious and Values Education. London: Peter Lang.
Revell, L. (2009) RE, conflict and Diversity: an exploration of young children’s perceptions of Islam. Educational Studies.
Revell, L. (2008) Religious Education in England. NUMEN. Vol. LV. 2-3.
Revell, L. (2008) Teachers Understanding of Spiritual Development in America, American Journal of Religious Education. VI. 103.
Revell, L. (2005) Student Primary Teachers and their experience of Religious Education in Schools. British Journal of Religious Education. Vol. 27. No. 3
Revell, L. (2002) Children’s responses to Character Education. Educational Studies. Vol. 28. No. 4.
Bryan, H and Revell, L (2011)Performativity, Faith and Professional identity: student RE teachers and the ambiguities of objectivity. British Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 59. 4 403 – 419.